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¹ When Ephraim spake, there was tremblyng, he was exalted among the Israelites: but he hath sinned in Baal, and is dead.² And nowe they sinne more and more, and of their siluer they haue made them molten images after the imaginatios of their owne braynes, [that is] very idols, and yet all is nothing but the worke of the craftesman: they say one to another, Whiles they sacrifice a man let them kisse the calues.³ Therfore they shalbe as the mornyng cloude, and as the deawe that early passeth away, and like as dust that the whirlewinde taketh away from the floore, and as smoke that goeth out of the chimney.⁴ Yet I am the Lorde thy God [which brought thee] out of the lande of Egypt, & thou shalt knowe no God but me only, neither is there any sauiour besides me.

⁵ I did knowe thee in the wildernesse, in the lande of drought.⁶ But when they were well fed, and had enough, they waxed proude, & forgat me.⁷ Therfore wyll I be vnto them as a lion, and as a leoparde in the wayes to the Assyrians.⁸ I wyll meete them as a she beare that is robbed of her whelpes, and I wyll breake that stubburne heart of theirs, there wyll I deuour them like a lion, yea the wylde beastes shall teare them.

⁹ O Israel [thine iniquitie] hath destroyed thee: but in me [only is] thy helpe.¹⁰ I am: where is thy king nowe that shoulde helpe thee in all thy cities? Yea and thy iudges of whom thou saydest, Geue me a king and princes.¹¹ I gaue thee a king in my wrath, and in my displeasure I toke him from thee agayne.¹² The wickednesse of Ephraim is bound together, and his sinne lyeth hyd.¹³ Therfore shall sorowes come vpon him as vpon a woman that trauayleth: an vndiscrete sonne is he, els woulde he not stande styll at the tyme of birth of children.¹⁴ I wyll redeeme them from the power of the graue, and deliuer them from death: O death, I wyll be thy death: O hell, I wyll be thy styng: yet can I see no comfort.¹⁵ Though he grewe among his brethren, the east wynde [euen] the wynde of the Lorde shall come vp from the wildernesse, and drye vp his veyne, and his fountaynes shalbe dryed vp: he shall spoyle the treasure of all pleasaunt vessels.¹⁶ Samaria shalbe made waste, for she is disobedient vnto her God: they shall perishe with the sworde, their children shalbe dasshed in peeces, and their women great with childe shalbe ript vp.