Read the Bible

¹ "When Efrayim spoke, there was trembling;
he was a power in Isra'el.
But when he incurred guilt through Ba‘al,
he died.
² So now they keep adding sin to sin,
casting images from their silver;
idols they invent for themselves,
all of them the work of craftsmen.
‘Sacrifice to them,' they say.
Men give kisses to calves!
³ Therefore they will be like a morning cloud,
like the dew that disappears early,
like chaff blown by wind from the threshing-floor,
or like smoke that goes out the window.
⁴ Still, I am Adonai your God,
from the land of Egypt;
and you don't know any God but me
or, other than me, any Savior.
⁵ I knew you in the desert,
in a land of terrible drought.
⁶ When they were fed, they were satisfied;
when satisfied, they became proud.
Therefore they forgot me.
⁷ So now I have become like a lion to them;
like a leopard I will lurk by the road;
⁸ I will meet them like a bear
whose cubs have been taken away.
I will tear their hearts from their bodies.
I will devour them there like a lion,
like a wild animal ripping them up.
⁹ It is your destruction, Isra'el,
although your help is in me.
¹⁰ So now, where is your king,
to save you in all your cities?
Where are your judges, of whom you said,
‘Give me a king and leaders'?
¹¹ I gave you a king in my anger;
and in my fury I took him away.

¹² "Efrayim's guilt has been wrapped up,
his sin is stored away.
¹³ The pain of being born will come to him;
but he is an unwise son.
The time has come; and he shouldn't delay,
there at the mouth of the womb.
¹⁴ Should I ransom them from the power of Sh'ol?
Should I redeem them from death?
Where are your plagues, death;
where is your destruction, Sh'ol?
My eyes are closed to compassion.
¹⁵ For though he flourishes among the reeds,
an east wind will come, a wind from Adonai,
blowing up from the desert.
Then his water source will dry up,
then his spring will fail —
it will plunder his treasury,
removing every precious thing."