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¹ When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling;
    ^(a)he was exalted in Israel,
    but he incurred guilt ^(b)through Baal and died.
² And now they sin more and more,
    and ^(c)make for themselves metal images,
idols skillfully made of their silver,
    ^(d)all of them the work of craftsmen.
It is said of them,
    "Those who offer human sacrifice ^(e)kiss calves!"
³ Therefore they shall be ^(f)like the morning mist
    or ^(g)like the dew that goes early away,
^(h)like the chaff that swirls from the threshing floor
    or ⁽ⁱ⁾like smoke from a window.

⁴ But ^(j)I am the Lord your God
    from the land of Egypt;
^(k)you know no God but me,
    and ^(l)besides me there is no savior.
^5 (m)It was I who knew you in the wilderness,
    in the land of drought;
^6 (n)but when they had grazed,^[a] they became full,
    ^(o)they were filled, and their heart was lifted up;
    ^(p)therefore they forgot me.
⁷ So ^(q)I am to them like a lion;
    ^(r)like a leopard I will lurk beside the way.
⁸ I will fall upon them ^(s)like a bear robbed of her cubs;
    I will tear open their breast,
and there I will devour them like a lion,
    ^(t)as a wild beast would rip them open.

⁹ He destroys^[b] you, O Israel,
    for you are against me, against ^(u)your helper.
^10 (v)Where now is your king, to save you in all your cities?
    Where are all your rulers—
those of whom ^(w)you said,
    "Give me a king and princes"?
^11 (x)I gave you a king in my anger,
    and ^(y)I took him away in my wrath.

¹² The iniquity of Ephraim is ^(z)bound up;
    his sin is ^(aa)kept in store.
^13 (ab)The pangs of childbirth come for him,
    but he is an unwise son,
for at the right time he does not present himself
    ^(ac)at the opening of the womb.

^14 (ad)I shall ransom them from the power of Sheol;
    ^(ae)I shall redeem them from Death.^[c]
(af)O ^(ag)Death, where are your plagues?
    ^(ah)O ^(ai)Sheol, where is your sting?
    ^(aj)Compassion is hidden from my eyes.

¹⁵ Though ^(ak)he may flourish among his brothers,
    ^(al)the east wind, the wind of the Lord, shall come,
    rising from the wilderness,
^(am)and his fountain shall dry up;
    his spring shall be parched;
it shall strip ^(an)his treasury
    of every precious thing.
^16 [d] Samaria ^(ao)shall bear her guilt,
    because ^(ap)she has rebelled against her God;
they shall fall by the sword;
    ^(aq)their little ones shall be dashed in pieces,
    and their ^(ar)pregnant women ripped open.