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¹ WHEN Ephraim spoke, the people trembled; he became great in Israel; but when he was found guilty of Baal worship, he lost his power.² And even now they sin more and more, and have made to themselves molten images of their silver, and idols in their own likeness, the work of a carpenter; they said to the people, Let those men who sacrifice men kiss the image of the calf.³ Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud and as the early dew that passes away, as the chaff that is driven with the wind out of the threshing floor and as the smoke out of the chimney.⁴ Yet I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and you shall know no God but me; therefore there is no one who can save besides me.

⁵ It was I who fed you in the wilderness, in a desolate land which is uninhabited.⁶ I fed them, and they were filled; and their heart was exalted; therefore they have forgotten me.⁷ Hence I will be to them like a lion; like a leopard by the way of Assyria.⁸ I will meet them like a bear that tears its prey in pieces, and I will pierce the crust of their heart; and there a lion shall devour them; the wild beast shall tear them.

⁹ O Israel, you have corrupted yourself; who can help you?¹⁰ Where now is your king? Let him save you, and all your cities? And your judge of whom you said, Give me a king and a prince?¹¹ I gave you a king in my anger, and took him away in my wrath.¹² The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is hid.¹³ The pangs like those of a woman in travail shall come upon him because he is an unwise son; for now he shall not be in pain of childbirth.¹⁴ I will save them from the power of Sheol; I will deliver them from death, O death, where is your victory? O Sheol, where is your sting? Consolation is hidden from my eyes.¹⁵ Because he shall be separated from his brothers, an east wind shall come, the wind of the LORD shall blow from the wilderness and dry up his fountains, and his springs shall be dried up; it shall spoil the treasure of all valuable vessels.¹⁶ Samaria shall be condemned because she has rebelled against her God; they shall fall by the sword; their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.