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¹ "When Ephraim speaks tremblingly, || He has been lifted up in Israel, || When he becomes guilty in Ba‘al he dies.² And now they sin, || And make for themselves a molten image of their silver, || By their own understanding—idols, || A work of artisans—all of it, || Of them they say, who [are] sacrificers among men, The calves let them kiss.³ Therefore they are as a cloud of the morning, || And as dew, rising early, going away, || As chaff tossed about out of a floor, || And as smoke out of a window.⁴ And I [am] your God YHWH from the land of Egypt, || And you do not know a God besides Me, || And a Savior—there is none except Me.

⁵ I have known you in a wilderness, || In a land of droughts.⁶ They are satiated according to their feedings, || They have been satiated, || And their heart is lifted up, || Therefore they have forgotten Me,⁷ And I am to them as a lion, || I look out as a leopard by the way.⁸ I meet them as a bereaved bear, || And I tear the enclosure of their heart, || And I consume them there as a lioness, || A beast of the field tears them.

⁹ You have destroyed yourself, O Israel, || But in Me [is] your help;¹⁰ Where [is] your king now—And he saves you in all your cities? And your judges of whom you said, || Give a king and heads to me?¹¹ I give to you a king in My anger, || And I take away in My wrath.¹² Bound up [is] the iniquity of Ephraim, || Hidden [is] his sin,¹³ Pangs of a travailing woman come to him, || He [is] not a wise son, || For he does not remain [at] the time for the breaking forth of sons.¹⁴ Will I ransom them from the hand of Sheol? Will I redeem them from death? Where [is] your plague, O death? Where your destruction, O Sheol? Comfort is hid from My eyes.¹⁵ Though he produces fruit among brothers, || An east wind comes in, a wind of YHWH, || From a wilderness it is coming up, || And it dries up his fountain, || And his spring becomes dry, || It—it spoils a treasure—every desirable vessel.¹⁶ Samaria becomes desolate, || Because she has been rebellious against her God, || They fall by sword, || Their sucklings are dashed in pieces, || And its pregnant ones are ripped up!"