Hosea 13:1-11

New American Standard Bible

Ephraim’s Idolatry

13 ^(A)When Ephraim ^[a]spoke, there was trembling.
He ^(B)exalted himself in Israel,
But through ^(C)Baal he incurred guilt and died.
²And now they sin more and more,
And make for themselves ^(D)cast metal images,
Idols ^[b]^(E)skillfully made from their silver,
All of them the ^(F)work of craftsmen.
They say of them, “Let the ^[c]people who sacrifice kiss the ^(G)calves!”
³Therefore they will be like the ^(H)morning cloud
And like dew which ^[d]soon disappears,
Like ^(I)chaff which is blown away from the threshing floor,
And like ^(J)smoke from a chimney.

⁴Yet I have been the ^(K)Lord your God
Since the land of Egypt;
And you were not to know ^(L)any god except Me,
For there is no savior ^(M)besides Me.
⁵I ^[e]^(N)cared for you in the wilderness,
^(O)In the land of drought.
⁶As they had their pasture, they became ^(P)satisfied,
And as they became satisfied, their ^(Q)heart became proud;
Therefore they ^(R)forgot Me.
⁷So I will be ^(S)like a lion to them;
Like a ^(T)leopard I will ^[f]lie in wait by the wayside.
⁸I will confront them ^(U)like a bear deprived of her cubs,
And I will tear open ^[g]their chests;
I will also ^(V)devour them there like a lioness,
As a wild animal would tear them to pieces.

⁹^[h]It is to your own destruction, Israel,
That you are ^(W)against Me, against your ^(X)help.
¹⁰Where then is your ^(Y)king,
That he might save you in all your cities;
And your ^(Z)judges, to whom you said,
“Give me a king and princes”?
¹¹I ^(AA)gave you a king in My anger,
And ^(AB)took him away in My wrath.