Hosea 13:4-14

Common English Bible

⁴ Yet I have been the Lord your God
        ever since the land of Egypt;
    and you will know no other gods but me;
        there is no savior besides me.
⁵ I knew you in the wilderness,
        in the land of no rain.
⁶ When I fed them, they were satisfied;
        and their hearts became proud;
        therefore, they forgot me.

⁷ So I will become like a lion to them;
        like a leopard I will lurk beside the road.
⁸ I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs,
        and I will tear open the covering of their hearts.
    I will devour them like a lion,
        as a wild animal would eat them.
⁹ I will destroy you, Israel;
        for you didn’t realize that I could help you.
¹⁰ Where is your king now,
        so that he can save you?
    Where in all your cities are your judges,
        of whom you said,
        “Give me a king and rulers”?
¹¹ I gave you a king in my anger,
        and I took him away in my wrath.
¹² Ephraim’s wickedness is bound up;
        his sin is kept in store.
¹³ The pangs of a woman in childbirth come for him,
        but he is not aware of the time to be born;
    for at the proper time he doesn’t present himself
        at the mouth of the womb.
¹⁴ Will I ransom them from the power of the grave^[a]
        Will I redeem them from death’s hold?
    Death, where are your diseases?
        Grave,^[b] where is your destruction?
        Compassion is hidden from my eyes.