13:1 When Ephraim ①spoke, there was trembling.
He exalted himself in Israel,
But through Baal he incurred guilt and died.
▷ ①Or spoke with trembling, he exalted
13:2 And now they sin more and more,
And make for themselves cast metal images,
Idols ①skillfully made from their silver,
All of them the work of craftsmen.
They say of them, “Let the ②people who sacrifice kiss the calves!”
▷ ①Or according to their skill ②Lit sacrificers of; or among mankind
13:3 Therefore they will be like the morning cloud
And like dew which ①soon disappears,
Like chaff which is blown away from the threshing floor,
And like smoke from a chimney.
▷ ①Lit goes away early
13:4 Yet I have been the LORD your God
Since the land of Egypt;
And you were not to know any god except Me,
For there is no savior besides Me.
13:5 I ①cared for you in the wilderness,
In the land of drought.
▷ ①Or knew
13:6 As they had their pasture, they became satisfied,
And as they became satisfied, their heart became proud;
Therefore they forgot Me.
13:7 So I will be like a lion to them;
Like a leopard I will ①lie in wait by the wayside.
▷ ①Or watch
13:8 I will confront them like a bear deprived of her cubs,
And I will tear open ①their chests;
I will also devour them there like a lioness,
As a wild animal would tear them to pieces.
▷ ①Lit the enclosure of their heart
13:9 ①It is to your own destruction, Israel,
That you are against Me, against your help.
▷ ①Lit It has destroyed you
13:10 Where then is your king,
That he might save you in all your cities;
And your judges, to whom you said,
“Give me a king and princes”?
13:11 I gave you a king in My anger,
And took him away in My wrath.
13:12 The guilt of Ephraim is wrapped up;
His sin is stored up.
13:13 The pains of childbirth come on him;
He is not a wise son,
For ①it is not the time that he should delay at the opening of the womb.
▷ ①Lit it is the time that he should not remain at the opening of children
13:14 Shall I ransom them from the ①power of Sheol?
Shall I redeem them from death?
Death, where are your ②thorns?
Sheol, where is your sting?
Compassion will be hidden from My sight.
▷ ①Lit hand ②Or stings
13:15 Though he flourishes among the ①reeds,
An east wind will come,
The wind of the LORD coming up from the wilderness;
And his fountain will become dry
And his spring will dry up;
It will plunder his treasury of every precious article.
▷ ①Another reading is brothers
13:16 ①Samaria will pay the penalty for her guilt,
Because she has rebelled against her God.
They will fall by the sword,
Their children will be ②slaughtered,
And their pregnant women will be ripped open.
▷ ①Ch 14:1 in Heb ②Lit shattered