1  When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling;

he was exalted in Israel,

but he incurred guilt through Baal and died.

2  And now they sin more and more,

and make for themselves metal images,

idols skillfully made of their silver,

all of them the work of craftsmen.

It is said of them,

“Those who offer human sacrifice ^ukiss ^vcalves!”

3  Therefore they shall be ^wlike the morning mist

or like the dew that goes early away,

like the chaff that swirls from the threshing floor

or like smoke from a window.

4  But ^xI am the Lord your God

from the land of Egypt;

you know no God but me,

and ^ybesides me there is no savior.

5  It was I who knew you in the ^zwilderness,

in the land of drought;

6  but when they had grazed,¹ they became full,

they were filled, and their heart was lifted up;

therefore they ^aforgot me.

7  So I am to them like a lion;

like a leopard I will lurk beside the way.

8  I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs;

I will tear open their breast,

and there I will devour them like a lion,

as a wild beast would rip them open.

9  He destroys² you, O Israel,

for you are against me, against ^byour helper.

10  Where now is your king, to save you in all your cities?

Where are all your rulers—

those of whom you said,

^c“Give me a king and princes”?

11  I gave you a king in my anger,

and I took him away in my wrath.

12  The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up;

his sin is kept in store.

13  The pangs of childbirth come for him,

but he is an unwise son,

for at the right time he does not present himself

at the opening of the womb.

14  I shall ^dransom them from the power of Sheol;

^eI shall redeem them from Death.³

^fO Death, where are your plagues?

O Sheol, where is your sting?

Compassion is hidden from my eyes.

15  Though he may flourish among his brothers,

the east ^gwind, the wind of the Lord, shall come,

rising from the wilderness,

and his fountain shall dry up;

his spring shall be parched;

it shall strip his treasury

of every precious thing.

16  ⁴ Samaria shall ^hbear her guilt,

because she has rebelled against her God;

they shall fall by the sword;

their little ones shall be ⁱdashed in pieces,

and their pregnant women ^jripped open.

1  Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,

for you have ^kstumbled because of your iniquity.

2  Take with you words

and return to the Lord;

say to him,

“Take away all iniquity;

accept what is good,

and we will pay with bulls

the vows⁵ of our lips.

3  ^lAssyria shall not save us;

^mwe will not ride on horses;

and we will say no more, ‘Our God,’

to the work of our hands.

ⁿIn you the orphan finds mercy.”

4  ^oI will ^pheal their apostasy;

I will love them freely,

for my anger has turned from them.

5  I will be like the dew to Israel;

^qhe shall blossom like the lily;

he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon;

6  his shoots shall spread out;

his beauty shall be like the olive,

and his fragrance like Lebanon.

7  They shall return and dwell beneath my^{6 r}shadow;

they shall flourish like the grain;

they shall blossom like the vine;

their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

8  O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols?

It is I who answer and look after you.⁷

I am like an evergreen cypress;

from me comes your fruit.

9  ^sWhoever is wise, let him understand these things;

whoever is discerning, let him know them;

for the ways of the Lord are right,

and the upright walk in them,

but transgressors stumble in them.