1When Ephrayim spoke there was trembling, he was lifted up in Yisra’ĕl. But through Ba‛al he became guilty, and he died.

2And now they sin more and more, and make for themselves moulded images from their silver, idols according to their skill, all of them the work of craftsmen. They say of them, “Let the men who slaughter kiss the calves!”

3Therefore they shall be like a morning cloud, and like dew that goes away early, like chaff blown off from a threshing-floor, and like smoke from a window.

4“But I am יהוה your Elohim since the land of Mitsrayim, and an Elohim besides Me you shall not know, for there is no Saviour besides Me.

5“I knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought.

6“When they were fed they were satisfied. They were satisfied and their heart was exalted, therefore they forgot Me.

7“So I am become like a lion to them, like a leopard I watch by the way,

8like a bear robbed of her young I attack them and rip open the enclosure of their heart. And there I devour them like a lion, a wild beast tear them apart.

9“You have destroyed yourself, O Yisra’ĕl, but your help is in Me.

10“Where is your sovereign now to save you in all your cities, and your rulers of whom you said, ‘Give me a sovereign and rulers’?

11“I gave you a sovereign in My displeasure, but I took him away in My wrath.

12“The crookedness of Ephrayim is bound up, his sin is hidden.

13“Pains of a woman in labour shall come upon him. He is not a wise son, for it is not the time that he should delay at the breaking forth of children.

14“From the power of the grave I ransom them, from death I redeem them. Where is your plague, O Death? Where is your destruction, O Grave? Repentance is hidden from My eyes.

15“Though he bears fruit among his brothers, an east wind comes, a wind from יהוה comes up from the wilderness, and it dries up his fountain, and his spring becomes dry – it plunders a treasure of all desirable objects.

16“Shomeron is held guilty, for she has rebelled against her Elohim – they fall by the sword, their infants are dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.”