Hosea Chapter 13

Yahveh’s Anger at Israel

¹ When Ephraim spoke, people cringed;

            he made himself important in Israel,

            but because of Baal he became guilty and died.

² Now his people sin more and more

      and make molten images,

            idols skillfully formed from silver,

            all made by craftsmen.

      They say, “Sacrifice to them,

                        kiss the calf idols!”

³ So they’ll be like morning mist,

      like dew that dries off soon,

      like chaff blown from a threshing floor,

      like smoke from a chimney.                                            

Hos 13:1-3

⁴ “Yet I’ve been Yahveh your God since Egypt;

      you weren’t to know any God but me

            because there is no savior but me.

⁵ I took care of you in the desert,

      in a land of drought.

⁶ But when you got to pasture,

      fed to the full and satisfied,

      you got independent and forgot about me.

⁷ So I’ll be like a lion to you

      and lie in wait by the road like a leopard.

⁸ I’ll attack you like a bear robbed of her cubs

      and tear your chests open.

I’ll devour you like a lioness

      and maul you like a wild animal.                                    

Hos 13:4-8

⁹ “It’s to your destruction, Israel,

      that you’re against me, your help.

¹⁰ Where’s your king

      that’s going to save you in all your towns?

Where are the officials you requested,

      ‘Give me a king and officials’?

¹¹ I gave you a king in my anger

      and took him away in my wrath.                          

¹² “The iniquity of Ephraim has been collected

      and stored up for retribution.

¹³ The pains of childbirth have come on him;

      he’s not a very smart son;

            it’s too late to keep from being born.

Hos 13:9-13

¹⁴ “Should I ransom him from Sheol?

      Should I redeem him from death?

      No, I won’t show him mercy; so

            Death, where are your thorns?

            Death, where is your sting?

            Bring it.                                                          

¹⁵ Though he’s flourishing like a reed,

      an east wind will come—

            Yahveh’s wind from the desert—

      and dry up his fountain;

            his spring will go dry.

      It will ‘blow away’ every precious article in his treasury.

¹⁶ Samaria will bear the consequences of his guilt

      because he rebelled against his God:

            his residents will fall by the sword;

            his little ones will be dashed to pieces;

            his pregnant women will be ripped open.”               

Hos 13:14-16