Hosea 13:1-8 ▼

1 When Ephraim spoke, [there was] trembling. He exalted himself in Israel, But through Baal he did wrong and died.

2 And now they sin more and more, And make for themselves molten images, Idols skillfully made from their silver, All of them the work of craftsmen. They say of them, |Let the men who sacrifice kiss the calves!|

3 Therefore they will be like the morning cloud And like dew which soon disappears, Like chaff which is blown away from the threshing floor And like smoke from a chimney.

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.

5 I cared for you in the wilderness, In the land of drought.

6 As [they had] their pasture, they became satisfied, And being satisfied, their heart became proud; Therefore they forgot Me.

7 So I will be like a lion to them; Like a leopard I will lie in wait by the wayside.

8 I will encounter them like a bear robbed of her cubs, And I will tear open their chests; There I will also devour them like a lioness, [As] a wild beast would tear them.