Yahweh’s Judgment on Idolatrous Israel

• he was exalted in Israel,
  • but he incurred guilt through Baal and died.
  • 2 And now they sin again, and they make for themselves a molten idol,
• idols from their silver metal according to their understanding,
  • all of them the work of skilled craftsmen.
• To these they say, “Sacrifice!”
  • People are kissing bull calves.
  • 3 Therefore, they will be like the morning cloud, and like the dew of early morning going away,
• like chaff swirling from the threshing floor,
  • or like smoke from a window.
  • 4 I am Yahweh your God since[fn] the land of Egypt;
• you know no god except me,
  • and no one saves besides me.
  • 5 I fed you[fn] in the desert, in the land of drought.
  • 6 When I fed them,[fn] they were satisfied; they were satisfied and their heart was lifted up;
    • therefore they forgot me.
  • 7 And I will be like a lion to them; I lie in wait beside the way, like a leopard.
  • 8 I will attack them like a bear robbed of her offspring, and I will tear open the covering of their heart;
• there I will devour them like a lion,
  • like an animal of the field would mutilate them.
  • 9 I will destroy you,[fn] O Israel; who will help you?[fn]
  • 10 Where now is your king that he may save you? Where in all your cities are your judges,
• of whom you said, “Give to
  • me a king and rulers?”
  • 11 I gave you a king in my anger, and I took him in my wrath.
  • 12 The sin of Ephraim is wrapped up; his sin is concealed.
  • 13 The labor pains of childbirth come for him; he is an unwise son
• because at the proper time, he does not present himself
  • at the mouth of the womb .[fn]
  • 14 Should I redeem them from the power[fn] of Sheol? [fn] Should I deliver them from death?
• Where are your plagues, O Death?
  • Where is your destruction, O Sheol?[fn]
• Compassion is hidden from my eyes.
• 15 Although he may flourish among reeds,[fn] the east wind will come, a wind of Yahweh
  • rising from the desert;
• his fountain will dry up,
  • his spring will be parched.
• It will plunder his treasury,[fn]
  • every object of desire.
• [fn] Samaria will be guilty,
  • because she has rebelled against her God;
• they will fall by the sword,
  • their children will be dashed to pieces,
  • and their pregnant women will be ripped open.