Jacob in Aram, Israel in Egypt, and Ephraim in Trouble

12 Jacob fled to the country of Aram,

then Israel worked to acquire a wife;

he tended sheep to pay for her.

13 The Lord brought Israel out of Egypt by a prophet,

and due to a prophet Israel was preserved alive.

14 But Ephraim bitterly provoked him to anger;

so he will hold him accountable for the blood he has shed,

his Lord will repay him for the contempt he has shown.

13 When Ephraim spoke, there was terror;

he was exalted in Israel,

but he became guilty by worshiping Baal and died.

2 Even now they persist in sin!

They make metal images for themselves,

idols that they skillfully fashion from their own silver;

all of them are nothing but the work of craftsmen!

There is a saying about them:

“Those who sacrifice to the calf idol are calf kissers!”

3 Therefore they will disappear like the morning mist,

like early morning dew that evaporates,

like chaff that is blown away from a threshing floor,

like smoke that disappears through an open window.