1 When Ephraim spoke, [there was] terror; 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 the land of Egypt; you know no god except me, and no one saves besides me.
5 I fed you in the desert, in the land of drought.
6 When I fed them, 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, Israel; who will help you?
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}.
14 Should I redeem them from {the power} of Sheol? Should I deliver them from death? Where [are] your plagues, Death? Where [is] your destruction, Sheol? Compassion is hidden from my eyes.
15 Although he may flourish among reeds, [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, every object of desire.