7
So I will be 1like a lion to them; Like a 2leopard I will lie in wait by the wayside.
8
I will encounter them 3like a bearrobbed of her cubs, And I will tear open their chests*; There I will also 4devour them like a lioness, As a wildbeast would tear them.
9
It is your destruction, O Israel, That you are 5against Me, against your 6help.
10
Wherenow is your 7king That he may save you in all your cities, And your 8judges of whom you requested, "Give me a king and princes "?
11
I 9gave you a king in My anger And 10took him away in My wrath.
12
The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; His sin is 11stored up.
13
The pains of 12childbirthcome upon him; He is 13not a wiseson, For it is not the time that he should 14delay at the opening* of the womb.
14
Shall I 15ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from death? 16O Death, where are your thorns? O Sheol, where is your sting? 17Compassion will be hidden from My sight.
15
Though he 18flourishesamong the reeds, An 19eastwind will come, The wind of the LORDcoming up from the wilderness; And his fountain will 20becomedry And his spring will be dried up; It will 21plunder his treasury of everypreciousarticle.
16
Samaria will be held22guilty, For she has 23rebelled against her God. 24They will fall by the 25sword, Their littleones will be 26dashed in pieces, And their pregnant27women will be rippedopen.