Hosea 13:1-9

1 For Ephraim spake, hideousness assailed Israel; and he trespassed in Baal, and was dead. (For when the people of Ephraim spoke, fear, or terror, assailed the other Israelites; and they trespassed by worshipping Baal, and many died.)
2 And now they added to do sin, and made to them a molten image of their silver, as the likeness of idols; all is the making of craftsmen. To these they say, A! ye men, offer, and worship calves. (And they added to do more sin, and made for themselves a cast image, and idols made out of silver; yea, all the making of craftsmen. To whom they say, O! ye men, offer to these, and worship the calves.)
3 Therefore they shall be as a morrowtide cloud, and as the dew of morrowtide, that passeth forth, as dust ravished by whirlwind from the cornfloor, and as smoke of a chimney. (And so they shall be like a morning cloud, and like the morning dew, that passeth away, and like the dust that is taken up by the whirlwind from the threshing floor, and like the smoke out of a chimney.)
4 Forsooth I am thy Lord God from the land of Egypt; and thou shalt not know God, except me, and no saviour is, except me. (But I am the Lord thy God since thy days in the land of Egypt; and thou shalt know no other god, except me, and there is no other saviour, except me.)
5 I knew thee in the desert, in the land of wilderness.
6 By their pastures they were filled, and had abundance; they raised [up] their heart, and forgat me (then they raised up their hearts, and forgot me).
7 And I shall be as a lioness to them, as a leopard in the way of Assyrians. (And I shall be like a lioness to them, I shall watch them like a leopard by the wayside.)
8 I as a female bear, when the whelps be ravished, shall meet them; and shall break the inner things of the maw of them. And I as a lion shall waste them there; a beast of the field shall rend them. (I shall meet them like a female bear, robbed of her cubs, and I shall break the inner things of their maw/and I shall tear apart their innards. And like a lion I shall destroy them there; and I shall tear them apart like a wild beast.)
9 Israel, thy perdition is of thee; thine help is only of me. (Israel, thy perdition is from me; now who can help thee?/and now only I can help thee!)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.