Hosea 13:1–8

[1] When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling;

he was exalted in Israel,

but he incurred guilt through Baal and died.

[2] And now they sin more and more,

and make for themselves metal images,

idols skillfully made of their silver,

all of them the work of craftsmen.

It is said of them,

“Those who offer human sacrifice kiss calves!”

[3] Therefore they shall be like the morning mist

or like the dew that goes early away,

like the chaff that swirls from the threshing floor

or like smoke from a window.

[4] But I am the LORD your God

from the land of Egypt;

you know no God but me,

and besides me there is no savior.

[5] It was I who knew you in the wilderness,

in the land of drought;

[6] but when they had grazed, they became full,

they were filled, and their heart was lifted up;

therefore they forgot me.

[7] So I am to them like a lion;

like a leopard I will lurk beside the way.

[8] I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs;

I will tear open their breast,

and there I will devour them like a lion,

as a wild beast would rip them open.