Chapter 13
The Cult of Calves
1 When Ephraim spoke, the people trembled;
he was exalted in Israel,
but he incurred guilt by worshiping Baal, and died.
2 And now the people continue to sin even more
by casting images for themselves,
idols of silver fashioned after their own concept,
all of them the work of artisans.
They say, “Offer sacrifices to these,”
and people kiss the calf-idols.
3 Therefore, they will be like the morning mist
or like the dew that quickly fades away,
like chaff that a storm drives from the threshing floor,
or like smoke escaping through a window.
You Know No God but Me, Nor Any Savior Other than Me
4 I am the Lord, your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
You know no God but me,
nor any savior other than me.
5 I cared for you in the desert,
in the land of burning heat.
6 When I fed them, they were satisfied;
when they were satisfied, they became proud of heart
and quickly forgot me.
7 So now I will be like a lion to them;
like a leopard I will lurk beside the road.
8 Like a bear robbed of her cubs, I will attack them
and rip their hearts from their breasts.
Like a lion I will devour them;
like a wild beast I will tear them apart.
9 You are destroyed, O Israel;
who is there to help you?
10 Where now is your king
that he may save you?
Where in all your cities are your rulers,
about whom you said,
“Give me a king and rulers”?
11 I gave you a king in my anger,
and in my wrath I took him away.[a]
O Death, Where Are Your Plagues?
12 The guilt of Ephraim is stored up;
his sins are kept on record.
13 He experiences the pangs of childbirth,
but he is a child lacking in wisdom.
When his time for birth arrives,
he does not leave the womb.
14 Shall I deliver them from the power of the netherworld?[b]
Shall I redeem them from death?
O death, where are your plagues?
O netherworld, where is your sting?
Compassion will be banished from my sight.
15 Although Ephraim may be more fruitful than his brothers,
an east wind[c] from the Lord will come,
rising from the desert,
causing his springs to be arid
and his fountain to dry up.
His treasury will be plundered
of every precious thing.
Footnotes
- Hosea 13:11 I gave you a king in my anger, and in my wrath I took him away: the Lord chastises the people of the northern kingdom by sending them inept kings.
- Hosea 13:14 This verse affirms the Lord’s idea to destroy Israel. It is cited by St. Paul in a different sense (1 Cor 15:4f)—i.e., the sense of the final victory of life over death at the resurrection of the body on the last day achieved through the Passion and Resurrection of Christ.
- Hosea 13:15 East wind: an image of the Assyrian armies.