1For 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.)

2And 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.)

3Therefore 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.)

4Forsooth 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.)

5I knew thee in the desert, in the land of wilderness.

6By their pastures they were filled, and had abundance; they raised [up] their heart, and forgat me, (or then they raised up their hearts, and forgot me).

7And 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.)

8I as a female bear, when the whelps be ravished, shall meet them; and shall all-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, or I shall tear apart their innards. And like a lion I shall destroy them there; yea, I shall tear them apart like a wild beast.)

9Israel, thy perdition is of thee; thine help is only of me. (Israel, thy perdition (is from me); now who (can) help thee? or and now only I (can) help thee!)

10Where is thy king? mostly save he thee now in all thy cities; and where be thy judges, of which thou saidest, Give thou to me a king and princes? (Where is thy king now? let him save thee in all thy cities; and where be thy rulers, of whom thou saidest, Give thou me a king and princes?)

11I shall give to thee a king in my strong vengeance, and I shall take away in mine indignation. (I gave thee a king in my strong vengeance, and then in my indignation I took him away.)

12The wickedness of Ephraim is bound together; his sin is hid. (The wickedness of Ephraim is recorded; and the records of his sins be hidden away.)

13The sorrows of a woman travailing of child shall come to him; he is a son not wise. For now he shall not stand in the defouling of sons. (The sorrows of a woman labouring with child shall come to him; he is not a wise son, for he would not leave the place of his conceiving.)

14I shall deliver them from the hand of death, and I shall again-buy them from death. Thou death, I shall be thy death; thou hell, I shall be thy morsel. Comfort is hid from mine eyes, (But I shall save, or rescue, them from the hand of death, and I shall buy them back from death. O death, bring on thy death; O Sheol or O grave, bring on thy destruction. Mercy is hid from my eyes,)

15for he shall part betwixt brethren. The Lord shall bring a burning wind, going up from desert; and it shall make dry the veins thereof, and it shall make desolate the well(s) thereof; and he shall ravish the treasure of each desirable vessel. (and I shall divide between brothers. Yea, the Lord shall bring in a burning wind, going up from the desert; and it shall dry up their springs, and make their wells desolate; and it shall take away all their valuable treasures.)

16(Let) Samaria perish, for it stirred his God to bitterness; perish it by sword. The little children of them be hurtled down, and the women with child thereof be carved. (And so Samaria shall perish, for she stirred her God to bitterness; she shall perish by the sword. Their little children shall be hurtled down, and their women with child shall be carved, or cut, up.)