Hosea 13:13-15
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
13 [a]The birth pangs will come for him,(A)
but this is an unwise child,
Who, when it is time, does not present himself
at the mouth of the womb.(B)
14 [b]Shall I deliver them from the power of Sheol?
shall I redeem them from death?
Where are your plagues, O death!
where is your sting, Sheol!(C)
Compassion is hidden from my eyes.
15 Though Ephraim[c] may flourish among his brothers,
an east wind(D) will come, a wind from the Lord,
rising from the wilderness,
That will dry up his spring,
and leave his fountain dry.
It will loot his treasury
of every precious thing.
Footnotes
- 13:13 Ephraim will die along with its stored-up sin, just as a mother dies along with a child that she cannot deliver.
- 13:14 God calls upon “death” and “Sheol” to send their auxiliaries, “plagues” and “sting,” to punish Israel (Hb 3:5; Ps 91:6). Paul uses this text in a different way to speak about the victory over death (1 Cor 15:54–55).
- 13:15 Although “Ephraim” is not explicitly mentioned in the text (the Hebrew text has the word “he”), the wordplay with the Hebrew word for “flourish” (yaphrî’) suggests the use of “Ephraim” in the translation. Wind: possibly Assyria.
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