3. Therefore, they will be like the morning mist,like the dew that passes away early,like husks that swirl from the threshing floor,or like smoke from a window.
4. Yet I have been the Lord your Godever since the land of Egypt;and you will know no other gods but me;there is no savior besides me.
5. I knew you in the wilderness,in the land of no rain.
6. When I fed them, they were satisfied;and their hearts became proud;therefore, they forgot me.
7. So I will become like a lion to them;like a leopard I will lurk beside the road.
8. I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs,and I will tear open the covering of their hearts.I will devour them like a lion,as a wild animal would eat them.
9. I will destroy you, Israel;for you didn’t realize that I could help you.
10. Where is your king now,so that he can save you?Where in all your cities are your judges,of whom you said,"Give me a king and rulers"?
11. I gave you a king in my anger,and I took him away in my wrath.
12. Ephraim’s wickedness is bound up;his sin is kept in store.
13. The pangs of a woman in childbirth come for him,but he is not aware of the time to be born;for at the proper time he doesn’t present himselfat the mouth of the womb.