10. Now where is your king?Let him save you!Where are all the leaders of the land,the king and the officials you demanded of me?
11. In my anger I gave you kings,and in my fury I took them away.
12. “Ephraim’s guilt has been collected,and his sin has been stored up for punishment.
13. Pain has come to the peoplelike the pain of childbirth,but they are like a childwho resists being born.The moment of birth has arrived,but they stay in the womb!
14. “Should I ransom them from the grave?Should I redeem them from death?O death, bring on your terrors!O grave, bring on your plagues!For I will not take pity on them.
15. Ephraim was the most fruitful of all his brothers,but the east wind—a blast from the lord—will arise in the desert.All their flowing springs will run dry,and all their wells will disappear.Every precious thing they ownwill be plundered and carried away.
16. The people of Samariamust bear the consequences of their guiltbecause they rebelled against their God.They will be killed by an invading army,their little ones dashed to death against the ground,their pregnant women ripped open by swords.”