Hosea 13:4-14

¶Yet I have been the LORD your God Since [the time you became a nation in] the land of Egypt; And you were not to know any god except Me, For there is no savior besides Me. I knew and regarded you and cared for you in the wilderness, In the land of drought. When they had their pasture, they became satisfied, And being satisfied, their heart became proud (self-centered); Therefore they forgot Me. So I will be like a lion to them; Like a leopard I will watch and lie in wait [ready to attack] by the road [to Assyria]. I will encounter them like a bear robbed of her cubs, And I will tear open their chests; There I will also devour them like a lioness, As a wild beast would tear them. ¶It is your destruction, O Israel, Because you are against Me, [and have rebelled] against your help. Where now is your king That he may save you [when you are attacked] in all your cities? And your judges of whom you asked, “Give me a king and princes”? I gave you a king in My anger, And I took him away in My wrath [as punishment]. ¶The wickedness of Ephraim [which is not yet completely punished] is bound up [as in a bag]; His sin is stored up [for judgment and destruction]. The pains of childbirth come on him; But he is not a wise son, For it is not the time to delay [his chance at a new birth] as the womb opens [but he ignores the opportunity to change]. Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol (the place of the dead)? Shall I redeem them from death? O death, where are your thorns? O Sheol, where is your sting? Compassion is hidden from My eyes [because of their failure to repent]. [1 Cor 15:55]