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O Death, Where Are Your Plagues?

12 The guilt of Ephraim is stored up;
    his sins are kept on record.
13 He experiences the pangs of childbirth,
    but he is a child lacking in wisdom.
When his time for birth arrives,
    he does not leave the womb.
14 Shall I deliver them from the power of the netherworld?[a]
    Shall I redeem them from death?
O death, where are your plagues?
    O netherworld, where is your sting?
    Compassion will be banished from my sight.

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Footnotes

  1. Hosea 13:14 This verse affirms the Lord’s idea to destroy Israel. It is cited by St. Paul in a different sense (1 Cor 15:4f)—i.e., the sense of the final victory of life over death at the resurrection of the body on the last day achieved through the Passion and Resurrection of Christ.

12 The guilt of Ephraim is stored up,
    his sins are kept on record.(A)
13 Pains as of a woman in childbirth(B) come to him,
    but he is a child without wisdom;
when the time(C) arrives,
    he doesn’t have the sense to come out of the womb.(D)

14 “I will deliver this people from the power of the grave;(E)
    I will redeem them from death.(F)
Where, O death, are your plagues?
    Where, O grave, is your destruction?(G)

“I will have no compassion,

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