Jerome : "While Ephraim was speaking, horror invaded Israel, and he sinned in Baal and died, and now they have added more sins. They made an idol for themselves from their silver, resembling the idols made by craftsmen. They say of them, "Let them sacrifice humans and adore calves."" LXX: "According to the word, Ephraim received justification in Israel, and placed it by Baal, and he died, and now he has appointed himself to sin, and they have made for themselves a molten image of gold and silver, according to the likeness of idols, the work of craftsmen complete; they say to them, 'Offer men, for the calves have failed.'" Because the seventy [translators] interpreted "Slay ye men, for the calves are failing," and we render [it], "Slay ye men that worship calves"; and Symmachus has interpreted [it], "Slay ye, men, [those] who worship calves"; so that the sense is, "Slay, that is, sacrifice to the idols, and thus let the distinction follow: rational animals, [namely] men, worship calves; mute animals [worship calves]." Therefore, when Ephraim spoke, that is, Jeroboam son of Nabat from the tribe of Ephraim, horror invaded Israel, that is, the ten tribes. For "horror," which is said in Hebrew Rathath, which Symmachus and Theodotion interpreted as "tremor"; while wishing for something, they translated δικαιώματα, that is, "justifications," in the LXX. And so great a horror invaded Israel, that he sinned and offended God in Baal and died, losing him who said, "I am the life" (John XIV, 6). For every soul that sins shall die (Ezekiel 18). And the Apostle said: "But she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, let her trust in God, and continue in supplications and prayers night and day. For she that liveth in pleasures is dead while she is living" (I Timothy 5:5-6). And not only was he dead in Baal, but he also added sins to sins, so that from the silver which the Lord had given, idols were made, the work of men's hands. To which they themselves say, that is, the priests and princes who ought to have taught the people good things: "Slay men, worshipping calves"; which is also said in the Psalms: "They sacrificed their sons and daughters to devils" (Psalms 106:37). Because we translate it according to Symmachus and Theodotion, as "adoring;" but Aquila interpreted it as καταφιλοῦντες, that is, "kissing." For those who adore, they are accustomed to kiss their own hand; which Job denies having done, saying: "If I have kissed my hand with my mouth and my right hand the envious man hath deserved it" (Job 31:27-28). But, as some believe, if demons speak to the people saying, "Sacrifice men, for the calves have failed," then their appetite is revealed of those who are nourished by the blood of the victims and the smoke of the holocausts because as the victims run short, they desire to have men sacrificed to them, not only with their death but also with their blood. But, as the heretics spoke, rather the leaders of the heretics, that is, Ephraim, horror and trembling invaded the unhappy people; and they fell into idols, which they fashioned from their own hearts, and died with the people they seduced. And it is not enough to have fallen, but they also turn the tongue that they received to sing to God into images of idols, and compose dogma with eloquent words similar to truth, which is nothing else but an invention of human wickedness. And they command their disciples, that they themselves also sacrifice men, that is, are furious against the Church of God, and lead them to heretics, and kill those whom they have deceived; And what follows, "The calves have failed," has this meaning: Do not seek those whom you have deceived from the Gentiles, who are called brute animals; but seize them, sacrifice them, who are established in the Church, are considered in the name of Christ, and are called men. — Commentary on Hosea 13:1-2