Study Desk

For this thing is from Israel— a craftsman made it, and it is not God. The calf of Samaria will be smashed to bits!

For they have gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey going off on its own. Ephraim has paid for love.

When Ephraim multiplied his altars for sin, they became his altars for sinning.

Though I were to write out for him ten thousand points of My instruction, they would be regarded as something strange.

Israel, do not rejoice jubilantly as the nations do, for you have acted promiscuously, leaving your God. You have loved the wages of a prostitute on every grain-threshing floor.

They will not pour out their wine offerings to the Lord , and their sacrifices will not please Him. Their food will be like the bread of mourners; all who eat it become defiled. For their bread will be for their appetites alone; it will not enter the house of the Lord .

For even if they flee from devastation, Egypt will gather them, and Memphis will bury them. Thistles will take possession of their precious silver; thorns will invade their tents.

All their evil appears at Gilgal, for there I came to hate them. I will drive them from My house because of their evil, wicked actions. I will no longer love them; all their leaders are rebellious.

Israel is a lush vine; it yields fruit for itself. The more his fruit increased, the more he increased the altars. The better his land produced, the better they made the sacred pillars.

In fact, they are now saying, "We have no king! For we do not fear the Lord . What can a king do for us?"

I will discipline them at My discretion; nations will be gathered against them to put them in bondage for their two crimes.

Sow righteousness for yourselves and reap faithful love; break up your unplowed ground. It is time to seek the Lord until He comes and sends righteousness on you like the rain.

I will not vent the full fury of My anger; I will not turn back to destroy Ephraim. For I am God and not man, the Holy One among you; I will not come in rage.

But Ephraim says: "How rich I have become; I made it all myself. In all my earnings, no one can find any crime in me that I can be punished for!"

Jacob fled to the land of Aram. Israel worked to earn a wife; he tended flocks for a wife.

Ephraim has provoked bitter anger, so his Lord will leave his bloodguilt on him and repay him for his contempt.

Israel, return to Yahweh your God, for you have stumbled in your sin.

Assyria will not save us, we will not ride on horses, and we will no longer proclaim, ‘Our gods!' to the work of our hands. For the fatherless receives compassion in You."

I will heal their apostasy; I will freely love them, for My anger will have turned from him.

Let whoever is wise understand these things, and whoever is insightful recognize them. For the ways of the Lord are right, and the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.