Study Desk

All their evil appears at Gilgal, for there I hated them. I will drive them from My house for the wickedness of their deeds. I will no longer love them; all their leaders are rebellious.

Israel was a luxuriant vine, yielding fruit for himself. The more his fruit increased, the more he increased the altars. The better his land produced, the better he made the sacred pillars.

Surely now they will say, "We have no king, for we do not revere the LORD. What can a king do for us?"

The people of Samaria will fear for the calf of Beth-aven. Indeed, its people will mourn for it with its idolatrous priests-those who rejoiced in its glory-for it has been taken from them into exile.

I will chasten them when I please; nations will be gathered against them to put them in bondage for their double transgression.

Sow for yourselves righteousness and reap the fruit of loving devotion; break up your unplowed ground. For it is time to seek the LORD until He comes and sends righteousness upon you like rain.

I will not execute 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-and I will not come in wrath.

And Ephraim boasts: "How rich I have become; I have found wealth for myself. In all my labors, they can find in me no iniquity that is sinful."

Jacob fled to the land of Aram and Israel worked for a wife-for a wife he tended sheep.

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

Now they sin more and more and make for themselves cast images, idols skillfully made from their silver, all of them the work of craftsmen. People say of them, "Let the men who offer human sacrifice kiss the calves!"

Yet I am the LORD your God ever since the land of Egypt; you know no God but Me, for there is no Savior besides Me.

Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled by your iniquity.

Assyria will not save us, nor will we ride on horses. We will never again say, 'Our gods!' to the work of our own hands. For in You the orphan finds compassion."

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

Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them. For the ways of the LORD are right, and the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.

Wake up, you drunkards, and weep; wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine, for it has been cut off from your mouth.

For a nation has invaded My land, powerful and without number; its teeth are those of a lion, and its fangs are those of a lioness.

Wail like a virgin dressed in sackcloth, grieving for the husband of her youth.

Alas for the day! For the Day of the LORD is near, and it will come like destruction from the Almighty.