Study Desk

I have appointed a time to reap judgment for you also, O Judah! Whenever I want to restore the fortunes of my people,

whenever I want to heal Israel, the sin of Ephraim is revealed, and the evil deeds of Samaria are exposed. For they do what is wrong; thieves break into houses, and gangs rob people out in the streets.

They are all like bakers, they are like a smoldering oven; they are like a baker who does not stoke the fire until the kneaded dough is ready for baking.

Ephraim has been like a dove, easily deceived and lacking discernment. They called to Egypt for help; they turned to Assyria for protection.

Woe to them! For they have fled from me! Destruction to them! For they have rebelled against me! I want to deliver them, but they have lied to me.

They do not pray to me, but howl in distress on their beds; They slash themselves for grain and new wine, but turn away from me.

Sound the alarm! An eagle looms over the temple of the Lord ! For they have broken their covenant with me, and have rebelled against my law.

Even though they have hired lovers among the nations, I will soon gather them together for judgment. Then they will begin to waste away under the oppression of a mighty king.

Although Ephraim has built many altars for sin offerings, these have become altars for sinning!

I spelled out my law for him in great detail, but they regard it as something totally unknown to them!

O Israel, do not rejoice jubilantly like the nations, for you are unfaithful to your God. You love to receive a prostitute's wages on all the floors where you thresh your grain.

They will not pour out drink offerings of wine to the Lord ; they will not please him with their sacrifices. Their sacrifices will be like bread eaten while in mourning; all those who eat them will make themselves ritually unclean. For their bread will be only to satisfy their appetite; it will not come into the temple of the Lord .

The prophet is a watchman over Ephraim on behalf of God, yet traps are laid for him along all of his paths; animosity rages against him in the land of his God.

They have sunk deep into corruption as in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their wrongdoing. He will repay them for their sins.

Even if they raise their children, I will take away every last one of them. Woe to them! For I will turn away from them.

Just as lion cubs are born predators, so Ephraim will bear his sons for slaughter.

My God will reject them, for they have not obeyed him; so they will be fugitives among the nations.

Their heart is slipping; soon they will be punished for their guilt. The Lord will break their altars; he will completely destroy their fertility pillars.

Very soon they will say, "We have no king since we did not fear the Lord . But what can a king do for us anyway?"

Even the calf idol will be carried to Assyria, as tribute for the great king. Ephraim will be disgraced; Israel will be put to shame because of its wooden idol.