Study Desk

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, That you may be no Kohen to me. Because you have your God's law, I will also forget your children.

It will be, like people, like Kohen; And I will punish them for their ways, And will repay them for their deeds.

For Yisra'el has behaved extremely stubbornly, like a stubborn heifer. Then how will the LORD feed them like a lamb in a meadow.

"Listen to this, you Kohanim! Listen, house of Yisra'el, And give ear, house of the king! For the judgment is against you; For you have been a snare at Mitzpah, And a net spread on Tavor.

I know Efrayim, And Yisra'el is not hidden from me; For now, Efrayim, you have played the prostitute. Yisra'el is defiled.

Their deeds won't allow them to turn to their God; For the spirit of prostitution is within them, And they don't know the LORD.

They are unfaithful to the LORD; For they have borne illegitimate children. Now the new moon will devour them with their fields.

For I will be to Efrayim like a lion, And like a young lion to the house of Yehudah. I myself will tear in pieces and go away. I will carry off, and there will be no one to deliver.

"Come, and let us return to the LORD; For he has torn us to pieces, And he will heal us; He has injured us, And he will bind up our wounds.

"Efrayim, what shall I do to you? Yehudah, what shall I do to you? For your love is like a morning cloud, And like the dew that disappears early.

For I desire mercy, and not sacrifice; And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

"Also, Yehudah, there is a harvest appointed for you, When I restore the fortunes of my people.

When I would heal Yisra'el, Then the iniquity of Efrayim is uncovered, Also the wickedness of Shomron; For they commit falsehood, And the thief enters in, And the gang of robbers ravages outside.

For they have made ready their heart like an oven, While they lie in wait. Their baker sleeps all the night. In the morning it burns as a flaming fire.

The pride of Yisra'el testifies to his face; Yet they haven't returned to the LORD their God, Nor sought him, for all this.

Woe to them! For they have wandered from me. Destruction to them! For they have trespassed against me. Though I would redeem them, Yet they have spoken lies against me.

They haven't cried to me with their heart, But they howl on their beds. They assemble themselves for grain and new wine. They turn away from me.

They return, but not to Ha`Elyon. They are like a faulty bow. Their princes will fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue. This will be their derision in the land of Mitzrayim.

For this is even from Yisra'el! The workman made it, and it is no God; Indeed, the calf of Shomron shall be broken in pieces.

For they sow the wind, And they will reap the whirlwind. He has no standing grain. The stalk will yield no head. If it does yield, strangers will swallow it up.