Study Desk

Yet let no man contend, nor reprove another: for thy people [are] as they that contend with the priest.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

And there shall be, like people, like priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings.

For they shall eat, and not have enough: they shall be guilty of lewdness, and shall not increase: because they have ceased to take heed to the LORD.

My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth to them: for the spirit of lewdness hath caused [them] to err, and they have gone astray from under their God.

I will not punish your daughters when they are guilty of lewdness, nor your spouses when they commit adultery: for they themselves are separated with prostitutes, and they sacrifice with harlots: therefore the people [that] doth not understand shall fall.

For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer: now the LORD will feed them as a lamb in a large place.

Hear ye this, O priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ye ear, O house of the king; for judgment [is] towards you, because ye have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.

I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me: for now, O Ephraim, thou art guilty of lewdness, [and] Israel is defiled.

They will not frame their doings to turn to their God: for the spirit of lewdness [is] in the midst of them, and they have not known the LORD.

They have dealt treacherously against the LORD: for they have begotten strange children: now shall a month devour them with their portions.

For I [will be] to Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I, [even] I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue [him].

Come, and let us return to the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up.

O Ephraim, what shall I do to thee? O Judah, what shall I do to thee? for your goodness [is] as the morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.

For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice: and the knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings.

And as troops of robbers wait for a man, [so] the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness.

Also, O Judah, he hath set a harvest for thee, when I returned the captivity of my people.

When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was disclosed, and the wickedness of Samaria: for they commit falsehood; and the thief cometh in, [and] the troop of robbers strippeth without.

For they have made ready their heart like an oven, while they lie in wait: their baker sleepeth all the night; in the morning it burneth as a flaming fire.

And the pride of Israel testifieth to his face: and they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him for all this.