Study Desk

They made kings, but not through me. They set up princes, but I knew it not. With their silver and gold they made idols for their own destruction.

For it is from Israel; a craftsman made it; it is not God. The calf of Samaria shall be broken to pieces.

For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads; it shall yield no flour; if it were to yield, strangers would devour it.

For they have gone up to Assyria, a wild donkey wandering alone; Ephraim has hired lovers.

Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning, they have become to him altars for sinning.

Were I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands, they would be regarded as a strange thing.

As for my sacrificial offerings, they sacrifice meat and eat it, but the Lord does not accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins; they shall return to Egypt.

For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces, and Judah has multiplied fortified cities; so I will send a fire upon his cities, and it shall devour her strongholds.

Rejoice not, O Israel! Exult not like the peoples; for you have played the whore, forsaking your God. You have loved a prostitute's wages on all threshing floors.

They shall not pour drink offerings of wine to the Lord , and their sacrifices shall not please him. It shall be like mourners' bread to them; all who eat of it shall be defiled; for their bread shall be for their hunger only; it shall not come to the house of the Lord .

For behold, they are going away from destruction; but Egypt shall gather them; Memphis shall bury them. Nettles shall possess their precious things of silver; thorns shall be in their tents.

For now they will say: "We have no king, for we do not fear the Lord ; and a king—what could he do for us?"

The inhabitants of Samaria tremble for the calf of Beth-aven. Its people mourn for it, and so do its idolatrous priests— those who rejoiced over it and over its glory— for it has departed from them.

When I please, I will discipline them, and nations shall be gathered against them when they are bound up for their double iniquity.

Ephraim was a trained calf that loved to thresh, and I spared her fair neck; but I will put Ephraim to the yoke; Judah must plow; Jacob must harrow for himself.

Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the Lord , that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.

I will not execute my burning anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath.

"So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God."

Ephraim has said, "Ah, but I am rich; I have found wealth for myself; in all my labors they cannot find in me iniquity or sin."

Jacob fled to the land of Aram; there Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he guarded sheep.