Study Desk

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.

O Ephraim, what shall I do to you? O Judah, what shall I do to you? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goes away.

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

And you also, O Judah, set a day of harvest for yourself when I will bring back the captivity of my people.

WHEN I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was revealed and the wickedness of Samaria; for they committed falsehood in my presence; and the thief came in, and the robber robbed men in the streets.

And the pride of Israel has been humbled in his presence; and they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him for all this.

Woe to them! for they have fled from me; I will bring misfortune upon them because they have transgressed against me; though I have saved them, yet they have spoken lies against me.

They have perverted themselves for nothing; they have become like a deceitful bow; their princes shall fall by the sword because of the boldness of their tongue; such shall be their entanglement in the land of Egypt.

For the idol is the product of Israel; a carpenter made it, therefore it is not God; but your calf, O Samaria, was made for deception.

For they have sown the wind, and they have reaped the whirlwind; it has no stalk, nor an ear to yield meal; and if it were to yield, the strangers shall eat it.

For they are gone up to Assyria, as a wild ass alone by himself; Ephraim has loved gifts.

Because Ephraim has made many altars to sin, altars have become to him for a great sin.

They sacrifice the choicest of animals and eat the meat; but the LORD has no delight in them; now he will remember their iniquity and punish them for their sins; they shall return to Egypt.

For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; and Judah has multiplied fortified cities: but I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour the palaces thereof.

REJOICE not, O Israel, leap not for joy, as others do; because you have gone astray from your God, you have loved gifts from every threshing floor.

They shall not offer wine offerings to the LORD, neither shall their sacrifices please him; their sacrifices shall be to them as the bread of affliction; all who eat of it shall be polluted; for their own bread shall not come into the house of the LORD.

For, lo, they are gone in the prey: Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them; their valuable things of silver, strangers shall inherit them; thorns shall grow in their tents.

They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Ramtha; therefore he will remember their iniquity, and he will punish them for their sins.

As for Ephraim, their glory has flown away like a bird, they are cut off from the birth, from the womb, and from the conception.

Though they bring up their children, yet I will bereave them, that there shall not be a man left; yea, woe to them, for I will take vengeance upon them!