Study Desk

My people ask their wooden idol, and their diviner's wand declares to them;For a spirit of harlotry has led them astray,And they have played the harlot, departing from their God.

I will not punish your daughters when they play the harlotOr your brides when they commit adultery,For the men themselves go apart with harlotsAnd offer sacrifices with cult prostitutes;So the people without understanding are ruined.

Hear this, O priests!Give heed, O house of Israel!Give ear, O house of the king!For the judgment is for you,For you have been a snare at MizpahAnd a net spread out on Tabor.

I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me;For now, O Ephraim, you have played the harlot;Israel has defiled itself.

They have dealt treacherously against Yahweh,For they have borne children of strangers.Now the new moon will devour them with their portions.

For I will be like a lion to EphraimAnd like a young lion to the house of Judah.I, even I, will tear to pieces and go away;I will carry away, and there will be none to deliver.

What shall I do with you, O Ephraim?What shall I do with you, O Judah?For your lovingkindness is like a morning cloudAnd like the dew which goes away early.

For I delight in lovingkindness rather than sacrifice,And in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

And as raiders wait for a man,So a band of priests murder on the way to Shechem;Surely they have committed lewdness.

Also, O Judah, there is a harvest set for youWhen I restore the fortunes of My people,

When I would heal Israel,Then the iniquity of Ephraim is uncovered,And the evil deeds of Samaria,For they work falsehood;The thief enters in;Raiders ransack outside,

For their hearts are like an ovenAs they draw near in their plotting;Their anger smolders all night;In the morning it burns like a flaming fire.

So the pride of Israel answers against him,Yet they have not returned to Yahweh their God,Nor have they sought Him, for all this.

Woe to them, for they have fled from Me!Destruction is theirs, for they have transgressed against Me!And I would redeem them, but they speak lies against Me.

And they do not cry out to Me in their heartWhen they wail on their beds;For the sake of grain and new wine they gather together as sojourners;They depart from Me.

They have set up kings, but not by Me;They have appointed princes, but I did not know it.With their silver and gold they have made idols for themselves,That they might be cut off.

For from Israel is even this!A craftsman made it, so it is not God;Surely the calf of Samaria will be smashed to splinters.

For they sow the wind,And they reap the whirlwind.The standing grain has no growth;It makes no flour.Should it make anything, strangers would swallow it up.

For they have gone up to AssyriaLike a wild donkey all alone;Ephraim has hired lovers.

Since Ephraim has multiplied altars for sin,They have become altars of sinning for him.