Study Desk

"Go to Bethel^(k) and sin; go to Gilgal^(l) and sin yet more. Bring your sacrifices every morning,^(m) your tithes⁽ⁿ⁾ every three years.^[c](o)

Burn leavened bread^(p) as a thank offering and brag about your freewill offerings^(q)— boast about them, you Israelites, for this is what you love to do," declares the Sovereign Lord .

"I gave you empty stomachs in every city and lack of bread in every town, yet you have not returned to me," declares the Lord .^(r)

"I also withheld^(s) rain from you when the harvest was still three months away. I sent rain on one town, but withheld it from another.^(t) One field had rain; another had none and dried up.

People staggered from town to town for water^(u) but did not get enough^(v) to drink, yet you have not returned^(w) to me," declares the Lord .^(x)

"Many times I struck your gardens and vineyards, destroying them with blight and mildew.^(y) Locusts^(z) devoured your fig and olive trees,^(aa) yet you have not returned^(ab) to me," declares the Lord .

"I sent plagues^(ac) among you as I did to Egypt.^(ad) I killed your young men^(ae) with the sword, along with your captured horses. I filled your nostrils with the stench^(af) of your camps, yet you have not returned to me,"^(ag) declares the Lord .^(ah)

"I overthrew some of you as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.^(ai) You were like a burning stick^(aj) snatched from the fire, yet you have not returned to me," declares the Lord .^(ak)

"Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel, and because I will do this to you, Israel, prepare to meet your God."

He who forms the mountains,^(al) who creates the wind,^(am) and who reveals his thoughts^(an) to mankind, who turns dawn to darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth^(ao)— the Lord God Almighty is his name.^(ap)