Study Desk

Now they sin more and more,And have made for themselves molded images,Idols of their silver, according to their skill;All of it is the work of craftsmen.They say of them,"Let the men who sacrifice [fn] kiss the calves!"

"Yet I am the LORD your God Ever since the land of Egypt, And you shall know no God but Me; For there is no savior besides Me.

The sorrows of a woman in childbirth shall come upon him. He is an unwise son, For he should not stay long where children are born.

16 Samaria is held guilty, [fn] For she has rebelled against her God.They shall fall by the sword,Their infants shall be dashed in pieces,And their women with child ripped open.

O Israel, return to the LORD your God, For you have stumbled because of your iniquity;

Take words with you,And return to the Lord.Say to Him,"Take away all iniquity;Receive us graciously,For we will offer the sacrifices [fn] of our lips.

Assyria shall not save us, We will not ride on horses, Nor will we say anymore to the work of our hands, "You are our gods.' For in You the fatherless finds mercy."

"I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, For My anger has turned away from him.

Who is wise? Let him understand these things. Who is prudent? Let him know them. For the ways of the LORD are right; The righteous walk in them, But transgressors stumble in them.

Awake, you drunkards, and weep; And wail, all you drinkers of wine, Because of the new wine, For it has been cut off from your mouth.

For a nation has come up against My land, Strong, and without number; His teeth are the teeth of a lion, And he has the fangs of a fierce lion.

Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth For the husband of her youth.

The field is wasted, The land mourns; For the grain is ruined, The new wine is dried up, The oil fails.

Be ashamed, you farmers, Wail, you vinedressers, For the wheat and the barley; Because the harvest of the field has perished.

Gird yourselves and lament, you priests; Wail, you who minister before the altar; Come, lie all night in sackcloth, You who minister to my God; For the grain offering and the drink offering Are withheld from the house of your God.

Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is at hand; It shall come as destruction from the Almighty.

The seed shrivels under the clods, Storehouses are in shambles; Barns are broken down, For the grain has withered.

O LORD, to You I cry out; For fire has devoured the open pastures, And a flame has burned all the trees of the field.

The beasts of the field also cry out to You, For the water brooks are dried up, And fire has devoured the open pastures.

Blow the trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; For the day of the LORD is coming, For it is at hand: