Study Desk

They shall not pour drink offerings of wine to the Lord , and their sacrifices shall not please him. Such sacrifices shall be like mourners' bread; 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 even if they escape destruction, Egypt shall gather them, Memphis shall bury them. Nettles shall possess their precious things of silver; thorns shall be in their tents.

The prophet is a sentinel for my God over Ephraim, yet a fowler's snare is on all his ways, and hostility in the house of his God.

Once I saw Ephraim as a young palm planted in a lovely meadow, but now Ephraim must lead out his children for slaughter.

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 shall mourn for it, and its idolatrous priests shall wail over it, over its glory that has departed from it.

I will come against the wayward people to punish them; and nations shall be gathered against them when they are punished for their double iniquity.

Ephraim was a trained heifer that loved to thresh, and I spared her fair neck; but I will make Ephraim break the ground; Judah must plow; Jacob must harrow for himself.

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

I will not execute my fierce anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and no mortal, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath.

But as for you, return to your God, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God.

Ephraim has said, "Ah, I am rich, I have gained wealth for myself; in all of my gain no offense has been found in me that would be sin."

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

Ephraim has given bitter offense, so his Lord will bring his crimes down on him and pay him back for his insults.

And now they keep on sinning and make a cast image for themselves, idols of silver made according to their understanding, all of them the work of artisans. "Sacrifice to these," they say. People are kissing calves!

The pangs of childbirth come for him, but he is an unwise son; for at the proper time he does not present himself at the mouth of the womb.

Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.

I will heal their disloyalty; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them.

Those who are wise understand these things; those who are discerning know them. For the ways of the Lord are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.

Wake up, you drunkards, and weep; and wail, all you wine-drinkers, over the sweet wine, for it is cut off from your mouth.