Study Desk

I will not punish your daughters when they play the harlot, nor your brides when they commit adultery; for the men themselves go aside with harlots, and sacrifice with cult prostitutes, and a people without understanding shall come to ruin.

Hear this, O priests! Give heed, O house of Israel! Hearken, O house of the king! For the judgment pertains to you; for you have been a snare at Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.

I know E'phraim, and Israel is not hid from me; for now, O E'phraim, you have played the harlot, Israel is defiled.

Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. For the spirit of harlotry is within them, and they know not the LORD.

They have dealt faithlessly with the LORD; for they have borne alien children. Now the new moon shall devour them with their fields.

For I will be like a lion to E'phraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will rend and go away, I will carry off, and none shall rescue.

"Come, let us return to the LORD; for he has torn, that he may heal us; he has stricken, and he will bind us up.

For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God, rather than burnt offerings.

As robbers lie in wait for a man, so the priests are banded together; they murder on the way to Shechem, yea, they commit villainy.

For you also, O Judah, a harvest is appointed. When I would restore the fortunes of my people,

when I would heal Israel, the corruption of E'phraim is revealed, and the wicked deeds of Sama'ria; for they deal falsely, the thief breaks in, and the bandits raid without.

For like an oven their hearts burn with intrigue; all night their anger smolders; in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.

The pride of Israel witnesses against him; yet they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him, for all this.

As they go, I will spread over them my net; I will bring them down like birds of the air; I will chastise them for their wicked deeds.

Woe to them, for they have strayed from me! Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me! I would redeem them, but they speak lies against me.

They do not cry to me from the heart, but they wail upon their beds; for grain and wine they gash themselves, they rebel against me.

Set the trumpet to your lips, for a vulture is over the house of the LORD, because they have broken my covenant, and transgressed my law.

They made kings, but not through me. They set up princes, but without my knowledge. With their silver and gold they made idols for their own destruction.

For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads, it shall yield no meal; if it were to yield, aliens would devour it.

For they have gone up to Assyria, a wild ass wandering alone; E'phraim has hired lovers.