Study Desk

`Come, and we turn back unto Jehovah, For He hath torn, and He doth heal us, He doth smite, and He bindeth us up.

For kindness I desired, and not sacrifice, And a knowledge of God above burnt-offerings.

And as bands do wait for a man, A company of priests do murder -- the way to Shechem, For wickedness they have done.

`When I give healing to Israel, Then revealed is the iniquity of Ephraim, And the wickedness of Samaria, For they have wrought falsehood, And a thief doth come in, Stript off hath a troop in the street,

For they have drawn near, As an oven [is] their heart, In their lying in wait all the night sleep doth their baker, Morning! he is burning as a flaming fire.

And humbled hath been the excellency of Israel to his face, And they have not turned back unto Jehovah their God, Nor have they sought Him for all this.

Wo to them, for they wandered from Me, Destruction to them, for they transgressed against Me, And I -- I ransom them, and they have spoken lies against Me,

And have not cried unto Me with their heart, but howl on their beds, For corn and new wine they assemble themselves, They turn aside against Me.

For even it [is] of Israel; an artificer made it, And it [is] not God, For the calf of Samaria is fragments!

For wind they sow, and a hurricane they reap, Stalk it hath none -- a shoot not yielding grain, If so be it yield -- strangers do swallow it up.

For they -- they have gone up [to] Asshur, A wild ass alone by himself [is] Ephraim, They have hired lovers!

I write for him numerous things of My law, As a strange thing they have been reckoned.

`Rejoice not, O Israel, be not joyful like the peoples, For thou hast gone a-whoring from thy God, Thou hast loved a gift near all floors of corn.

They pour not out wine to Jehovah, Nor are they sweet to Him, Their sacrifices [are] as bread of mourners to them, All eating it are unclean: For their bread [is] for themselves, It doth not come into the house of Jehovah.

For, lo, they have gone because of destruction, Egypt gathereth them, Moph burieth them, The desirable things of their silver, Nettles possess them -- a thorn [is] in their tents.

For though they nourish their sons, I have made them childless -- without man, Surely also, wo to them, when I turn aside from them.

`An empty vine [is] Israel, Fruit he maketh like to himself, According to the abundance of his fruit, He hath multiplied for the altars, According to the goodness of his land, They have made goodly standing-pillars.

For now they say: We have no king, Because we have not feared Jehovah, And the king -- what doth he for us?

For the calves of Beth-Aven fear do inhabitants of Samaria, Surely mourned on account of it hath its people, And its priests on account of it leap about, Because of its honour, for it hath removed from it,

And Ephraim [is] a trained heifer -- loving to thresh, And I -- I have passed over on the goodness of its neck, I cause [one] to ride Ephraim, Plough doth Judah, harrow for him doth Jacob.