Study Desk

The people who live in Samaria fear for the calf-idol of Beth Aven. Its people will mourn over it, and so will its idolatrous priests, those who had rejoiced over its splendor, because it is taken from them into exile.

But you have planted wickedness, you have reaped evil, you have eaten the fruit of deception. Because you have depended on your own strength and on your many warriors,

Thus will it happen to you, O Bethel, because your wickedness is great. When that day dawns, the king of Israel will be completely destroyed.

"Will they not return to Egypt and will not Assyria rule over them because they refuse to repent?

"You are destroyed, O Israel, because you are against me, against your helper.

The people of Samaria must bear their guilt, because they have rebelled against their God. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to the ground, their pregnant women ripped open."

Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you drinkers of wine; wail because of the new wine, for it has been snatched from your lips.

Despair, you farmers, wail, you vine growers; grieve for the wheat and the barley, because the harvest of the field is destroyed.

How the cattle moan! The herds mill about because they have no pasture; even the flocks of sheep are suffering.

But Egypt will be desolate, Edom a desert waste, because of violence done to the people of Judah, in whose land they shed innocent blood.

This is what the LORD says: "For three sins of Damascus, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath . Because she threshed Gilead with sledges having iron teeth,

This is what the LORD says: "For three sins of Gaza, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath . Because she took captive whole communities and sold them to Edom,

This is what the LORD says: "For three sins of Tyre, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath . Because she sold whole communities of captives to Edom, disregarding a treaty of brotherhood,

This is what the LORD says: "For three sins of Edom, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath . Because he pursued his brother with a sword, stifling all compassion, because his anger raged continually and his fury flamed unchecked,

This is what the LORD says: "For three sins of Ammon, even for four, I will not turn back {my wrath}. Because he ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to extend his borders,

This is what the LORD says: "For three sins of Moab, even for four, I will not turn back {my wrath}. Because he burned, as if to lime, the bones of Edom's king,

This is what the LORD says: "For three sins of Judah, even for four, I will not turn back {my wrath}. Because they have rejected the law of the LORD and have not kept his decrees, because they have been led astray by false gods, the gods their ancestors followed,

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

Don't prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king's sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom."

"In that day "the lovely young women and strong young men will faint because of thirst.