Study Desk

^(C1)Put the trumpet to your ^(F1)lips! ^(C2)Like an eagle the enemy comes ^(C3)against the house of the LORD, Because they have ^(C4)violated My covenant And rebelled against My ^(C5)Law.

^(C1)They cry out to Me, "My God, ^(C2)we of Israel know You!"

Israel has rejected the good; The enemy will pursue him.

^(C1)They have set up kings, but not by Me; They have appointed officials, but I did not know it. With their ^(C2)silver and gold they have made idols for themselves, So that ^(F1)they will be eliminated.

^(F1)He has rejected your ^(C1)calf, Samaria, saying, "My anger burns against them!" How long will they be incapable of ^(C2)innocence?

For from Israel comes even this! A ^(C1)craftsman made it, so it is not God; Assuredly, the calf of Samaria will be broken to ^(F1)pieces.

For ^(C1)they sow wind And they harvest a ^(C2)storm. The standing grain has no ^(F1)kernels; It yields ^(C3)no ^(F2)grain. If it were to yield, strangers would swallow it.

Israel has been ^(C1)swallowed up; They are now among the nations Like a ^(C2)vessel in which no one delights.

For they have gone up to ^(C1)Assyria, Like ^(C2)a wild donkey all alone; Ephraim has ^(C3)paid fees for ^(F1)lovers.

Even though they ^(F1)pay for allies among the nations, I will ^(C1)gather them up now; And they will begin ^(C2)to diminish Because of the burden of the ^(C3)king of officials.

Since Ephraim has ^(C1)multiplied altars for sin, They have become altars of sinning for him.

Though ^(C1)I wrote for him ten thousand precepts of My ^(C2)Law, They are regarded as a strange thing.

As for My ^(C1)sacrificial gifts, They ^(C2)sacrifice the flesh and eat it, But the LORD has taken no delight in them. Now He will ^(C3)remember their guilt, And ^(C4)punish them for their sins; They will return to ^(C5)Egypt.

For Israel has ^(C1)forgotten his Maker and ^(C2)built palaces; And Judah has multiplied fortified cities, But I will send a ^(C3)fire on its cities, and it will consume its palatial buildings.

^(C1)Do not rejoice, Israel, ^(F1)with jubilation like the ^(F2)nations! For you have ^(C2)been unfaithful, ^(F3)abandoning your God. You have loved the earnings of unfaithfulness on ^(F4)every threshing floor.

Threshing floor and wine press will ^(C1)not feed them, And the new wine will fail ^(F1)them.

They will not remain in ^(C1)the LORD'S land, But Ephraim will return to ^(C2)Egypt, And in ^(C3)Assyria they will eat ^(C4)unclean food.

They will not pour out drink offerings of ^(C1)wine to the LORD, ^(C2)Nor will ^(F1)their sacrifices please Him. Their bread will be to them like ^(F2)mourners' bread; All who eat it will be ^(C3)defiled, Because their bread will be for ^(F3)themselves alone; It will not enter the house of the LORD.

^(C1)What will you do on the day of the appointed festival And on the day of the ^(C2)feast of the LORD?

For behold, they will be gone because of destruction; Egypt will gather them together, ^(C1)Memphis will bury them. Weeds will take possession of their treasures of silver; ^(C2)Thorns will be in their tents.

The days of ^(C1)punishment have come, The days of ^(C2)retribution have come; ^(F1)Let Israel know this! The prophet is a ^(C3)fool, The ^(F2)inspired person is ^(C4)insane, Because of the grossness of your ^(C5)wrongdoing, And because your ^(F3)hostility is so great.

Ephraim was a watchman with my God, a prophet; Yet the snare of a bird catcher is in all his ways, And there is only ^(F1)hostility in the house of his God.

They are ^(C1)deeply depraved As in the days of ^(C2)Gibeah; He will ^(C3)remember their guilt, He will punish their sins.

I found Israel like ^(C1)grapes in the wilderness; I saw your forefathers as the ^(C2)earliest fruit on the fig tree in its first season. But they came to ^(C3)Baal-peor and devoted themselves to ^(F1)(C4)shame, And they became as ^(C5)detestable as that which they loved.

As for Ephraim, their ^(C1)glory will fly away like a bird— No birth, no pregnancy, and no conception!

Though they bring up their children, Yet I will bereave them of their children ^(F1)until not a person is left. Yes, ^(C1)woe to them indeed when I depart from them!

Ephraim, as I have seen, Is planted in a pasture like ^(C1)Tyre; But Ephraim is going to bring out his children for slaughter.

Give to them, LORD—what will You give? Give them a ^(C1)miscarrying womb and dried-up breasts.

All their evil is at ^(C1)Gilgal; Indeed, I came to hate them there! Because of the ^(C2)wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of My house! I will no longer love them; All their leaders are ^(C3)rebels.

^(C1)Ephraim is stricken, their root is dried up, They will produce ^(C2)no fruit. Even though they give birth to children, I will put to death the ^(C3)precious ones of their womb.

My God will reject them Because they have ^(C1)not listened to Him; And they will be ^(C2)wanderers among the nations.

Israel is a luxuriant ^(C1)vine; He produces fruit for himself. The more his fruit, The more altars he ^(C2)made; The ^(F1)richer his land, The better ^(F2)he made the ^(C3)memorial stones.

Their heart is ^(F1)(C1)deceitful; Now they must suffer for their ^(C2)guilt. ^(F2)The LORD will ^(C3)break down their altars And destroy their memorial stones.

Certainly now they will say, "We have ^(C1)no king, For we do not revere the LORD. As for the king, what can he do for us?"

They speak mere words, ^(F1)With ^(C1)worthless oaths they make covenants; And ^(C2)judgment sprouts like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field.

The inhabitants of Samaria will fear For the ^(F1)(C1)calf of ^(C2)Beth-aven. Indeed, its people will mourn for it, And its ^(C3)idolatrous priests ^(F2)will cry out over it, Over its ^(C4)glory, since it has left it.

The thing itself will be brought to ^(C1)Assyria As a gift of tribute to ^(F1)(C2)King Jareb; Ephraim will ^(F2)be ^(C3)seized with shame, And Israel will be ashamed of its ^(C4)own plan.

Samaria will be ^(C1)destroyed with her king, Like a twig on the surface of the water.

Also the ^(C1)high places of Aven, the ^(C2)sin of Israel, will be destroyed; ^(C3)Thorns and thistles will grow on their altars; Then they will ^(C4)say to the mountains, "Cover us!" And to the hills, "Fall on us!"

Since the days of Gibeah you have sinned, Israel; There they stand! Will the battle against the sons of injustice not overtake them in Gibeah?

When it is My ^(C1)desire, I will ^(F1)(C2)discipline them; And ^(C3)the peoples will be gathered against them When they are bound for their double guilt.

Ephraim is a trained ^(C1)heifer that loves to thresh, ^(F1)And I ^(C2)passed over her lovely neck; I will harness Ephraim, Judah will plow, Jacob will ^(F2)harrow for himself.

^(C1)Sow for yourselves, with a view to righteousness; Harvest in accordance with ^(F1)kindness. ^(C2)Break up your uncultivated ground, For it is time to ^(C3)seek the LORD Until He ^(C4)comes and ^(C5)rains righteousness on you.

You have ^(C1)plowed wickedness, you have harvested injustice, You have eaten the fruit of ^(C2)lies. Because you have trusted in your way, in your ^(C3)many warriors,

An uproar will arise among your people, And all your ^(C1)fortresses will be destroyed, As Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle, When ^(C2)mothers were ^(F1)slaughtered with their children.

So it will be done to you at Bethel because of your great wickedness. At dawn the king of Israel will be completely destroyed.