Study Desk

Their arrogance testifies against them, yet they don't return to the Lord their God or even try to find him.

Now Israel pleads with me, ‘Help us, for you are our God!'

This calf you worship, O Israel, was crafted by your own hands! It is not God! Therefore, it must be smashed to bits.

O people of Israel, do not rejoice as other nations do. For you have been unfaithful to your God, hiring yourselves out like prostitutes, worshiping other gods on every threshing floor.

The prophet is a watchman over Israel for my God, yet traps are laid for him wherever he goes. He faces hostility even in the house of God.

The things my people do are as depraved as what they did in Gibeah long ago. God will not forget. He will surely punish them for their sins.

The Lord says, "O Israel, when I first found you, it was like finding fresh grapes in the desert. When I saw your ancestors, it was like seeing the first ripe figs of the season. But then they deserted me for Baal-peor, giving themselves to that shameful idol. Soon they became vile, as vile as the god they worshiped.

My God will reject the people of Israel because they will not listen or obey. They will be wanderers, homeless among the nations.

No, I will not unleash my fierce anger. I will not completely destroy Israel, for I am God and not a mere mortal. I am the Holy One living among you, and I will not come to destroy.

Israel surrounds me with lies and deceit, but Judah still obeys God and is faithful to the Holy One.

Even in the womb, Jacob struggled with his brother; when he became a man, he even fought with God.

Yes, he wrestled with the angel and won. He wept and pleaded for a blessing from him. There at Bethel he met God face to face, and God spoke to him—

the Lord God of Heaven's Armies, the Lord is his name!

So now, come back to your God. Act with love and justice, and always depend on him.

"But I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from slavery in Egypt. And I will make you live in tents again, as you do each year at the Festival of Shelters.

"I have been the Lord your God ever since I brought you out of Egypt. You must acknowledge no God but me, for there is no other savior.

The people of Samaria must bear the consequences of their guilt because they rebelled against their God. They will be killed by an invading army, their little ones dashed to death against the ground, their pregnant women ripped open by swords."

Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for your sins have brought you down.

Dress yourselves in burlap and weep, you priests! Wail, you who serve before the altar! Come, spend the night in burlap, you ministers of my God. For there is no grain or wine to offer at the Temple of your God.

Announce a time of fasting; call the people together for a solemn meeting. Bring the leaders and all the people of the land into the Temple of the Lord your God, and cry out to him there.