Study Desk

"I will punish her for the days of the Baals When she used to offer sacrifices to them And adorn herself with her earrings and jewelry, And follow her lovers, so that she forgot Me," declares the LORD.

"For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, So that they will be mentioned by their names no more.

So I bought her for myself for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a half of barley.

Then I said to her, "You shall stay with me for many days. You shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a man; so I will also be toward you."

There is swearing, deception, murder, stealing and adultery. They employ violence, so that bloodshed follows bloodshed.

So you will stumble by day, And the prophet also will stumble with you by night; And I will destroy your mother.

And it will be, like people, like priest; So I will punish them for their ways And repay them for their deeds.

I will not punish your daughters when they play the harlot Or your brides when they commit adultery, For the men themselves go apart with harlots And offer sacrifices with temple prostitutes; So the people without understanding are ruined.

"So let us know, let us press on to know the LORD. His going forth is as certain as the dawn; And He will come to us like the rain, Like the spring rain watering the earth."

And as raiders wait for a man, So a band of priests murder on the way to Shechem; Surely they have committed crime.

So Ephraim has become like a silly dove, without sense; They call to Egypt, they go to Assyria.

For from Israel is even this! A craftsman made it, so it is not God; Surely the calf of Samaria will be broken to pieces.

The days of punishment have come, The days of retribution have come; Let Israel know this! The prophet is a fool, The inspired man is demented, Because of the grossness of your iniquity, And because your hostility is so great.

So My people are bent on turning from Me. Though they call them to the One on high, None at all exalts Him.

Ephraim has provoked to bitter anger; So his Lord will leave his bloodguilt on him And bring back his reproach to him.

So I will be like a lion to them; Like a leopard I will lie in wait by the wayside.

A day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and thick darkness. As the dawn is spread over the mountains, So there is a great and mighty people; There has never been anything like it, Nor will there be again after it To the years of many generations.

Their appearance is like the appearance of horses; And like war horses, so they run.

So rejoice, O sons of Zion, And be glad in the LORD your God; For He has given you the early rain for your vindication. And He has poured down for you the rain, The early and latter rain as before.

Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, Dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain. So Jerusalem will be holy, And strangers will pass through it no more.