Study Desk

And the LORD, the God of armies, The LORD is His name.

So as for you, return to your God, Maintain kindness and justice, And wait for your God continually.

But I have been the LORD your God since the land of Egypt; I will make you live in tents again, As in the days of the appointed festival.

Ephraim has provoked God to bitter anger; So his Lord will leave his guilt for bloodshed on him And bring his disgrace back to him.

Yet I have been the LORD your God Since the land of Egypt; And you were not to know any god except Me, For there is no savior besides Me.

Samaria will pay the penalty for her guilt, Because she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword, Their children will be slaughtered, And their pregnant women will be ripped open.

Return, Israel, to the LORD your God, For you have stumbled because of your wrongdoing.

"Assyria will not save us, We will not ride on horses; Nor will we say again, 'Our god' To the work of our hands; For in You the orphan finds mercy."

Put on sackcloth And mourn, you priests; Wail, you ministers of the altar! Come, spend the night in sackcloth, You ministers of my God, For the grain offering and the drink offering Have been withheld from the house of your God.

Consecrate a fast, Proclaim a solemn assembly; Gather the elders And all the inhabitants of the land To the house of the LORD your God, And cry out to the LORD.

Has food not been cut off before our eyes, and Joy and rejoicing from the house of our God?

And tear your heart and not merely your garments." Now return to the LORD your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in mercy And relenting of catastrophe.

Who knows, He might turn and relent, And leave a blessing behind Him, Resulting in a grain offering and a drink offering For the LORD your God.

Let the priests, the LORD'S ministers, Weep between the porch and the altar, And let them say, "Spare Your people, LORD, And do not make Your inheritance a disgrace, With the nations jeering at them. Why should those among the peoples say, 'Where is their God?'"

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

"You will have plenty to eat and be satisfied, And you will praise the name of the LORD your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you; Then My people will never be put to shame.

"So you will know that I am in the midst of Israel, And that I am the LORD your God And there is no other; And My people will never be put to shame.

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

"I will also eliminate every inhabitant from Ashdod, As well as him who holds the scepter, from Ashkelon; And I will direct My power against Ekron, And the remnant of the Philistines will perish," Says the Lord GOD.

"And on garments seized as pledges they stretch out beside every altar, And in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined.