Study Desk

The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed. Thorn and thistle shall grow up on their altars. They shall say to the mountains, Cover us, and to the hills, Fall on us.

I will come against the wayward people to punish them; and nations shall be gathered against them when they are punished for their double iniquity.

The more I called them, the more they went from me; they kept sacrificing to the Baals, and offering incense to idols.

They shall return to the land of Egypt, and Assyria shall be their king, because they have refused to return to me.

They shall come trembling like birds from Egypt, and like doves from the land of Assyria; and I will return them to their homes, says the Lord .

Ephraim herds the wind, and pursues the east wind all day long; they multiply falsehood and violence; they make a treaty with Assyria, and oil is carried to Egypt.

And now they keep on sinning and make a cast image for themselves, idols of silver made according to their understanding, all of them the work of artisans. "Sacrifice to these," they say. People are kissing calves!

When I fed them, they were satisfied; they were satisfied, and their heart was proud; therefore they forgot me.

Samaria shall bear her guilt, because she has rebelled against her God; they shall fall by the sword, their little ones shall be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.

They have the appearance of horses, and like war-horses they charge.

They do not jostle one another, each keeps to its own track; they burst through the weapons and are not halted.

I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat, and I will enter into judgment with them there, on account of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations. They have divided my land,

I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a nation far away; for the Lord has spoken.

Egypt shall become a desolation and Edom a desolate wilderness, because of the violence done to the people of Judah, in whose land they have shed innocent blood.

Thus says the Lord : For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron.

Thus says the Lord : For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they carried into exile entire communities, to hand them over to Edom.

Thus says the Lord : For three transgressions of Tyre, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they delivered entire communities over to Edom, and did not remember the covenant of kinship.

Thus says the Lord : For three transgressions of the Ammonites, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they have ripped open pregnant women in Gilead in order to enlarge their territory.

Thus says the Lord : For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they have rejected the law of the Lord , and have not kept his statutes, but they have been led astray by the same lies after which their ancestors walked.

Thus says the Lord : For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals—