Study Desk

For she had no knowledge that it was I who gave her the grain and the wine and the oil, increasing her silver and gold which they gave to the Baal.

And the earth will give its answer to the grain and the wine and the oil, and they will give an answer to Jezreel;

And I will put her as seed in the earth, and I will have mercy on her to whom no mercy was given; and I will say to those who were not my people, You are my people, and they will say, My God.

And the Lord said to me, Give your love again to a woman who has a lover and is false to her husband, even as the Lord has love for the children of Israel, though they are turned to other gods and are lovers of grape-cakes.

And after that, the children of Israel will come back and go in search of the Lord their God and David their king; and they will come in fear to the Lord and to his mercies in the days to come.

My people get knowledge from their tree, and their rod gives them news; for a false spirit is the cause of their wandering, and they have been false to their God.

They make offerings on the tops of mountains, burning perfumes in high places, under trees of every sort, because their shade is good: and so your daughters are given up to loose ways and your brides are false to their husbands.

I will not give punishment to your daughters or your brides for their evil behaviour; for they make themselves separate with loose women, and make offerings with those who are used for sex purposes in the worship of the gods: the people who have no wisdom will be sent away.

Their works will not let them come back to their God, for a false spirit is in them and they have no knowledge of the Lord.

They will go, with their flocks and their herds, in search of the Lord, but they will not see him; he has taken himself out of their view.

Let the horn be sounded in Gibeah and in Ramah; give a loud cry in Beth-aven, They are after you, O Benjamin.

I will go back to my place till they are made waste; in their trouble they will go after me early and will make search for me.

And like a band of thieves waiting for a man, so are the priests watching secretly the way of those going quickly to Shechem, for they are working with an evil design.

And they do not say to themselves that I keep in mind all their sin; now their evil acts come round them on every side; they are before my face.

In their sin they make a king for themselves, and rulers in their deceit.

They are all heated like an oven, and they put an end to their judges; all their kings have been made low; not one among them makes prayer to me.

And the pride of Israel gives an answer to his face; but for all this, they have not gone back to the Lord their God, or made search for him.

And Ephraim is like a foolish dove, without wisdom; they send out their cry to Egypt, they go to Assyria.

May trouble be theirs! for they have gone far away from me; and destruction, for they have been sinning against me; I was ready to be their saviour, but they said false words against me.

And they have not made prayer to me in their hearts, but they make loud cries on their beds; they are cutting themselves for food and wine, they are turned against me.