Study Desk

For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads, it shall yield no meal; if it were to yield, aliens would devour it.

Though they hire allies among the nations, I will soon gather them up. And they shall cease for a little while from anointing king and princes.

They love sacrifice; they sacrifice flesh and eat it; but the LORD has no delight in them. Now he will remember their iniquity, and punish their sins; they shall return to Egypt.

They shall not remain in the land of the LORD; but E'phraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean food in Assyria.

They shall not pour libations of wine to the LORD; and they shall not please him with their sacrifices. Their bread shall be like mourners' bread; all who eat of it shall be defiled; for their bread shall be for their hunger only; it shall not come to the house of the LORD.

Like grapes in the wilderness, I found Israel. Like the first fruit on the fig tree, in its first season, I saw your fathers. But they came to Ba'al-pe'or, and consecrated themselves to Ba'al, and became detestable like the thing they loved.

Their heart is false; now they must bear their guilt. The LORD will break down their altars, and destroy their pillars.

For now they will say: "We have no king, for we fear not the LORD, and a king, what could he do for us?"

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

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

The more I called them, the more they went from me; they kept sacrificing to the Ba'als, and burning 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.

My people are bent on turning away from me; so they are appointed to the yoke, and none shall remove it.

They shall go after the LORD, he will roar like a lion; yea, he will roar, and his sons shall come trembling from the west;

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.

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

And now they sin more and more, and make for themselves molten images, idols skilfully made of their silver, all of them the work of craftsmen. Sacrifice to these, they say. Men kiss calves!

but when they had fed to the full, they were filled, and their heart was lifted up; therefore they forgot me.

Sama'ria 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 shall return and dwell beneath my shadow, they shall flourish as a garden; they shall blossom as the vine, their fragrance shall be like the wine of Lebanon.