Study Desk

They utter empty words and make false promises and useless treaties. Justice has become injustice, growing like poisonous weeds in a plowed field.

The people who live in the city of Samaria will be afraid and will mourn the loss of the gold bull at Bethaven. They and the priests who serve the idol will weep over it. They will wail when it is stripped of its golden splendor.

The idol will be carried off to Assyria as tribute to the great emperor. The people of Israel will be disgraced and put to shame because of the advice they followed.

I will attack this sinful people and punish them. Nations will join together against them, and they will be punished for their many sins.

"They refuse to return to me, and so they must return to Egypt, and Assyria will rule them.

War will sweep through their cities and break down the city gates. It will destroy my people because they do what they themselves think best.

They will come from Egypt, as swiftly as birds, and from Assyria, like doves. I will bring them to their homes again. I, the Lord , have spoken."

Everything that the people of Israel do from morning to night is useless and destructive. Treachery and acts of violence increase among them. They make treaties with Assyria and do business with Egypt."

‘We are rich,' they say. ‘We've made a fortune. And no one can accuse us of getting rich dishonestly.'

In the past, when the tribe of Ephraim spoke, the other tribes of Israel were afraid; they looked up to Ephraim. But the people sinned by worshiping Baal, and for this they will die.

They still keep on sinning by making metal images to worship—idols of silver, designed by human minds, made by human hands. And then they say, "Offer sacrifices to them!" How can anyone kiss those idols—idols in the shape of bulls!

And so these people will disappear like morning mist, like the dew that vanishes early in the day. They will be like chaff which the wind blows from the threshing place, like smoke from a chimney.

You asked for a king and for leaders, but how can they save the nation?

Assyria can never save us, and war horses cannot protect us. We will never again say to our idols that they are our God. O Lord , you show mercy to those who have no one else to turn to."

They will be alive with new growth, and beautiful like olive trees. They will be fragrant like the cedars of Lebanon.

Once again they will live under my protection. They will grow crops of grain and be fruitful like a vineyard. They will be as famous as the wine of Lebanon.

May those who are wise understand what is written here, and may they take it to heart. The Lord 's ways are right, and righteous people live by following them, but sinners stumble and fall because they ignore them.

An army of locusts has attacked our land; they are powerful and too many to count; their teeth are as sharp as those of a lion.

They have destroyed our grapevines and chewed up our fig trees. They have stripped off the bark, till the branches are white.

They attack like warriors; they climb the walls like soldiers. They all keep marching straight ahead and do not change direction