Study Desk

I dried up your grain fields; your gardens and vineyards turned brown. Locusts ate your fig trees and olive orchards, but even then you rejected me. I, the Lord , have spoken!

Don't go to Gilgal or Bethel or even to Beersheba. Gilgal will be dragged away, and Bethel will end up as nothing." Turn back to the Lord , you descendants of Joseph, and you will live. If you don't, the Lord will attack like fire. Bethel will burn to the ground, and no one can save it. You people are doomed! You twist the truth and stomp on justice. But the Lord created the stars and put them in place. He turns darkness to dawn and daylight to darkness; he scoops up the ocean and empties it on the earth.

you abuse the poor and demand heavy taxes from them. You have built expensive homes, but you won't enjoy them; you have planted vineyards, but you will get no wine.

You look forward to the day when the Lord comes to judge. But you are in for trouble! It won't be a time of sunshine; all will be darkness.

But let justice and fairness flow like a river that never runs dry.

Do you rulers in Jerusalem and in the city of Samaria feel safe and at ease? Everyone bows down to you, and you think you are better than any other nation. But you are in for trouble!

You drink all the wine you want and wear expensive perfume, but you don't care about the ruin of your nation.

Horses can't gallop on rocks; oceans can't be plowed. But you have turned justice and fairness into bitter poison.

But the Lord God All-Powerful will send a nation to attack you people of Israel. They will capture Lebo-Hamath in the north, Arabah Creek in the south, and everything in between.

In my vision the locusts ate every crop in the land, and I said to the Lord , "Forgive me for asking, but how can the nation survive? It's so weak."

But the Lord told me to leave my herds and preach to the people of Israel.

I, the Lord , also promise you a terrible shortage, but not of food and water. You will hunger and thirst to hear my message.

You will search everywhere— from north to south, from east to west. You will go all over the earth, seeking a message from me, the Lord . But you won't find one.

You made promises in the name of Ashimah, the goddess of Samaria. And you made vows in my name at the shrines of Dan and Beersheba. But you will fall and never get up.

Israel, I am the Lord God, and the Ethiopians are no less important to me than you are. I brought you out of Egypt, but I also brought the Philistines from Crete and the Arameans from Kir.

My eyes have seen what a sinful nation you are, and I'll wipe you out. But I will leave a few of Jacob's descendants. I, the Lord , have spoken!

Some of you are evil, and you deny that you will ever get caught. But you will be killed.

You live in a mountain fortress, because your pride makes you feel safe from attack, but you are mistaken.

If thieves break in at night, they steal only what they want. And people who harvest grapes always leave some unpicked. But, Edom, you are doomed!

But the Lord made a strong wind blow, and such a bad storm came up that the ship was about to be broken to pieces.