Study Desk

They have set up kings, but not by me. They have made princes, and I didn't approve. Of their silver and their gold they have made themselves idols, That they may be cut off.

For they sow the wind, And they will reap the whirlwind. He has no standing grain. The stalk will yield no head. If it does yield, strangers will swallow it up.

But although they sold themselves among the nations, I will now gather them; and they begin to waste away because of the oppression of the king of mighty ones.

As for the sacrifices of my offerings, they sacrifice flesh and eat it; But Yahweh doesn't accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity, And punish their sins. They will return to Egypt.

They won't dwell in Yahweh's land; But Ephraim will return to Egypt, And they will eat unclean food in Assyria.

I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers as the first ripe in the fig tree at its first season; But they came to Baal-peor, and consecrated themselves to the shameful thing, And became abominable like that which they loved.

My God will cast them away, because they did not listen to him; And they will be wanderers among the nations.

Surely now they will say, "We have no king; for we don't fear Yahweh; And the king, what can he do for us?"

The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, will be destroyed. The thorn and the thistle will come up on their altars. They will tell the mountains, "Cover us!" and the hills, "Fall on us!"

When it is my desire, I will chastise them; And the nations will be gathered against them, When they are bound to their two transgressions.

They called to them, so they went from them. They sacrificed to the Baals, And burned incense to engraved images.

They will walk after Yahweh, Who will roar like a lion; For he will roar, and the children will come trembling from the west.

They will come trembling like a bird out of Egypt, And like a dove out of the land of Assyria; And I will settle them in their houses," says Yahweh.

Ephraim feeds on wind, And chases the east wind. He continually multiplies lies and desolation. They make a covenant with Assyria, And oil is carried into Egypt.

Now they sin more and more, And have made themselves molten images of their silver, Even idols according to their own understanding, All of them the work of the craftsmen. They say of them, "They offer human sacrifice and kiss the calves."

Therefore they will be like the morning cloud, And like the dew that passes away early, Like the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the threshing floor, And like the smoke out of the chimney.

According to their pasture, so were they filled; They were filled, and their heart was exalted. Therefore they have forgotten me.

Samaria will bear her guilt; For she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword. Their infants will be dashed in pieces, And their pregnant women will be ripped open."

Men will dwell in his shade. They will revive like the grain, And blossom like the vine. Their fragrance will be like the wine of Lebanon.

The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses, And as horsemen, so do they run.