Study Desk

Afterward the sons of Israel will return [in deep repentance] and seek the LORD their God and [seek from the line of] David their king [the King of kings—the Messiah]; and they will come trembling to the LORD and to His goodness and blessing in the last days.

Hear the word of the LORD, you children of Israel, For the LORD has a [legal] case with the inhabitants of the land, Because there is no faithfulness [no steadfast love, no dependability] or loyalty or kindness Or knowledge of God [from personal experience with Him] in the land.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge [of My law, where I reveal My will]. Because you [the priestly nation] have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children.

My people consult their [lifeless] wooden idol, and their [diviner's] wand gives them oracles. For a spirit of prostitution has led them astray [morally and spiritually], And they have played the prostitute, withdrawing themselves from their God.

When their liquor is gone [and their drinking parties are over], They habitually go to play the prostitute; Ephraim's rulers continue to dearly love shame [more than her glory which is the LORD, Israel's God].

The revolters have gone deep into depravity, But I [the LORD God] will chastise them all.

Their [immoral] practices will not permit them To return to their God, For the spirit of prostitution is within them And they do not know the LORD [they do not recognize, appreciate, heed or cherish Him].

For I desire and delight in [steadfast] loyalty [faithfulness in the covenant relationship], rather than sacrifice, And in the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.

Though the pride of Israel testifies against him, Yet they do not return [in repentance] to the LORD their God, Nor seek nor search for nor desire Him [as essential] in spite of all this.

Then they will cry out to Me, "My God, we of Israel know You!"

For even this [loathsome calf] is from Israel. A craftsman made it, so it is not God; Surely the calf of Samaria will be broken to pieces and go up in flames.

Do not rejoice, O Israel, with exultation as do the [pagan] peoples, For you have played the prostitute, turning away from your God. You have loved prostitutes' earnings on every threshing floor [attributing the harvest to the Baals instead of to God].

The threshing floor and the wine press will no longer feed them, And the new wine will fail them [because they failed to honor the God who provides].

The days of punishment have come; The days of retribution are at hand; Let Israel know this! The prophet is [considered] a fool; The man [of God] who is inspired is [treated as if] demented, Because of the abundance of your wickedness and guilt, And because your deep antagonism [toward God and the prophets] is so great.

Ephraim was a watchman with my God, a [true] prophet [to warn the nation]; But the snare of a bird catcher was laid in all his paths. And there is only deep hostility in the house of his God (the land of Israel).

My God will reject them and cast them away Because they did not listen to Him; And they will be wanderers (fugitives) among the nations.

The people of Samaria will fear and tremble For the [idolatrous] calf of Beth-aven (House of Wickedness). Indeed, its people will mourn over it And its idolatrous priests will cry out and wail over it, Over its glory, because the glory [of their calf god] has departed from it.

I will not execute the fierceness of My anger; I will not return to Ephraim to destroy him again. For I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst [who will not revoke My covenant], And I will not come in wrath or enter the city [in judgment].

Ephraim surrounds Me with lies And the house of Israel with deceit; Judah is also unruly against God, Even against the faithful Holy One.

In their mother's womb he took his brother by the heel, And in his maturity he contended with God.