Study Desk

"His sons will get ready for war and gather together a very large army. They will come like a flood and pass through, and fight in battle as far as his strong city.

Then the king of the North will come and build a battle-wall, and take a very strong city. The army of the South will not be able to stand against him, not even their best soldiers. They will not have enough strength.

His armies will come and make the house of God unclean, and put an end to the burnt gifts. Then they will set up the very sinful manmade god.

When they fall, they will receive a little help. And many will pretend to be their friends.

The people of Judah and the people of Israel will be gathered together, and they will choose one leader for themselves. And they will go up from the land, for the day of Jezreel will be a great day.

Their mother has not been faithful. She who gave birth to them has acted in shame. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers. They give me my bread and water, my wool and linen, my oil and my drink.'

"She does not know that it was I Who gave her the grain, the new wine, the oil, and all the silver and gold, which they used for the false god Baal.

"In that day" says the Lord, "I will give an answer to the heavens, and they will give an answer to the earth.

The earth will give an answer to the grain, the new wine, and the oil. And they will give an answer to Jezreel.

I will plant her for Myself in the land. Those who were not loved, I will call, ‘My loved ones.' Those who were not My people, I will call, ‘My people.' And they will say, ‘You are my God!'"

Then the Lord said to me, "Go again and love your wife, even when she is loved by another and is not faithful. Love her as the Lord loves the people of Israel, even when they turn to other gods and love cakes of dried grapes."

After this the sons of Israel will return and look for the Lord their God and for David their king. And they will come shaking before the Lord and receive His goodness in the last days.

Listen to the Word of the Lord, O people of Israel, because He has something against the people of the land. "They are not faithful or kind, and no one in the land knows God.

There is swearing, lying, killing, stealing, and sex sins. They are always hurting others, and there is one killing after another.

They feed on the sin of My people, and so they want them to sin more.

They ask things of a wooden god and are answered by a stick of wood. A false spirit has led them the wrong way. They have not been faithful, and they have left their God.

They give gifts in worship on the tops of the mountains and burn special perfume on the hills. They do this under oak, poplar and terebinth trees, because their shadow is pleasing. So your daughters are like women who sell the use of their bodies, and your brides do sex sins.

I will not punish your daughters when they are like women who sell the use of their bodies, or your brides when they do sex sins. For the men themselves go with the sinful women to give gifts in worship to false gods. And people without understanding will be destroyed.

The wind will carry them away, and they will be ashamed because they gave gifts to false gods.

Their wrong-doing will not allow them to return to their God. For a spirit of a woman who sells the use of her body is within them, and they do not know the Lord.