Study Desk

Also the high places of Aven (Beth-aven), the sin of Israel, will be destroyed; The thorn and the thistle will grow on their [pagan] altars, And [in despair] they will say to the mountains, "Cover us!" And to the hills, "Fall on us!"

When it is my desire [to defend My righteousness], I will chastise them; And [hostile] peoples will be gathered against them When they are bound and punished for their double guilt [their revolt against the LORD and their worship of idols].

The more they [the prophets] called them [to repentance and obedience], The more they went away from them; They kept sacrificing to the Baals And burning incense to the carved images.

They will walk after the LORD [in obedience and worship], Who will roar like a lion; He will roar [summoning them] And His sons will come trembling from the west.

They will come trembling and hurriedly like birds from Egypt And like doves from the land of Assyria; And I will settle them in their houses [in the land of their inheritance], declares the LORD.

Ephraim said, "I have indeed become rich [and powerful as a nation]; I have found wealth for myself. In all my labors they will not find in me Any wickedness that would be sin."

And now they sin more and more, And make for themselves molten images, Idols skillfully made from their silver [as it pleased them], All of them the work of the craftsmen. They say of these [very works of their hands], "Let those who sacrifice kiss and show respect to the calves [as if they were living gods]!"

Therefore they will be [swiftly dissipated] like the morning cloud Or like dew which soon disappears, Like chaff which swirls with the whirlwind from the threshing floor, And like smoke from the chimney or through the window [worthless and without substance —they will vanish].

When they had their pasture, they became satisfied, And being satisfied, their heart became proud (self-centered); Therefore they forgot Me.

Samaria will be found guilty [and become desolate], Because she 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.

Those who live in his shadow Will again raise grain, And they will blossom like the vine. His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.

How the animals groan! The herds of cattle are bewildered and wander aimlessly Because they have no pasture; Even the flocks of sheep suffer.

Their appearance is like the appearance of horses, And they run like war horses.

They run like warriors; They climb the wall like soldiers. They each march [straight ahead] in line, And they do not deviate from their paths.

Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, Weep between the porch and the altar, And let them say, "Have compassion and spare Your people, O LORD, And do not make Your inheritance (Israel) an object of ridicule, Or a [humiliating] byword among the [Gentile] nations. Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?'"

I will gather together all the [Gentile] nations [that were hostile to My people] And bring them down into the Valley of Jehoshaphat (the LORD has judged). And there I will deal with them and enter into judgment with them there For [their treatment of] My people, My inheritance, Israel, Whom they have scattered among the nations, And [because] they have encroached on My land and divided it up.

"They have also cast lots for My people, And have traded a boy for a prostitute And have sold a girl for wine that they may drink.

"Also I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a distant nation," for the LORD has spoken.

Egypt will become a waste, And Edom will become a desolate wilderness, Because of their violence against the children of Judah, In whose land they have shed innocent blood.

Thus says the LORD, "For three transgressions of Damascus and for four (multiplied delinquencies) I shall not reverse its punishment or revoke My word concerning it, Because they have threshed Gilead [east of the Jordan River] with sharp iron sledges [having spikes that crushed and shredded].