Study Desk

"But the number of the Israelites will become like the grains of sand of the sea, which no one can measure or count. They were called, ‘You are not my people,' but later they will be called ‘children of the living God.'

She will run after her lovers, but she won't catch them. She will look for them, but she won't find them. Then she will say, ‘I will go back to my first husband, because life was better then for me than it is now.'

But she does not know that I was the one who gave her grain, new wine, and oil. I gave her much silver and gold, but she used it for Baal.

I will punish her for all the times she burned incense to the Baals. She put on her rings and jewelry and went chasing after her lovers, but she forgot me!" says the Lord .

"They will eat but not have enough; they will have sexual relations with the prostitutes, but they will not have children, because they have left the Lord to give themselves to

"But I will not punish your daughters for becoming prostitutes, nor your daughters-in-law for their sins of adultery. I will not punish them, because the men have sexual relations with prostitutes and offer sacrifices with the temple prostitutes. A foolish people will be ruined.

"Israel, you act like a prostitute, but do not be guilty toward the Lord . Don't go to Gilgal or go up to Beth Aven. Don't make promises, saying, ‘As surely as the Lord lives...'

They will come to worship the Lord , bringing their flocks and herds, but they will not be able to find him, because he has left them.

"When Israel saw its illness and Judah saw its wounds, Israel went to Assyria for help and sent to the great king of Assyria. But he cannot heal you or cure your wounds.

"Come, let's go back to the Lord . He has hurt us, but he will heal us. He has wounded us, but he will bandage our wounds.

But they have broken the agreement as Adam did; they have been unfaithful to me.

But all of them are traitors. They are like an oven heated by a baker. While he mixes the dough, he does not need to stir up the fire.

They burn like an oven; their hearts burn inside them. All night long their anger is low, but when morning comes, it becomes a roaring fire.

Foreign nations have eaten up his strength, but he doesn't know it. Israel is weak and feeble, like an old man, but he doesn't know it.

How terrible for them because they left me! They will be destroyed, because they turned against me. I want to save them, but they have spoken lies against me.

They do not call to me from their hearts. They just lie on their beds and cry. They come together to ask for grain and new wine, but they really turn away from me.

But Israel has rejected what is good, so the enemy will chase them.

"Israel's foolish plans are like planting the wind, but they will harvest a storm. Like a stalk with no head of grain, it produces nothing. Even if it produced something, other nations would eat it.

I have written many teachings for them, but they think the teachings are strange and foreign.

The Israelites offer sacrifices to me as gifts and eat the meat, but the Lord is not pleased with them. He remembers the evil they have done, and he will punish them for their sins. They will be slaves again as they were in Egypt.