Study Desk

“I will pronounce my judgments against them for all the evil they did when they abandoned me to burn incense to other gods and to worship the works of their own hands.

For my people have committed a double evil:They have abandoned me,the fountain of living water,and dug cisterns for themselves—cracked cisterns that cannot hold water.

For long ago I broke your yoke;I tore off your chains.You insisted, “I will not serve!”On every high hilland under every green treeyou lay down like a prostitute.

a wild donkey at home in the wilderness.She sniffs the wind in the heat of her desire.Who can control her passion?All who look for her will not become weary;they will find her in her mating season.

say to a tree, “You are my father,”and to a stone, “You gave birth to me.”For they have turned their back to meand not their face,yet in their time of disaster they beg,“Rise up and save us!”

But where are your gods you made for yourself?Let them rise up and save youin your time of disaster if they can,for your gods are as numerous as your cities, Judah.

Look to the barren heights and see.Where have you not been immoral?You sat waiting for them beside the highwayslike a nomad in the desert.You have defiled the landwith your prostitution and wickedness.

“‘Return, you faithless children—this is the Lord’s declaration—for I am your master, and I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.

A sound is heard on the barren heights:the children of Israel weeping and begging for mercy,for they have perverted their way;they have forgotten the Lord their God.

Return, you faithless children.I will heal your unfaithfulness.“Here we are, coming to you,for you are the Lord our God.

From the time of our youththe shameful one has consumedwhat our fathers have worked for—their flocks and their herds,their sons and their daughters.

For this is what the Lord says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:

Lift up a signal flag toward Zion.Run for cover! Don’t stand still!For I am bringing disaster from the north—a crushing blow.

Because of this, put on sackcloth;mourn and wail,for the Lord’s burning angerhas not turned away from us.

a wind too strong for this comes at my call. Now I will also pronounce judgments against them.’”

Look, he advances like clouds;his chariots are like a storm.His horses are swifter than eagles.Woe to us, for we are ruined!

For a voice announces from Dan,proclaiming malice from Mount Ephraim.

“For my people are fools;they do not know me.They are foolish children,without understanding.They are skilled in doing what is evil,but they do not know how to do what is good.”

For this is what the Lord says:

And you, devastated one, what are you doingthat you dress yourself in scarlet,that you adorn yourself with gold jewelry,that you enhance your eyes with makeup?You beautify yourself for nothing.Your lovers reject you;they intend to take your life.