Study Desk

They set up kings without my consent; they choose princes without my approval. With their silver and gold they make idols for themselves to their own destruction.

For they have gone up to Assyria like a wild donkey wandering alone. Ephraim has sold herself to lovers.

"Though Ephraim built many altars for sin offerings, these have become altars for sinning.

I wrote for them the many things of my law, but they regarded them as something foreign.

Do not rejoice, Israel; do not be jubilant like the other nations. For you have been unfaithful to your God; you love the wages of a prostitute at every threshing floor.

They will not pour out wine offerings to the Lord , nor will their sacrifices please him. Such sacrifices will be to them like the bread of mourners; all who eat them will be unclean. This food will be for themselves; it will not come into the temple of the Lord .

They have sunk deep into corruption, as in the days of Gibeah. God will remember their wickedness and punish them for their sins.

Israel was a spreading vine; he brought forth fruit for himself. As his fruit increased, he built more altars; as his land prospered, he adorned his sacred stones.

Then they will say, "We have no king because we did not revere the Lord . But even if we had a king, what could he do for us?"

The people who live in Samaria fear for the calf-idol of Beth Aven. Its people will mourn over it, and so will its idolatrous priests, those who had rejoiced over its splendor, because it is taken from them into exile.

It will be carried to Assyria as tribute for the great king. Ephraim will be disgraced; Israel will be ashamed of its foreign alliances.

When I please, I will punish them; nations will be gathered against them to put them in bonds for their double sin.

Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord , until he comes and showers his righteousness on you.

I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I devastate Ephraim again. For I am God, and not a man— the Holy One among you. I will not come against their cities.

He struggled with the angel and overcame him; he wept and begged for his favor. He found him at Bethel and talked with him there—

But you must return to your God; maintain love and justice, and wait for your God always.

Jacob fled to the country of Aram; Israel served to get a wife, and to pay for her he tended sheep.

The Lord used a prophet to bring Israel up from Egypt, by a prophet he cared for him.

But Ephraim has aroused his bitter anger; his Lord will leave on him the guilt of his bloodshed and will repay him for his contempt.

Now they sin more and more; they make idols for themselves from their silver, cleverly fashioned images, all of them the work of craftsmen. It is said of these people, "They offer human sacrifices! They kiss calf-idols!"