Study Desk

"For My people have done two sinful things: They have turned away from Me, the well of living waters. And they have cut out of the rock wells for water for themselves. They are broken wells that cannot hold water.

Your own sin will punish you. Your turning away from the Lord will punish you. So know and see that it is sinful and bitter for you to leave the Lord your God. You have no fear of Me," says the Lord God of All.

"Long ago I broke the load from your neck and tore off your chains. But you said, ‘I will not serve!' For on every high hill and under every green tree you have lain down as a woman who sells the use of her body.

You are a wild donkey used to the desert, that smells the wind in her desire. In the time of her mating who can turn her away? All who look for her will not become tired. In her month of mating they will find her.

Do not run until your shoes wear out or until your mouth is dry. But you said, ‘It is of no use, for I love strange gods, and I will go after them.'

They say to a tree, ‘You are my father,' and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.' For they have turned their back to Me, and not their face. But in the time of their trouble they will say, ‘Rise up and save us.'

But where are your gods that you made for yourself? Let them come if they can save you when you are in trouble. For you have as many gods as cities, O Judah.

"I have punished your children for nothing, for they would not learn from it. Your sword has destroyed your men of God like a destroying lion.

you say, ‘I am not guilty. For sure He has turned His anger away from me.' See, I will punish you because you say, ‘I have not sinned.'

From Egypt also you will go out with your hands on your head. For the Lord has turned against those in whom you trust, and as you are with them, it will not go well for you."

"Lift up your eyes to the open hill-tops and see. Is there any place you have not lain with your lovers? You have sat by the roads waiting for them like an Arab in the desert. And you have made the land unclean with your sinful ways and your wrong-doing.

She saw that for all of Israel's sins and how she had not been faithful, I had sent her away and given her a paper of divorce. Yet her sister Judah had no fear, but she went and sold the use of her body also.

And because this sin was so easy for her, she sinned by worshiping stones and trees.

Go and make these words known to the north, saying, ‘Return, Israel, who has not been faithful,' says the Lord. ‘I will not look on you in anger. For I show loving-kindness,' says the Lord. ‘I will not be angry forever.

‘Return, O sons who are not faithful,' says the Lord. ‘For you belong to Me. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.'

For sure, as a woman is not faithful and leaves her husband, so you have not been faithful to Me, O people of Israel," says the Lord.

"Return, O sons who are not faithful. I will heal you and make you faithful." "See, we come to You, for You are the Lord our God.

For sure the hills are a false hope, a noise on the mountains. In truth, the saving of Israel is in the Lord our God.

But false gods have brought us shame and have destroyed what our fathers worked for since we were young, their flocks and cattle, their sons and their daughters.

Let us lie down in our shame, and let our shame cover us. For we and our fathers have sinned against the Lord our God ever since we were young. We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God."