Study Desk

Also, Judah, there is a harvest appointed for you, When I restore the fortunes of My people.

When I would heal Israel, The wrongdoing of Ephraim is uncovered, And the evil deeds of Samaria, For they practice deception; The thief enters, A band of robbers attack outside,

Ephraim is himself thrown about with the nations; Ephraim has become a round loaf not turned over.

So Ephraim has become like a gullible dove, without sense; They call to Egypt, they go to Assyria.

They turn, but not upward, They are like a loose bow; Their officials will fall by the sword Because of the insolence of their tongue. This will be their derision in the land of Egypt.

For from Israel comes even this! A craftsman made it, so it is not God; Assuredly, the calf of Samaria will be broken to pieces.

For they sow wind And they harvest a storm. The standing grain has no kernels; It yields no grain. If it were to yield, strangers would swallow it.

Israel has been swallowed up; They are now among the nations Like a vessel in which no one delights.

For they have gone up to Assyria, Like a wild donkey all alone; Ephraim has paid fees for lovers.

Though I wrote for him ten thousand precepts of My Law, They are regarded as a strange thing.

For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; And Judah has multiplied fortified cities, But I will send a fire on its cities, and it will consume its palatial buildings.

The days of punishment have come, The days of retribution have come; Let Israel know this! The prophet is a fool, The inspired person is insane, Because of the grossness of your wrongdoing, And because your hostility is so great.

Ephraim was a watchman with my God, a prophet; Yet the snare of a bird catcher is in all his ways, And there is only hostility in the house of his God.

As for Ephraim, their glory will fly away like a bird— No birth, no pregnancy, and no conception!

Though they bring up their children, Yet I will bereave them of their children until not a person is left. Yes, woe to them indeed when I depart from them!

Ephraim, as I have seen, Is planted in a pasture like Tyre; But Ephraim is going to bring out his children for slaughter.

Give to them, LORD—what will You give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dried-up breasts.

Israel is a luxuriant vine; He produces fruit for himself. The more his fruit, The more altars he made; The richer his land, The better he made the memorial stones.

The thing itself will be brought to Assyria As a gift of tribute to King Jareb; Ephraim will be seized with shame, And Israel will be ashamed of its own plan.

Samaria will be destroyed with her king, Like a twig on the surface of the water.