Study Desk

He answered, "You must go now, Daniel, because these words are to be kept secret and hidden until the end comes.

the Lord said to Hosea, "Name him ‘Jezreel,' because it will not be long before I punish the king of Israel for the murders that his ancestor Jehu committed at Jezreel. I am going to put an end to Jehu's dynasty.

Gomer had a second child—this time it was a daughter. The Lord said to Hosea, "Name her ‘Unloved,' because I will no longer show love to the people of Israel or forgive them.

The Lord said to Hosea, "Name him ‘Not-My-People,' because the people of Israel are not my people, and I am not their God."

My people are doomed because they do not acknowledge me. You priests have refused to acknowledge me and have rejected my teaching, and so I reject you and will not acknowledge your sons as my priests.

You will eat your share of the sacrifices, but still be hungry. You will worship the fertility gods, but still have no children, because you have turned away from me to follow other gods."

At sacred places on the mountaintops they offer sacrifices, and on the hills they burn incense under tall, spreading trees, because the shade is so pleasant! "As a result, your daughters serve as prostitutes, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.

Yet I will not punish them for this, because you yourselves go off with temple prostitutes, and together with them you offer pagan sacrifices. As the proverb says, ‘A people without sense will be ruined.'

The Lord says, "I am angry because the leaders of Judah have invaded Israel and stolen land from her. So I will pour out punishment on them like a flood.

Israel is suffering oppression; she has lost land that was rightfully hers, because she insisted on going for help to those who had none to give.

They keep on turning away from me to a god that is powerless. They are as unreliable as a crooked bow. Because their leaders talk arrogantly, they will die a violent death, and the Egyptians will laugh."

they have rejected what is good. Because of this their enemies will pursue them.

The time for punishment has come, the time when people will get what they deserve. When that happens, Israel will know it! "This prophet," you say, "is a fool. This inspired man is insane." You people hate me so much because your sin is so great.

The Lord says, "All their evildoing began in Gilgal. It was there that I began to hate them. And because of the evil they have done, I will drive them out of my land. I will not love them any more; all their leaders have rebelled against me.

The God I serve will reject his people, because they have not listened to him. They will become wanderers among the nations.

These people will soon be saying, "We have no king because we did not fear the Lord . But what could a king do for us anyway?"

The idol will be carried off to Assyria as tribute to the great emperor. The people of Israel will be disgraced and put to shame because of the advice they followed.

But instead you planted evil and reaped its harvest. You have eaten the fruit produced by your lies. "Because you trusted in your chariots and in the large number of your soldiers,

That is what will happen to you, people of Bethel, because of the terrible evil that you have done. As soon as the battle begins, the king of Israel will die."

War will sweep through their cities and break down the city gates. It will destroy my people because they do what they themselves think best.