Study Desk

Every evil of theirs began at Gilgal, so I began to hate them there; because of the evil of their deeds I will drive them out from my house. I will love them no more; all their officials are rebels.

My God will reject them because they did not listen to him, and they will be wanderers among the nations.

The inhabitants of Samaria tremble for the calf of Beth-aven. Indeed, his people will mourn for it, and his idolatrous priests will wail over it— over its glory because it has departed from it.

You have plowed wickedness, you have reaped injustice, you have eaten the fruit of lies, because you have trusted in your strength, in the multitude of your warriors.

So it will be done to you, O Bethel, because of the evil of your wickedness; at dawn, the king of Israel will be utterly destroyed.

He will return to the land of Egypt, and Assyria will be his king, because they refused to return.

The sword rages in his cities; it consumes his false prophets and devours because of their plans.

I will not execute my fierce anger, I will not again destroy Ephraim; because I am God and not a mortal, the Holy One in your midst; and I will not come in wrath.

The labor pains of childbirth come for him; he is an unwise son because at the proper time, he does not present himself at the mouth of the womb.

Samaria will be guilty, because she has rebelled against her God; they will fall by the sword, their children will be dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women will be ripped open.

Return to Yahweh your God, O Israel, for you have stumbled because of your sin.

Assyria will not save us; we will not ride on horses, and we will say no more, "Our God," to the work of our hands because in you the fatherless child finds mercy.

I will heal their disloyalty; I will love them freely because my anger has turned back from them.

Because a nation has invaded my land, strong and beyond counting. Its teeth are the teeth of a lion, and its fangs are those of a lioness.

The field is destroyed; the earth mourns because the grain is destroyed, the new wine dries up, the olive oil languishes.

Be ashamed, farmers; Wail, vinedressers, over the wheat and over the barley, because the harvest of the field is ruined.

Gird yourselves and lament, O priests! Wail, O ministers of the altar! Come spend the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God, because offering and libation are withheld from the house of your God.

The seeds shrivel under their clods; the storehouses are desolate. The grain storage places are destroyed because grain has dried out.

How the beasts groan; the herds of cattle wander around because there is no pasture for them; the flocks of sheep are in distress.

To you, O Yahweh, I cry out, because fire has devoured the pastures of the desert, and flames burned all the trees of the field.