Study Desk

When Ephraim spoke, people trembled;^(a) he was exalted^(b) in Israel. But he became guilty of Baal worship^(c) and died.

Now they sin more and more; they make^(d) idols for themselves from their silver,^(e) cleverly fashioned images, all of them the work of craftsmen.^(f) It is said of these people, "They offer human sacrifices! They kiss^[a](g) calf-idols!^(h)"

Therefore they will be like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears,⁽ⁱ⁾ like chaff^(j) swirling from a threshing floor,^(k) like smoke^(l) escaping through a window.

"But I have been the Lord your God ever since you came out of Egypt.^(m) You shall acknowledge⁽ⁿ⁾ no God but me,^(o) no Savior^(p) except me.

I cared for you in the wilderness,^(q) in the land of burning heat.

When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud;^(r) then they forgot^(s) me.^(t)

So I will be like a lion^(u) to them, like a leopard I will lurk by the path.

Like a bear robbed of her cubs,^(v) I will attack them and rip them open; like a lion^(w) I will devour them— a wild animal will tear them apart.^(x)

"You are destroyed, Israel, because you are against me,^(y) against your helper.^(z)

Where is your king,^(aa) that he may save you? Where are your rulers in all your towns, of whom you said, ‘Give me a king and princes'?^(ab)

So in my anger I gave you a king,^(ac) and in my wrath I took him away.^(ad)

The guilt of Ephraim is stored up, his sins are kept on record.^(ae)

Pains as of a woman in childbirth^(af) come to him, but he is a child without wisdom; when the time^(ag) arrives, he doesn't have the sense to come out of the womb.^(ah)

"I will deliver this people from the power of the grave;^(ai) I will redeem them from death.^(aj) Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction?^(ak) "I will have no compassion,

even though he thrives^(al) among his brothers. An east wind^(am) from the Lord will come, blowing in from the desert; his spring will fail and his well dry up.^(an) His storehouse will be plundered^(ao) of all its treasures.

The people of Samaria^(ap) must bear their guilt,^(aq) because they have rebelled^(ar) against their God. They will fall by the sword;^(as) their little ones will be dashed^(at) to the ground, their pregnant women^(au) ripped open."^[b]