Study Desk

^(a)Do not rejoice, O Israel, ^[a]with exultation like the ^[b]nations! For you have ^(b)played the harlot, ^[c]forsaking your God. You have loved harlots' earnings on ^[d]every threshing floor.

Threshing floor and wine press will ^(c)not feed them, And the new wine will fail ^[e]them.

They will not remain in ^(d)the Lord's land, But Ephraim will return to ^(e)Egypt, And in ^(f)Assyria they will eat ^(g)unclean food.

They will not pour out drink offerings of ^(h)wine to the Lord , ⁽ⁱ⁾Their sacrifices will not please Him. Their bread will ^[f]be like ^[g]mourners' bread; All who eat of it will be ^(j)defiled, For their bread will be for ^[h]themselves alone; It will not enter the house of the Lord .

^(k)What will you do on the day of the appointed festival And on the day of the ^(l)feast of the Lord ?

For behold, they will go because of destruction; Egypt will gather them up, ^(m)Memphis will bury them. Weeds will take over their treasures of silver; ⁽ⁿ⁾Thorns will be in their tents.

The days of ^(o)punishment have come, The days of ^(p)retribution have come; ^[i]Let Israel know this! The prophet is a ^(q)fool, The ^[j]inspired man is ^(r)demented, Because of the grossness of your ^(s)iniquity, 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.

They have gone ^(t)deep ^[k]in depravity As in the days of ^(u)Gibeah; He will ^(v)remember their iniquity, He will punish their sins.

I found Israel like ^(w)grapes in the wilderness; I saw your forefathers as the ^(x)earliest fruit on the fig tree in its first season. But they came to ^(y)Baal-peor and devoted themselves to ^[l](z)shame, And they became as ^(aa)detestable as that which they loved.

As for Ephraim, their ^(ab)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 ^[m]until not a man is left. Yes, ^(ac)woe to them indeed when I depart from them!

Ephraim, as I have seen, Is planted in a pleasant meadow like ^(ad)Tyre; But Ephraim will bring out his children for slaughter.

Give them, O Lord —what will You give? Give them a ^(ae)miscarrying womb and dry breasts.

All their evil is at ^(af)Gilgal; Indeed, I came to hate them there! Because of the ^(ag)wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of My house! I will love them no more; All their princes are ^(ah)rebels.

^(ai)Ephraim is stricken, their root is dried up, They will bear ^(aj)no fruit. Even though they bear children, I will slay the ^(ak)precious ones of their womb.

My God will cast them away Because they have ^(al)not listened to Him; And they will be ^(am)wanderers among the nations.

Israel is a ^[a]luxuriant ^(a)vine; He produces fruit for himself. The more his fruit, The more altars he ^(b)made; The ^[b]richer his land, The better ^[c]he made the sacred ^(c)pillars.

Their heart is ^[d](d)faithless; Now they must bear their ^(e)guilt. ^[e]The Lord will ^(f)break down their altars And destroy their sacred pillars.

Surely now they will say, "We have ^(g)no king, For we do not revere the Lord . As for the king, what can he do for us?"

They speak mere words, ^[f]With ^(h)worthless oaths they make covenants; And ⁽ⁱ⁾judgment sprouts like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field.

The inhabitants of Samaria will fear For the ^[g](j)calf of ^(k)Beth-aven. Indeed, its people will mourn for it, And its ^(l)idolatrous priests ^[h]will cry out over it, Over its ^(m)glory, since it has departed from it.

The thing itself will be carried to ⁽ⁿ⁾Assyria As tribute to ^[i](o)King Jareb; Ephraim will ^[j]be ^(p)seized with shame And Israel will be ashamed of its ^(q)own counsel.

Samaria will be ^(r)cut off with her king Like a stick on the surface of the water.

Also the ^(s)high places of Aven, the ^(t)sin of Israel, will be destroyed; ^(u)Thorn and thistle will grow on their altars; Then they will ^(v)say to the mountains, "Cover us!" And to the hills, "Fall on us!"

From the days of Gibeah you have sinned, O Israel; There they stand! Will not the battle against the sons of iniquity overtake them in Gibeah?

When it is My ^(w)desire, I will ^[k](x)chastise them; And ^(y)the peoples will be gathered against them When they are bound for their double guilt.

Ephraim is a trained ^(z)heifer that loves to thresh, But I will ^(aa)come over her fair neck with a yoke; I will harness Ephraim, Judah will plow, Jacob will harrow for himself.

^(ab)Sow with a view to righteousness, Reap in accordance with ^[l]kindness; ^(ac)Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to ^(ad)seek the Lord Until He ^(ae)comes to ^[m](af)rain righteousness on you.

You have ^(ag)plowed wickedness, you have reaped injustice, You have eaten the fruit of ^(ah)lies. Because you have trusted in your way, in your ^(ai)numerous warriors,

Therefore a tumult will arise among your people, And all your ^(aj)fortresses will be destroyed, As Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle, When ^(ak)mothers were dashed in pieces with their children.

Thus it will be done to you at Bethel because of your great wickedness. At dawn the king of Israel will be completely cut off.

When Israel was a youth I loved him, And ^(a)out of Egypt I ^(b)called My son.

The more ^[a](c)they called them, The more they went from ^[b]them; They kept ^(d)sacrificing to the Baals And ^(e)burning incense to idols.

Yet it is I who taught Ephraim to walk, ^[c]I ^(f)took them in My arms; But they did not know that I ^(g)healed them.

I ^(h)led them with cords of a man, with bonds of love, And ⁽ⁱ⁾I became to them as one who lifts the yoke from their jaws; And I bent down and ^(j)fed them.

^[d]They will not return to the land of Egypt; But Assyria—he will be ^[e]their king Because they ^(k)refused to return to Me.

The ^(l)sword will whirl against ^[f]their cities, And will demolish ^[g]their gate bars And ^(m)consume them because of their ⁽ⁿ⁾counsels.

So My people are bent on ^(o)turning from Me. Though ^[h]they call ^[i]them to the One on high, None at all exalts Him.

^(p)How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I surrender you, O Israel? How can I ^[j]make you like ^(q)Admah? How can I treat you like ^(r)Zeboiim? My heart is turned over within Me, ^[k]All My compassions are kindled.

I will ^(s)not execute My fierce anger; I will not destroy Ephraim ^(t)again. For ^(u)I am God and not man, the ^(v)Holy One in your midst, And I will not come in ^[l]wrath.

They will ^(w)walk after the Lord , He will ^(x)roar like a lion; Indeed He will roar And His sons will come ^(y)trembling from the west.

They will come trembling like birds from ^(z)Egypt And like ^(aa)doves from the land of ^(ab)Assyria; And I will ^(ac)settle them in their houses, declares the Lord .

^[m]Ephraim surrounds Me with ^(ad)lies And the house of Israel with deceit; Judah is also unruly against God, Even against the Holy One who is faithful.