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.