10How prosperous Israel is—a luxuriant vine loaded with fruit. But the richer the people get, the more pagan altars they build. The more bountiful their harvests, the more beautiful their sacred pillars.H3478H1238H1612H7737H6529H7230H6529H7235H4196H2896H776H2895H4676 2The hearts of the people are fickle; they are guilty and must be punished. The Lord will break down their altars and smash their sacred pillars.H3820H2505H816H6202H4196H7703H4676 3Then they will say, “We have no king because we didn’t fear the Lord. But even if we had a king, what could he do for us anyway?”H559H4428H3372H3068H4428H6213 4They spout empty words and make covenants they don’t intend to keep. So injustice springs up among them like poisonous weeds in a farmer’s field.H1696H1697H422H7723H3772H1285H4941H6524H7219H8525H7704 5The people of Samaria tremble in fear for what might happen to their calf idol at Beth-aven. The people mourn and the priests wail, because its glory will be stripped away.H7934H8111H1481H5697H1007H5971H56H3649H1523H3519H1540 6This idol will be carted away to Assyria, a gift to the great king there. Ephraim will be ridiculed and Israel will be shamed, because its people have trusted in this idol.H2986H804H4503H4428H3377H669H3947H1317H3478H954H6098 7Samaria and its king will be cut off; they will float away like driftwood on an ocean wave.H8111H4428H1820H7110H6440H4325 8And the pagan shrines of Aven, the place of Israel’s sin, will crumble. Thorns and thistles will grow up around their altars. They will beg the mountains, “Bury us!” and plead with the hills, “Fall on us!”H1116H206H2403H3478H8045H6975H1863H5927H4196H559H2022H3680H1389H5307 9The Lord says, “O Israel, ever since Gibeah, there has been only sin and more sin! You have made no progress whatsoever. Was it not right that the wicked men of Gibeah were attacked?H3478H2398H3117H1390H5975H4421H1390H1121H5932H5381 10Now whenever it fits my plan, I will attack you, too. I will call out the armies of the nations to punish you for your multiplied sins.H185H3256H5971H622H631H8147H5869 11“Israel is like a trained heifer treading out the grain—an easy job she loves. But I will put a heavy yoke on her tender neck. I will force Judah to pull the plow and Israel to break up the hard ground.H669H5697H3925H157H1758H5674H2898H6677H669H7392H3063H2790H3290H7702 12I said, ‘Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you.’H2232H6666H7114H6310H2617H5214H5215H6256H1875H3068H935H3384H6664 13“But you have cultivated wickedness and harvested a thriving crop of sins. You have eaten the fruit of lies—trusting in your military might, believing that great armies could make your nation safe.H2790H7562H7114H5766H398H6529H3585H982H1870H7230H1368 14Now the terrors of war will rise among your people. All your fortifications will fall, just as when Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel. Even mothers and children were dashed to death there.H7588H6965H5971H4013H7703H8020H7701H1009H3117H4421H517H7376H1121 15You will share that fate, Bethel, because of your great wickedness. When the day of judgment dawns, the king of Israel will be completely destroyed.H3602H1008H6213H6440H7451H7451H7837H4428H3478H1820H1820
11“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and I called my son out of Egypt.H3478H5288H157H7121H1121H4714 2But the more I called to him, the farther he moved from me, offering sacrifices to the images of Baal and burning incense to idols.H7121H1980H6440H2076H1168H6999H6456 3I myself taught Israel how to walk, leading him along by the hand. But he doesn’t know or even care that it was I who took care of him.H8637H669H8637H3947H2220H3045H7495 4I led Israel along with my ropes of kindness and love. I lifted the yoke from his neck, and I myself stooped to feed him.H4900H2256H120H5688H160H7311H5923H3895H5186H398 5“But since my people refuse to return to me, they will return to Egypt and will be forced to serve Assyria.H7725H776H4714H804H4428H3985H7725 6War will swirl through their cities; their enemies will crash through their gates. They will destroy them, trapping them in their own evil plans.H2719H2342H5892H3615H905H398H4156 7For my people are determined to desert me. They call me the Most High, but they don’t truly honor me.H5971H8511H4878H7121H5920H3162H7311 8“Oh, how can I give you up, Israel? How can I let you go? How can I destroy you like Admah or demolish you like Zeboiim? My heart is torn within me, and my compassion overflows.H5414H669H4042H3478H5414H126H7760H6636H3820H2015H5150H3648H3162 9No, I will not unleash my fierce anger. I will not completely destroy Israel, for I am God and not a mere mortal. I am the Holy One living among you, and I will not come to destroy.H6213H2740H639H7725H7843H669H410H376H6918H7130H935H5892 10For someday the people will follow me. I, the Lord, will roar like a lion. And when I roar, my people will return trembling from the west.H3212H310H3068H7580H738H7580H1121H2729H3220 11Like a flock of birds, they will come from Egypt. Trembling like doves, they will return from Assyria. And I will bring them home again,” says the Lord.H2729H6833H4714H3123H776H804H3427H1004H5002H3068 12Israel surrounds me with lies and deceit, but Judah still obeys God and is faithful to the Holy One.H669H5437H3585H1004H3478H4820H3063H7300H410H539H6918
12 The people of Israel feed on the wind; they chase after the east wind all day long. They pile up lies and violence; they are making an alliance with Assyria while sending olive oil to buy support from Egypt.H669H7462H7307H7291H6921H3117H7235H3577H7701H3772H1285H804H8081H2986H4714 2Now the Lord is bringing charges against Judah. He is about to punish Jacob for all his deceitful ways, and pay him back for all he has done.H3068H7379H3063H6485H3290H1870H4611H7725 3Even in the womb, Jacob struggled with his brother; when he became a man, he even fought with God.H251H6117H990H202H8280H430 4Yes, he wrestled with the angel and won. He wept and pleaded for a blessing from him. There at Bethel he met God face to face, and God spoke to him①—/ ①As in Greek and Syriac versions; Hebrew reads to us.H7786H4397H3201H1058H2603H4672H1008H1696 5the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies, the Lord is his name!H3068H430H6635H3068H2143 6So now, come back to your God. Act with love and justice, and always depend on him.H7725H430H8104H2617H4941H6960H430H8548 7But no, the people are like crafty merchants selling from dishonest scales—they love to cheat.H3667H3976H4820H3027H157H6231 8Israel boasts, “I am rich! I’ve made a fortune all by myself! No one has caught me cheating! My record is spotless!”H669H559H6238H4672H202H3018H4672H5771H2399 9“But I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from slavery in Egypt. And I will make you live in tents again, as you do each year at the Festival of Shelters.H3068H430H776H4714H3427H168H3117H4150 10I sent my prophets to warn you with many visions and parables.”H1696H5030H7235H2377H1819H3027H5030 11But the people of Gilead are worthless because of their idol worship. And in Gilgal, too, they sacrifice bulls; their altars are lined up like the heaps of stone along the edges of a plowed field.H205H1568H7723H2076H7794H1537H4196H1530H8525H7704 12Jacob fled to the land of Aram, and there he earned a wife by tending sheep.H3290H1272H7704H758H3478H5647H802H802H8104 13Then by a prophet the Lord brought Jacob’s descendants out of Egypt; and by that prophet they were protected.H5030H3068H5927H3478H4714H5030H8104 14But the people of Israel have bitterly provoked the Lord, so their Lord will now sentence them to death in payment for their sins.H669H3707H8563H5203H1818H2781H113H7725
13When the tribe of Ephraim spoke, the people shook with fear, for that tribe was important in Israel. But the people of Ephraim sinned by worshiping Baal and thus sealed their destruction.H669H1696H7578H5375H3478H816H1168H4191 2Now they continue to sin by making silver idols, images shaped skillfully with human hands. “Sacrifice to these,” they cry, “and kiss the calf idols!”H2398H3254H6213H4541H3701H6091H8394H4639H2796H559H120H2076H5401H5695 3Therefore, they will disappear like the morning mist, like dew in the morning sun, like chaff blown by the wind, like smoke from a chimney.H1242H6051H7925H2919H1980H4671H5590H1637H6227H699 4“I have been the Lord your God ever since I brought you out of Egypt. You must acknowledge no God but me, for there is no other savior.H3068H430H776H4714H3045H430H2108H3467H1115 5I took care of you in the wilderness, in that dry and thirsty land.H3045H4057H776H8514 6But when you had eaten and were satisfied, you became proud and forgot me.H4830H7646H7646H3820H7311H7911 7So now I will attack you like a lion, like a leopard that lurks along the road.H7826H5246H1870H7789 8Like a bear whose cubs have been taken away, I will tear out your heart. I will devour you like a hungry lioness and mangle you like a wild animal.H6298H1677H7909H7167H5458H3820H398H3833H7704H2416H1234 9“You are about to be destroyed, O Israel—yes, by me, your only helper.H3478H7843H5828 10Now where is your king? Let him save you! Where are all the leaders of the land, the king and the officials you demanded of me?H165H4428H645H3467H5892H8199H559H5414H4428H8269 11In my anger I gave you kings, and in my fury I took them away.H5414H4428H639H3947H5678 12“Ephraim’s guilt has been collected, and his sin has been stored up for punishment.H5771H669H6887H2403H6845 13Pain has come to the people like the pain of childbirth, but they are like a child who resists being born. The moment of birth has arrived, but they stay in the womb!H2256H3205H935H2450H1121H5975H6256H4866H1121 14“Should I ransom them from the grave? Should I redeem them from death? O death, bring on your terrors! O grave, bring on your plagues! For I will not take pity on them.H6299H3027H7585H1350H4194H4194H165H1698H7585H165H6987H5164H5641H5869 15Ephraim was the most fruitful of all his brothers, but the east wind—a blast from the Lord—will arise in the desert. All their flowing springs will run dry, and all their wells will disappear. Every precious thing they own will be plundered and carried away.H6500H251H6921H935H7307H3068H5927H4057H4726H954H4599H2717H8154H214H2532H3627 16The people of Samaria must bear the consequences of their guilt because they rebelled against their God. They will be killed by an invading army, their little ones dashed to death against the ground, their pregnant women ripped open by swords.”H8111H816H4784H430H5307H2719H5768H7376H2030H1234
14Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for your sins have brought you down.H3478H7725H3068H430H3782H5771 2Bring your confessions, and return to the Lord. Say to him, “Forgive all our sins and graciously receive us, so that we may offer you our praises.H3947H1697H7725H3068H559H5375H5771H3947H2896H7999H6499H8193 3Assyria cannot save us, nor can our warhorses. Never again will we say to the idols we have made, ‘You are our gods.’ No, in you alone do the orphans find mercy.”H804H3467H7392H5483H559H4639H3027H430H3490H7355 4The Lord says, “Then I will heal you of your faithlessness; my love will know no bounds, for my anger will be gone forever.H7495H4878H157H5071H639H7725 5I will be to Israel like a refreshing dew from heaven. Israel will blossom like the lily; it will send roots deep into the soil like the cedars in Lebanon.H2919H3478H6524H7799H5221H8328H3844 6Its branches will spread out like beautiful olive trees, as fragrant as the cedars of Lebanon.H3127H3212H1935H2132H7381H3844 7My people will again live under my shade. They will flourish like grain and blossom like grapevines. They will be as fragrant as the wines of Lebanon.H3427H6738H7725H2421H1715H6524H1612H2143H3196H3844 8“O Israel, stay away from idols! I am the one who answers your prayers and cares for you. I am like a tree that is always green; all your fruit comes from me.”H669H6091H6030H7789H7488H1265H6529H4672 9Let those who are wise understand these things. Let those with discernment listen carefully. The paths of the Lord are true and right, and righteous people live by walking in them. But in those paths sinners stumble and fall.H2450H995H995H3045H1870H3068H3477H6662H3212H6586H3782
Dublin, OH
. The people mourn and the priests wail, because its glory will be stripped away.H7934
