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.
The more they called them, The more they went from them; They kept sacrificing to the Baals And burning incense to idols.
I led them with cords of a man, with bonds of love, And I became to them as one who lifts the yoke from their jaws; And I bent down and fed them.
They will not return to the land of Egypt; But Assyria--he will be their king Because they refused to return to Me.
The sword will whirl against their cities, And will demolish their gate bars And consume them because of their counsels.
So My people are bent on turning from Me. Though they call them to the One on high, None at all exalts Him.
I will not execute My fierce anger; I will not destroy Ephraim again. For I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst, And I will not come in wrath.
They will walk after the LORD, He will roar like a lion; Indeed He will roar And His sons will come trembling from the west.
They will come trembling like birds from Egypt And like doves from the land of Assyria; And I will settle them in their houses, declares the LORD.
Ephraim surrounds Me with lies And the house of Israel with deceit; Judah is also unruly against God, Even against the Holy One who is faithful.
Ephraim feeds on wind, And pursues the east wind continually; He multiplies lies and violence. Moreover, he makes a covenant with Assyria, And oil is carried to Egypt.
The LORD also has a dispute with Judah, And will punish Jacob according to his ways; He will repay him according to his deeds.
In the womb he took his brother by the heel, And in his maturity he contended with God.
Yes, he wrestled with the angel and prevailed; He wept and sought His favor. He found Him at Bethel And there He spoke with us,
Even the LORD, the God of hosts, The LORD is His name.
But I have been the LORD your God since the land of Egypt; I will make you live in tents again, As in the days of the appointed festival.
I have also spoken to the prophets, And I gave numerous visions, And through the prophets I gave parables.
Is there iniquity in Gilead? Surely they are worthless. In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls, Yes, their altars are like the stone heaps Beside the furrows of the field.
Now Jacob fled to the land of Aram, And Israel worked for a wife, And for a wife he kept sheep.
But by a prophet the LORD brought Israel from Egypt, And by a prophet he was kept.
And now they sin more and more, And make for themselves molten images, Idols skillfully made from their silver, All of them the work of craftsmen. They say of them, “Let the men who sacrifice kiss the calves!”
Therefore they will be like the morning cloud And like dew which soon disappears, Like chaff which is blown away from the threshing floor And like smoke from a chimney.
Yet I have been the LORD your God Since the land of Egypt; And you were not to know any god except Me, For there is no savior besides Me.
I cared for you in the wilderness, In the land of drought.
So I will be like a lion to them; Like a leopard I will lie in wait by the wayside.
The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; His sin is stored up.
The pains of childbirth come upon him; He is not a wise son, For it is not the time that he should delay at the opening of the womb.
Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol? Shall I redeem them from death? O Death, where are your thorns? O Sheol, where is your sting? Compassion will be hidden from My sight.
Though he flourishes among the reeds, An east wind will come, The wind of the LORD coming up from the wilderness; And his fountain will become dry And his spring will be dried up; It will plunder his treasury of every precious article.
Samaria will be held guilty, For she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword, Their little ones will be dashed in pieces, And their pregnant women will be ripped open.
Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, For you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to Him, “Take away all iniquity And receive us graciously, That we may present the fruit of our lips.
“Assyria will not save us, We will not ride on horses; Nor will we say again, ‘Our god,’ To the work of our hands; For in You the orphan finds mercy.”
I will be like the dew to Israel; He will blossom like the lily, And he will take root like the cedars of Lebanon.
His shoots will sprout, And his beauty will be like the olive tree And his fragrance like the cedars of Lebanon.
Those who live in his shadow Will again raise grain, And they will blossom like the vine. His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.
Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; Whoever is discerning, let him know them. For the ways of the LORD are right, And the righteous will walk in them, But transgressors will stumble in them.
The word of the LORD that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel:
Hear this, O elders, And listen, all inhabitants of the land. Has anything like this happened in your days Or in your fathers’ days?
Tell your sons about it, And let your sons tell their sons, And their sons the next generation.
What the gnawing locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; And what the swarming locust has left, the creeping locust has eaten; And what the creeping locust has left, the stripping locust has eaten.
Awake, drunkards, and weep; And wail, all you wine drinkers, On account of the sweet wine That is cut off from your mouth.
For a nation has invaded my land, Mighty and without number; Its teeth are the teeth of a lion, And it has the fangs of a lioness.
Wail like a virgin girded with sackcloth For the bridegroom of her youth.
The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off From the house of the LORD. The priests mourn, The ministers of the LORD.
The field is ruined, The land mourns; For the grain is ruined, The new wine dries up, Fresh oil fails.
Be ashamed, O farmers, Wail, O vinedressers, For the wheat and the barley; Because the harvest of the field is destroyed.
The vine dries up And the fig tree fails; The pomegranate, the palm also, and the apple tree, All the trees of the field dry up. Indeed, rejoicing dries up From the sons of men.
Gird yourselves with sackcloth And lament, O priests; Wail, O ministers of the altar! Come, spend the night in sackcloth O ministers of my God, For the grain offering and the drink offering Are withheld from the house of your God.
Consecrate a fast, Proclaim a solemn assembly; Gather the elders And all the inhabitants of the land To the house of the LORD your God, And cry out to the LORD.
New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995
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