Study Desk

Come, let us return to the Lord .^(a) For He has torn us,^(b) and He will heal us;^(c) He has wounded us, and He will bind up our wounds.^(d)

He will revive us after two days,^(e) and on the third day He will raise us up so we can live in His presence.^(f)

Let us strive to know the Lord .^(g) His appearance is as sure as the dawn.^(h) He will come to us like the rain,⁽ⁱ⁾ like the spring showers that water the land.

What am I going to do with you, Ephraim?^(j) What am I going to do with you, Judah? Your loyalty is like the morning mist^(k) and like the early dew that vanishes.

This is why I have used the prophets to cut them down;^[a](l) I have killed them with the words of My mouth. My judgment strikes like lightning.^[b]

For I desire loyalty and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God^(m) rather than burnt offerings.⁽ⁿ⁾

But they, like Adam,^[c] have violated the covenant;^(o) there they have betrayed Me.^(p)

Gilead is a city of evildoers,^(q) tracked with bloody footprints.^(r)

Like raiders who wait in ambush for someone,^(s) a band of priests murders on the road to Shechem.^(t) They commit atrocities.^(u)

I have seen something horrible^(v) in the house of Israel: Ephraim's promiscuity is there;^(w) Israel is defiled.

A harvest is also appointed for you, Judah.^(x) When I^[d] return My people from captivity,^(y)

when I heal Israel,^(a) the sins of Ephraim^(b) and the crimes of Samaria^(c) will be exposed. For they practice fraud;^(d) a thief breaks in; a raiding party pillages outside.^(e)

But they never consider that I remember all their evil.^(f) Now their sins are all around them;^(g) they are right in front of My face.