God Will Raise Up the Assyrians to Attack Israel 8:1 Sound the alarm! An eagle looms over the temple of the LORD! For they have broken their covenant with me, and have rebelled against my law. 8:2 Israel cries out to me, “My God, we acknowledge you!” 8:3 But Israel has rejected what is morally good; so an enemy will pursue him. The Political
Fertility Cult Festivals Have Intoxicated Israel 9:1 O Israel, do not rejoice jubilantly like the nations, for you are unfaithful to your God. You love to receive a prostitute's wages on all the floors where you thresh your grain. 9:2 Threshing floors and wine vats will not feed the people, and new wine only deceives them. Assyrian Exile Will Reverse the Egyptian
Israel is Guilty of Fertility Cult Worship 10:1 Israel was a fertile vine that yielded fruit. As his fruit multiplied, he multiplied altars to Baal. As his land prospered, they adorned the fertility pillars. 10:2 Their heart is slipping; soon they will be punished for their guilt. The LORD will break their altars; he will completely destroy their fertility pillars. The Lord Will Punish Israel by
Reversal of the Exodus: Return to Egypt and Exile in Assyria 11:1 When Israel was a young man, I loved him like a son, and I summoned my son out of Egypt. 11:2 But the more I summoned them, the farther they departed from me. They sacrificed to the Baal idols and burned incense to images. 11:3 Yet it was I who
12:1 Ephraim continually feeds on the wind; he chases the east wind all day; he multiplies lies and violence. They make treaties with Assyria, and send olive oil as tribute to Egypt. 12:2 The LORD also has a covenant lawsuit against Judah; he will punish Jacob according to his ways and repay him according to his deeds. Israel Must Return to the God
Baal Worshipers and Calf Worshipers to be Destroyed 13:1 When Ephraim spoke, there was terror; he was exalted in Israel, but he became guilty by worshiping Baal and died. 13:2 Even now they persist in sin! They make metal images for themselves, idols that they skillfully fashion from their own silver; all of them are nothing but the work of craftsmen! There is
Prophetic Call to Genuine Repentance 14:1 Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for your sin has been your downfall! 14:2 Return to the LORD and repent! Say to him: “Completely forgive our iniquity; accept our penitential prayer, that we may offer the praise of our lips as sacrificial bulls. 14:3 Assyria cannot save us; we will not ride warhorses. We will never
1:1 This is the LORD’s message that was given to Joel the son of Pethuel: A Locust Plague Foreshadows the Day of the Lord 1:2 Listen to this, you elders; pay attention, all inhabitants of the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your whole life or in the lifetime of your ancestors? 1:3 Tell your children about it, have your children
The Locusts’ Devastation 2:1 Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm signal on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land shake with fear, for the day of the LORD is about to come. Indeed, it is near! 2:2 It will be a day of dreadful darkness, a day of foreboding storm clouds, like blackness spread over the mountains. It is
The LORD Plans to Judge the Nations 3:1 (4:1) For look! In those days and at that time I will return the exiles to Judah and Jerusalem. 3:2 Then I will gather all the nations, and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. I will enter into judgment against them there concerning my people Israel who are my inheritance, whom they