We have been guilty of many, many sins from the days of our ancestors until now. We sinned so our kings and priests were punished. Foreign kings attacked us and took our people away. Those kings took away our wealth and made us ashamed. It is the same even today.
Israel is like a vine that grows plenty of fruit.\par But as Israel got more and more \{things\}\par he built more and more altars\par \{to honor false gods\}.\par His land became better and better,\par so he put up better and better stones\par \{to honor false gods\}.\par
It was carried away as a gift to the great king of Assyria. He will keep Ephraim’s shameful \{idol\}. Israel will be ashamed of its idol. {\cf2\super [102]}
“I will save them from the grave!\par I will rescue them from death!\par Death, where are your diseases?\par Grave, where is your power?\par I am not looking for revenge!\par
They will eat, but they will not be satisfied! They will do sexual sins, but they will not have babies. {\cf2\super [36]} Why? Because they left the Lord and became like prostitutes. {\cf2\super [37]}
Robbers hide and wait to attack someone.\par In the same way,\par priests wait on the road to Shechem\par and attack the people that pass by.\par They have done evil things.\par
“But that person will know the Lord’s anger. That anger will be like a cup of poison in the Lord’s right hand. That person will taste that anger and then he will fall to the ground like a drunk person.
“But Jeshurun [212] became fat
and kicked {like a bull}.
(Yes, you people were fed well!
You became full and fat!)
Then he left the God who made him!
He ran away from the Rock
who saved him.
The way these people live is leading them to destruction. They don’t serve God. Those people live only to please themselves. They do shameful things, and they are proud of those things. They think only about earthly things.
“The Lord God of Israel promised that your father’s family would serve him forever. But now the Lord says this, ‘That will never be! I will honor people who honor me. But bad things will happen to people who refuse to respect me.