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| 1 Hear ye this, O priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ye ear, O house of the king; for judgment is toward you, because ye have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor. |
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| 2 And the revolters are profound to make slaughter, though I have been a rebuker of them all. |
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| 3 I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hid from me: for now, O Ephraim, thou committest whoredom, and Israel is defiled. |
Ephraim – Christendom. D22
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| 4 They will not frame their doings to turn unto their God: for the spirit of whoredoms is in the midst of them, and they have not known the LORD. |
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| 5 And the pride of Israel doth testify to his face: therefore shall Israel and Ephraim fall in their iniquity; Judah also shall fall with them. |
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| 6 They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the LORD; but they shall not find him; he hath withdrawn himself from them. |
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| 7 They have dealt treacherously against the LORD: for they have begotten strange children: now shall a month devour them with their portions.
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Strange children – Members of the nominal church, begotten not of the truth, but of error; partaking, not of the spirit of Christ, but of the spirit of the world. R1009:1
Tares. (Matt. 13:38) R1009:2
Those whom God does not acknowledge as his sons. R1009:1
Now – While in a rejected, spewed-out condition. R1434:1*
A month – 30 years--the divinely set time during which the false shepherds shall be devoured. R1433:6*
"Three shepherds also I cut off in one month." (Zech. 11:8) R1433:3*
Their portions – Possessions. (Leeser) R1434:1*
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| 8 Blow ye the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah: cry aloud at Bethaven, after thee, O Benjamin. |
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| 9 Ephraim shall be desolate in the day of rebuke: among the tribes of Israel have I made known that which shall surely be. |
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| 10 The princes of Judah were like them that remove the bound: therefore I will pour out my wrath upon them like water. |
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| 11 Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment, because he willingly walked after the commandment. |
Broken in judgment – Made desolate, "broken through punishment." R1434:1*
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| 12 Therefore will I be unto Ephraim as a moth, and to the house of Judah as rottenness. |
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| 13 When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound. |
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| 14 For I will be unto Ephraim as a lion, and as a young lion to the house of Judah: I, even I, will tear and go away; I will take away, and none shall rescue him. |
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| 15 I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their offence, and seek my face: in their affliction they will seek me early. |
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