Study Desk

The corpses of this people will be food for the birds of the air, and for the animals of the earth; and no one will frighten them away.

And I will bring to an end the sound of mirth and gladness, the voice of the bride and bridegroom in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; for the land shall become a waste.

Therefore I will give their wives to others and their fields to conquerors, because from the least to the greatest everyone is greedy for unjust gain; from prophet to priest everyone deals falsely.

Why do we sit still? Gather together, let us go into the fortified cities and perish there; for the Lord our God has doomed us to perish, and has given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against the Lord .

We look for peace, but find no good, for a time of healing, but there is terror instead.

For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt, I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me.

O that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears, so that I might weep day and night for the slain of my poor people!

O that I had in the desert a traveler's lodging place, that I might leave my people and go away from them! For they are all adulterers, a band of traitors.

They bend their tongues like bows; they have grown strong in the land for falsehood, and not for truth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me, says the Lord .

Beware of your neighbors, and put no trust in any of your kin; for all your kin are supplanters, and every neighbor goes around like a slanderer.

Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: I will now refine and test them, for what else can I do with my sinful people?

Shall I not punish them for these things? says the Lord ; and shall I not bring retribution on a nation such as this?

Take up weeping and wailing for the mountains, and a lamentation for the pastures of the wilderness, because they are laid waste so that no one passes through, and the lowing of cattle is not heard; both the birds of the air and the animals have fled and are gone.

Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider, and call for the mourning women to come; send for the skilled women to come;

For a sound of wailing is heard from Zion: "How we are ruined! We are utterly shamed, because we have left the land, because they have cast down our dwellings."

but let those who boast boast in this, that they understand and know me, that I am the Lord ; I act with steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight, says the Lord .

Egypt, Judah, Edom, the Ammonites, Moab, and all those with shaven temples who live in the desert. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.

Thus says the Lord : Do not learn the way of the nations, or be dismayed at the signs of the heavens; for the nations are dismayed at them.

For the customs of the peoples are false: a tree from the forest is cut down, and worked with an ax by the hands of an artisan;

Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, nor is it in them to do good.