Study Desk

They lay hold on bow and javelin; they are cruel and have no mercy; the sound of them is like the roaring sea; they ride on horses, set in array as a man for battle, against you, O daughter of Zion!"

Go not out into the field, nor walk on the road, for the enemy has a sword; terror is on every side.

O daughter of my people, put on sackcloth, and roll in ashes; make mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.

The bellows blow fiercely; the lead is consumed by the fire; in vain the refining goes on, for the wicked are not removed.

Rejected silver they are called, for the Lord has rejected them."

"For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another,

"As for you, do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I will not hear you.

The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven. And they pour out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger.

For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.

"‘Cut off your hair and cast it away; raise a lamentation on the bare heights, for the Lord has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.'

"For the sons of Judah have done evil in my sight, declares the Lord . They have set their detestable things in the house that is called by my name, to defile it.

Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord , when it will no more be called Topheth, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; for they will bury in Topheth, because there is no room elsewhere.

And the dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the air, and for the beasts of the earth, and none will frighten them away.

And I will silence in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, 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 looked for peace, but no good came; for a time of healing, but behold, terror.

For behold, I am sending among you serpents, adders that cannot be charmed, and they shall bite you," declares the Lord .

For the wound of the daughter of my people is my heart wounded; I mourn, and dismay has taken hold on me.

Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!