Study Desk

They threw dice to decide which of my people would be their slaves. They traded boys to obtain prostitutes and sold girls for enough wine to get drunk.

"What do you have against me, Tyre and Sidon and you cities of Philistia? Are you trying to take revenge on me? If you are, then watch out! I will strike swiftly and pay you back for everything you have done.

"But I will bring them back from all the places to which you sold them, and I will pay you back for everything you have done.

Say to the nations far and wide: "Get ready for war! Call out your best warriors. Let all your fighting men advance for the attack.

Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread the grapes, for the winepress is full. The storage vats are overflowing with the wickedness of these people."

The Lord 's voice will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth will shake. But the Lord will be a refuge for his people, a strong fortress for the people of Israel.

This is what the Lord says: "The people of Israel have sinned again and again, and I will not let them go unpunished! They sell honorable people for silver and poor people for a pair of sandals.

It was I who rescued you from Egypt and led you through the desert for forty years, so you could possess the land of the Amorites.

On that day the most courageous of your fighting men will drop their weapons and run for their lives," says the Lord .

"From among all the families on the earth, I have been intimate with you alone. That is why I must punish you for all your sins."

This is what the Lord says: "A shepherd who tries to rescue a sheep from a lion's mouth will recover only two legs or a piece of an ear. So it will be for the Israelites in Samaria lying on luxurious beds, and for the people of Damascus reclining on couches.

"On the very day I punish Israel for its sins, I will destroy the pagan altars at Bethel. The horns of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground.

People staggered from town to town looking for water, but there was never enough. But still you would not return to me," says the Lord .

For the Lord is the one who shaped the mountains, stirs up the winds, and reveals his thoughts to mankind. He turns the light of dawn into darkness and treads on the heights of the earth. The Lord God of Heaven's Armies is his name!

Don't worship at the pagan altars at Bethel; don't go to the shrines at Gilgal or Beersheba. For the people of Gilgal will be dragged off into exile, and the people of Bethel will be reduced to nothing."

You twist justice, making it a bitter pill for the oppressed. You treat the righteous like dirt.

For I know the vast number of your sins and the depth of your rebellions. You oppress good people by taking bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts.

So those who are smart keep their mouths shut, for it is an evil time.

Therefore, this is what the Lord, the Lord God of Heaven's Armies, says: "There will be crying in all the public squares and mourning in every street. Call for the farmers to weep with you, and summon professional mourners to wail.

There will be wailing in every vineyard, for I will destroy them all," says the Lord .