Study Desk

Therefore I will make Shomron like a rubble heap of the field, Like places for planting vineyards; And I will pour down its stones into the valley, And I will uncover its foundations.

All her idols will be beaten to pieces, And all her temple gifts will be burned with fire, And all her images I will destroy; For of the hire of a prostitute has she gathered them, And to the hire of a prostitute shall they return."

For this I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will howl like the jackals, And moan like the daughters of owls.

For her wounds are incurable; For it has come even to Yehudah. It reaches to the gate of my people, Even to Yerushalayim.

For the inhabitant of Marot waits anxiously for good, Because evil has come down from the LORD to the gate of Yerushalayim.

Harness the chariot to the swift steed, inhabitant of Lakhish. She was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Tziyon; For the transgressions of Yisra'el were found in you.

Shave your heads, And cut off your hair for the children of your delight. Enlarge your baldness like the rakham; For they have gone into captivity from you!

Therefore thus says the LORD: "Behold, I am planning against these people a disaster, From which you will not remove your necks, Neither will you walk haughtily; For it is an evil time.

Arise, and depart! For this is not your resting place, Because of uncleanness that destroys, Even with a grievous destruction.

I said, "Please listen, you heads of Ya`akov, And rulers of the house of Yisra'el: Isn't it for you to know justice?

Who also eat the flesh of my people, And flay their skin from off them, And break their bones, And chop them in pieces, as for the pot, And as flesh within the caldron.

Thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who lead my people astray; for those who feed their teeth, they proclaim, "Shalom!" and whoever doesn't provide for their mouths, they prepare war against him:

The seers shall be put to shame, And the diviners confounded. Yes, they shall all cover their lips; For there is no answer from God."

But as for me, I am full of power by the Spirit of the LORD, And of judgment, and of might, To declare to Ya`akov his disobedience, And to Yisra'el his sin.

Her leaders judge for bribes, And her Kohanim teach for a price, And her prophets of it tell forturnes for money: Yet they lean on the LORD, and say, Isn't the LORD in the midst of us? No disaster will come on us.

Therefore Tziyon for your sake will be plowed like a field, And Yerushalayim will become heaps of rubble, And the mountain of the temple like the high places of a forest.

Many nations will go and say, "Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, And to the house of the God of Ya`akov; And he will teach us of his ways, And we will walk in his paths." For out of Tziyon will go forth the law, And the word of the LORD from Yerushalayim;

But they will sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; And no one will make them afraid: For the mouth of the LORD of Hosts has spoken.

Be in pain, and labor to bring forth, daughter of Tziyon, Like a woman in travail; For now you will go forth out of the city, And will dwell in the field, And will come even to Bavel. There you will be rescued. There the LORD will redeem you from the hand of your enemies.

But they don't know the thoughts of the LORD, Neither do they understand his counsel; For he has gathered them like the sheaves to the threshing floor.