Study Desk

Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke secretly to Gedaliah in Mizpah, saying, "Let me go and kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no one will know! Why should he take your life, so that all the Jews who are gathered to you would be scattered and the remnant of Judah would perish?"

"Whether it is pleasant or unpleasant, we will listen to the voice of the LORD our God to whom we are sending you, so that it may go well for us when we listen to the voice of the LORD our God."

'I will also show you compassion, so that he will have compassion on you and restore you to your own soil.

provoking Me to anger with the works of your hands, burning sacrifices to other gods in the land of Egypt where you are entering to reside, so that you may be eliminated and become a curse and a disgrace among all the nations of the earth?

'And this will be the sign to you,' declares the LORD, 'that I am going to punish you in this place, so that you may know that My words will assuredly stand against you for harm.'

Go up, you horses, and drive wildly, you chariots, So that the warriors may march forward: Cush and Put, who handle the shield, And the Lydians, who handle and bend the bow.

"Flee, save yourselves, So that you may be like a juniper in the wilderness.

"A destroyer will come to every city, So that no city will escape; The valley also will be ruined And the plateau will be destroyed, As the LORD has said.

"But I have stripped Esau bare, I have uncovered his hiding places So that he will not be able to conceal himself; His offspring have been destroyed along with his brothers And his neighbors, and he no longer exists.

"They will ask for the way to Zion, turning their faces in its direction; they will come so that they may join themselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.

"Their Redeemer is strong, the LORD of armies is His name; He will vigorously plead their case So that He may bring rest to their land, But turmoil to the inhabitants of Babylon.

"I will send foreigners to Babylon so that they may winnow her And devastate her land; For they will be opposed to her on every side On the day of her disaster.

"When they become heated up, I will serve them their banquet And make them drunk, so that they may rejoice in triumph, And may sleep a perpetual sleep And not wake up," declares the LORD.

"Now, so that your heart does not grow faint, And you are not afraid at the report that will be heard in the land— For the report will come in one year, And after that another report in another year, And violence will be in the land With ruler against ruler—

"I will make her leaders and her wise men drunk, Her governors, her officials, and her warriors, So that they will sleep a perpetual sleep and not wake up," Declares the King, whose name is the LORD of armies.

and say, 'You, LORD, have promised concerning this place to cut it off, so that there will be nothing living in it, whether man or animal; but it will be a permanent desolation.'

"They have heard that I groan; There is no one to comfort me, All my enemies have heard of my disaster; They are joyful that You have done it. Oh, that You would bring the day which You have proclaimed, So that they will become like me.

He has walled me in so that I cannot go out; He has made my chain heavy.

You have veiled Yourself with a cloud So that no prayer can pass through.

They hunted our steps So that we could not walk in our streets; Our end drew near, Our days were finished For our end had come.