Study Desk

'Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: "Because it is tall in stature and has put its top among the clouds, and its heart is haughty in its loftiness,

"And you, son of man, say to your fellow citizens, 'The righteousness of a righteous one will not save him on the day of his offense, and as for the wickedness of a wicked one, he will not stumble because of it on the day when he turns from his wickedness; whereas a righteous one will not be able to live by his righteousness on the day when he commits sin.'

"Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I make the land a desolation and a waste because of all their abominations which they have committed."'

"As I live," declares the Lord GOD, "certainly, because My flock has become plunder, and My flock has become food for all the animals of the field for lack of a shepherd, and My shepherds did not search for My flock, but rather the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock,

therefore as I live," declares the Lord GOD, "I will deal with you according to your anger and according to your envy which you displayed because of your hatred for them; so I will make Myself known among them when I judge you.

"As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate, so I will do to you. You will be a desolation, Mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it. Then they will know that I am the LORD."'

'Therefore prophesy in regard to the land of Israel and say to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys, "This is what the Lord GOD says: 'Behold, I have spoken in My jealousy and in My wrath because you have endured the insults of the nations.'

"Therefore I poured out My wrath on them for the blood which they had shed on the land, because they had defiled it with their idols.

"When they came to the nations where they went, they profaned My holy name, because it was said of them, 'These are the people of the LORD, yet they have left His land.'

"They will not take wood from the field or gather firewood from the forests, because they will make fires with the weapons; and they will take the spoils of those who plundered them and seize the plunder of those who plundered them," declares the Lord GOD.

"The nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile for their wrongdoing, because they were disloyal to Me, and I hid My face from them; so I handed them over to their adversaries, and all of them fell by the sword.

"Then they will know that I am the LORD their God because I made them go into exile among the nations, and then I gathered them again to their own land; and I will leave none of them there any longer.

And the side chambers surrounding the temple were wider at each successive story. Because the structure surrounding the temple went upward by stages on all sides of the temple, for that reason the width of the temple increased as it went higher; and so one went up from the lowest story to the highest by way of the second story.

Now the upper chambers were smaller because the galleries took more space away from them than from the lower and middle ones in the building.

Again he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not wade across, because the water had risen, enough water to swim in, a river that could not be crossed by wading.

"And by the river on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail. They will bear fruit every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing."

The king replied, "I know for certain that you are trying to buy time, because you have perceived that the command from me is firm,

The Chaldeans answered the king and said, "There is no person on earth who could declare the matter to the king, because no great king or ruler has ever asked anything like this of any soothsayer priest, sorcerer, or Chaldean.

Because of this, the king became angry and extremely furious, and he gave orders to kill all the wise men of Babylon.

For this reason, because the king's command was harsh and the furnace had been made extremely hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego.