Study Desk

From the ends of the earth we hear songs, "Glory and honor to the Righteous One," But I say, "I waste away, I waste away. Woe to me! The treacherous deal treacherously, Indeed, the treacherous deal very treacherously."

And Moab will spread out his hands in the middle of the filth As a swimmer spreads out his hands to swim, But the Lord will humiliate his pride in spite of the [skillful] movements of his hands.

O LORD our God, other masters besides You have ruled over us; But through You alone we confess Your name.

But even these reel with wine and stagger from strong drink: The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink; They are confused by wine, they stagger from strong drink; They reel while seeing visions, They stagger when pronouncing judgment.

For dill is not threshed with a sharp threshing sledge, Nor is a cartwheel rolled over cumin; But dill is beaten out with a staff, and cumin with a rod.

Woe (judgment is coming) to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David [once] camped! Add yet another year; let the feasts run their course [but only one year more].

But the multitude of your enemies [that assault you] will become like fine dust, And the multitude of the tyrants like the chaff which blows away; And it will happen in an instant, suddenly [that your enemy is destroyed].

It will be as when a hungry man dreams That he is eating, But when he awakens, his hunger is not satisfied; Or as when a thirsty man dreams That he is drinking, But when he awakens, in fact, he is faint And his thirst is not quenched. So will the multitude of all the nations be Who fight against Mount Zion.

Stop and take some time and wonder [at this prophecy], Blind yourselves and be blinded [at its fulfillment by your spiritual incompetence]. They are drunk, but not from wine; They stagger, but not from strong drink.

Then the Lord said, "Because this nation approaches [Me only] with their words And honors Me [only] with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me is a tradition that is learned by rote [without any regard for its meaning],

"Woe (judgment is coming) to the rebellious children," declares the LORD, "Who carry out a plan, but not Mine, And make an alliance [by pouring out a libation], but not of My Spirit, In order to add sin to sin;

"All will be ashamed because of a people (the Egyptians) who cannot benefit them, Who are not a help or benefit, but a shame and also a disgrace."

For the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel has said this, "In returning [to Me] and rest you shall be saved, In quietness and confident trust is your strength." But you were not willing,

Though the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of oppression, yet your Teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will [constantly] see your Teacher.

Woe (judgment is coming) to those who go down to Egypt for help, Who rely on horses And trust in chariots because they are many, And in horsemen because they are very strong, But they do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek and consult the LORD!

Yet He is also wise and will bring disaster, And does not retract His words, But will arise against the house of evildoers And against the helpers of those who do evil.

But the noble man conceives noble and magnificent things; And he stands by what is noble and magnificent.

But it will hail, when the forest comes down, And the [capital] city will fall in utter humiliation.

But there the mighty and magnificent LORD will be for us A place of broad rivers and streams, Where no oar-driven boat will go, And on which no mighty and stately ship will pass.

But the pelican and the porcupine will take possession of it; The owl and the raven will dwell in it. And He will stretch over it (Edom) the measuring line of desolation And the plumb line of emptiness.