Study Desk

But, LORD of armies, who judges righteously, Who puts the feelings and the heart to the test, Let me see Your vengeance on them, For to You I have committed my cause.

You have planted them, they have also taken root; They grow, they have also produced fruit. You are near to their lips But far from their mind.

But You know me, LORD; You see me And examine my heart's attitude toward You. Drag them off like sheep for the slaughter, And set them apart for a day of slaughter!

"They have sown wheat but have harvested thorns, They have strained themselves to no profit. So be ashamed of your produce Because of the fierce anger of the LORD."

"But if they do not listen, then I will drive out that nation, drive it out and destroy it," declares the LORD.

This is what the LORD said to me: "Go and buy yourself a linen undergarment and put it around your waist, but do not put it in water."

'For as the undergarment clings to the waist of a man, so I made the entire household of Israel and the entire household of Judah cling to Me,' declares the LORD, 'so that they might be My people, for renown, for praise, and for glory; but they did not listen.'

But if you do not listen to it, My soul will weep in secret for such pride; And my eyes will shed And stream down tears, Because the flock of the LORD has been taken captive.

But I said, "Oh, Lord GOD! Behold, the prophets are telling them, 'You will not see a sword, nor will you have famine; on the contrary, I will give you lasting peace in this place.'"

Have You completely rejected Judah? Or have You loathed Zion? Why have You stricken us so that we are beyond healing? We waited for peace, but nothing good came; And for a time of healing, but behold, terror!

Therefore, this is what the LORD says: "If you return, then I will restore you— You will stand before Me; And if you extract the precious from the worthless, You will become My spokesman. They, for their part, may turn to you, But as for you, you are not to turn to them.

"Then you are to say to them, 'It is because your forefathers have abandoned Me,' declares the LORD, 'and have followed other gods, and served and worshiped them; but they have abandoned Me and have not kept My Law.

but, 'As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had banished them.' For I will restore them to their own land which I gave to their fathers.

LORD, my strength and my stronghold, And my refuge in the day of distress, To You the nations will come From the ends of the earth and say, "Our fathers have inherited nothing but falsehood, Futility, and things of no benefit."

Can a person make gods for himself? But they are not gods!

"For he will be like a bush in the desert, And will not see when prosperity comes, But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, A land of salt that is not inhabited.

"For he will be like a tree planted by the water That extends its roots by a stream, And does not fear when the heat comes; But its leaves will be green, And it will not be anxious in a year of drought, Nor cease to yield fruit.

"As a partridge that hatches eggs which it has not laid, So is a person who makes a fortune, but unjustly; In the middle of his days it will abandon him, And in the end he will be a fool."

But as for me, I have not hurried away from being a shepherd following after You, Nor have I longed for the disastrous day; You Yourself know that the utterance of my lips Was in Your presence.

Let those who persecute me be put to shame, but as for me, let me not be put to shame; Let them be dismayed, but let me not be dismayed. Bring on them a day of disaster, And crush them with double destruction!