Study Desk

Give glory to the LORD your God Before He brings darkness And before your feet stumble On the mountains in the dark, And while you are hoping for light He makes it into gloom, And turns it into thick darkness.

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.'"

Are there any among the idols of the nations who give rain? Or can the heavens grant showers? Is it not You, LORD our God? Therefore we wait for You, For You are the one who has done all these things.

Your words were found and I ate them, And Your words became a joy to me and the delight of my heart; For I have been called by Your name, LORD God of armies.

For this is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: "Behold, I am going to eliminate from this place, before your eyes and in your time, the voice of rejoicing and the voice of joy, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride.

"Now it will happen that, when you tell this people all these words, they will say to you, 'For what reason has the LORD declared all this great disaster against us? And what is our wrongdoing, or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?'

and say, 'Hear the word of the LORD, you kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. This is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: "Behold I am going to bring a disaster upon this place, at which the ears of everyone that hears of it will tingle.

"This is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: 'Behold, I am going to bring on this city and all its towns the entire disaster that I have declared against it, because they have stiffened their necks so as not to listen to My words.'"

'This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: "Behold, I am going to turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, with which you are making war against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans who are besieging you outside the wall; and I will gather them into the middle of this city.

"Then they will answer, 'Because they abandoned the covenant of the LORD their God and bowed down to other gods and served them.'"

Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel says concerning the shepherds who are tending My people: "You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not been concerned about them; behold, I am going to call you to account for the evil of your deeds," declares the LORD.

"Am I a God who is near," declares the LORD, "And not a God far off?

"For you will no longer remember the pronouncement of the LORD, because every person's own word will become the pronouncement, and you have perverted the words of the living God, the LORD of armies, our God.

"This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: 'Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans.

'I will also give them a heart to know Me, for I am the LORD; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me wholeheartedly.

For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to me: "Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and give it to all the nations to whom I send you, to drink from it.

"And you shall say to them, 'This is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: "Drink, be drunk, vomit, fall down, and do not get up, because of the sword which I am sending among you."'

"Now then, reform your ways and your deeds and obey the voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will relent of the disaster which He has pronounced against you.

Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, "No death sentence for this man! For he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God."

"Order them to go to their masters, saying, 'This is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: "This is what you shall say to your masters: