Study Desk

But, there is one thing that happens to everyone—we all die! Death comes to good people and bad people. Death comes to those who are pure and to those who are not pure. Death comes to those who give sacrifices and to those who don't give sacrifices. Good people will die just as sinners do. Those who make promises to God will die just as those who are afraid to make those promises.

So go and eat your food now and enjoy it. Drink your wine and be happy. It is all right with God if you do these things.

Enjoy life with the wife you love. Enjoy every day of your short life. God has given you this short life on earth—and it is all you have. So enjoy the work you have to do in this life.

You don't know where the wind blows. And you don't know how a baby grows in its mother's womb. In the same way, you don't know what God will do—and he makes everything happen.

So young people, enjoy yourselves while you are young. Be happy. Do whatever your heart leads you to do. Do whatever you want, but remember that God will judge you for everything you do.

Your body came from the earth. And when you die, it will return to the earth. But your spirit came from God, and when you die, it will return to him.

Now, what should we learn from everything that is written in this book? The most important thing a person can do is to respect God and obey his commands, because he knows about everything people do—even the secret things. He knows about all the good and all the bad, and he will judge people for everything they do.

This is the vision of Isaiah son of Amoz. God showed Isaiah what would happen to Judah and Jerusalem. Isaiah saw this during the time when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah.

Because of this, the Lord God All-Powerful, the Mighty One of Israel, says, "Look, I will get relief from my enemies. You will not cause me any more trouble.

God is good and does what is right, so he will rescue Zion and the people who come back to him.

People from many places will go there and say, "Come, let's go up to the mountain of the Lord , to the Temple of the God of Jacob. Then God will teach us his way of living, and we will follow him." His teaching, the Lord 's message, will begin in Jerusalem on Mount Zion and will go out to all the world.

Then God will act as judge to end arguments between nations. He will decide what is right for people from many lands. They will stop using their weapons for war. They will hammer their swords into plows and use their spears to make tools for harvesting. All fighting between nations will end. They will never again train for war.

Understand what I am telling you: The Lord God All-Powerful will take away everything Judah and Jerusalem depend on. He will take away all the food and water.

What gives you the right to hurt my people? What gives you the right to push the faces of the poor into the dirt?" The Lord God All-Powerful said this.

My people don't really know God. So they will be captured and taken away. Everyone, the respected leaders and the common people as well, will be hungry and thirsty.

The Lord All-Powerful will judge fairly, and people will honor him. They will respect the Holy God when he brings justice.

They say, "We wish God would hurry and do what he plans to do so that we can see it. Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel happen soon so that we can know what it is."

Look! God is giving a sign to the nations far away. He is raising a flag and whistling for them to come. Now the enemy is coming from a faraway land and will soon enter the country. They are moving very quickly.

I was frightened and said, "Oh, no! I will be destroyed. I am not pure enough to speak to God, and I live among people who are not pure enough to speak to him. But I have seen the King, the Lord All-Powerful."

But the Lord God says, "Their plan will not succeed. It will not happen