Study Desk

When the people [instead of trusting God] say to you, "Consult the mediums [who try to talk to the dead] and the soothsayers who chirp and whisper and mutter," should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?

They [who consult mediums and soothsayers] will pass through the land deeply distressed and hungry, and when they are hungry, they will become enraged and will curse their king and their God as they look upward.

You [O God] will increase the nation, You will multiply their joy; They will rejoice before You Like the joy and jubilation of the harvest, As men rejoice when they divide the spoil [of victory].

For to us a Child shall be born, to us a Son shall be given; And the government shall be upon His shoulder, And His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Therefore the Lord, the GOD of hosts, will send a wasting disease among the stout warriors of Assyria; And under his glory a fire will be kindled like a burning flame.

A remnant will return, a remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.

For the Lord, the GOD of hosts, will execute a complete destruction, one that is decreed, in the midst of all the land.

Therefore, the Lord GOD of hosts says this, "O My people who dwell in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrian who strikes you with a rod and lifts up his staff against you, as [the king of] Egypt did.

Listen carefully, the Lord, the GOD of hosts, will lop off the [beautiful] boughs with terrifying force; The tall in stature will be cut down And the lofty will be abased and humiliated.

"Behold, God, my salvation! I will trust and not be afraid, For the LORD GOD is my strength and song; Yes, He has become my salvation."

Wail, for the day of the LORD is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty (All Sufficient One—Invincible God)!

And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans' pride, Will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them.

"But you said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit on the mount of assembly In the remote parts of the north.

"This is the plan [of God] decided for the whole earth [regarded as conquered and put under tribute by Assyria]; and this is the hand [of God] that is stretched out over all the nations.

Gladness and joy are taken away from the fruitful field; In the vineyards there will be no singing or joyful sound; No treader treads out wine in the presses, For I (God) put an end to the joyful shouting.

So it will come to pass when Moab presents himself, When he wearies himself [worshiping] on his high place [of idolatry] And comes to his sanctuary [of Chemosh, god of Moab] to pray, That he will not prevail.

This is the word which the LORD spoke earlier concerning Moab [when Moab's pride and resistance to God were first known].

"Yet gleanings will be left in the land [of Israel] like the shaking of the olive tree, Two or three olives on the topmost branch, Four or five on the [outermost] branches of the fruitful tree," Declares the LORD, the God of Israel.

Because you [Judah] have forgotten the God of your salvation And have not remembered the Rock of your Stronghold— Therefore you plant lovely plants And set the grounds with vine slips of a strange god,

The nations roar on like the roaring of many waters, But God will rebuke them and they will flee far away, And be chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind, Or like whirling dust before the storm.