Study Desk

But You know me, O Lord. You see me. And You test how my heart is with You. Take them off like sheep to be killed. Set them apart for the day of killing.

They have planted grain and have gathered thorns. They have worked hard, but have nothing. Be ashamed of what you gather because of the burning anger of the Lord."

But after I have pulled them up by the roots, I will have loving-pity on them again, and will bring them back. I will return each one to what he has been given and to his land.

But if they will not listen, then I will pull that nation up by the roots and destroy it," says the Lord.

The Lord said to me, "Go and buy a linen belt, and put it around yourself. But do not put it in water."

For as the belt holds on to a man's body, so I made the whole family of Israel and the whole family of Judah hold on to Me,' says the Lord. ‘This was so that they might be for Me a people, a name, a praise, and an honor. But they would not listen.'

Give honor to the Lord your God before He brings darkness and before you slip and fall on the dark mountains. You hope for light, but He will turn it into darkness and it will be very dark.

But if you will not listen, my soul will cry in secret because of your pride. My eyes will cry with a bitter cry and tears will flow down, because the Lord's people have been taken away in chains.

When they go without food, I will not listen to their cry. And when they give burnt gifts and grain gifts, I will not receive them. But I will destroy them by the sword, hunger and disease."

Then I said, "O Lord God, the ones who speak in Your name are telling them, ‘You will not see the sword and you will not go hungry. But I will give you lasting peace in this place.'"

Have You nothing at all to do with Judah any more? Do You hate Zion? Why have You punished us so that we cannot be healed? We waited for peace, but nothing good came. We waited for a time of healing, but there is much trouble.

So the Lord says, "If you return, then I will let you take your place again, standing before Me. And if you take out what is of worth from what is of no worth, then you will speak for Me. Let these people turn to you, but you must not turn to them.

Then you tell them, ‘It is because your fathers before you have turned away from Me,' says the Lord. ‘They have followed other gods and served them and worshiped them. But they have left Me and have not kept My Law.

But it will be said, ‘As the Lord lives, Who brought the sons of Israel from the land of the north and from all the countries where He had sent them.' For I will return them to their own land which I gave to their fathers.

O Lord, my strength and my strong-place, my safe place in the day of trouble, nations will come to You from the ends of the earth and say, "Our fathers have received nothing but lies, only things that have no worth and do not help them."

He will be like a tree planted by the water, that sends out its roots by the river. It will not be afraid when the heat comes but its leaves will be green. It will not be troubled in a dry year, or stop giving fruit.

But as for me, I have not run away from being a shepherd who follows You. And I have not been hoping for the day of trouble. You know what I said was spoken in front of You.

Let those who make it hard for me be put to shame, but do not let me be put to shame. Let them be afraid, but do not let me be afraid. Bring on them a day of trouble, and destroy them with twice as much!

Do not bring a load out of your houses on the Day of Rest or do any work. But keep the Day of Rest holy, as I told your fathers before you.

Yet they did not listen or hear, but made their necks hard and would not change their ways.