Study Desk

But death will be destroyed forever. And the Lord God will wipe away every tear from every face. In the past, all of his people were sad, but God will take away that sadness from the earth. All of this will happen because the Lord said it would.

At that time people will say, "Here is our God! He is the one we have been waiting for. He has come to save us. We have been waiting for our Lord . So we will rejoice and be happy when he saves us."

At that time people will sing this song in Judah: We have a strong city with strong walls and defenses. But God gives us our salvation.

God, you give true peace to people who depend on you, to those who trust in you.

Honesty is the path good people follow. They follow the path that is straight and true. And God, you make that way smooth and easy to follow.

Lord , you are our God, but in the past, we followed other lords. We belonged to other masters, but now we want people to remember only one name—yours.

The vines will become dry, and the branches will break off. Women will use them for firewood. The people refuse to understand. So God, their Maker, will not comfort them or be kind to them.

So God will use this strange way of talking, and he will use other languages to speak to these people.

Because of these things, the Lord God says, "I will put a rock—a cornerstone—in the ground in Zion. This will be a very precious stone. Everything will be built on this very important rock. Anyone who trusts in that rock will not be disappointed.

Now don't complain about these things. If you fight against them, you will only tighten the ropes around you. The words I heard will not change. They came from the Lord God All-Powerful, the ruler of all the earth, and these things will be done.

Our God is using this to teach you a lesson. This example shows us that God is fair when he punishes his people.

People grind grain to make flour, but they don't grind it forever. As God does in punishing people, a worker might drive his wagon over the grain to remove the hulls, but he does not allow the horses to crush it.

God says, "Look at Ariel, the city where David camped. Keep on having your festivals, year after year.

Yes, when they see all their children, the children I myself have made for them, they will honor my name as holy. They will respect the God of Israel.

The Lord God , the Holy One of Israel, says, "If you come back to me you will be saved. Only by remaining calm and trusting in me can you be strong." But you don't want to do that.

So the Lord is waiting to show his mercy to you. He wants to rise and comfort you. The Lord is the God who does the right thing, so he will bless everyone who waits for his help.

The Lord might give you sorrow and pain like the bread and water you eat every day. But God is your teacher, and he will not continue to hide from you. You will see your teacher with your own eyes.

The Egyptians are only human, not God. The horses from Egypt are only animals, not spirit. The Lord will stretch out his arm, and the helper will be defeated. And those who wanted help will fall. They will all be destroyed together.

People of Israel, you should come back to the God you turned away from.

This will continue until God gives us his Spirit from above. Then the desert will become rich farmland and the farmland will be like thick forests.