Study Desk

Then the Lord told me to say to the people of Judah: You are my chosen people, but you have no right to be here in my temple, doing such terrible things. The sacrifices you offer me won't protect you from disaster, so stop celebrating.

Once you were like an olive tree covered with fruit. But soon I will send a noisy mob to break off your branches and set you on fire.

I am the Lord All-Powerful. You people of Judah were like a tree that I had planted, but you have made me angry by offering sacrifices to Baal, just as the northern kingdom did. And now I'm going to pull you up by the roots.

But then the Lord told me that they had planned to chop me down like a tree— fruit and all— so that no one would ever remember me again.

But I will punish them. Their young men will die in battle, and their children will starve to death.

Whenever I complain to you, Lord , you are always fair. But now I have questions about your justice. Why is life easy for sinners? Why are they successful?

But you know, Lord , how faithful I've always been, even in my thoughts. So drag my enemies away and butcher them like sheep!

Even your own family has turned against you. They act friendly, but don't trust them. They're out to get you, and so is everyone else.

I loved my people and chose them as my very own. But now I will reject them and hand them over to their enemies.

My people, you planted wheat, but because I was furious, I let only weeds grow. You wore yourselves out for nothing!

The Lord said: I gave this land to my people Israel, but enemies around it have attacked and robbed it. So I will uproot them from their own countries just as I will uproot Judah from its land.

But later, I will have pity on these nations and bring them back to their own lands.

They once taught my people to worship Baal. But if they admit I am the only true God, and if they let my people teach them how to worship me, these nations will also become my people.

The Lord told me, "Go and buy a pair of linen shorts. Wear them for a while, but don't wash them."

I went back and dug the shorts out of their hiding place, but the cloth had rotted, and the shorts were ruined.

These shorts were tight around your waist, and that's how tightly I held onto the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. I wanted them to be my people. I wanted to make them famous, so that other nations would praise and honor me, but they refused to obey me.

You hope for light, but God is sending darkness. Evening shadows already deepen in the hills. So return to God and confess your sins to him before you trip and fall.

Jerusalem, you were so proud of ruling the people of Judah. But where are they now? Look north, and you will see your enemies approaching.

You once trusted them to help, but now I'll let them rule you. What do you say about that? You will be in pain like a woman giving birth.

You were married to me, but you were unfaithful. You even became a prostitute by worshiping disgusting gods on hilltops and in fields.