Study Desk

"The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough to make sacrificial cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods in order to provoke Me to anger.

"Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked by their own advice and in the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and they went backward and not forward.

"So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you; and you shall call to them, but they will not answer you.

"They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of Ben-hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, and it did not come into My mind.

"At that time," declares the LORD, "they will bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of its leaders, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem from their graves.

"They will spread them out to the sun, the moon, and to all the heavenly lights, which they have loved, which they have served, which they have followed, which they have sought, and which they have worshiped. They will not be gathered nor buried; they will be like dung on the face of the ground.

"I have listened and heard, They have spoken what is not right; No one repented of his wickedness, Saying, 'What have I done?' Everyone turned to his own course, Like a horse charging into the battle.

"The wise men are put to shame, They are dismayed and caught; Behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD, So what kind of wisdom do they have?

"Were they ashamed because of the abomination they had done? They were not ashamed at all, And they did not know how to be ashamed; Therefore they will fall among those who fall; At the time of their punishment they will collapse," Says the LORD.

From Dan there is heard the snorting of his horses; At the sound of the neighing of his stallions The whole land quakes; For they come and devour the land and its fullness, The city and its inhabitants.

"For behold, I am sending serpents among you, Vipers for which there is no charm; And they will bite you," declares the LORD.

"They bend their tongues like their bows; Lies and not truth prevail in the land; For they proceed from evil to evil, And they do not know Me," declares the LORD.

"Everyone deceives his neighbor And does not speak the truth. They have taught their tongue to speak lies; They weary themselves committing wrongdoing.

"I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains, And for the pastures of the wilderness a song of mourning, Because they are laid waste so that no one passes through, And the sound of the livestock is not heard; Both the birds of the sky and the animals have fled; they are gone.

The LORD said, "Because they have abandoned My Law which I put before them, and have not obeyed My voice nor walked according to it,

"I will also scatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them until I have put an end to them."

This is what the LORD of armies says: "Consider and call for the mourning women, that they may come; And send for the skillful women, that they may come!

"They decorate the idol with silver and gold; They fasten it with nails and hammers So that it will not totter.

"They are like a scarecrow in a cucumber field, And they cannot speak; They must be carried, Because they cannot walk! Do not fear them, For they can do no harm, Nor can they do any good."

But they are altogether stupid and foolish; The instruction from idols is nothing but wood!