Study Desk

Therefore tell the house of Israel that this is what the Lord GOD says: 'Will you defile yourselves the way your fathers did, prostituting yourselves with their abominations?

When you offer your gifts, sacrificing your sons in the fire, you continue to defile yourselves with all your idols to this day. So should I be consulted by you, O house of Israel? As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I will not be consulted by you!

As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, with a strong hand, an outstretched arm, and outpoured wrath I will rule over you.

Just as I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you, declares the Lord GOD.

And as for you, O house of Israel, this is what the Lord GOD says: 'Go and serve your idols, every one of you. But afterward, you will surely listen to Me, and you will no longer defile My holy name with your gifts and idols.

For on My holy mountain, the high mountain of Israel, declares the Lord GOD, there the whole house of Israel, all of them, will serve Me in the land. There I will accept them and will require your offerings and choice gifts, along with all your holy sacrifices.

Then you will know, O house of Israel, that I am the LORD, when I have dealt with you for the sake of My name and not according to your wicked ways and corrupt acts, declares the Lord GOD.'"

Say to the forest of the Negev: Hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Lord GOD says: 'I am about to ignite in you a fire, and it will devour all your trees, both green and dry. The blazing flame will not be quenched, and by it every face from south to north will be scorched.

Then I said, "Ah, Lord GOD, they are saying of me, 'Is he not just telling parables?'"

And when they ask, 'Why are you groaning?' you are to say, 'Because of the news that is coming. Every heart will melt, and every hand will go limp. Every spirit will faint, and every knee will turn to water.' Yes, it is coming and it will surely happen, declares the Lord GOD."

Surely a trial will come! And what if even the scepter, which the sword despises, does not continue? declares the Lord GOD.

Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD says: 'Because you have drawn attention to your guilt, exposing your transgressions, so that your sins are revealed in all your deeds-because you have come to remembrance, you shall be taken in hand.

This is what the Lord GOD says: 'Remove the turban, and take off the crown. Things will not remain as they are: Exalt the lowly and bring low the exalted.

Now prophesy, son of man, and declare that this is what the Lord GOD says concerning the Ammonites and their contempt: 'A sword! A sword is drawn for slaughter, polished to consume, to flash like lightning.

and tell her that this is what the Lord GOD says: 'O city who brings her own doom by shedding blood within her walls and making idols to defile herself,

In you they take bribes to shed blood. You engage in usury, take excess interest, and extort your neighbors. But Me you have forgotten, declares the Lord GOD.

Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: 'Because all of you have become dross, behold, I will gather you into Jerusalem.

Her prophets whitewash these deeds by false visions and lying divinations, saying, 'This is what the Lord GOD says,' when the LORD has not spoken.

So I have poured out My indignation upon them and consumed them with the fire of My fury. I have brought their ways down upon their own heads, declares the Lord GOD."

Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Lord GOD says: 'I will incite your lovers against you, those from whom you turned in disgust. And I will bring them against you from every side-