Study Desk

You will plant your grapevines one day and try to make them grow, and the next day they will blossom. But at harvest time, you will go to gather the fruit from the plants, and you will see that everything is dead. A sickness will kill all the plants.

That night, the people will be frightened. By morning, nothing will be left. So our enemies will get nothing. They will come to our land, but nothing will be there.

The Lord said, "I will be in the place prepared for me. I will quietly watch these things happen: On a beautiful summer day, at noon, people will be resting. (It will be during the hot harvest time when there is no rain, but only early morning dew.)

Then something terrible will happen. Earlier in the year, the flowers bloomed and the new grapes formed buds and began to grow. But before the crop is harvested, the enemy will come and cut the plants. They will break the vines and throw them away.

The Egyptians will be afraid and confused. They will ask their false gods and wise men what they should do. They will ask their wizards and magicians, but I will ruin their plans."

The fishermen, all those who catch fish from the Nile River, will become sad and they will cry. They depend on the Nile River for their food, but it will be dry.

The leaders of the city of Zoan are fools. Pharaoh's "wise advisors" give bad advice. They say they are wise. They say they are from the old family of the kings, but they are not as smart as they think.

The Lord will punish the Egyptians, but then he will heal them, and they will come back to him. The Lord will listen to their prayers and heal them.

People living along the coast will say, "We trusted those countries to help us. We ran to them so that they would rescue us from the king of Assyria. But look at them. They have been captured, so how can we escape?"

The guard answered, "Morning is coming, but then night will come again. If you have something else to ask, then come back later and ask."

This city was so happy, but now there is a terrible uproar. There are bodies lying everywhere, but they were not killed with swords. The people died, but not while fighting.

All your officers ran away together, but they have all been captured without bows. All the leaders ran away together, but they were found and captured.

Then you noticed how many cracks there were in the walls around the City of David, so you began collecting water from the Lower Pool. You counted the houses and used stones from them to repair the walls. Then you built a pool between the double walls for storing water from the Old Pool. You did all this to protect yourselves, but you did not trust the God who made all these things. You did not even notice the one who made all these things so long ago.

But look, everyone was happy. The people rejoiced, saying, "Kill the cattle and sheep, and let's celebrate. Let's eat meat and drink wine. Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."

"What a big man you are! But the Lord will crush you. He will roll you into a small ball and throw you far away into the open arms of another country, and there you will die. "You are very proud of your chariots. But in that faraway land, your new ruler will have better chariots. And your chariots will not look important in his palace.

He said, "Daughter Sidon, you have been hurt badly, so you will no longer rejoice like a bride. Go ahead, go to Cyprus for help, but you will not find a place to rest there either."

But Tyre will not keep the money she earns. The profit from her trade will be saved for the Lord . Tyre will give that money to the people who serve the Lord to buy good food and nice clothes.

The people have ruined the land. They did what God said was wrong. They did not obey God's laws. They made an agreement with God a long time ago, but they broke their agreement with God.

People still ask for wine in the marketplaces, but all the joy is gone. It was carried off with everything else.

At harvest time, people knock olives from the trees. But a few olives are left in the trees. It will be like that in this land and among the nations.