Study Desk

Ephraim is struck down;their roots are withered;they cannot bear fruit.Even if they bear children,I will kill the precious offspring of their wombs.

the roar of battle will rise against your people,and all your fortifications will be demolishedin a day of war,like Shalman’s destruction of Beth-arbel.Mothers will be dashed to piecesalong with their children.

They will follow the Lord;he will roar like a lion.When he roars,his children will come trembling from the west.

Samaria will bear her guiltbecause she has rebelled against her God.They will fall by the sword;their children will be dashed to pieces,and their pregnant women ripped open.

Tell your children about it,and let your children tell their children,and their children the next generation.

Children of Zion, rejoice and be gladin the Lord your God,because he gives you the autumn rainfor your vindication.He sends showers for you,both autumn and spring rain as before.

Shave yourselves bald and cut off your hairin sorrow for your precious children;make yourselves as bald as an eagle,for they have been taken from you into exile.

You force the women of my peopleout of their comfortable homes,and you take my blessingfrom their children forever.

Yet she became an exile;she went into captivity.Her children were also dashed to piecesat the head of every street.They cast lots for her dignitaries,and all her nobles were bound in chains.

Ephraim will be like a warrior,and their hearts will be glad as if with wine.Their children will see it and be glad;their hearts will rejoice in the Lord.

Though I sow them among the nations,they will remember me in the distant lands;they and their children will live and return.

And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse.”

And don’t presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones.

“Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rise up against parents and have them put to death.

“To what should I compare this generation? It’s like children sitting in the marketplaces who call out to other children:

the field is the world; and the good seed—these are the children of the kingdom. The weeds are the children of the evil one,

Now those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

Now there were four thousand men who had eaten, besides women and children.

Since he did not have the money to pay it back, his master commanded that he, his wife, his children, and everything he had be sold to pay the debt.

Then children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them.