Study Desk

As a cage is full of birds, So their houses are full of deceit. Therefore they have become great and grown rich.

The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule by their own power; And My people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end?

As a fountain wells up with water, So she wells up with her wickedness. Violence and plundering are heard in her. Before Me continually are grief and wounds.

"So you shall say to them, "This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the LORD their God nor receive correction. Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth.

The wise men are ashamed, They are dismayed and taken. Behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD; So what wisdom do they have?

I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains, And for the dwelling places of the wilderness a lamentation, Because they are burned up, So that no one can pass through; Nor can men hear the voice of the cattle. Both the birds of the heavens and the beasts have fled; They are gone.

Who is the wise man who may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD has spoken, that he may declare it? Why does the land perish and burn up like a wilderness, so that no one can pass through?

They decorate it with silver and gold; They fasten it with nails and hammers So that it will not topple.

For thus says the LORD: "Behold, I will throw out at this time The inhabitants of the land, And will distress them, That they may find it so."

which I commanded your fathers in the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, "Obey My voice, and do according to all that I command you; so shall you be My people, and I will be your God,'

that I may establish the oath which I have sworn to your fathers, to give them 'a land flowing with milk and honey,' Exodus 3:8">[fn] as it is this day." ' " And I answered and said, "So be it, Lord."

"So do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them; for I will not hear them in the time that they cry out to Me because of their trouble.

Righteous are You, O LORD, when I plead with You; Yet let me talk with You about Your judgments. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are those happy who deal so treacherously?

So I got a sash according to the word of the LORD, and put it around my waist.

So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me.

For as the sash clings to the waist of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to Me,' says the LORD, "that they may become My people, for renown, for praise, and for glory; but they would not hear.'

Have You utterly rejected Judah? Has Your soul loathed Zion? Why have You stricken us so that there is no healing for us? We looked for peace, but there was no good; And for the time of healing, and there was trouble.

And you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, each one follows the dictates of his own evil heart, so that no one listens to Me.

"As a partridge that broods but does not hatch, So is he who gets riches, but not by right; It will leave him in the midst of his days, And at his end he will be a fool."

And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.