Study Desk

'For I will restore you to health And I will heal you of your wounds,' declares the LORD, 'Because they have called you an outcast, saying: "It is Zion; no one cares for her."'

'From them will come a song of thanksgiving And the voices of those who celebrate; And I will multiply them and they will not decrease; I will honor them and they will not be insignificant.

"At that time," declares the LORD, "I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people."

"Behold, I am bringing them from the north country, And I will gather them from the remote parts of the earth, Among them those who are blind and those who limp, The pregnant woman and she who is in labor, together; They will return here as a great assembly.

"They will come with weeping, And by pleading I will bring them; I will lead them by streams of waters, On a straight path on which they will not stumble; For I am a father to Israel, And Ephraim is My firstborn."

"They will come and shout for joy on the height of Zion, And they will be radiant over the bounty of the LORD— Over the grain, the new wine, the oil, And over the young of the flock and the herd. And their life will be like a watered garden, And they will never languish again.

This is what the LORD says: "A voice is heard in Ramah, Lamenting and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; She refuses to be comforted for her children, Because they are no more."

This is what the LORD says: "Restrain your voice from weeping And your eyes from tears; For your work will be rewarded," declares the LORD, "And they will return from the land of the enemy.

This is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: "Once again they will speak this word in the land of Judah and in its cities when I restore their fortunes, 'The LORD bless you, O place of righteousness, O holy hill!'

"For this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the LORD: "I will put My law within them and write it on their heart; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

"They will not teach again, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their wrongdoing, and their sin I will no longer remember."

This is what the LORD says: "If the heavens above can be measured And the foundations of the earth searched out below, Then I will also reject all the descendants of Israel For everything that they have done," declares the LORD.

'This is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: "Take these deeds, this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, so that they may last a long time."

'They came in and took possession of it, but they did not obey Your voice or walk in Your Law; they did not do anything that You commanded them to do; therefore You have made all this disaster happen to them.

"Indeed this city has been to Me a provocation of My anger and My wrath since the day that they built it, even to this day, so that it should be removed from My sight,

because of all the evil of the sons of Israel and the sons of Judah which they have done to provoke Me to anger—they, their kings, their leaders, their priests, their prophets, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

"They have turned their back to Me and not their face; though I taught them, teaching again and again, they would not listen to accept discipline.

"They built the high places of Baal that are in the Valley of Ben-hinnom to make their sons and their daughters pass through the fire to Molech, which I had not commanded them, nor had it entered My mind that they should do this abomination, to mislead Judah to sin.

"They shall be My people, and I will be their God;

and I will give them one heart and one way, so that they will fear Me always, for their own good and for the good of their children after them.