Study Desk

I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem. They will be my people, and I will be their faithful and righteous God.”

The Lord of Armies says this: “In those days, ten men from nations of every language will grab the robe of a Jewish man tightly, urging: Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”

I will remove the blood from their mouthsand the abhorrent thingsfrom between their teeth.Then they too will become a remnant for our God;they will become like a clan in Judahand Ekron like the Jebusites.

Then the Lord will appear over them,and his arrow will fly like lightning.The Lord God will sound the trumpetand advance with the southern storms.

The Lord their God will save them on that dayas the flock of his people;for they are like jewels in a crown,sparkling over his land.

I will strengthen the house of Judahand deliver the house of Joseph.I will restore thembecause I have compassion on them,and they will beas though I had never rejected them.For I am the Lord their God,and I will answer them.

The Lord my God says this: “Shepherd the flock intended for slaughter.

Then each of the leaders of Judah will think to himself: The residents of Jerusalem are my strength through the Lord of Armies, their God.

On that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that on that day the one who is weakest among them will be like David on that day, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord, before them.

I will put this third through the fire;I will refine them as silver is refinedand test them as gold is tested.They will call on my name,and I will answer them.I will say: They are my people,and they will say: The Lord is our God.”

You will flee by my mountain valley, for the valley of the mountains will extend to Azal. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come and all the holy ones with him.

Don’t all of us have one Father? Didn’t one God create us? Why then do we act treacherously against one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?

Judah has acted treacherously, and a detestable act has been done in Israel and in Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the Lord’s sanctuary, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.

Didn’t God make them one and give them a portion of spirit? What is the one seeking? Godly offspring. So watch yourselves carefully, so that no one acts treacherously against the wife of his youth.

“If he hates and divorces his wife,” says the Lord God of Israel, “he covers his garment with injustice,” says the Lord of Armies. Therefore, watch yourselves carefully, and do not act treacherously.

“Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing me!”

You have said: “It is useless to serve God. What have we gained by keeping his requirements and walking mournfully before the Lord of Armies?

So now we consider the arrogant to be fortunate. Not only do those who commit wickedness prosper, they even test God and escape.”

So you will again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.

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.