Study Desk

For sure the hills are a false hope, a noise on the mountains. In truth, the saving of Israel is in the Lord our God.

Let us lie down in our shame, and let our shame cover us. For we and our fathers have sinned against the Lord our God ever since we were young. We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God."

"In that day," says the Lord, "the heart of the king and the hearts of the rulers will become weak. The religious leaders will be filled with fear. And the men of God will be troubled and filled with wonder."

Then I said, "O Lord God, for sure You have fooled these people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You will have peace,' when in truth a sword brings danger to their lives."

Then I said, "They are only the poor. They are foolish. For they do not know the way of the Lord or the Law of their God.

I will go to the great men and will speak to them, for they know the way of the Lord, and the Law of their God." But they too have broken the load from their neck and have broken the chains.

The men who speak for God are only wind. The word is not in them. So let what they say be done to them!'"

So the Lord, the God of All, says, "Because you have said this, I am making My words in your mouth a fire and I am making these people wood so they will be burned up.

"When your people say, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all these things to us?' then you will say to them, ‘As you have left Me and served strange gods in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land that is not yours.'

They do not say in their heart, "Let us fear the Lord our God, Who gives rain in its time, both the fall rain and the spring rain, Who keeps for us the weeks for gathering food."

The men of God say things that are not true, and the religious leaders rule by their own thoughts. And My people love to have it this way! But what will you do in the end?

"For from the least to the greatest of them, every one is always wanting something. And from the man of God to the religious leader, every one lies to get what he wants.

The Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, "Change your ways and your works for the better, and I will let you live in this place.

Will you steal, kill, do sex sins, make false promises, give gifts to the false god Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known,

So the Lord God says, "See, My anger will be poured out on this place, on man and animal, on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground. It will burn and not be stopped."

The Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, "Add your burnt gifts to the animals you kill on the altar, and eat the flesh.

But I did tell them, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people. Walk in all the way that I tell you, that it may be well with you.'

And you will say to them, ‘This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God or receive His strong teaching. They have lost the truth. It has been cut off from their mouth.

"At that time," says the Lord, "they will bring out the bones of the kings and leaders of Judah, the bones of the religious leaders, the bones of the men of God, and the bones of the people of Jerusalem from their graves.

So I will give their wives to others, and their fields to new owners. Because from the least to the greatest, every one is always wanting much. From the man of God to the religious leader, no one can be trusted in what he does.