Study Desk

I will bring them home again to live safely in Jerusalem. They will be my people, and I will be faithful and just toward them as their God.

"This is what the Lord of Heaven's Armies says: In those days ten men from different nations and languages of the world will clutch at the sleeve of one Jew. And they will say, ‘Please let us walk with you, for we have heard that God is with you.'"

I will grab the bloody meat from their mouths and snatch the detestable sacrifices from their teeth. Then the surviving Philistines will worship our God and become like a clan in Judah. The Philistines of Ekron will join my people, as the ancient Jebusites once did.

On that day the Lord their God will rescue his people, just as a shepherd rescues his sheep. They will sparkle in his land like jewels in a crown.

"I will strengthen Judah and save Israel; I will restore them because of my compassion. It will be as though I had never rejected them, for I am the Lord their God, who will hear their cries.

This is what the Lord my God says: "Go and care for the flock that is intended for slaughter.

And the clans of Judah will say to themselves, ‘The people of Jerusalem have found strength in the Lord of Heaven's Armies, their God.'

On that day the Lord will defend the people of Jerusalem; the weakest among them will be as mighty as King David! And the royal descendants will be like God, like the angel of the Lord who goes before them!

I will bring that group through the fire and make them pure. I will refine them like silver and purify them like gold. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘These are my people,' and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.'"

You will flee through this valley, for it will reach across to Azal. Yes, you will flee as you did from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all his holy ones with him.

"Go ahead, beg God to be merciful to you! But when you bring that kind of offering, why should he show you any favor at all?" asks the Lord of Heaven's Armies.

"The words of a priest's lips should preserve knowledge of God, and people should go to him for instruction, for the priest is the messenger of the Lord of Heaven's Armies.

Are we not all children of the same Father? Are we not all created by the same God? Then why do we betray each other, violating the covenant of our ancestors?

"For I hate divorce!" says the Lord , the God of Israel. "To divorce your wife is to overwhelm her with cruelty," says the Lord of Heaven's Armies. "So guard your heart; do not be unfaithful to your wife."

You have wearied the Lord with your words. "How have we wearied him?" you ask. You have wearied him by saying that all who do evil are good in the Lord 's sight, and he is pleased with them. You have wearied him by asking, "Where is the God of justice?"

"Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me! "But you ask, ‘What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?' "You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me.

"You have said, ‘What's the use of serving God? What have we gained by obeying his commands or by trying to show the Lord of Heaven's Armies that we are sorry for our sins?

From now on we will call the arrogant blessed. For those who do evil get rich, and those who dare God to punish them suffer no harm.'"

Then you will again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not."

"Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.'"