Study Desk

but the Babylonian troops caught up with them near Jericho. The Babylonians arrested Zedekiah, but his soldiers scattered in every direction.

For example, the columns were about twenty-seven feet high and eighteen feet around. They were hollow, but the bronze was about three inches thick.

Her sins had made her filthy, but she wasn't worried about what could happen. And when Jerusalem fell, it was so tragic. No one gave her comfort when she cried out, "Help! I'm in trouble, Lord ! The enemy has won."

You, Lord , have turned back my warriors and crushed my young heroes. Judah was a woman untouched, but you let her be trampled like grapes in a wine pit.

The Prophet Speaks: Zion reaches out her hands, but no one offers comfort. The Lord has turned the neighboring nations against Jacob's descendants. Jerusalem is merely a filthy rag to her neighbors.

Jerusalem Speaks: The Lord was right, but I refused to obey him. Now I ask all of you to look at my sufferings— even my young people have been dragged away.

I called out to my lovers, but they betrayed me. My priests and my leaders died while searching the city for scraps of food.

Everyone heard my groaning, but no one offered comfort. My enemies know of the trouble that you have brought on me, and it makes them glad. Hurry and punish them, as you have promised.

Zion's leaders are silent. They just sit on the ground, tossing dirt on their heads and wearing sackcloth. Her young women can do nothing but stare at the ground.

Those who pass by shake their heads and sneer as they make fun and shout, "What a lovely city you were, the happiest on earth, but look at you now!"

He causes a lot of suffering, but he also has pity because of his great love.

No one had reason to hate me, but I was hunted down like a bird.

Even jackals nurse their young, but my people are like ostriches that abandon their own.

Babies are so thirsty that their tongues are stuck to the roof of the mouth. Children go begging for food, but no one gives them any.

Instead, everyone shouted, "Go away! Don't touch us! You're filthy and unfit to belong to God's people!" So they had to leave and become refugees. But foreign nations told them, "You can't stay here!"

The Lord 's chosen leader was our hope for survival! We thought he would keep us safe somewhere among the nations, but even he was caught in one of their traps.

You people of Edom can celebrate now! But your time will come to suffer and stagger around naked.

The people of Zion have paid for their sins, and the Lord will soon let them return home. But, people of Edom, you will be punished, and your sins exposed.

Our ancestors sinned, but they are dead, and we are left to pay for their sins.

Their legs were straight, but their feet looked like the hoofs of calves and sparkled like bronze.