Study Desk

You hope for light, but God is sending darkness. Evening shadows already deepen in the hills. So return to God and confess your sins to him before you trip and fall.

So I'll rip off your clothes and leave you naked and ashamed for everyone to see. You are doomed! Will you ever be worthy to worship me again?

When there had been no rain for a long time, the Lord told me to say to the people:

Rulers send their servants to the storage pits for water. But there's none to be found; they return in despair with their jars still empty.

My people, you love to wander away; you don't even try to stay close to me. So now I will reject you and punish you for your sins. I, the Lord , have spoken.

They may even go without eating and offer sacrifices to please me and to give thanks. But when they cry out for my help, I won't listen, and I won't accept their sacrifices. Instead, I'll send war, starvation, and disease to wipe them out."

The Lord answered: They claim to speak for me, but they're lying! I didn't even speak to them, much less choose them to be my prophets. Their messages come from worthless dreams, useless fortunetelling, and their own imaginations.

Have you rejected Judah, Lord ? Do you hate Jerusalem? Why did you strike down Judah with a fatal wound? We had hoped for peace and a time of healing, but all we got was terror.

People of Jerusalem, who will feel sorry for you? Will anyone bother to ask if you are well?

There will be more widows in Judah than grains of sand on a beach. A surprise attack at noon! And the mothers in Jerusalem mourn for their children.

A mother is in deep despair and struggles for breath. Her daylight has turned to darkness— she has suffered the loss of her seven sons. I will kill anyone who survives. I, the Lord , have spoken.

Then the Lord replied, "I promise to protect you, and when disaster comes, even your enemies will beg you for help."

They will die of horrible diseases and of war and starvation. No one will give them a funeral or bury them, and their bodies will be food for the birds and wild animals. And what's left will lie on the ground like manure.

So I will throw you into a land that you and your ancestors know nothing about, a place where you will have to worship other gods both day and night. And I won't feel the least bit sorry for you.

But for now, I am sending enemies who will catch you like fish and hunt you down like wild animals in the hills and the caves.

I will punish you double for your sins, because you have made my own land disgusting. You have filled it with lifeless idols that remind me of dead bodies.

Our Lord , you chose me to care for your people, and that's what I have done. You know everything I have said, and I have never once asked you to punish them.

I trust you for protection in times of trouble, so don't frighten me.

These people have dug pits and set traps for me, Lord . Make them scream in fear when you send enemy troops to attack their homes.

The people of Judah stopped worshiping me and made this valley into a place of worship for Baal and other gods that have never helped them or their ancestors or their kings. And they have committed murder here, burning their young, innocent children as sacrifices to Baal. I have never even thought of telling you to do that.