Study Desk

Then the LORD gave me knowledge [of their plot], and I knew it; So You [O LORD] revealed their deeds to me.

Therefore thus says the LORD regarding the men of Anathoth, who seek your life, saying, "Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD, so that you will not die by our hand."

"My inheritance has become to Me Like a lion in the forest; She has raised her voice and roared against Me; So I have come to [treat her as if I] hate her.

"They have planted wheat but have reaped thorns; They have exhausted themselves but without profit. So be ashamed of your harvest Because of the fierce and raging anger of the LORD."

So I bought the waistband according to the word of the LORD and put it on my loins.

So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the LORD had commanded me.

'For as the waistband clings to the body of a man, so I caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to Me,' says the LORD, 'that they might be for Me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory; but they did not listen and obey.'

"So I Myself will throw your skirts up over your face, That your shame may be exposed [publicly].

"O LORD, though our many sins testify against us" [prays Jeremiah], "Act now [for us and] for Your name's sake [so that the faithless may witness Your faithfulness]! For our backslidings are countless; We have sinned against You.

So the LORD said to me, "Do not pray for good things for this people.

Have You [O LORD] completely rejected Judah? Do You loathe Zion? Why have You stricken us so that there is no healing for us? We looked for peace and completeness, but nothing good came; And [we hoped] for a time of healing, but behold, terror!

"She who has borne seven [sons] languishes; She has breathed out her soul. Her sun has set while it was still day; She has been shamed and humiliated. So I will hand over [the rest of] the survivors to the sword Before their enemies," says the LORD.

Therefore, thus says the LORD [to Jeremiah], "If you repent [and give up this mistaken attitude of despair and self-pity], then I will restore you [to a state of inner peace] So that you may stand before Me [as My obedient representative]; And if you separate the precious from the worthless [examining yourself and cleansing your heart from unwarranted doubt concerning My faithfulness], You will become My spokesman. Let the people turn to you [and learn to value My values]— But you, you must not turn to them [with regard for their idolatry and wickedness].

"So I will rescue you out of the hand of the wicked, And I will redeem you from the [grasping] palm of the terrible and ruthless [tyrant]."

and because you have done worse [things] than your fathers. Just look, every one of you walks in the stubbornness of his own evil heart, so that you do not listen [obediently] to Me.

As they remember their children, So they remember [in detail] their [pagan] altars and their Asherim Beside green trees on the high hills.

"Like the partridge that hatches eggs which she has not laid, So is he who makes a fortune in ways that are unjust. It will be lost to him before his days are over, And in the end he will be [nothing but] a fool."

But the vessel that he was making from clay was spoiled by the potter's hand; so he made it over, reworking it and making it into another pot that seemed good to him.

"O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?" says the LORD. "Look carefully, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.

and say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, "This is the way I will break this people and this city as one breaks a potter's vessel, so that it cannot be mended. They will bury [corpses] in Topheth until there is no more room left [in that place] to bury [the dead].