Study Desk

"As I live," says the Lord GOD, "Sodom, your sister and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done.

"Nevertheless, I will restore them [again] from their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters (outlying cities), the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, and along with them [I will restore you from] your own captivity [in the day of the Lord GOD],

Yes, thus says the Lord GOD, "I will also deal with you as you have done, you who have despised the oath by breaking the covenant.

so that you may remember [in detail] and be ashamed and never open your mouth again because of your humiliation, when I have forgiven you for all that you have done," says the Lord GOD.

saying, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "A great eagle (Nebuchadnezzar) with great wings, long pinions and a rich plumage of many colors came to Lebanon (Jerusalem) and took away the top of the cedar (Judah).

"Thus says the Lord GOD, 'Ask, "Will it thrive? Will he (Nebuchadnezzar) not uproot it and strip off its fruit so that all its sprouting leaves will wither? It will not take a strong arm or many people to uproot it [ending Israel's national existence].

'As I live,' says the Lord GOD, 'surely in the country of the king (Nebuchadnezzar) who made Zedekiah [the vassal] king, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke, in Babylon Zedekiah shall die.

Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, "As I live, I will bring down on his own head My oath [made on My behalf by Nebuchadnezzar] which Zedekiah dishonored and My covenant which he broke.

Thus says the Lord GOD, "I Myself will take a twig from the lofty top of the cedar and will set it out; I will crop off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one and I will plant it on a high and lofty mountain.

"As I live," says the Lord GOD, "you are certainly not going to use this proverb [as an excuse] in Israel anymore.

if he walks in My statutes and [keeps] My ordinances so as to act with integrity; [then] he is [truly] righteous and shall certainly live," says the Lord GOD.

"Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked," says the Lord GOD, "rather than that he should turn [away] from his [malevolent] acts and live?

"Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, each one in accordance with his conduct," says the Lord GOD. "Repent (change your way of thinking) and turn away from all your transgressions, so that sin may not become a stumbling block to you.

"For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies," says the Lord GOD. "Therefore, repent and live!"

"Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Have you come to inquire of Me? As I live," says the Lord GOD, "I will not be inquired of by you."'

and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "On the day when I chose Israel and lifted up My hand and swore to the descendants of the house of Jacob and made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt, when I swore to them, saying, I am the LORD your God,

"Then I said to them, 'Let every man throw away the detestable things on which he feasts his eyes, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt; I am the LORD your God.'

'I am the LORD your God; walk in My statutes and keep My ordinances and observe them.

'Sanctify My Sabbaths and keep them holy; and they shall be a sign between Me and you, that you may know [without any doubt] that I am the LORD your God.'

"Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Again in this your fathers have blasphemed Me, in that they acted faithlessly and treacherously against Me.