Study Desk

I looked on the earth, and, lo, it was without form and void; and on the heavens, and they had no light.

And I looked on the mountains, and, to, they trembled and all the hills were shattered.

And you that are plundered, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with crimson, though you deck yourself with ornaments of gold, though you paint your eyes with kohl, in vain shall you make yourself fair; your lovers have left you and they seek your life.

And though they say, The LORD lives; truly they swear falsely.

I will go to the princes and will speak to them; for they have known the way of the LORD and the judgment of their God; but truly they have altogether broken the yoke; they have burst the bonds.

Therefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them and hungry wolves of the evening shall tear them in pieces; a leopard shall lie in wait over their cities; every one that goes out thence shall be torn in pieces, because their transgressions are multiplied and become so strong that they will not repent.

How shall I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me and sworn by those that are no gods; when I had fed them until they were satisfied, they then committed adultery, and they fought one another in the harlots houses.

Go up upon her walls and destroy; but make not a full end; spare her foundations, for they belong to the LORD.

They have lied against the LORD and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine:

And they shall eat up your harvest and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat; they shall eat up your flocks and your herds; they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees; they shall impoverish with the sword your fortified cities in which you trust.

Do you not revere me? says the LORD, and will you not tremble at my presence? I have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual ordinance, that it cannot overflow; though the waves roar, yet they cannot prevail; and though they toss, yet they cannot pass over it.

But this people has a contentious and rebellious heart; they have revolted and gone astray.

Neither do they say in their heart, Let us now worship the LORD our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season, who preserves for us the summer crops for the winter.

Therefore they have become great and rich and have perverted judgment; they do not execute justice, and they do not judge aright the cause of the orphan; and the cause of the needy they did not judge.

To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ears are dull and they cannot hear; behold, the word of the LORD is to them a reproach; they have no delight in it.

And yet they try to heal the wound of the daughter of my people mockingly, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace.

Hear, O earth! Behold, I will bring evil upon this people according to the fruits of their imaginations, because they have not hearkened to my words, and my law they have rejected.

They shall be armed with bows and spears; they are cruel and have no mercy; their voices roar like the sea; and they ride upon horses set in array as men for war against you, O daughter of Zion.

Their rulers are all rebellious, walking treacherously; like brass and iron, they are corruptible.

Do you not see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?