Study Desk

The Lord of All, the God of Israel, says, "The daughter of Babylon is like the grain floor when it is being stepped on and made hard. In a little while her gathering time will come."

And I will punish the false god of Bel in Babylon. I will make what he has eaten come out of his mouth. The nations will no longer come to him. The wall of Babylon will fall.

For the destroyer is coming against Babylon, and her strong men will be taken. Their bows are broken. For the Lord is a God Who makes the sinner pay for his sin, and He will be sure to punish.

This is the word which Jeremiah the man of God told Seraiah the son of Neriah, the grandson of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his rule. Seraiah was the head captain of the house.

Her gates have gone down into the ground. He has destroyed and broken her iron pieces. Her king and leaders have been sent among the nations. The Law is no more. And her men who spoke for God have no more special dreams from the Lord.

See, O Lord, and look! To whom have You done this? Should women eat their children, the little ones they have cared for? Should religious leaders and men of God be killed in the Lord's holy place?

Let him sit alone and be quiet when God has laid the load on him.

Let us lift up our heart and hands to God in heaven, saying,

How dark the gold has become! How the pure gold has changed! The stones from the house of God are poured out at the corner of every street.

On the fifth day of the fourth month in the thirtieth year, while I was by the Chebar River with the Jews who had been taken away from their land, the heavens were opened and I saw God in a special way.

I am sending you to these strong-willed children who show no respect. And you must say to them, ‘This is what the Lord God says.'

If they listen or not (for they are sinful people) they will know that a man of God has been among them.

Then go to the Jews who have been taken away from their land. Go to the sons of your people. And if they listen or not, tell them, ‘This is what the Lord God says.'"

But when I speak to you, I will open your mouth, and you will tell them, ‘This is what the Lord God says.' He who hears, let him hear. And he who is not willing to hear, let him not be willing. For they are a sinful people.

But I said, "O Lord God! See, I have never been unclean. Since I was young until now, I have never eaten what died of itself or what was torn by wild animals. No unclean meat has ever come into my mouth."

The Lord God says, ‘This is Jerusalem. I have set her in the center of the nations, with lands around her.

So the Lord God says, ‘You have been more sinful than the nations around you. You have not walked in My Laws or kept them. You have not even kept Laws like the nations around you have. Because you have acted this way,'

the Lord God says, ‘I Myself am against you, and I will punish you in the eyes of the nations.

Say, ‘Mountains of Israel, listen to the Word of the Lord God! This is what the Lord God says to the mountains, the hills, the deep and wide valleys: "I Myself am going to bring a sword against you. And I will destroy your high places.

"The Lord God says, ‘Clap your hands, and step hard with your feet, and say, "It is bad because of all the hated sins of the people of Israel! They will fall by the sword, hunger, and disease.