Study Desk

The faithful have disappeared from the land, and there is no one left who is upright; they all lie in wait for blood, and they hunt each other with nets.

Their hands are skilled to do evil; the official and the judge ask for a bribe, and the powerful dictate what they desire; thus they pervert justice.

In that day they will come to you from Assyria to Egypt, and from Egypt to the River, from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain.

The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might; they shall lay their hands on their mouths; their ears shall be deaf;

they shall lick dust like a snake, like the crawling things of the earth; they shall come trembling out of their fortresses; they shall turn in dread to the Lord our God, and they shall stand in fear of you.

Thus says the Lord , "Though they are at full strength and many, they will be cut off and pass away. Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more.

The chariots race madly through the streets, they rush to and fro through the squares; their appearance is like torches, they dart like lightning.

He calls his officers; they stumble as they come forward; they hasten to the wall, and the mantelet is set up.

Horsemen charging, flashing sword and glittering spear, piles of dead, heaps of corpses, dead bodies without end— they stumble over the bodies!

Dread and fearsome are they; their justice and dignity proceed from themselves.

At kings they scoff, and of rulers they make sport. They laugh at every fortress, and heap up earth to take it.

Then they sweep by like the wind; they transgress and become guilty; their own might is their god!

Your eyes are too pure to behold evil, and you cannot look on wrongdoing; why do you look on the treacherous, and are silent when the wicked swallow those more righteous than they?

Moreover, wealth is treacherous; the arrogant do not endure. They open their throats wide as Sheol; like Death they never have enough. They gather all nations for themselves, and collect all peoples as their own.

Their wealth shall be plundered, and their houses laid waste. Though they build houses, they shall not inhabit them; though they plant vineyards, they shall not drink wine from them.

I will bring such distress upon people that they shall walk like the blind; because they have sinned against the Lord , their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung.

The seacoast shall become the possession of the remnant of the house of Judah, on which they shall pasture, and in the houses of Ashkelon they shall lie down at evening. For the Lord their God will be mindful of them and restore their fortunes.

I have heard the taunts of Moab and the revilings of the Ammonites, how they have taunted my people and made boasts against their territory.

This shall be their lot in return for their pride, because they scoffed and boasted against the people of the Lord of hosts.

For I will leave in the midst of you a people humble and lowly. They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord —