Study Desk

Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way, so God relented concerning the evil which He had spoken He would bring upon them. And He did not bring it upon them.

And all of her graven images will be smashed,And all of her earnings will be burned with fireAnd all of her idols I will make desolate,For she collected them from a harlot's earnings,And to the earnings of a harlot they will return.

Make yourself bald and cut off your hair,Because of the children of your delight;Extend your baldness like the eagle,For they will go from you into exile.

And they covet fields and then tear them away,And houses, and take them away.And they oppress a man and his house,A man and his inheritance.

On that day they will take up against you a tauntAnd utter a bitter wailing and say,‘We are completely devastated!He exchanges the portion of my people;How He removes it from me!To the faithless one, He apportions our fields.'

The breaker goes up before them;They break out, pass through the gate, and go out by it.So their king goes on before them,And Yahweh at their head."

The seers will be ashamed,And the diviners will be humiliated.Indeed, they will all cover their mouthsBecause there is no answer from God.

Her heads pronounce judgment for a bribe,And her priests instruct for a price,And her prophets divine for money.Yet they lean on Yahweh saying,"Is not Yahweh in our midst?Evil will not come upon us."

And He will judge between many peoplesAnd will render decisions for mighty, distant nations.And they will hammer their swords into plowsharesAnd their spears into pruning hooks;Nation will not lift up sword against nation,And never again will they learn war.

But they do not know the thoughts of Yahweh,And they do not understand His counsel;For He has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor.

And He will stand and shepherd His flockIn the strength of Yahweh,In the majesty of the name of Yahweh His God.And they will remainBecause at that time He will be greatTo the ends of the earth.

And they will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword,The land of Nimrod at its entrances;And He will deliver us from the AssyrianWhen he enters our landAnd when he treads within our borders.

Concerning evil, both hands do it well.The prince asks, also the judge, for a payment,And a great man speaks the craving of his soul;So they weave it together.

It will be a day when they will come to youFrom Assyria and the cities of Egypt,From Egypt even to the River,Even from sea to sea and mountain to mountain.

They will lick the dust like a serpent,Like crawling things of the earth.They will come trembling out of their fortresses;To Yahweh our God they will come in dread,And they will be afraid before You.

Like tangled thorns,And like those who are drunken with their drink,They are consumedAs stubble fully dried up.

Thus says Yahweh,"Though they are at full strength and likewise many,Even so, they will be cut off and pass away.Though I have afflicted you,I will afflict you no longer.

The chariots race madly in the streets;They rush wildly in the squares;Their appearance is like torches;They dash to and fro like lightning flashes.

He remembers his mighty ones;They stumble in their march;They hurry to her wall,And the mantelet is set up.

Horsemen charging,And swords flaming, and spears flashing,Many slain, a mass of corpses,And there is no end to dead bodies—They stumble over the dead bodies!