Study Desk

The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses, And as horsemen, so do they run.

They run like mighty men. They climb the wall like warriors. They each march in his line, and they don't swerve off course.

Neither does one jostle another; They march everyone in his path, And they burst through the defenses, And don't break ranks.

Let the Kohanim, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, And let them say, "Spare your people, LORD, And don't give your heritage to reproach, That the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?'"

I will gather all nations, And will bring them down into the valley of Yehoshafat; And I will execute judgment on them there for my people, And for my heritage, Yisra'el, whom they have scattered among the nations. They have divided my land,

And have cast lots for my people, And have given a boy for a prostitute, And sold a girl for wine, that they may drink.

And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the children of Yehudah, And they will sell them to the men of Sheva, To a faraway nation, For the LORD has spoken it."

Mitzrayim will be a desolation, And Edom will be a desolate wilderness, For the violence done to the children of Yehudah, Because they have shed innocent blood in their land.

Thus says the LORD: "For three transgressions of Tzor, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; Because they delivered up the whole community to Edom, And didn't remember the brotherly covenant;

Thus says the LORD: "For three transgressions of Yehudah, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; Because they have rejected the law of the LORD, And have not kept his statutes, And their lies have led them astray, After which their fathers walked;

Thus says the LORD: "For three transgressions of Yisra'el, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; Because they have sold the righteous for silver, And the needy for a pair of shoes;

They trample on the dust of the eretz on the head of the poor, And deny justice to the oppressed; And a man and his father use the same maiden, to profane my holy name;

And they lay themselves down beside every altar on clothes taken in pledge; And in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined.

"Indeed they don't know to do right," says the LORD, "Who hoard plunder and loot in their palaces."

The Lord GOD has sworn by his holiness that behold, "The days shall come on you that they will take you away with hooks, And the last of you with fish hooks.

They hate him who reproves in the gate, And they abhor him who speaks blamelessly.

Therefore thus says the LORD, the God Tzva'ot,, the Lord: "Wailing will be in all the broad ways; And they will say in all the streets, 'Alas! Alas!' And they will call the farmer to mourning, And those who are skillful in lamentation to wailing.

Go to Kalneh, and see; And from there go to Hamat the great; Then go down to Gat of the Pelishtim. Are they better than these kingdoms? Or is their border greater than your border?

Who drink wine in bowls, And anoint themselves with the best oils; But they are not grieved for the affliction of Yosef.

Therefore they will now go captive with the first who go captive; And the feasting and lounging will end.