Study Desk

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 priests, the ministers of Yahweh, weep between the porch and the altar, And let them say, "Spare your people, Yahweh, 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 Jehoshaphat; And I will execute judgment on them there for my people, And for my heritage, Israel, 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 Judah, And they will sell them to the men of Sheba, To a faraway nation, For Yahweh has spoken it."

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

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

Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Israel, 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 earth 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 Yahweh, "Who hoard plunder and loot in their palaces."

The Lord Yahweh 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 Yahweh, the God of hosts, 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 Calneh, and see; And from there go to Hamath the great; Then go down to Gath of the Philistines. 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 Joseph.

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

For, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, house of Israel," Says Yahweh, the God of hosts; "And they will afflict you from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of the Arabah."