Study Desk

"I will soon send for many fishermen to come to this land," says the Lord . "And they will catch the people of Judah. After that, I will send for many hunters to come to this land. And they will hunt the people of Judah on every mountain and hill and in the cracks of the rocks.

I will pay back the people of Judah twice for every one of their sins, because they have made my land unclean. They have filled my country with their hateful idols."

Can people make gods for themselves? They will not really be gods!"

This is what the Lord says: "A curse is placed on those who trust other people, who depend on humans for strength, who have stopped trusting the Lord .

But I, the Lord , look into a person's heart and test the mind. So I can decide what each one deserves; I can give each one the right payment for what he does."

From the beginning, our Temple has been honored as a glorious throne for God.

Don't be a terror to me. I run to you for safety in times of trouble.

But if I see it doing evil by not obeying me, I will change my mind and not carry out my plans to do good for them.

"So, say this to the people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem: ‘This is what the Lord says: I am preparing disaster for you and making plans against you. So stop doing evil. Change your ways and do what is right.'

Good should not be paid back with evil, but they have dug a pit in order to kill me. Remember that I stood before you and asked you to do good things for these people and to turn your anger away from them.

Let them cry out in their houses when you bring an enemy against them suddenly. Let all this happen, because my enemies have dug a pit to capture me and have hidden traps for my feet.

The people of Judah have quit following me. They have made this a place for foreign gods. They have burned sacrifices to other gods that neither they, nor their ancestors, nor the kings of Judah had ever known before. They filled this place with the blood of innocent people.

"‘At this place I will ruin the plans of the people of Judah and Jerusalem. The enemy will chase them, and I will have them killed with swords. I will make their dead bodies food for the birds and wild animals.

Then say this: ‘The Lord All-Powerful says: I will break this nation and this city just as someone breaks a clay jar that cannot be put back together again. The dead people will be buried here in Topheth, because there is no other place for them.

The next day when Pashhur took Jeremiah out of the blocks of wood, Jeremiah said to him, "The Lord 's name for you is not Pashhur. Now his name for you is Terror on Every Side.

I hear many people whispering about me: "Terror on every side! Tell on him! Let's tell the rulers about him." My friends are all just waiting for me to make some mistake. They are saying, "Maybe we can trick him so we can defeat him and pay him back."

They said, "Ask the Lord for us what will happen, because Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is attacking us. Maybe the Lord will do miracles for us as he did in the past so Nebuchadnezzar will stop attacking us and leave."

Then, says the Lord , I'll hand over Zedekiah king of Judah, his officers, and the people in Jerusalem who do not die from the terrible diseases or battle or hunger, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. I will let those win who want to kill the people of Judah, so the people of Judah and Jerusalem will be killed in war. Nebuchadnezzar will not show any mercy or pity or feel sorry for them!'

I have decided to make trouble for this city and not to help it, says the Lord . I will give it to the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire.'

Don't cry for the dead king or be sad about him. But cry painfully for the king who is being taken away, because he will never return or see his homeland again.