Study Desk

They pushed their faces into the ground and walked on them. They stopped listening to suffering people. Fathers and sons had sexual relations with the same woman. They ruined my holy name.

They took clothes from the poor, and then they sat on those clothes while worshiping at their altars. They loaned money to the poor, and then they took their clothes as a promise for payment. They made people pay fines and used the money to buy wine for themselves to drink in the temple of their god.

"But it was I who destroyed the Amorites before them. They were as tall as cedar trees and as strong as oaks, but I destroyed their fruit above and their roots below.

Go to the high towers in Ashdod and in Egypt and announce this message from the Lord : "Come together on the mountains of Samaria. See the great confusion there because the people don't know how to live right. See how cruel they are to others. They take things from people to hide in their high towers. Their treasuries are filled with the things they have taken in war."

So the Lord God says, "An enemy will surround your land. They will break down your strong walls and take the things you have hidden in your high towers."

The Lord God made a promise. He promised by his holiness that troubles will come to you. People will use hooks and take you away as prisoners. They will use fishhooks to take away your children.

You hate those prophets, who go to public places and speak against evil, even though they teach good, simple truths.

Oh, look at the people enjoying life in Zion, and those on Mount Samaria who feel so safe. They are such important leaders of a most important nation. The "House of Israel" comes to you for advice.

And when someone dies, a relative will come to get the body so that it can be taken out and burned. Relatives will come to take away the bones. They will call to anyone who might be hiding back in the house, "Are there any other dead bodies in there with you?" That person will answer, "No, …." But the relative will interrupt and say, "Hush! We must not mention the name of the Lord ."

There will be an earthquake that will shake the whole land because of what they did. Everyone living there will cry for those who died. The land will be tossed around. The whole land will rise and fall like the Nile River in Egypt."

The people will wander around the country, from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the north part of the country to the east. They will go back and forth looking for a message from the Lord , but they will not find it.

They made promises by the sin of Samaria, They said, ‘Dan, as surely as your god lives, we promise ….' And they said, ‘As surely as the god of Beersheba lives, we promise ….' But they will fall and never get up again."

I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said, "Hit the top of the columns, and shake them to the ground. Push them and they will fall on everyone's head. As for those who survive, I will kill them with a sword. None of them will run away. None of them will escape.

If they hide at the top of Mount Carmel, I will find them there and take them from that place. If they try to hide from me at the bottom of the sea, I will command the snake, and it will bite them.

If they are captured and taken away by their enemies, I will command the sword, and it will kill them there. Yes, I will watch over them, but I will watch for ways to give them troubles, not for ways to do good things."

The Lord says, "A time of great blessing is coming. Workers will still be harvesting when it is time to plow the fields again. They will still be trampling the grapes when it is time for a new crop. Sweet wine will drip from the mountains and pour from the hills.

I will bring my people, Israel, back from captivity. They will rebuild the ruined cities, and they will live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink the wine they produce. They will plant gardens and eat the crops they produce.

I will plant my people on their land, and never again will they be pulled up out of the land that I gave them." This is what the Lord your God said.

You really will be ruined! Thieves will come to you. Robbers will come in the night, and they will take all they want. When workers gather grapes in your vineyards, they will leave a few grapes behind.

But the enemy will search hard for Esau's hidden treasures, and they will find them all.