Study Desk

For though your people, Israel, may be like the sand of the sea, Only a remnant within them will return; A destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness.

Therefore this is what the Lord GOD of armies says: "My people, you who dwell in Zion, do not fear the Assyrian who strikes you with the rod, and lifts up his staff against you the way Egypt did.

Cry aloud with your voice, daughter of Gallim! Pay attention, Laishah and wretched Anathoth!

Behold, the Lord, the GOD of armies, will lop off the branches with terrifying power; Those also who are tall in stature will be cut down, And those who are lofty will be brought low.

He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an iron axe, And Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One.

But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the humble of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked.

And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, And the leopard will lie down with the young goat, And the calf and the young lion and the fattened steer will be together; And a little boy will lead them.

Then it will happen on that day that the Lord Will again recover with His hand the second time The remnant of His people who will remain, From Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, And from the islands of the sea.

And the LORD will utterly destroy The tongue of the Sea of Egypt; And He will wave His hand over the Euphrates River With His scorching wind; And He will strike it into seven streams And make people walk over in dry sandals.

Then you will say on that day, "I will give thanks to You, LORD; For although You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, And You comfort me.

Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, Cruel, with fury and burning anger, To make the land a desolation; And He will exterminate its sinners from it.

And it will be that, like a hunted gazelle, Or like sheep with no one to gather them, Each of them will turn to his own people, And each of them will flee to his own land.

Which used to strike the peoples in fury with unceasing strokes, Which subdued the nations in anger with unrestrained persecution.

"But you have been hurled out of your tomb Like a rejected branch, Clothed with those killed who have been pierced with a sword, Who go down to the stones of the pit Like a trampled corpse.

"You will not be united with them in burial, Because you have ruined your country, You have killed your people. May the descendants of evildoers never be mentioned.

"Prepare a place of slaughter for his sons Because of the wrongdoing of their fathers. They must not arise and take possession of the earth, And fill the surface of the world with cities."

"I will also make it the property of the hedgehog and swamps of water, and I will sweep it away with the broom of destruction," declares the LORD of armies.

"Those who are most helpless will eat, And the poor will lie down in security; I will kill your root with famine, And it will kill your survivors.

In their streets they have put on sackcloth; On their housetops and in their public squares Everyone is wailing, overcome with weeping.

"Let the outcasts of Moab stay with you; Be a hiding place to them from the destroyer." For the oppressor has come to an end, destruction has ceased, Oppressors have been removed from the land.