Study Desk

Will the Lord be pleased if I bring him thousands of sheep or endless streams of olive oil? Shall I offer him my first-born child to pay for my sins?

There is not an honest person left in the land, no one loyal to God. Everyone is waiting for a chance to commit murder. Everyone hunts down their own people.

They are all experts at doing evil. Officials and judges ask for bribes. The influential people tell them what they want, and so they scheme together.

But I will watch for the Lord ; I will wait confidently for God, who will save me. My God will hear me.

We have sinned against the Lord , so now we must endure his anger for a while. But in the end he will defend us and right the wrongs that have been done to us. He will bring us out to the light; we will live to see him save us.

Work miracles for us, Lord , as you did in the days when you brought us out of Egypt.

This is what the Lord has decreed about the Assyrians: "They will have no descendants to carry on their name. I will destroy the idols that are in the temples of their gods. I am preparing a grave for the Assyrians—they don't deserve to live!"

Nineveh, you are under attack! The power that will shatter you has come. Prepare the defenses! Guard the road! Prepare for battle!

The officers are summoned; they stumble as they press forward. The attackers rush to the wall and set up the shield for the battering ram.

The lion killed his prey and tore it to pieces for his mate and her cubs; he filled his den with torn flesh.

All who see you will shrink back. They will say, ‘Nineveh lies in ruins! Who has any sympathy for her? Who will want to comfort her?'"

Draw water to prepare for a siege, and strengthen your fortresses! Trample the clay to make bricks, and get the brick molds ready!

There is no remedy for your injuries, and your wounds cannot be healed. All those who hear the news of your destruction clap their hands for joy. Did anyone escape your endless cruelty?

O Lord , how long must I call for help before you listen, before you save us from violence?

The Babylonians catch people with hooks, as though they were fish. They drag them off in nets and shout for joy over their catch!

Put it in writing, because it is not yet time for it to come true. But the time is coming quickly, and what I show you will come true. It may seem slow in coming, but wait for it; it will certainly take place, and it will not be delayed.

Wealth is deceitful. Greedy people are proud and restless—like death itself they are never satisfied. That is why they conquer nation after nation for themselves.

The conquered people will taunt their conquerors and show their scorn for them. They will say, "You take what isn't yours, but you are doomed! How long will you go on getting rich by forcing your debtors to pay up?"

What's the use of an idol? It is only something that a human being has made, and it tells you nothing but lies. What good does it do for its maker to trust it—a god that can't even talk!

I hear all this, and I tremble; my lips quiver with fear. My body goes limp, and my feet stumble beneath me. I will quietly wait for the time to come when God will punish those who attack us.