Study Desk

"Though I sent my great army against you— those swarming locusts and hopping locusts, the destroying locusts and the cutting locusts that ate your crops— I will pay you back for those years of trouble.

Then you will have plenty to eat and be full. You will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has done miracles for you. My people will never again be shamed.

"In those days and at that time, when I will make things better for Judah and Jerusalem,

and threw lots for my people. They traded boys for prostitutes, and they sold girls to buy wine to drink.

"Tyre and Sidon and all of you regions of Philistia! What did you have against me? Were you punishing me for something I did, or were you doing something to hurt me? I will very quickly do to you what you have done to me.

Announce this among the nations: Prepare for war! Wake up the soldiers! Let all the men of war come near and attack.

Make swords from your plows, and make spears from your hooks for trimming trees. Let even the weak person say, "I am a soldier."

The Lord will roar like a lion from Jerusalem; his loud voice will thunder from that city, and the sky and the earth will shake. But the Lord will be a safe place for his people, a strong place of safety for the people of Israel.

The People of Aram This is what the Lord says: "For the many crimes of Damascus, I will punish them. They drove over the people of Gilead with threshing boards that had iron teeth.

The People of Philistia This is what the Lord says: "For the many crimes of Gaza, I will punish them. They sold all the people of one area as slaves to Edom.

The People of Phoenicia This is what the Lord says: "For the many crimes of Tyre, I will punish them. They sold all the people of one area as slaves to Edom, and they forgot the agreement among relatives they had made with Israel.

The People of Edom This is what the Lord says: "For the many crimes of Edom, I will punish them. They hunted down their relatives, the Israelites, with the sword, showing them no mercy. They were angry all the time and kept on being very angry.

The People of Ammon This is what the Lord says: "For the many crimes of Ammon, I will punish them. They ripped open the pregnant women in Gilead so they could take over that land and make their own country larger.

The People of Moab This is what the Lord says: "For the many crimes of Moab, I will punish them. They burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime.

This is what the Lord says: "For the many crimes of Judah, I will punish them. They rejected the teachings of the Lord and did not keep his commands; they followed the same gods as their ancestors had followed.

This is what the Lord says: "For the many crimes of Israel, I will punish them. For silver, they sell people who have done nothing wrong; they sell the poor to buy a pair of sandals.

It was I who brought you from the land of Egypt and led you for forty years through the desert so I could give you the land of the Amorites.

"I have chosen only you out of all the families of the earth, so I will punish you for all your sins."

"When I punish Israel for their sins, I will also destroy the altars at Bethel. The corners of the altar will be cut off, and they will fall to the ground.

People weak from thirst went from town to town for water, but they could not get enough to drink. Still you did not come back to me," says the Lord .