Study Desk

For the Lord says this:“For the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths,and choose what pleases me,and hold firmly to my covenant,

As for the foreigners who join themselves to the Lordto minister to him, to love the name of the Lord,and to become his servants—all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating itand who hold firmly to my covenant—

I will bring them to my holy mountainand let them rejoice in my house of prayer.Their burnt offerings and sacrificeswill be acceptable on my altar,for my house will be called a house of prayerfor all nations.”

These dogs have fierce appetites;they never have enough.And they are shepherdswho have no discernment;all of them turn to their own way,every last one for his own profit.

You have set up your memorialbehind the door and doorpost.For away from me, you stripped,went up, and made your bed wide,and you have made a bargain for yourself with them.You have loved their bed;you have gazed on their genitals.

Who was it you dreaded and feared,so that you lied and didn’t remember meor take it to heart?I have kept silent for a long time, haven’t I?So you do not fear me.

For the High and Exalted One,who lives forever, whose name is holy, says this:“I live in a high and holy place,and with the oppressed and lowly of spirit,to revive the spirit of the lowlyand revive the heart of the oppressed.

For I will not accuse you forever,and I will not always be angry;for then the spirit would grow weak before me,even the breath, which I have made.

But the wicked are like the storm-tossed sea,for it cannot be still,and its water churns up mire and muck.

There is no peace for the wicked,”says my God.

They seek me day after dayand delight to know my ways,like a nation that does what is rightand does not abandon the justice of their God.They ask me for righteous judgments;they delight in the nearness of God.”

Will the fast I choose be like this:A day for a person to deny himself,to bow his head like a reed,and to spread out sackcloth and ashes?Will you call this a fastand a day acceptable to the Lord?

then you will delight in the Lord,and I will make you ride over the heights of the land,and let you enjoy the heritage of your father Jacob.”For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

For your hands are defiled with bloodand your fingers, with iniquity;your lips have spoken lies,and your tongues mutter injustice.

Therefore justice is far from us,and righteousness does not reach us.We hope for light, but there is darkness;for brightness, but we live in the night.

We all growl like bearsand moan like doves.We hope for justice, but there is none;for salvation, but it is far from us.

For our transgressions have multiplied before you,and our sins testify against us.For our transgressions are with us,and we know our iniquities:

He put on righteousness as body armor,and a helmet of salvation on his head;he put on garments of vengeance for clothing,and he wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak.

They will fear the name of the Lord in the westand his glory in the east;for he will come like a rushing streamdriven by the wind of the Lord.

“As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord: “My Spirit who is on you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children, or from the mouths of your children’s children, from now on and forever,” says the Lord.