Study Desk

You are children out of control, full of lies. You make fun of me. You make faces and stick out your tongue at me.

All you want is to worship false gods under every green tree. You kill children by every stream and sacrifice them in the rocky places.

The Lord says, "As for me, this is the agreement that I will make with these people. I promise my Spirit that I put on you and my words that I put in your mouth will never leave you. They will be with you and your children and your children's children, for now and forever.

The faraway lands are waiting for me. The great cargo ships are ready to sail. They are ready to bring your children from faraway lands. They will bring silver and gold with them to honor the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel. He has done wonderful things for you.

Children from other lands will rebuild your walls. Their kings will serve you. "When I was angry, I hurt you, but now I want to be kind to you. So I will comfort you.

Then your enemies will come to care for your sheep, and their children will work in your fields and in your gardens.

Their descendants will be known throughout the earth, and everyone will know their children. Whoever sees them will know that the Lord has blessed them.

As a young man takes a bride and she belongs to him, so your land will belong to your children. As a man is happy with his new wife, so your God will be happy with you.

He said, "These are my people. These are my real children." So he saved them.

Never again will a woman suffer childbirth and have her baby die. Women will not fear childbirth. I, the Lord , will bless all my people and their children.

"A woman does not give birth before she feels the pain. A woman must feel the pain of childbirth before she can see the boy she gives birth to. Who ever heard of such a thing? In the same way, no one ever saw a new world begin in one day. No one has ever heard of a new nation that began in one day. But when Zion feels the pain, she will give birth to her children.

The Lord says, "I will make a new world—new heavens and a new earth—that will last forever. In the same way, your names and your children will always be with me.

This message is from the Lord : "I want to treat you like my own children. I want to give you a pleasant land, a land more beautiful than any other nation. I thought you would call me ‘Father.' I thought you would always follow me. But you have been unfaithful to me, family of Israel! You have been like an unfaithful wife who leaves her husband. <

That terrible false god Baal has eaten everything our fathers owned. This has happened since we were children. That terrible false god took our fathers' sheep and cattle and their sons and daughters.

Let us lie down in our shame. Let our shame cover us like a blanket. We have sinned against the Lord our God. We and our fathers have sinned. We have not obeyed the Lord our God from the time we were children.'"

The Lord said, "My people are foolish. They don't know me. They are stupid children. They don't understand. They are skillful at doing evil, but they don't know how to do good."

God says, "People of Judah, why should I forgive you? Your children have abandoned me. They made promises to idols that are not really gods! I gave your children everything they needed, but they were still unfaithful to me! They spent their time with prostitutes.

They have grown big and fat from the evil they have done . There is no end to the evil they do. They will not plead the case of children who have no parents. They will not help these orphans. They will not let the poor be judged fairly.

But I am full of the Lord 's anger, and I am tired of holding it in! "Pour out my anger on the children playing in the streets and on the young soldiers gathered there as well. A man and his wife will both be captured as well as all the old people.

This is what the people of Judah are doing: The children gather wood. The fathers use the wood to make a fire. The women make the dough and then make cakes of bread to offer to the Queen of Heaven. The people of Judah pour out drink offerings to worship other gods. They do this to make me angry.