Study Desk

Her leaders pronounce judgment for a bribe, Her priests teach for a fee, And her prophets foretell for money; Yet they lean on the LORD, saying, "Is not the LORD among us? No tragedy or distress will come on us."

Yet the earth [beyond the land of Israel] shall become desolate because of those who dwell in it, Because of the fruit of their deeds.

Yet she became an exile; She went into captivity. Her young children were dashed to pieces At the head of every street; They cast lots for her honorable men, And all her great men were bound with chains.

O LORD, how long will I call for help And You will not hear? I cry out to You, "Violence!" Yet You do not save.

"For the vision is yet for the appointed [future] time It hurries toward the goal [of fulfillment]; it will not fail. Even though it delays, wait [patiently] for it, Because it will certainly come; it will not delay.

Yet I will [choose to] rejoice in the LORD; I will [choose to] shout in exultation in the [victorious] God of my salvation!

And those who bow down and worship the host of heaven [the sun, the moon, and the stars] on their housetops And those who bow down and swear [oaths] to [and pretend to worship] the LORD and [yet also] swear by [the pagan god called] Milcom [god of the Ammonites],

'I struck you and the work of your hands with scorching wind, mildew, and hail; yet you did not come back to Me,' declares the LORD.

Is the seed still in the barn? As to the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree—they have not produced. Yet from this day on I will bless you [in the harvest of your crops].'"

"I have loved you," says the LORD. But you say, "How and in what way have You loved us?" "Was not Esau Jacob's brother?" declares the LORD. "Yet I loved Jacob (Israel);

But you say, "Why [does He reject it]?" Because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously. Yet she is your marriage companion and the wife of your covenant [made by your vows].

"Yet from the days of your fathers you have turned away from My statutes and ordinances and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you," says the LORD of hosts. "But you say, 'How shall we return?'

"Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, 'In what way have we robbed You?' In tithes and offerings [you have withheld].

"Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow [seed] nor reap [the harvest] nor gather [the crops] into barns, and yet your heavenly Father keeps feeding them. Are you not worth much more than they?

yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory and splendor dressed himself like one of these.

"And the rain fell, and the floods and torrents came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.

"Are not two little sparrows sold for a copper coin? And yet not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father's will.

"I assure you and most solemnly say to you, among those born of women there has not risen anyone greater than John the Baptist; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater [in privilege] than he.

"The Son of Man came eating and drinking [with others], and they say, 'Look! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners [including non-observant Jews]!' Yet wisdom is justified and vindicated by her deeds [in the lives of those who respond to Me]."

"Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break [the sanctity of] the Sabbath and yet are innocent?