Study Desk

I hear a cry like a woman in labor,a cry of anguish like one bearing her first child.The cry of Daughter Zion gasping for breath,stretching out her hands:“Woe is me, for my life is wearybecause of the murderers!”

Lord, don’t your eyes look for faithfulness?You have struck them, but they felt no pain.You finished them off,but they refused to accept discipline.They made their faces harder than rock,and they refused to return.

Should I not punish them for these things?

Go up among her vineyard terraces and destroy them,but do not finish them off.Prune away her shoots,for they do not belong to the Lord.

The prophets become only wind,for the Lord’s word is not in them.This will in fact happen to them.

When people ask, ‘For what offense has the Lord our God done all these things to us?’ You will respond to them, ‘Just as you abandoned me and served foreign gods in your land, so will you serve strangers in a land that is not yours.’

for wicked men live among my people.They watch like hunters lying in wait.They set a trap;they catch men.

Should I not punish them for these things?

“Run for cover

Set them apart for war against her;rise up, let’s attack at noon.Woe to us, for the day is passing;the evening shadows grow long.

For this is what the Lord of Armies says:

Their houses will be turned over to others,their fields and wives as well,for I will stretch out my handagainst the inhabitants of the land.

For from the least to the greatest of them,everyone is making profit dishonestly.From prophet to priest,everyone deals falsely.

I appointed watchmen over youand said, “Listen for the sound of the ram’s horn.”But they protested, “We won’t listen!”

Listen, earth!I am about to bring disaster on these people,the fruit of their own plotting,for they have paid no attention to my words.They have rejected my instruction.

My dear people, dress yourselves in sackclothand roll in the dust.Mourn as you would for an only son,a bitter lament,for suddenly the destroyer will come on us.

They are called rejected silver,for the Lord has rejected them.

“As for you, do not pray for these people. Do not offer a cry or a prayer on their behalf, and do not beg me, for I will not listen to you.

The sons gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven, and they pour out drink offerings to other gods so that they provoke me to anger.

for when I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak with them or command them concerning burnt offering and sacrifice.