Study Desk

This is what the Lord says: Administer justice and righteousness. Rescue the victim of robbery from his oppressor. Don’t exploit or brutalize the resident alien, the fatherless, or the widow. Don’t shed innocent blood in this place.

I will set apart destroyers against you,each with his weapons.They will cut down the choicest of your cedarsand throw them into the fire.

Do not weep for the dead;do not mourn for him.Weep bitterly for the one who has gone away,for he will never return againand see his native land.

For this is what the Lord says concerning Shallum son of Josiah, king of Judah, who became king in place of his father Josiah, and who has left this place: “He will never return here again,

Woe for the one who builds his palacethrough unrighteousness,his upstairs rooms through injustice,who makes his neighbor serve without payand will not give him his wages,

Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered pot,a jar no one wants?Why are he and his descendants hurled outand cast into a land they have not known?

In his days Judah will be saved,and Israel will dwell securely.This is the name he will be called:The Lord Is Our Righteousness.

Among the prophets of Jerusalem alsoI saw a horrible thing:They commit adultery and walk in lies.They strengthen the hands of evildoers,and none turns his back on evil.They are all like Sodom to me;Jerusalem’s residents are like Gomorrah.

They keep on saying to those who despise me, ‘The Lord has spoken: You will have peace.’ They have said to everyone who follows the stubbornness of his heart, ‘No harm will come to you.’”

For who has stood in the council of the Lordto see and hear his word?Who has paid attention to his word and obeyed?

The Lord’s anger will not turn awayuntil he has completely fulfilled the purposes of his heart.In time to come you will understand it clearly.

As for the prophet, priest, or people who say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ I will punish that man and his household.

This is what each man is to say to his friend and to his brother: ‘What has the Lord answered?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’

But no longer refer to the burden of the Lord, for each man’s word becomes his burden and you pervert the words of the living God, the Lord of Armies, our God.

“But as for the bad figs, so bad they are inedible, this is what the Lord says: In this way I will deal with King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem—those remaining in this land or living in the land of Egypt.

The Lord sent all his servants the prophets to you time and time again, but you have not obeyed or even paid attention.

Pharaoh king of Egypt, his officers, his leaders, all his people,

He has left his den like a lion,for their land has become a desolationbecause of the sword of the oppressor,because of his burning anger.

Perhaps they will listen and turn—each from his evil way of life—so that I might relent concerning the disaster that I plan to do to them because of the evil of their deeds.

King Jehoiakim, all his warriors, and all the officials heard his words, and the king tried to put him to death. When Uriah heard, he fled in fear and went to Egypt.