Study Desk

This is the Lord 's message: "Now come back to me with all your heart. Cry and mourn, and don't eat anything! Show that you are sad for doing wrong.

Who knows, maybe he will change his mind and leave behind a blessing for you. Then you can give grain and drink offerings to the Lord your God.

Blow the trumpet at Zion. Call for a special meeting. Call for a special time of fasting.

Bring the people together. Call for a special meeting. Bring together the old men, the children, and the small babies still at their mothers' breasts. Let the bride and her new husband come from their bedroom.

Then the Lord cared very much about his land. He felt sorry for his people.

"I, the Lord, sent my army against you. The swarming locusts and the hopping locusts and the destroying locusts and the cutting locusts ate everything you had. But I will pay you back for those years of trouble.

Then you will have plenty to eat. You will be full. You will praise the name of the Lord your God. He has done wonderful things for you. My people will never again be ashamed.

They threw lots for my people. They sold boys to buy a prostitute, and they sold girls to buy wine to drink.

"Tyre! Sidon! All of you areas of Philistia! You are not important to me! Are you punishing me for something I did? You might think that you are punishing me, but I will soon punish you.

You sent my people to that faraway place, but I will bring them back. And I will punish you for what you did.

Announce this among the nations: Prepare for war! Wake up the strong men! Let all the men of war come near. Let them come up!

The Lord God will shout from Zion. He will shout from Jerusalem, and the sky and the earth will shake. But the Lord God will be a safe place for his people. He will be a place of safety for the people of Israel.

This is what the Lord says: "I will definitely punish the people of Damascus for the many crimes they did. They crushed the people of Gilead with iron threshing tools.

This is what the Lord says: "I will definitely punish the people of Gaza for the many crimes they did. They took an entire nation of people and sent them as slaves to Edom.

This is what the Lord says: "I will definitely punish the people of Tyre for the many crimes they did. They took an entire nation and sent them as slaves to Edom. They did not remember the agreement they had made with their brothers.

This is what the Lord says: "I will definitely punish the people of Edom for their many crimes. Edom chased his brother with the sword, and he showed no mercy. His anger never stopped. He kept tearing and tearing at Israel like a wild animal.

This is what the Lord says: "I will definitely punish the Ammonites for the many crimes they did. They killed the pregnant women in Gilead. The Ammonites did this so that they could take that land and make their country larger.

This is what the Lord says: "I will definitely punish the people of Moab for the many crimes they did. Moab burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime.

This is what the Lord says: "I will definitely punish Judah for the many crimes they did. They refused to obey the Lord 's teachings and they did not keep his commands. Their ancestors believed lies, and those same lies caused the people of Judah to stop following God.

This is what the Lord says: "I will definitely punish Israel for the many crimes they have done. They sold honest people for a little silver. They sold the poor for the price of a pair of sandals.