Study Desk

I will not show mercy to her children; they are the children of a shameless prostitute. She herself said, "I will go to my lovers—they give me food and water, wool and linen, olive oil and wine."

You will eat your share of the sacrifices, but still be hungry. You will worship the fertility gods, but still have no children, because you have turned away from me to follow other gods."

They have been unfaithful to the Lord ; their children do not belong to him. So now they and their lands will soon be destroyed.

Israel's greatness will fly away like a bird, and there will be no more children born to them, no more women pregnant, no more children conceived.

But even if they did bring up children, I would take them away and not leave one alive. When I abandon these people, terrible things will happen to them."

Lord , I can see their children being hunted down and killed.

The people of Israel are like a plant whose roots have dried up and which bears no fruit. They will have no children, but even if they did, I would kill the children so dear to them."

war will come to your people, and all your fortresses will be destroyed. It will be like the day when King Shalman destroyed the city of Betharbel in battle, and mothers and their children were crushed to death.

Tell your children about it; they will tell their children, who in turn will tell the next generation.

Gather the people together; prepare them for a sacred meeting; bring the old people; gather the children and the babies too. Even newly married couples must leave their homes and come.

And so, Amaziah, the Lord says to you, ‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your children will be killed in war. Your land will be divided up and given to others, and you yourself will die in a heathen country. And the people of Israel will certainly be taken away from their own land into exile.'"

How much more, then, should I have pity on Nineveh, that great city. After all, it has more than 120,000 innocent children in it, as well as many animals!"

People of Judah, cut off your hair in mourning for the children you love. Make yourselves as bald as vultures, because your children will be taken away from you into exile.

You drive the women of my people out of the homes they love, and you have robbed their children of my blessings forever.

Yet the people of Thebes were carried off into exile. At every street corner their children were beaten to death. Their leading men were carried off in chains and divided among their captors.

Though I have scattered them among the nations, yet in far-off places they will remember me. They and their children will survive and return home together.

The Lord Almighty says to the priests, "Children honor their parents, and servants honor their masters. I am your father—why don't you honor me? I am your master—why don't you respect me? You despise me, and yet you ask, ‘How have we despised you?'

I will punish your children and rub your faces in the dung of the animals you sacrifice—and you will be taken out to the dung heap.

Didn't God make you one body and spirit with her? What was his purpose in this? It was that you should have children who are truly God's people. So make sure that none of you breaks his promise to his wife.

"They will be my people," says the Lord Almighty. "On the day when I act, they will be my very own. I will be merciful to them as parents are merciful to the children who serve them.