Study Desk

The place of the dead, the woman who cannot have children, the earth that is always thirsty for water, and fire that never says, "Enough."

Her children rise up and honor her. Her husband does also, and he praises her, saying:

If a man becomes the father of a hundred children and lives many years until he is very old, but he is not happy with good things, and is not buried as he should be, then I say that the child who dies before it is born is shown more favor than he.

O sinful nation, people weighed down with sin, children of those who do wrong, sons who act in a sinful way! They have left the Lord. They have hated the Holy One of Israel. They have turned away from Him.

For You have left Your people, the family of Jacob, because they are filled with the sinful ways of the East. They use secret ways to tell the future like the Philistines. And they make agreements with the children of strangers.

I will make boys their rulers. Foolish children will rule over them.

O My people! Children make it hard for them. And women rule over them. O My people! Your leaders lead you in the wrong way. You do not know which path to take.

See, I and the children the Lord has given me are something special to see and a wonder in Israel from the Lord of All, Who lives on Mount Zion.

So the Lord is not pleased with their young men. He does not have pity on their children who have no parents or on their women whose husbands have died. Every one of them is without God and does sinful things. Every mouth speaks foolish words. Even with all this, His anger does not turn away. His hand is still held out.

They take what is on the right hand but still are hungry. They eat what is in the left hand but are not filled. Each of them eats the flesh of his own children.

Their bows will cut down the young men. They will have no pity on babies. Their eyes will not pity children.

You will not be joined with them when you are buried, because you have destroyed your country. You have killed your people. May the children of sinners never be spoken about again!

"I will come against them," says the Lord of All. "And I will cut off from Babylon its name and people, its children and their children," says the Lord.

So they will put on him all the honor of his father's house, and of his children, and every little dish, from the cups to all the jars.

"Who is it He is trying to teach? To whom will He tell what He has to say? Children finished with their nursing and just taken from the breast?

But when they see their children with them, the work of My hands, they will keep My Name holy, and will give honor to the Holy One of Jacob. They will stand in wonder of the God of Israel.

"It is bad for the children who will not obey!" says the Lord, "They act on a plan that is not Mine, and make an agreement that is not of My Spirit, and so add sin to sin.

Its fire will not be put out night or day. Its smoke will go up forever. From one family to their children's children and on into the future, it will lie waste. No one will pass through it forever and ever.

He will divide the land among them and give each of them a share. It will be theirs forever. From one family to their children's children and on into the future, they will live in it.

They said to him, "Hezekiah says, ‘This day is a day of trouble, pain, and shame. For children have come to birth, and there is no strength for them to be born.