Study Desk

Here is what Adonai says: "The wise man should not boast of his wisdom, the powerful should not boast of his power, the wealthy should not boast of his wealth;

class="poetry"> I wish I were out in the desert, in some travelers' lodge — then I could get away from my people and distance myself from them! "Indeed they are all adulterers, a band of traitors is what they are. They bend their tongues, their ‘bow' of falsehood, and hold sway in the land, but not for truth. For they go from evil to evil, and me they do not know," says Adonai . Everyone, be on guard against your neighbor, don't trust even a brother; for every brother is out to trick you, and every neighbor goes around gossiping. Everyone deceives his neighbor, no one speaks the truth; they have taught their tongues to lie, they wear themselves out with sinning. "You inhabit a world of deceit; deceitfully they refuse to know me," says Adonai . "Therefore," says Adonai -Tzva'ot, "I will refine them and test them. What else can I do with the daughter of my people? Their tongues are sharpened arrows; with their mouths they speak deceit — they say nice words to their neighbors, while inwardly plotting against them. Should I not punish them for these things?" asks Adonai . "Should I not take vengeance on such a nation?" I weep and wail for the mountains and lament over the desert pastures, because they have been burned up; no one passes through; they no longer hear the sound of cattle; the birds and wild animals have fled, are gone. "I will make Yerushalayim a heap of ruins, turn it into a lair for jackals, and make the cities of Y'hudah desolate, with no one living there." Who is wise enough to understand this? To whom has the mouth of Adonai spoken, so that he can proclaim it? Why has the land perished and been laid waste like a desert, so that no one passes through? Adonai answers: "Because they abandoned my Torah, which I set before them, and neither listened to what I said nor lived accordingly, but have lived by their own hearts' stubbornness and by the ba‘alim, as their ancestors taught them — therefore," says Adonai -Tzva'ot, the God of Isra'el: "I will feed this people bitter wormwood and give them poisonous water to drink. I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have known. I will send the sword after them until I have wiped them out." Thus says Adonai -Tzva'ot: "Mark this, then summon the mourning women, so that they will come; send for those who are best [at mourning], so that they will come: ‘Have them hurry and wail for us, so our eyes will be wet from crying, and our eyelids gush with tears.' For the sound of wailing is heard from Tziyon: ‘We are utterly ruined, we are completely ashamed, because we have left the land, and our homes have been torn down!'" You women, hear the word of Adonai ! Let your ears receive the words from his mouth. Teach your daughters how to wail, have each teach her friend how to lament: "Death has come up through our windows, it has entered our palaces, it has cut down children in the streets and young people in the public places." Say: "Here is what Adonai says: ‘The corpses of people are scattered like dung in an open field, like sheaves left behind by the reaper with no one to gather them.'" Here is what Adonai says: "The wise man should not boast of his wisdom, the powerful should not boast of his power, the wealthy should not boast of his wealth; instead, let the boaster boast about this: that he understands and knows me — that I am Adonai , practicing grace, justice and righteousness in the land; for in these things I take pleasure," says Adonai . "The days are coming," says Adonai , "when I will punish all those who have been circumcised in their uncircumcision — Egypt, Y'hudah, Edom, the people of ‘Amon and Mo'av, and all those living in the desert who cut the edges [of their beard]: "For although all the Goyim are uncircumcised, all the house of Isra'el have uncircumcised hearts."

for the customs of the peoples are nothing. They cut down a tree in the forest; a craftsman works it with his axe;

But Adonai , God, is the true God, the living God, the everlasting king. At his anger, the earth trembles; the nations cannot endure his fury.

God made the earth by his power, established the world by his wisdom spread out the sky by his understanding.

When he thunders, the waters in heaven roar, he raises clouds from the ends of the earth, he makes the lightning flash in the rain and brings the wind out from his storehouses.

At this, everyone is proved stupid, ignorant, every goldsmith put to shame by his idol! The figures he casts are a fraud; there is no breath in them;

Ya‘akov's portion is not like these, for he is the one who formed all things. Isra'el is the tribe he claims as his heritage; Adonai -Tzva'ot is his name.

Pour out your anger on the nations that do not acknowledge you, also on the families that do not call on your name. For they have consumed Ya‘akov — consumed him and finished him off, and laid waste to his home.

But they have not listened or paid attention; instead, each one has lived according to the stubbornness of his own evil heart. For this reason I have brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I ordered them to obey, but which they did not obey.'"

But I was like a tame lamb led to be slaughtered; I did not know that they were plotting schemes against me — "Let's destroy the tree with its fruit, we'll cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name will be forgotten."

Then, after I have uprooted them, I will take pity on them again and bring them back, each one to his inheritance, each one to his own land.

Can an Ethiopian change his skin? or a leopard its spots? If they can, then you can do good, who are so accustomed to doing evil.

And you have done worse than your ancestors, for — look! — each of you lives according to the stubbornness of his own evil heart, so that you don't listen to me.

Blessed is the man who trusts in Adonai ; Adonai will be his security.

I, Adonai , search the heart; I test inner motivations; in order to give to everyone what his actions and conduct deserve."

"House of Isra'el, can't I deal with you as the potter deals with his clay? — says Adonai . Look! You, house of Isra'el, are the same in my hand as the clay in the potter's hand.

"So now, tell the people of Y'hudah and those living in Yerushalayim that this is what Adonai says: ‘I am designing disaster for you, working out my plan against you. Turn, each of you, from his evil ways; improve your conduct and actions.'

"But they will answer, ‘It's hopeless! We will stick to our own plans; each of us will stubbornly follow his own evil desires!'

I will cause them to eat the flesh of their own sons and daughters; everyone will be eating the flesh of his friends during the siege, because of the shortage imposed on them by their enemies and those set on killing them."'