Study Desk

So Johanan son of Kareah and all his army officers saved the captives that Ishmael son of Nethaniah had taken from Mizpah after he murdered Gedaliah son of Ahikam. Among those left alive were soldiers, women, children, and palace officers. And Johanan brought them back from the town of Gibeon.

They led away the men, women, and children, and the king's daughters. Nebuzaradan commander of the guard had put Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan in charge of those people. Johanan also took Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch son of Neriah.

"Now the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, says: Why are you doing such great harm to yourselves? You are cutting off the men and women, children and babies from the family of Judah, leaving yourselves without anyone from the family of Judah.

"People of Jacob, my servants, don't be afraid; don't be frightened, Israel. I will surely save you from those faraway places and your children from the lands where they are captives. The people of Jacob will have peace and safety again, and no one will make them afraid.

They will hear the sound of the running horses and the noisy chariots and the rumbling chariot wheels. Parents will not help their children to safety, because they will be too weak to help.

Moab will be broken up. Her little children will cry for help.

This message is to the Ammonite people. This is what the Lord says: "Do you think that Israel has no children? Do you think there is no one to take the land when the parents die? If that were true, why did Molech take Gad's land and why did Molech's people settle in Gad's towns?"

But I will strip Edom bare. I will find all their hiding places, so they will not be able to hide from me. The children, relatives, and neighbors will die, and Edom will be no more.

Her foes are now her masters. Her enemies enjoy the wealth they have taken. The Lord is punishing her for her many sins. Her children have gone away as captives of the enemy.

"I cry about these things; my eyes overflow with tears. There is no one near to comfort me, no one who can give me strength again. My children are left sad and lonely, because the enemy has won."

My eyes have no more tears, and I am sick to my stomach. I feel empty inside, because my people have been destroyed. Children and babies are fainting in the streets of the city.

Get up, cry out in the night, even as the night begins. Pour out your heart like water in prayer to the Lord. Lift up your hands in prayer to him for the life of your children who are fainting with hunger on every street corner.

Jerusalem says: "Look, Lord , and see to whom you have done this. Women eat their own babies, the children they have cared for. Priests and prophets are killed in the Temple of the Lord.

The babies are so thirsty their tongues stick to the roofs of their mouths. Children beg for bread, but no one gives them any.

With their own hands kind women cook their own children. They became food when my people were destroyed.

So parents among you will eat their children, and children will eat their parents. I will punish you and will scatter to the winds all who are left alive.

I will send a time of hunger and wild animals against you, and they will kill your children. Disease and death will sweep through your people, and I will bring the sword against you to kill you. I, the Lord , have spoken."

Kill and destroy old men, young men and women, little children, and older women, but don't touch any who have the mark on them. Start at my Temple." So they started with the elders who were in front of the Temple.

"Or I might send wild animals into that land, leaving the land empty and without children. Then no one would pass through it because of the animals.

"‘But your sexual sins were not enough for you. You also took your sons and daughters who were my children, and you sacrificed them to the idols as food.