Study Desk

"Then you will say in your heart, 'Who has fathered these for me, Since I have been bereaved of my children And cannot conceive, and I am an exile, and a wanderer? And who has raised these? Behold, I was left alone; Where are these from?'"

"Can the prey be taken from a mighty man, Or the captives of a tyrant be rescued?"

Indeed, this is what the LORD says: "Even the captives of the mighty man will be taken away, And the prey of a tyrant will be rescued; For I will contend with the one who contends with you, And I will save your sons.

"Why was there no one when I came? When I called, why was there no one to answer? Is My hand so short that it cannot redeem? Or do I have no power to rescue? Behold, I dry up the sea with My rebuke, I turn rivers into a wilderness; Their fish stink for lack of water, And die of thirst.

The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of disciples, So that I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.

He who vindicates Me is near; Who will contend with Me? Let us stand up to each other. Who has a case against Me? Let him approach Me.

Behold, the Lord GOD helps Me; Who is he who condemns Me? Behold, they will all wear out like a garment; A moth will eat them.

Behold, all you who kindle a fire, Who encircle yourselves with flaming arrows, Walk in the light of your fire And among the flaming arrows you have set ablaze. This you will have from My hand: You will lie down in torment.

Indeed, the LORD will comfort Zion; He will comfort all her ruins. And He will make her wilderness like Eden, And her desert like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in her, Thanksgiving and the sound of a melody.

"Pay attention to Me, My people, And listen to Me, My nation; For a law will go out from Me, And I will bring My justice as a light of the peoples.

"Raise your eyes to the sky, Then look to the earth beneath; For the sky will vanish like smoke, And the earth will wear out like a garment And its inhabitants will die in the same way. But My salvation will be forever, And My righteousness will not fail.

"Listen to Me, you who know righteousness, A people in whose heart is My Law; Do not fear the taunting of people, Nor be terrified of their abuses.

"For the moth will eat them like a garment; Yes, the moth will eat them like wool. But My righteousness will be forever, And My salvation to all generations."

Was it not You who dried up the sea, The waters of the great deep; Who made the depths of the sea a pathway For the redeemed to cross over?

"I, I Myself, am He who comforts you. Who are you that you are afraid of mortal man, And of a son of man who is made like grass,

Your sons have fainted, They lie helpless at the head of every street, Like an antelope in a net, Full of the wrath of the LORD, The rebuke of your God.

But you will not go out in a hurry, Nor will you go as fugitives; For the LORD will go before you, And the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

Just as many were appalled at you, My people, So His appearance was marred beyond that of a man, And His form beyond the sons of mankind.

For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of dry ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we would look at Him, Nor an appearance that we would take pleasure in Him.

He was despised and abandoned by men, A man of great pain and familiar with sickness; And like one from whom people hide their faces, He was despised, and we had no regard for Him.