Study Desk

"Sharon will be a pasture land for flocks, And the Valley of Achor a resting place for herds, For My people who seek Me.

"But as for you who abandon the LORD, Who forget My holy mountain, Who set a table for Fortune, And fill a jug of mixed wine for Destiny,

"Behold, My servants will shout joyfully with a glad heart, But you will cry out from a painful heart, And you will wail from a broken spirit.

"You will leave your name as a curse to My chosen ones, And the Lord GOD will put you to death. But My servants will be called by another name.

"For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.

"No longer will there be in it an infant who lives only a few days, Or an old person who does not live out his days; For the youth will die at the age of a hundred, And the one who does not reach the age of a hundred Will be thought accursed.

"They will not build and another inhabit, They will not plant and another eat; For as the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people, And My chosen ones will fully enjoy the work of their hands.

This is what the LORD says: "Heaven is My throne and the earth is the footstool for My feet. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest?

"But the one who slaughters an ox is like one who kills a person; The one who sacrifices a lamb is like one who breaks a dog's neck; One who offers a grain offering is like one who offers pig's blood; One who burns incense is like one who blesses an idol. As they have chosen their own ways, And their souls delight in their abominations,

"A sound of uproar from the city, a voice from the temple, The voice of the LORD who is dealing retribution to His enemies.

"Before she was in labor, she delivered; Before her pain came, she gave birth to a boy.

"Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Can a land be born in one day? Can a nation be given birth all at once? As soon as Zion was in labor, she also delivered her sons.

For this is what the LORD says: "Behold, I extend peace to her like a river, And the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream; And you will be nursed, you will be carried on the hip and rocked back and forth on the knees.

"And I will put a sign among them and send survivors from them to the nations: Tarshish, Put, Lud, Meshech, Tubal, and Javan, to the distant coastlands that have neither heard of My fame nor seen My glory. And they will declare My glory among the nations.

"Then they shall bring all your countrymen from all the nations as a grain offering to the LORD, on horses, in chariots, in litters, on mules, and on camels, to My holy mountain Jerusalem," says the LORD, "just as the sons of Israel bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD.

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you as a prophet to the nations."

Then I said, "Oh, Lord GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, Because I am a youth."

But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am a youth,' Because everywhere I send you, you shall go, And all that I command you, you shall speak.

And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, "What do you see, Jeremiah?" And I said, "I see a branch of an almond tree."

And the word of the LORD came to me a second time, saying, "What do you see?" And I said, "I see a boiling pot, facing away from the north."