Study Desk

"It has been made a desolation; Desolate, it mourns before Me; The whole land has been made desolate, Because no one takes it to heart.

This is what the LORD said to me: "Go and buy yourself a linen undergarment and put it around your waist, but do not put it in water."

Then the word of the LORD came to me a second time, saying,

"Take the undergarment that you bought, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a crevice of the rock."

'For as the undergarment clings to the waist of a man, so I made the entire household of Israel and the entire household of Judah cling to Me,' declares the LORD, 'so that they might be My people, for renown, for praise, and for glory; but they did not listen.'

Say to the king and the queen mother, "Take a lowly seat, For your beautiful crown Has come down from your head."

"What will you say when He appoints over you— And you yourself had taught them— Former companions to be head over you? Will sharp pains not take hold of you Like a woman in childbirth?

"Hope of Israel, Its Savior in time of distress, Why are You like a stranger in the land, Or like a traveler who has pitched his tent for the night?

"Why are You like a confused person, Like a warrior who cannot save? Yet You are in our midst, LORD, And we are called by Your name; Do not leave us!"

So the LORD said to me, "Do not pray for a good outcome on behalf of this people.

But I said, "Oh, Lord GOD! Behold, the prophets are telling them, 'You will not see a sword, nor will you have famine; on the contrary, I will give you lasting peace in this place.'"

Then the LORD said to me, "The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them, nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility, and the deception of their own minds.

"You will say this word to them, 'Let my eyes stream down tears night and day, And let them not cease; For the virgin daughter of my people has been crushed with a mighty blow, With a sorely infected wound.

Have You completely rejected Judah? Or have You loathed Zion? Why have You stricken us so that we are beyond healing? We waited for peace, but nothing good came; And for a time of healing, but behold, terror!

"I will winnow them with a winnowing fork At the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children, I will destroy My people; They did not repent of their ways.

"Their widows will be more numerous before Me Than the sand of the seas; I will bring against them, against the mother of a young man, A destroyer at noon; I will suddenly bring down on her Shock and horror.

Woe to me, my mother, that you have given birth to me As a man of strife and a man of contention to all the land! I have not lent, nor have people lent money to me, Yet everyone curses me.

The LORD said, "I will certainly set you free for purposes of good; I will certainly make the enemy plead with you In a time of disaster and a time of distress.

"Then I will make your enemies bring your possessions Into a land that you do not know; For a fire has been kindled in My anger, And it will burn upon you."

Your words were found and I ate them, And Your words became a joy to me and the delight of my heart; For I have been called by Your name, LORD God of armies.