Study Desk

For this reason my loins are full of anguish; Pains have seized me like the pains of a woman in labor. I am so bewildered I cannot hear, so terrified I cannot see.

My mind reels, horror overwhelms me; The twilight I longed for has been turned into trembling for me.

For this is what the Lord says to me: "Go, station the lookout, have him report what he sees.

Bring water for the thirsty, You inhabitants of the land of Tema; Meet the fugitive with bread.

For they have fled from the swords, From the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, And from the press of battle.

For this is what the Lord said to me: "In a year, as a hired worker would count it, all the splendor of Kedar will come to an end;

and the remainder of the number of bowmen, the warriors of the sons of Kedar, will be few; for the LORD God of Israel has spoken."

For the Lord GOD of armies has a day of panic, subjugation, and confusion In the valley of vision, A breaking down of walls And a crying to the mountain.

And you made a reservoir between the two walls For the waters of the old pool. But you did not depend on Him who made it, Nor did you take into consideration Him who planned it long ago.

Instead, there is joy and jubilation, Killing of cattle and slaughtering of sheep, Eating of meat and drinking of wine: "Let's eat and drink, for tomorrow we may die."

'What right do you have here, And whom do you have here, That you have cut out a tomb for yourself here, You who cut out a tomb on the height, You who carve a resting place for yourself in the rock?

"On that day," declares the LORD of armies, "the peg driven into a firm place will give way; it will even break off and fall, and the load that is hanging on it will be cut off, for the LORD has spoken."

The pronouncement concerning Tyre: Wail, you ships of Tarshish, For Tyre is destroyed, without house or harbor; It is reported to them from the land of Cyprus.

Be ashamed, Sidon, For the sea speaks, the stronghold of the sea, saying, "I have neither been in labor nor given birth, I have neither brought up young men nor raised virgins."

Behold, the land of the Chaldeans—this is the people that did not exist; Assyria allocated it for desert creatures—they erected their siege towers, they stripped its palaces, they made it a ruin.

Wail, you ships of Tarshish, For your stronghold is destroyed.

Now on that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years like the days of one king. At the end of seventy years it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:

Her profit and her prostitute's wages will be sacred to the LORD; it will not be stored up or hoarded, but her profit will become sufficient food and magnificent attire for those who dwell in the presence of the LORD.

The earth will be completely laid waste and completely plundered, for the LORD has spoken this word.

The earth is also defiled by its inhabitants, for they violated laws, altered statutes, and broke the everlasting covenant.