Study Desk

For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.

Set up the standard towards Zion: retire, stay not: for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.

For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl for the fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us.

Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots [shall be] as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! for we are laid waste.

For a voice declareth from Dan, and publisheth affliction from mount Ephraim.

Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is laid waste; suddenly are my tents ruined, [and] my curtains in a moment.

For my people [are] foolish, they have not known me; they [are] sottish children, and they have no understanding: they [are] wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.

For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end.

For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken [it], I have purposed [it], and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it.

The whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they shall go into thickets, and climb up upon the rocks: every city [shall be] forsaken, and not a man dwell therein.

For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, [and] the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, [that] bewaileth herself, [that] spreadeth her hands, [saying], Woe [is] me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers.

Therefore I said, Surely these [are] poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, [nor] the judgment of their God.

I will go to the great men, and will speak to them; for they have known the way of the LORD, [and] the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, [and] burst the bonds.

How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by [them that are] no gods: when I had fed them to the full, then they committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses.

Shall I not visit for these [things]? saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

Go ye up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they [are] not the LORD'S.

For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the LORD.

Fear ye not me? saith the LORD: will ye not tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand [for] the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though its waves toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?

For among my people are found wicked [men]: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men.

Shall I not visit for these [things]? saith the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?