Study Desk

'For this is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: "I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, to serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him. And I have also given him the animals of the field."'"

Then Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah the prophet, "Listen now, Hananiah: the LORD has not sent you, and you have made this people trust in a lie.

'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for prosperity and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

'I will pursue them with the sword, with famine, and with plague; and I will make them an object of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse and an object of horror and hissing, and a disgrace among all the nations where I have driven them,

"Because of them a curse will be used by all the exiles from Judah who are in Babylon, saying, 'May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,'

because they acted foolishly in Israel, and committed adultery with their neighbors' wives, and falsely spoke words in My name which I did not command them. I am He who knows, and a witness," declares the LORD.'"

"Send word to all the exiles, saying, 'This is what the LORD says concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: "Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, although I did not send him, and he has made you trust in a lie,"

"This is what the LORD, the God of Israel says: 'Write all the words which I have spoken to you in a book.

"For this is what the LORD says: 'I have heard a sound of terror, Of fear, and there is no peace.

'Ask now, and see If a male can give birth. Why do I see every man With his hands on his waist, as a woman in childbirth? And why have all faces turned pale?

'All your lovers have forgotten you, They do not seek you; For I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, With the punishment of a cruel one, Because your wrongdoing is great, And your sins are numerous.

'From them will come a song of thanksgiving And the voices of those who celebrate; And I will multiply them and they will not decrease; I will honor them and they will not be insignificant.

Behold, the tempest of the LORD! Wrath has gone forth, A sweeping tempest; It will whirl upon the head of the wicked.

"For there will be a day when watchmen On the hills of Ephraim call out, 'Arise, and let's go up to Zion, To the LORD our God.'"

"Behold, I am bringing them from the north country, And I will gather them from the remote parts of the earth, Among them those who are blind and those who limp, The pregnant woman and she who is in labor, together; They will return here as a great assembly.

"They will come with weeping, And by pleading I will bring them; I will lead them by streams of waters, On a straight path on which they will not stumble; For I am a father to Israel, And Ephraim is My firstborn."

Hear the word of the LORD, you nations, And declare it in the coastlands far away, And say, "He who scattered Israel will gather him, And He will keep him as a shepherd keeps his flock."

"They will come and shout for joy on the height of Zion, And they will be radiant over the bounty of the LORD— Over the grain, the new wine, the oil, And over the young of the flock and the herd. And their life will be like a watered garden, And they will never languish again.

This is what the LORD says: "A voice is heard in Ramah, Lamenting and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; She refuses to be comforted for her children, Because they are no more."

"Is Ephraim My dear son? Is he a delightful child? Indeed, as often as I have spoken against him, I certainly still remember him; Therefore My heart yearns for him; I will certainly have mercy on him," declares the LORD.