Study Desk

"But when a wicked man turns back from his wickedness and practices what is just (fair) and right, he will live because of it.

"Yet you say, 'The way of the Lord is not right.' O house of Israel, I will judge you, every one [of you] in accordance with his own ways!"

"You rely on your sword [as your security]; you commit outrageous and disgraceful acts and each of you defiles his neighbor's wife. Should you then take possession of the land?"'

"But as for you, son of man, your people who talk about you by the walls and in the doorways of the houses say one to another, every one to his brother, 'Come now and hear what the message is that comes from the LORD.'

"As a shepherd cares for his sheep on the day that he is among his scattered flock, so I will care for My sheep; and I will rescue them from all the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day.

"When they came to the nations wherever they went, they profaned My holy name, because it was said of them, 'These are the people of the LORD; yet they have come out of His land.'

"And you, son of man, take a stick and write on it, 'For Judah and for the children of Israel, his companions'; then take another stick and write on it, 'For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and all the house of Israel, his companions.'

say to them, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I am going to take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will join the stick of Judah with it and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand."'

"I will call for a sword against Gog throughout all My mountains," says the Lord GOD. "Every man's (invading soldier's) sword will be against his brother (ally) [in panic and confusion].

"With pestilence and with bloodshed I will enter into judgment with Gog; and I will rain on him torrents of rain with [great] hailstones, fire and brimstone on his hordes and on the many nations that are with him.

"And on that day I will give Gog a place for burial there in Israel, the valley of those who pass through east of the sea, and it will block the way of those who would pass through. So they will bury Gog there with all his hordes, and they will call it the Valley of Hamon-gog (the multitude of Gog).

So He brought me there; and behold, there was a man [an angel] whose appearance was like bronze, with a line of flax and a measuring rod in his hand; and he was standing in the gateway.

And behold, the glory and brilliance of the God of Israel was coming from the way of the east; and His voice was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with His glory.

"On the day that he goes into the sanctuary, into the inner courtyard to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering," says the Lord GOD.

"This shall be his land for a possession in Israel; so My princes shall no longer oppress My people, but they shall give the rest of the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes."

"The prince shall enter by the porch (portico) of the gate from outside and stand by the post of the gate. The priests shall prepare and provide his burnt offering and his peace offerings, and he shall worship at the threshold of the gate and then go out; but the gate shall not be shut until evening.

"When the prince provides a freewill offering, a burnt offering, or peace offerings voluntarily to the LORD, the gate that faces east shall be opened for him, and he shall provide his burnt offering and his peace offerings as he does on the Sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and after he goes out the gate shall be shut.

'Thus says the Lord GOD, "If the prince gives a gift to any of his sons from his inheritance, it shall belong to his sons [permanently]; it is their possession by inheritance.

"But if he gives a gift from his inheritance to one of his servants, then it shall be his until the year of liberty [the Year of Jubilee]; after that it shall be returned to the prince. His inheritance shall be only his sons' [permanently]; it shall belong to them.

"Moreover, the prince shall not take from the people's inheritance by oppression and by evicting them from their property; he shall give his sons an inheritance from his own possession, so that My people will not be scattered, anyone from his possession."'"