Study Desk

"But if the prophet is persuaded so that he speaks a word, it is I, the LORD, who have persuaded that prophet; and I will stretch out My hand against him and eliminate him from among My people Israel.

"Son of man, if a country sins against Me by being unfaithful, and I stretch out My hand against it, destroy its supply of bread, send famine against it, and eliminate from it both human and animal life,

"Or if I were to bring a sword on that country and say, 'A sword is to pass through the country,' and I eliminated human and animal life from it,

"Or if I were to send a plague against that country and pour out My wrath on it in blood to eliminate man and animal from it,

"Son of man, how is the wood of the vine better than any wood of a branch which is among the trees of the forest?

"Can wood be taken from it to make anything, or can even a peg be taken from it on which to hang any utensil?

and say, 'This is what the Lord GOD says to Jerusalem: "Your origin and your birth are from the land of the Canaanite; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite.

"Then I passed by you and saw you, and behold, you were at the time for love; so I spread My garment over you and covered your nakedness. I also swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you so that you became Mine," declares the Lord GOD.

"I adorned you with jewelry, put bracelets on your wrists, and a necklace around your neck.

"I also put a ring in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head.

"Also My bread which I gave you, fine flour, oil, and honey with which I fed you, you would offer before them for a soothing aroma; so it happened," declares the Lord GOD.

"Furthermore, you took your sons and daughters whom you had borne to Me and sacrificed them to idols to be devoured. Were your obscene practices a trivial matter?

that you built yourself a shrine and made yourself a high place in every public square.

"You built yourself a high place at the beginning of every street and made your beauty abominable, and you spread your legs to every passer-by and multiplied your obscene practice.

"How feverish is your heart," declares the Lord GOD, "while you do all these things, the action of a bold prostitute!

"When you built your shrine at the beginning of every street and made your high place in every public square, in spurning a prostitute's fee, you were not like a prostitute.

"So it is the opposite for you from those women in your obscene practices, in that you are not approached for prostitution, and in the fact that you pay a prostitute's fee, and no fee is paid to you; so you are the opposite."

"They will incite a crowd against you, and they will stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords.

"You are the daughter of your mother, who loathed her husband and children. You are also the sister of your sisters, who loathed their husbands and children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite.

so that you will bear your disgrace and feel ashamed for all that you have done when you become a consolation to them.