Study Desk

The Lord their God will save them on that day as the flock of His people; for they are like jewels in a crown, sparkling over His land.

Ask the Lord for rain in the season of spring rain. The Lord makes the rain clouds, and He will give them showers of rain and crops in the field for everyone.

For the idols speak falsehood, and the diviners see illusions; they relate empty dreams and offer empty comfort. Therefore the people wander like sheep; they suffer affliction because there is no shepherd.

My anger burns against the shepherds, so I will punish the leaders. For the Lord of Hosts has tended His flock, the house of Judah; He will make them like His majestic steed in battle.

I will strengthen the house of Judah and deliver the house of Joseph. I will restore them because I have compassion on them, and they will be as though I had never rejected them. For I am Yahweh their God, and I will answer them.

I will bring them back from the land of Egypt and gather them from Assyria. I will bring them to the land of Gilead and to Lebanon, but it will not be enough for them.

Wail, cypress, for the cedar has fallen; the glorious trees are destroyed! Wail, oaks of Bashan, for the stately forest has fallen!

Listen to the wail of the shepherds, for their glory is destroyed. Listen to the roar of young lions, for the thickets of the Jordan are destroyed.

Yahweh my God says this: "Shepherd the flock intended for slaughter.

Those who buy them slaughter them but are not punished. Those who sell them say: Praise the Lord because I have become rich! Even their own shepherds have no compassion for them.

So I shepherded the flock intended for slaughter, the afflicted of the flock. I took two staffs, calling one Favor and the other Union, and I shepherded the flock.

I am about to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are going astray, and he will not seek the lost or heal the broken. He will not sustain the healthy, but he will devour the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hooves.

"Look, I will make Jerusalem a cup that causes staggering for the peoples who surround the city. The siege against Jerusalem will also involve Judah.

On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who try to lift it will injure themselves severely when all the nations of the earth gather against her.

"Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and prayer on the house of David and the residents of Jerusalem, and they will look at Me whom they pierced. They will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly for Him as one weeps for a firstborn.

"On that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the residents of Jerusalem, to wash away sin and impurity.

He will say: I am not a prophet; I work the land, for a man purchased me as a servant since my youth.

I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem for battle. The city will be captured, the houses looted, and the women raped. Half the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be removed from the city.

You will flee by My mountain valley, for the valley of the mountains will extend to Azal. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come and all the holy ones with Him.

"When you present a blind animal for sacrifice, is it not wrong? And when you present a lame or sick animal, is it not wrong? Bring it to your governor! Would he be pleased with you or show you favor?" asks the Lord of Hosts.