Study Desk

Ashkelon will see and fear; Gaza will writhe in agony, as will Ekron, for her hope will wither. There will cease to be a king in Gaza, and Ashkelon will be uninhabited.

I will remove the blood from their mouths and the abominations from between their teeth. Then they too will become a remnant for our God; they will become like a clan in Judah, and Ekron will be like the Jebusites.

But I will camp around My house because of an army, because of those who march to and fro, and never again will an oppressor overrun My people, for now I keep watch with My own eyes.

As for you, because of the blood of My covenant, I will release your prisoners from the waterless pit.

For I will bend Judah as My bow and fit it with Ephraim. I will rouse your sons, O Zion, against the sons of Greece. I will make you like the sword of a mighty man.

On that day the LORD their God will save them as the flock of His people; for like jewels in a crown, they will sparkle over His land.

Ask the LORD for rain in springtime; the LORD makes the storm clouds, and He will give them showers of rain and crops of the field for everyone.

For idols speak deceit and diviners see illusions; they tell false dreams and offer empty comfort. Therefore the people wander like sheep, oppressed for lack of a shepherd.

"My anger burns against the shepherds, and I will punish the leaders. For the LORD of Hosts attends to His flock, the house of Judah; He will make them like His royal 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 not rejected them. For I am the LORD their God, and I will answer them.

I will whistle for them to gather, for I have redeemed them; and they will be as numerous as they once were.

I will bring them back from Egypt and gather them from Assyria. I will bring them to Gilead and Lebanon until no more room is found for them.

Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen; the majestic trees are ruined! Wail, O oaks of Bashan, for the dense forest has been cut down!

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

This is what the LORD my God says: "Pasture the flock marked for slaughter,

whose buyers slaughter them without remorse. Those who sell them say, 'Praise the LORD, for I am rich!' Even their own shepherds have no compassion for them.

For I will no longer have compassion on the people of the land," declares the LORD, "but behold, I will cause each man to fall into the hand of his neighbor and of his king, who will devastate the land, and I will not deliver it from their hands."

So I pastured the flock marked for slaughter, especially the afflicted of the flock. Then I took for myself two staffs, calling one Favor and the other Union, and I pastured the flock.

For behold, I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will neither care for the lost, nor seek the young, nor heal the broken, nor sustain the healthy, but he will devour the flesh of the choice sheep and tear off their hooves.

On that day, when all the nations of the earth gather against her, I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who would heave it away will be severely injured.