Study Desk

Therefore this is what the LORD says: "Behold, I am planning against this family a catastrophe From which you cannot remove your necks; And you will not walk haughtily, For it will be an evil time.

"On that day they will take up against you a song of mocking And utter a song of mourning and say, 'We are completely destroyed! He exchanges the share of my people; How He removes it from me! To the apostate He apportions our fields.'

"Therefore you will have no one applying a measuring line For you by lot in the assembly of the LORD.

"Arise and go, For this is no place of rest Because of the uncleanness that brings on destruction, A painful destruction.

"If someone walking after wind and falsehood Had lied and said, 'I will prophesy to you about wine and liquor,' He would become a prophet to this people.

"I will certainly assemble all of you, Jacob, I will certainly gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together like sheep in the fold; Like a flock in the midst of its pasture They will be noisy with people.

Who eat the flesh of my people, Strip off their skin from them, Smash their bones, And chop them up as for the pot, And as meat in a cauldron!"

Her leaders pronounce judgment for a bribe, Her priests teach for pay, And her prophets divine for money. Yet they lean on the LORD, saying, "Is the LORD not in our midst? Catastrophe will not come upon us."

Therefore on account of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins, And the mountain of the temple will become high places of a forest.

And He will judge between many peoples And render decisions for mighty, distant nations. Then they will beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation will not lift a sword against nation, And never again will they train for war.

"I will make those who limp a remnant, And those who have strayed a mighty nation, And the LORD will reign over them on Mount Zion From now on and forever.

"Now, why do you cry out loudly? Is there no king among you, Or has your counselor perished, That agony has gripped you like a woman in childbirth?

"Writhe and scream, Daughter of Zion, Like a woman in childbirth; For now you will go out of the city, Live in the field, And go to Babylon. There you will be rescued, There the LORD will redeem you From the hand of your enemies.

"Now muster yourselves in troops, daughter of troops; They have laid siege against us; With a rod they will strike the judge of Israel on the cheek.

The remnant of Jacob Will be among the nations, Among many peoples Like a lion among the animals of the forest, Like a young lion among flocks of sheep, Which, if he passes through, Tramples and tears, And there is no one who can rescue.

"Listen, you mountains, to the indictment by the LORD, And you enduring foundations of the earth, Because the LORD has a case against His people; And He will dispute with Israel.

"Is there still a person in the wicked house, Along with treasures of wickedness, And a short measure that is cursed?

"Can I justify dishonest balances, And a bag of fraudulent weights?

Woe to me! For I am Like harvests of summer fruit, like gleanings of grapes. There is not a cluster of grapes left to eat, Nor an early fig, which I crave.

The godly person has perished from the land, And there is no upright person among mankind. All of them lie in wait for bloodshed; Each of them hunts the other with a net.