Study Desk

"Alas for you who build a town by bloodshed, and found a city on iniquity!"

Is it not from the Lord of hosts that peoples labor only to feed the flames, and nations weary themselves for nothing?

"Alas for you who make your neighbors drink, pouring out your wrath until they are drunk, in order to gaze on their nakedness!"

For the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you; the destruction of the animals will terrify you— because of human bloodshed and violence to the earth, to cities and all who live in them.

What use is an idol once its maker has shaped it— a cast image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in what has been made, though the product is only an idol that cannot speak!

Alas for you who say to the wood, "Wake up!" to silent stone, "Rouse yourself!" Can it teach? See, it is gold and silver plated, and there is no breath in it at all.

I hear, and I tremble within; my lips quiver at the sound. Rottenness enters into my bones, and my steps tremble beneath me. I wait quietly for the day of calamity to come upon the people who attack us.

Be silent before the Lord God ! For the day of the Lord is at hand; the Lord has prepared a sacrifice, he has consecrated his guests.

The inhabitants of the Mortar wail, for all the traders have perished; all who weigh out silver are cut off.

Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the Lord 's wrath; in the fire of his passion the whole earth shall be consumed; for a full, a terrible end he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth.

For Gaza shall be deserted, and Ashkelon shall become a desolation; Ashdod's people shall be driven out at noon, and Ekron shall be uprooted.

And you, O seacoast, shall be pastures, meadows for shepherds and folds for flocks.

The seacoast shall become the possession of the remnant of the house of Judah, on which they shall pasture, and in the houses of Ashkelon they shall lie down at evening. For the Lord their God will be mindful of them and restore their fortunes.

This shall be their lot in return for their pride, because they scoffed and boasted against the people of the Lord of hosts.

Herds shall lie down in it, every wild animal; the desert owl and the screech owl shall lodge on its capitals; the owl shall hoot at the window, the raven croak on the threshold; for its cedar work will be laid bare.

Is this the exultant city that lived secure, that said to itself, "I am, and there is no one else"? What a desolation it has become, a lair for wild animals! Everyone who passes by it hisses and shakes the fist.

Therefore wait for me, says the Lord , for the day when I arise as a witness. For my decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them my indignation, all the heat of my anger; for in the fire of my passion all the earth shall be consumed.

On that day you shall not be put to shame because of all the deeds by which you have rebelled against me; for then I will remove from your midst your proudly exultant ones, and you shall no longer be haughty in my holy mountain.

For I will leave in the midst of you a people humble and lowly. They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord —

as on a day of festival. I will remove disaster from you, so that you will not bear reproach for it.