Study Desk

I am a wall, and my breasts are my towers. And he is satisfied with me!

I hate your monthly meetings and councils. They have become like heavy weights to me, and I am tired of carrying them.

"I, the Lord , am the one speaking to you. Come, let's discuss this. Even if your sins are as dark as red dye, that stain can be removed and you will be as pure as wool that is as white as snow.

Understand what I am telling you: The Lord God All-Powerful will take away everything Judah and Jerusalem depend on. He will take away all the food and water.

I was frightened and said, "Oh, no! I will be destroyed. I am not pure enough to speak to God, and I live among people who are not pure enough to speak to him. But I have seen the King, the Lord All-Powerful."

Then I heard the Lord's voice, saying, "Who can I send? Who will go for us?" So I said, "Here I am. Send me!"

Here I am with the children the Lord has given me. We are here as signs from the Lord All-Powerful, who lives on Mount Zion. He is using us to show his plans for the people of Israel.

I will send Assyria to fight against the people who do evil. I am angry with them, and I will command Assyria to fight against them. Assyria will defeat them and take their wealth. Israel will be like dirt for Assyria to walk on in the streets.

The king of Assyria said, "I am very wise. By my own wisdom and power I have done many great things. I have defeated many nations. I have taken their wealth and their people as slaves. I am a very powerful man.

God is the one who saves me. I trust him, and I am not afraid. The Lord Yah is my strength. He saves me, and I sing songs of praise about him."

"I have separated these men from the people, and I myself will command them. I have gathered these proud, happy soldiers of mine to show how angry I am.

I saw those terrible things, and now I am afraid. My fear makes my stomach hurt like the pain of giving birth. What I hear frightens me. What I see makes me shake with fear.

I am worried and shaking with fear. My pleasant evening has become a nightmare.

I am not angry. But if there is war and someone builds a wall of thornbushes, then I will march to it and burn it.

Listen closely to the message I am telling you.

The Lord says, "These people come to honor me with words, but I am not really important to them. The worship they give me is nothing but human rules they have memorized.

The Lord says, "Now, I will stand and show people how great and powerful I am.

No one living there will say, "I am sick," because everyone living there has had their guilt removed.

"Look, I am causing the shadow that is on the steps of Ahaz to move back ten steps. The sun's shadow will go back up the ten steps that it has already been on."

My home, my shepherd's tent, is being pulled down and taken from me. I am finished like the cloth someone rolls up and cuts from the loom. You ended my life in such a short time.