Study Desk

"They have evil thoughts and do evil things, so I am coming to punish them. I will gather all nations and all people. Everyone will be gathered together to see my Glory.

Then I said, "But, Lord God , I don't know how to speak. I am only a boy."

But the Lord said to me, "Don't say, ‘I am only a boy.' You must go everywhere I send you and say everything I tell you to say.

Don't be afraid of anyone. I am with you, and I will protect you." This message is from the Lord .

Then the Lord reached out with his hand and touched my mouth. He said to me, "Jeremiah, I am putting my words in your mouth.

The Lord said to me, "You have seen very well, and I am watching to make sure that my message to you comes true."

All those people will fight against you, but they will not defeat you, because I am with you, and I will save you." This message is from the Lord .

"My people have done two evil things. They turned away from me, and they dug their own water cisterns. I am the source of living water; those cisterns are broken and cannot hold water.

"Judah, how can you say to me, ‘I am not guilty because I have not worshiped the Baal idols'? Think about what you did in the valley. Think about what you have done. You are like a fast she-camel that runs from place to place.

But still, you say, ‘I am innocent. God is not angry with me.' So I will also judge you guilty of lying, because you say, ‘I have done nothing wrong.'

Jeremiah, look toward the north and speak this message: "‘Come back, you faithless people of Israel.' This message is from the Lord . ‘I will stop frowning at you. I am full of mercy.' The Lord says, ‘I will not be angry with you forever.

The Lord says, "You people are unfaithful, but come back to me because I am your master. I will take one person from every city and two people from every family and bring you to Zion.

Raise the signal flag toward Zion. Run for your lives! Don't wait! Do this because I am bringing disaster from the north. I am bringing terrible destruction."

My sadness and worry is making my stomach hurt. I am bent over in pain. I am so afraid. My heart is pounding inside me. I cannot keep quiet, because I have heard the trumpet blow. The trumpet is calling the army to war.

I hear a cry like a woman in labor, a scream like a woman giving birth to her first baby. It is the cry of daughter Zion. She is lifting her hands in prayer, saying, "Oh! I am about to faint! Murderers are all around me!"

Surely you are afraid of me." This message is from the Lord . "You should shake with fear in front of me. I am the one who made the sandy shores to hold back the sea. I made it that way to keep the water in its place forever. The waves may pound the beach, but they will not destroy it. The waves may roar as they come in, but they cannot go beyond the beach.

But I am full of the Lord 's anger, and I am tired of holding it in! "Pour out my anger on the children playing in the streets and on the young soldiers gathered there as well. A man and his wife will both be captured as well as all the old people.

Hear this, people of the earth: I am going to bring disaster to the people of Judah because of all the evil they planned, and because they ignored my messages. They refused to obey my law.

But I am not the one they are really hurting." This message is from the Lord . "They are only hurting themselves. They are bringing shame on themselves."

"People of Judah, I am sending poisonous snakes to attack you. These snakes cannot be controlled. They will bite you." This message is from the Lord .