Study Desk

I know their thoughts and their deeds. I am coming to gather the people of all the nations. When they come together, they will see what my power can do

and will know that I am the one who punishes them. "But I will spare some of them and send them to the nations and the distant lands that have not heard of my fame or seen my greatness and power: to Spain, Libya, and Lydia, with its skilled archers, and to Tubal and Greece. Among these nations they will proclaim my greatness.

I answered, "Sovereign Lord , I don't know how to speak; I am too young."

Then the Lord reached out, touched my lips, and said to me, "Listen, I am giving you the words you must speak.

"You are right," the Lord said, "and I am watching to see that my words come true."

because I am calling all the nations in the north to come. Their kings will set up their thrones at the gates of Jerusalem and around its walls and also around the other cities of Judah.

Listen, Jeremiah! Everyone in this land—the kings of Judah, the officials, the priests, and the people—will be against you. But today I am giving you the strength to resist them; you will be like a fortified city, an iron pillar, and a bronze wall. They will not defeat you, for I will be with you to protect you. I, the Lord , have spoken."

People of Israel, listen to what I am saying. Have I been like a desert to you, like a dark and dangerous land? Why, then, do you say that you will do as you please, that you will never come back to me?

you say, ‘I am innocent; surely the Lord is no longer angry with me.' But I, the Lord , will punish you because you deny that you have sinned.

He told me to go and say to Israel, "Unfaithful Israel, come back to me. I am merciful and will not be angry; I will not be angry with you forever.

I heard a cry, like a woman in labor, a scream like a woman bearing her first child. It was the cry of Jerusalem gasping for breath, stretching out her hand and saying, "I am doomed! They are coming to kill me!"

I am the Lord ; why don't you fear me? Why don't you tremble before me? I placed the sand as the boundary of the sea, a permanent boundary that it cannot cross. The sea may toss, but it cannot go beyond it; the waves may roar, but they cannot break through.

Their houses will be given to others, and so will their fields and their wives. I am going to punish the people of this land.

Listen, earth! As punishment for all their schemes I am bringing ruin on these people, because they have rejected my teaching and have not obeyed my words.

But am I really the one they are hurting? No, they are hurting themselves and bringing shame on themselves.

"Mourn, people of Jerusalem; cut off your hair and throw it away. Sing a funeral song on the hilltops, because I, the Lord , am angry and have rejected my people.

"Watch out!" the Lord says, "I am sending snakes among you, poisonous snakes that cannot be charmed, and they will bite you."

My sorrow cannot be healed; I am sick at heart.

My heart has been crushed because my people are crushed; I mourn; I am completely dismayed.

So now I, the Lord , warn them that I am going to bring destruction on them, and they will not escape. And when they cry out to me for help, I will not listen to them.