Study Desk

"Why are we just sitting here? Gather together, let us flee to the fortified cities and perish there, for the LORD our God has doomed us. He has given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.

Therefore, this is what the LORD of Hosts says: "Behold, I will refine and test them, for what else can I do because of the daughter of My people?

And the LORD answered, "It is because they have forsaken My law that I set before them; they have not walked in it or obeyed My voice.

For the sound of wailing is heard from Zion: 'How devastated we are! How great is our shame, for we have abandoned the land because our dwellings have been torn down.'"

Like scarecrows in a cucumber patch, their idols cannot speak. They must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them, for they can do no harm, and neither can they do any good."

Woe to me because of my brokenness; my wound is grievous! But I said, "This is truly my sickness, and I must bear it."

The LORD of Hosts who planted you has decreed disaster upon you, because of the evil that the house of Israel and the house of Judah have brought upon themselves, provoking Me to anger by burning incense to Baal."

How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field be withered? Because of the evil of its residents, the animals and birds have been swept away, for the people have said, "He cannot see what our end will be."

They have sown wheat but harvested thorns. They have exhausted themselves to no avail. Bear the shame of your harvest because of the fierce anger of the LORD."

But if you do not listen, I will weep alone because of your pride; My eyes will overflow with tears, because the LORD's flock has been taken captive.

And if you ask yourself, "Why has this happened to me?" it is because of the magnitude of your iniquity. Your skirts have been stripped off, your body exposed.

This is your lot, the portion I have measured to you," declares the LORD, "because you have forgotten Me and trusted in falsehood.

The ground is cracked because no rain has fallen on the land. The farmers are ashamed; they cover their heads.

Even the doe in the field deserts her newborn fawn because there is no grass.

And the people to whom they prophesy will be thrown into the streets of Jerusalem because of famine and sword. There will be no one to bury them or their wives, their sons or their daughters. I will pour out their own evil upon them.

I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh son of Hezekiah king of Judah did in Jerusalem.

I never sat with the band of revelers, and I did not celebrate with them. Because Your hand was on me, I sat alone, for You have filled me with indignation.

Then you are to answer them: 'It is because your fathers have forsaken Me,' declares the LORD, 'and followed other gods, and served and worshiped them. They abandoned Me and did not keep My instruction.

And I will first repay them double their iniquity and their sin, because they have defiled My land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and they have filled My inheritance with their abominations."

O My mountain in the countryside, I will give over your wealth and all your treasures as plunder, because of the sin of your high places, in all your borders.