Study Desk

"But this is what I commanded them, saying, 'Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you shall walk entirely in the way which I command you, so that it may go well for you.'

Oh that I had in the desert A travelers' lodging place; So that I might leave my people And go away from them! For all of them are adulterers, An assembly of treacherous people.

"I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains, And for the pastures of the wilderness a song of mourning, Because they are laid waste so that no one passes through, And the sound of the livestock is not heard; Both the birds of the sky and the animals have fled; they are gone.

Who is the wise person who may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD has spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land destroyed, laid waste like the desert, so that no one passes through?

"Have them hurry and take up a wailing for us, So that our eyes may shed tears, And our eyelids flow with water.

"They decorate the idol with silver and gold; They fasten it with nails and hammers So that it will not totter.

For this is what the LORD says: "Behold, I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land At this time, And I will cause them distress, So that they may be found."

"What right has My beloved in My house When she has carried out many evil schemes? Can the sacrificial flesh take away from you your disaster, So that you can rejoice?"

But I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter; And I did not know that they had devised plots against me, saying, "Let's destroy the tree with its fruit, And let's cut him off from the land of the living, So that his name will no longer be remembered."

Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning the people of Anathoth, who are seeking your life, saying: "Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD, so that you do not die by our hand";

'For as the undergarment clings to the waist of a man, so I made the entire household of Israel and the entire household of Judah cling to Me,' declares the LORD, 'so that they might be My people, for renown, for praise, and for glory; but they did not listen.'

"So I Myself have stripped your skirts off over your face, So that your shame will be seen.

Have You completely rejected Judah? Or have You loathed Zion? Why have You stricken us so that we are beyond healing? We waited for peace, but nothing good came; And for a time of healing, but behold, terror!

For I have heard the whispering of many, "Terror on every side! Denounce him; let's denounce him!" All my trusted friends, Watching for my fall, say: "Perhaps he will be persuaded, so that we may prevail against him And take our revenge on him."

Because he did not kill me before birth, So that my mother would have been my grave, And her womb forever pregnant.

Why did I ever come out of the womb To look at trouble and sorrow, So that my days have been spent in shame?

"Please inquire of the LORD in our behalf, because Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is making war against us; perhaps the LORD will deal with us in accordance with all His wonderful acts, so that the enemy will withdraw from us."

house of David, this is what the LORD says: "Administer justice every morning; And save the person who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor, So that My wrath will not spread like fire And burn, with no one to extinguish it, Because of the evil of their deeds.

"But I will punish you according to the results of your deeds," declares the LORD, "And I will kindle a fire in its forest So that it may devour all its surroundings."'"

"Also among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: The committing of adultery and walking in deceit; And they strengthen the hands of evildoers, So that no one has turned back from his wickedness. All of them have become to Me like Sodom, And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.