Study Desk

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

"Please inquire of the LORD for us, because Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is making war against us. Perhaps the LORD will deal [favorably] with us according to all His wonderful works and force him to withdraw from us."

O house of David, thus says the LORD: "Administer justice in the morning, And rescue the one who has been robbed from the hand of his oppressor, That My wrath will not roar up like fire And burn so [hotly] that none can extinguish it, Because of the evil of their deeds.

"Then they will answer, 'Because the people ignored and abandoned the [solemn] covenant with the LORD their God and worshiped other gods and served them.'"

"Do you think that you become a king because you have much more cedar [in your palace than Solomon]? Did not your father [Josiah], as he ate and drank, Do just and righteous acts [being upright and in right standing with God]? Then all was well with him.

"The wind [of adversity] will carry away all your shepherds (rulers, statesmen), And your lovers (allies) will go into exile. Surely then you will be ashamed and humiliated and disgraced Because of all your wickedness.

Concerning the prophets: My heart [says Jeremiah] is broken within me, All my bones shake; I have become like a drunken man, A man whom wine has overcome, Because of the LORD And because of His holy words [declared against unfaithful leaders].

For the land is full of adulterers (unfaithful to God); The land mourns because of the curse [of God upon it]. The pastures of the wilderness have dried up. The course of action [of the false prophets] is evil and they rush into wickedness; And their power is not right.

who think that they can make My people forget My Name by their [contrived] dreams which each one tells another, just as their fathers forgot My Name because of Baal?

"For you will no longer remember the oracle of the LORD, because every man's own word will become the oracle, [for as they mockingly call all prophecies oracles, whether good or bad, so will it prove to be to them; God will take them at their own word]; and you have perverted the words [not of a lifeless idol, but] of the living God, the LORD of hosts, our God.

"For if you say, 'The oracle of the LORD!' surely thus says the LORD, 'Because you said this word, "The oracle of the LORD!" when I have also sent to you, saying, "You shall not say, 'The oracle of the LORD!'"'

"Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Because you have not obeyed My words,

"They will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them."

Jerusalem and the cities of Judah [being most guilty because their privileges were greatest], its kings and princes, to make them a horror, a ruin, a hissing and a curse, as it is to this day;

"Then you shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, "Drink, be drunk, vomit, and fall to rise no more because of the sword which I will send among you."'

And the peaceful folds are devastated and made silent Because of the fierce anger of the LORD.

"He has left His lair like the lion; For their land has become a horror Because of the fierceness of the oppressor And because of the LORD'S fierce anger."

'It may be that they will listen and everyone will turn from his wickedness, so that I may relent and reverse [My decision concerning] the disaster which I am planning to do to them because of their malevolent deeds.'

then I will make this house [the temple] like Shiloh, and I will make this city [subject to] the curse of all nations of the earth [because it will be so vile in their sight]."'"

"Therefore thus says the LORD, 'Behold, I am about to send you away from the face of the earth. This year you will die, because you have spoken and counseled rebellion against the LORD.'"