Study Desk

The Lord opened his armoryand brought out his weapons of wrath,because it is a task of the Lord God of Armiesin the land of the Chaldeans.

Put all her young bulls to the sword;let them go down to the slaughter.Woe to them because their day has come,the time of their punishment.

A drought will come on her waters,and they will be dried up.For it is a land of carved images,and they go mad because of terrifying things.

Therefore, hear the plans that the Lord has drawn up against Babylon and the strategies he has devised against the land of the Chaldeans: Certainly the flock’s little lambs will be dragged away; certainly the grazing land will be made desolate because of them.

Leave Babylon;save your lives, each of you!Don’t perish because of her guilt.For this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance—he will pay her what she deserves.

No one will be able to retrieve a cornerstoneor a foundation stone from you,because you will become desolate forever.

Babylon must fall because of the slain of Israel,even as the slain of the whole earth fellbecause of Babylon.

Then say, ‘In the same way, Babylon will sink and never rise again because of the disaster I am bringing on her. They will grow weary.’”

Because of the Lord’s anger, it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that he finally banished them from his presence. Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

I weep because of these things;my eyes flow with tears.For there is no one nearby to comfort me,no one to keep me alive.My children are desolatebecause the enemy has prevailed.

My eyes are worn out from weeping;I am churning within.My heart is poured out in griefbecause of the destruction of my dear people,because infants and nursing babies faintin the streets of the city.

Because of the Lord’s faithful lovewe do not perish,for his mercies never end.

Why should any living person complain,any man, because of the punishment for his sins?

Yet it happened because of the sins of her prophetsand the iniquities of her priests,who shed the blood of the righteous within her.

Because of this, our heart is sick;because of these, our eyes grow dim:

because of Mount Zion, which lies desolateand has jackals prowling in it.

But the house of Israel will not want to listen to you because they do not want to listen to me. For the whole house of Israel is hardheaded and hardhearted.

Now if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and acts unjustly, and I put a stumbling block in front of him, he will die. If you did not warn him, he will die because of his sin, and the righteous acts he did will not be remembered. Yet I will hold you responsible for his blood.

But if you warn the righteous person that he should not sin, and he does not sin, he will indeed live because he listened to your warning, and you will have rescued yourself.”

for lack of bread and water. Everyone will be devastated and waste away because of their iniquity.