Study Desk

Here I am with the children the Lord has given me to be signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of Armies who dwells on Mount Zion.

Their children will be dashed to pieces before their eyes;their houses will be looted,and their wives raped.

Their bows will cut young men to pieces.They will have no compassion on offspring;they will not look with pity on children.

For when he sees his children,the work of my hands within his nation,they will honor my name,they will honor the Holy One of Jacoband stand in awe of the God of Israel.

Woe to the rebellious children!

They are a rebellious people,deceptive children,children who do not want to listen to the Lord’s instruction.

They said to him, “This is what Hezekiah says: ‘Today is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace. It is as if children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them.

The living, only the living can thank you,as I do today;a father will make your faithfulness known to children.

“So now hear this, lover of luxury,who sits securely,who says to herself,‘I am, and there is no one else.I will never be a widowor know the loss of children.’

These two things will happen to yousuddenly, in one day:loss of children and widowhood.They will happen to you in their entirety,in spite of your many sorceriesand the potency of your spells.

Then you will say within yourself,‘Who fathered these for me?I was deprived of my children and unable to conceive,exiled and wandering—but who brought them up?See, I was left by myself—but these, where did they come from?’”

For this is what the Lord says:“Even the captives of a mighty man will be taken,and the prey of a tyrant will be delivered;I will contend with the one who contends with you,and I will save your children.

There is no one to guide heramong all the children she has raised;there is no one to take hold of her handamong all the offspring she has brought up.

Your children have fainted;they lie at the head of every streetlike an antelope in a net.They are full of the Lord’s fury,the rebuke of your God.

Then all your children will be taught by the Lord,their prosperity will be great,

Who are you mocking?Who are you opening your mouthand sticking out your tongue at?Isn’t it you, you rebellious children,you offspring of liars,

who burn with lust among the oaks,under every green tree,who slaughter children in the wadisbelow the clefts of the rocks?

“As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the Lord: “My Spirit who is on you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children, or from the mouths of your children’s children, from now on and forever,” says the Lord.

Yes, the coasts and islands will wait for mewith the ships of Tarshish in the lead,to bring your children from far away,their silver and gold with them,for the honor of the Lord your God,the Holy One of Israel,who has glorified you.

He said, “They are indeed my people,children who will not be disloyal,”and he became their Savior.