Study Desk

"Go up on her walls and destroy, But do not make a complete end. Take away her branches, For they are not the LORD's.

But this people has a defiant and rebellious heart; They have revolted and departed.

The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule by their own power; And My people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end?

Thus says the LORD: "Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, "We will not walk in it.'

Also, I set watchmen over you, saying, "Listen to the sound of the trumpet!' But they said, "We will not listen.'

Hear, O earth! Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people-- The fruit of their thoughts, Because they have not heeded My words Nor My law, but rejected it.

"But go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I set My name at the first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel.

And now, because you have done all these works," says the LORD, "and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called you, but you did not answer,

But this is what I commanded them, saying, "Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.'

Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.

Yet they did not obey Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.

"Therefore you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not obey you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you.

"Therefore behold, the days are coming," says the LORD, "when it will no more be called Tophet, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter; for they will bury in Tophet until there is no room.

I listened and heard, But they do not speak aright. No man repented of his wickedness, Saying, "What have I done?' Everyone turned to his own course, As the horse rushes into the battle.

"Even the stork in the heavens Knows her appointed times; And the turtledove, the swift, and the swallow Observe the time of their coming. But My people do not know the judgment of the LORD.

"We looked for peace, but no good came; And for a time of health, and there was trouble!

Their tongue is an arrow shot out; It speaks deceit; One speaks peaceably to his neighbor with his mouth, But in his heart he lies in wait.

but they have walked according to the dictates of their own hearts and after the Baals, which their fathers taught them,"

But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight," says the LORD.

But they are altogether dull-hearted and foolish; A wooden idol is a worthless doctrine.