Study Desk

So God said, "Very well. I will let you use cow dung instead, and you can bake your bread on that."

And so I, the Sovereign Lord , am telling you that I am your enemy. I will pass judgment on you where all the nations can see it.

All the cities of Israel will be destroyed, so that all their altars and their idols will be smashed to pieces, their incense altars will be shattered, and everything they made will disappear.

I will not spare you or show you any mercy. I am going to punish you for the disgusting things you have done, so that you will know that I am the Lord ."

I will not spare you or show you any mercy. I am going to punish you for the disgusting things you have done, so that you will know that I am the Lord and that I am the one who punishes you."

So I went in and looked. The walls were covered with drawings of snakes and other unclean animals, and of the other things which the Israelites were worshiping.

So he took me to the north gate of the Temple and showed me women weeping over the death of the god Tammuz.

So he took me to the inner courtyard of the Temple. There near the entrance of the sanctuary, between the altar and the porch, were about twenty-five men. They had turned their backs to the sanctuary and were bowing low toward the east, worshiping the rising sun.

Kill the old men, young men, young women, mothers, and children. But don't touch anyone who has the mark on his forehead. Start here at my Temple." So they began with the leaders who were standing there at the Temple.

God said to them, "Defile the Temple. Fill its courtyards with corpses. Get to work!" So they began to kill the people in the city.

While the killing was going on, I was there alone. I threw myself face downward on the ground and shouted, "Sovereign Lord , are you so angry with Jerusalem that you are going to kill everyone left in Israel?"

You have murdered so many people here in the city that the streets are full of corpses.

"So this is what I, the Sovereign Lord , am saying to you. This city is a cooking pot all right, but what is the meat? The corpses of those you have killed! You will not be here—I will throw you out of the city!

"So tell them what I, the Sovereign Lord , am saying. I will gather them out of the countries where I scattered them, and will give the land of Israel back to them.

While it is still daylight, pack your bundle for exile, so that they can see you, and then let them watch you leave in the evening as if you were going into exile.

Let them watch you putting your pack on your shoulder and going out into the dark with your eyes covered, so that you can't see where you are going. What you do will be a warning to the Israelites."

I will let a few of them survive the war, the famine, and the diseases, so that there among the nations they will realize how disgusting their actions have been and will acknowledge that I am the Lord ."

So tell them that I, the Sovereign Lord , am saying: There will be no more delay. What I have said will be done. I, the Sovereign Lord , have spoken!"

They don't guard the places where the walls have crumbled, nor do they rebuild the walls, and so Israel cannot be defended when war comes on the day of the Lord .

So the Sovereign Lord says to them, "Your words are false, and your visions are lies. I am against you.