Study Desk

But they themselves will be priests and servants of the Lord our God. The treasures of the nations will belong to them, and they will be famous.

I celebrate and shout because of my Lord God. His saving power and justice are the very clothes I wear. They are more beautiful than the jewelry worn by a bride or a groom.

You will be a glorious crown, a royal headband, for the Lord your God.

You are the only God ever seen or heard of who works miracles for his followers.

And then they say to others, "Don't come near us! We're dedicated to God." Such people are like smoke, irritating my nose all day.

I, the Lord God, will give food and drink to my servants, and they will celebrate. But all of you sinners will go hungry and thirsty, overcome with disgrace.

I, the Lord God, promise to see that you are killed and that my chosen servants use your names as curse words. But I will give new names to my servants.

I am God! I can be trusted. Your past troubles are gone; I no longer think of them. When you pray for someone to receive a blessing, or when you make a promise, you must do it in my name. I alone am the God who can be trusted.

You will find that no nation has ever abandoned its gods even though they were false. I am the true and glorious God, but you have rejected me to worship idols.

It's all your own fault! You stopped following me, the Lord your God,

I will tell them, "Come back, and I will cure you of your unfaithfulness." They will answer, "We will come back, because you are the Lord our God.

Since the days of our ancestors when our nation was young, that shameful god Baal has taken our crops and livestock, our sons and daughters.

I said, "You are the Lord God. So why have you fooled everyone, especially the people of Jerusalem? Why did you promise peace, when a knife is at our throats?"

Then I thought to myself, "These common people act like fools, and they have never learned what the Lord their God demands of them.

I'll go and talk to the leaders. They know what God demands." But even they had decided not to obey the Lord .

I am the Lord God All-Powerful. Jeremiah, I will tell you exactly what to say. Your words will be a fire; Israel and Judah will be the fuel.

And the people who survive will ask, "Why did the Lord our God do such terrible things to us?" Then tell them: I am the Lord , but you abandoned me and worshiped other gods in your own land. Now you will be slaves in a foreign country.

Prophets give their messages in the name of a false god, my priests don't want to serve me, and you—my own people— like it this way! But on the day of disaster, where will you turn for help?

The Lord told me to stand by the gate of the temple and to tell the people who were going in that the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, had said: Pay attention, people of Judah! Change your ways and start living right, then I will let you keep on living in your own country.

The Lord told me to say to the people of Judah: I am the Lord All-Powerful, the God of Israel, but I won't accept sacrifices from you. So don't even bother bringing them to me. You might as well just cook the meat for yourselves.