Study Desk

But I withheld my hand and acted for the sake of my name, so that it would not be profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I brought them out.

For they did not practice my ordinances but rejected my statutes and profaned my Sabbaths, and their eyes were fixed on their fathers’ idols.

I will purge you of those who rebel and transgress against me. I will bring them out of the land where they live as foreign residents, but they will not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

“‘As for you, house of Israel, this is what the Lord God says: Go and serve your idols, each of you. But afterward you will surely listen to me, and you will no longer defile my holy name with your gifts and idols.

“But you, son of man, groan! Groan bitterly with a broken heart right before their eyes.

It will seem like false divination to those who have sworn an oath to the Babylonians, but it will draw attention to their guilt so that they will be captured.

I searched for a man among them who would repair the wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land so that I might not destroy it, but I found no one.

“Now her sister Oholibah saw this, but she was even more depraved in her lust than Oholah, and made her promiscuous acts worse than those of her sister.

But she increased her promiscuity when she saw male figures carved on the wall, images of the Chaldeans, engraved in bright red,

Then the Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and defiled her with their lust. But after she was defiled by them, she turned away from them in disgust.

But righteous men will judge them the way adulteresses and those who shed blood are judged, for they are adulteresses and blood is on their hands.

Because of the depravity of your uncleanness—since I tried to purify you,but you would not be purified from your uncleanness—you will not be pure againuntil I have satisfied my wrath on you.

“Son of man, I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you with a fatal blow. But you must not lament or weep or let your tears flow.

Your turbans will remain on your heads and your sandals on your feet. You will not lament or weep but will waste away because of your iniquities and will groan to one another.

I will make you an object of horror, and you will no longer exist. You will be sought but will never be found again.” This is the declaration of the Lord God.

Your rowers have brought youonto the high seas,but the east wind has wrecked youin the heart of the sea.

By your great skill in trading you have increased your wealth, but your heart has become proud because of your wealth.

“Son of man, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon made his army labor strenuously against Tyre. Every head was made bald and every shoulder chafed, but he and his army received no compensation from Tyre for the labor he expended against it.

I will strengthen the arms of Babylon’s king and place my sword in his hand. But I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan before him as a mortally wounded man.

I will strengthen the arms of Babylon’s king, but Pharaoh’s arms will fall. They will know that I am the Lord when I place my sword in the hand of Babylon’s king and he wields it against the land of Egypt.