Study Desk

This is what the LORD says: "Go down to the house of the king of Judah and there speak this word,

Thus saith the Lord ; Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word,

and say, 'Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, who sits on David's throne, you and your servants and your people who enter these gates.

And say, Hear the word of the Lord , O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these gates:

'This is what the LORD says: "Do justice and righteousness, and save one who has been robbed from the power of his oppressor. And do not mistreat or do violence to the stranger, the orphan, or the widow; and do not shed innocent blood in this place.

Thus saith the Lord ; Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place.

"For if you will indeed perform this instruction, then kings will enter the gates of this house, sitting in David's place on his throne, riding in chariots and on horses, the king himself, his servants, and his people.

For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people.

"But if you will not obey these words, I swear by Myself," declares the LORD, "that this house will become a place of ruins."'"

But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by myself, saith the Lord , that this house shall become a desolation.

For this is what the LORD says concerning the house of the king of Judah: "You are like Gilead to Me, Like the summit of Lebanon; Yet most assuredly I will make you a wilderness, Cities that are not inhabited.

For thus saith the Lord unto the king's house of Judah; Thou art Gilead unto me, and the head of Lebanon: yet surely I will make thee a wilderness, and cities which are not inhabited.

"For I will set apart destroyers against you, Each with his weapons; And they will cut down your choicest cedars And throw them on the fire.

And I will prepare destroyers against thee, every one with his weapons: and they shall cut down thy choice cedars, and cast them into the fire.

"Many nations will pass by this city; and they will say to one another, 'Why has the LORD done this to this great city?'

And many nations shall pass by this city, and they shall say every man to his neighbour, Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this great city?

"Then they will answer, 'Because they abandoned the covenant of the LORD their God and bowed down to other gods and served them.'"

Then they shall answer, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God, and worshipped other gods, and served them.