Study Desk

"I destroyed you as I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. And those cities were completely destroyed. You were like a burned stick pulled from a fire, but still you didn't come back to me for help." This is what the Lord says.

But don't look in Bethel. Don't go to Gilgal. Don't cross the border and go down to Beersheba. The people of Gilgal will be taken away as prisoners, and Bethel will be destroyed.

You take unfair taxes from the poor. You take loads of wheat from them. You build fancy houses with cut stone, but you will not live in them. You plant beautiful vineyards, but you will not drink the wine from them.

But let justice flow like a river, and let goodness flow like a stream that never becomes dry.

But you also carried statues of Sakkuth, your king, and Kaiwan. There was also that star god that you made for yourselves.

But now you lie on ivory beds and stretch out on your couches. You eat tender young lambs from the flock and young calves from the stable.

You people are stretched out on your couches now, but your good times will end. You will be taken away as prisoners to a foreign country, and you will be some of the first people taken.

At that time ten people in one house might survive, but they too will die.

And when someone dies, a relative will come to get the body so that it can be taken out and burned. Relatives will come to take away the bones. They will call to anyone who might be hiding back in the house, "Are there any other dead bodies in there with you?" That person will answer, "No, …." But the relative will interrupt and say, "Hush! We must not mention the name of the Lord ."

Do horses run over loose rocks? No, and people don't use cows for plowing. But you turned everything upside down. You changed justice and goodness to bitter poison.

"But Israel, I will bring a nation against you that will bring troubles to your whole country from Lebo Hamath to Arabah Brook." This is what the Lord God All-Powerful said.

But I said, "Lord God , stop, I beg you! Jacob cannot survive! He is too small!"

But don't prophesy anymore here at Bethel. This is Jeroboam's holy place. This is Israel's temple."

But the Lord says, ‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the city. Your sons and daughters will be killed with swords. Other people will take your land and divide it among themselves, and you will die in a foreign country. The people of Israel will definitely be taken from this country as prisoners.'"

The people will wander around the country, from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, and from the north part of the country to the east. They will go back and forth looking for a message from the Lord , but they will not find it.

They made promises by the sin of Samaria, They said, ‘Dan, as surely as your god lives, we promise ….' And they said, ‘As surely as the god of Beersheba lives, we promise ….' But they will fall and never get up again."

If they are captured and taken away by their enemies, I will command the sword, and it will kill them there. Yes, I will watch over them, but I will watch for ways to give them troubles, not for ways to do good things."

The Lord God is watching this sinful kingdom. The Lord says, "I will wipe Israel off the face of the earth, but I will never completely destroy Jacob's family.

I am giving the command to scatter the people of Israel among all nations. But it will be like someone sifting flour. A person shakes flour through a sifter. The good flour falls through, but the bad lumps are caught.

"Sinners among my people say, ‘Nothing bad will happen to us.' But all of them will be killed with swords."