Study Desk

Bring out those idols! Have them foretell the future for us, tell us about past events, so that we can reflect on them and understand their consequences. Or tell us about events yet to come,

he will not weaken or be crushed until he has established justice on the earth, and the coastlands wait for his Torah."

"I, Adonai , called you righteously, I took hold of you by the hand, I shaped you and made you a covenant for the people, to be a light for the Goyim,

Let the desert and its cities raise their voices, the villages where Kedar lives; let those living in Sela shout for joy; let them cry out from the mountaintops!

"For a long time I have held my peace, I have been silent, restrained myself. Now I will shriek like a woman in labor, panting and gasping for air.

Adonai was pleased, for his righteousness' sake, to make the Torah great and glorious.

But now this is what Adonai says, he who created you, Ya‘akov, he who formed you, Isra'el: "Don't be afraid, for I have redeemed you; I am calling you by your name; you are mine.

For I am Adonai , your God, the Holy One of Isra'el, your Savior — I have given Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and S'va for you.

Because I regard you as valued and honored, and because I love you. For you I will give people, nations in exchange for your life.

Don't be afraid, for I am with you. I will bring your descendants from the east, and I will gather you from the west;

everyone who bears my name, whom I created for my glory — I formed him, yes, I made him.'"

Here is what Adonai , your redeemer, the Holy One of Isra'el, says: "For your sake I have sent [an army] to Bavel and knocked down the fleeing Kasdim, all of them; their songs of triumph are now lamentations.

The wild animals will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; because I put water in the desert, rivers in the wasteland, for my chosen people to drink,

the people I formed for myself, so that they would proclaim my praise.

You have not brought me sheep for your burnt offerings, you have not honored me with your sacrifices. I didn't burden you by requiring grain offerings. or weary you by demanding frankincense.

I, yes I, am the one who blots out your offenses for my own sake; I will not remember your sins.

For I will pour water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit on your descendants, my blessing on your offspring.

He goes to chop down cedars; he takes an evergreen and an oak; he especially tends one tree in the forest, plants a pine for the rain to nourish.

In time, when it's ready for use as fuel, he takes some of it to keep himself warm and burns some more to bake bread. Then he makes a god and worships it, carves it into an idol and falls down before it.

With the rest of the log he fashions a god, a carved image, then falls down before it; he worships it and prays to it. "Save me," he says, "for you are my god!"