Study Desk

And I will take to Myself faithful witnesses for testimony, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah."

for before the boy knows how to cry out ‘My father' or ‘My mother,' the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria."

Devise counsel, but it will be thwarted;Speak a word, but it will not stand,For God is with us."

For thus Yahweh spoke to me with a strong hand and disciplined me not to walk in the way of this people, saying,

Then He shall become a sanctuary;But to both the houses of Israel, a stone to strike and a rock to stumble over,And a snare and a trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

And I will wait for Yahweh who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob; and I will hope for Him.

Behold, I and the children whom Yahweh has given me are for signs and wonders in Israel from Yahweh of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.

But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.

For You shall shatter the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders,The rod of their taskmaster, as at the battle of Midian.

For every boot of the booted warrior in the rumbling of battle,And cloak rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire.

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;And the government will rest on His shoulders;And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

For those who guide this people are leading them astray;And those who are guided by them are brought to confusion.

Therefore the Lord is not glad in their choice men,Nor does He have compassion on their orphans or their widows;For every one of them is godless and an evildoer,And every mouth is speaking wicked foolishness.In spite of all this, His anger does not turn back,And His hand is still stretched out.

For wickedness burns like a fire;It consumes briars and thorns;It even sets the thickets of the forest aflame,And they roll upward in a column of smoke.

By the fury of Yahweh of hosts the land is burned up,And the people are like fuel for the fire;No man spares his brother.

Now what will you do in the day of visitation,And in the devastation which will come from afar?To whom will you flee for help?And where will you leave your glory?

For it says, "Are not my princes all kings?

For he has said,"By the power of my hand and by my wisdom I did this,For I have understanding;And I removed the boundaries of the peoplesAnd plundered their treasures,And like a mighty man I brought down their inhabitants,

And my hand reached for the wealth of the peoples like a nest,And as one gathers abandoned eggs, I gathered all the earth;And there was not one that flapped its wing or opened its beak or chirped."

For though your people, O Israel, may be like the sand of the sea,Only a remnant within them will return;A destructive end is decreed, overflowing with righteousness.