Study Desk

For their princes are at ZoanAnd their messengers reach Hanes.

Everyone will be ashamed because of a people who cannot profit them,Who are not for help or profit, but for shame and also for reproach."

For this is a rebellious people, false sons,Sons who are not willing to listenTo the law of Yahweh,

Who say to the seers, "You must not see,"And to those who have visions, "You must not behold visions for us of what is right,Speak to us pleasant words,Behold visions of illusions.

For thus Lord Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, has said,"In repentance and rest you will be saved,In quietness and trust is your might."But you were not willing,

And you said, "No, for we will flee on horses,"Therefore you shall flee!"And we will ride on swift horses,"Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift.

Therefore Yahweh waits with longing to be gracious to you,And therefore He is on high to have compassion on you.For Yahweh is a God of justice;How blessed are all those who wait for Him.

Then He will give you rain for the seed which you will sow in the ground, and bread from the produce of the ground, and it will be rich and fat; on that day your livestock will graze in a roomy pasture.

You will have songs as in the night when you set yourself apart as holy for the festival,And gladness of heart as when one marches to the sound of the flute,To go to the mountain of Yahweh, to the Rock of Israel.

For at the voice of Yahweh Assyria will be dismayed,When He strikes with the rod.

For Topheth has long been ready,Indeed, it has been prepared for the king.He has made it deep and large,A pyre of fire with plenty of wood;The breath of Yahweh, like a torrent of brimstone, sets it afire.

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for helpAnd rely on horses,And trust in chariots because they are manyAnd in horsemen because they are very mighty,But they do not regard at the Holy One of Israel, nor seek Yahweh!

For thus says Yahweh to me,"As the lion or the young lion growls over its prey,Against which a multitude of shepherds is called out,And it will not be dismayed at their voice nor afflicted at their noise,So will Yahweh of hosts come down to wage war on Mount Zion and on its hill."

For in that day every man will reject his silver idols and his gold idols, which your hands have made for you as a sin.

For a wicked fool speaks wicked folly,And his heart does wickedness:To do ungodliness and to speak error against Yahweh,In order to make the hungry person empty;He even causes the thirsty to lack a drink.

As for a rogue, his weapons are evil;He counsels wicked schemesTo wreak destruction on the afflicted with lying words,Even though the needy one speaks justly.

Within a year and a few daysYou will quake, O complacent daughters;For the grape harvest is ended,And the fruit gathering will not come.

Beat your breasts for the desirable fields, for the fruitful vine,

For the land of my people in which thorns and briars shall come up,Indeed, against all the joyful houses and the exultant city.

Because the palace has been abandoned, the populated city forsaken.Hill and watchtower have become caves forever,A joy for wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks,