Study Desk

For, lo, I will send and I will call all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, says the LORD; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem and against all its walls round about and against all the cities of Judah.

And I will utter my judgments against them, because of all their wickedness, for they have forsaken me, and have burned incense to other gods and worshipped the works of their own hands.

For, behold, I have made you this day like a fortified city and like an iron pillar and like a brass fence against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against their princes, against their priests, against their prophets, and against all the people of the land.

And they shall fight with you; but they shall not prevail against you; for I am with you to deliver you, says the LORD.

Go and proclaim in the ears of the people of Jerusalem, and say, Thus says the LORD: I remember you, the kindness of your youth, the love of your long-suffering; for you walked after me in the wilderness, in the land that was not sown.

For cross over to the islands of China and see; and send to Kedar, and understand diligently, and see if there ever has been such a thing as this.

Have the Gentiles changed their gods, which are not gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.

For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and they went and dug for themselves broken cisterns that can hold no water.

Your own evil shall chastise you, and your repentance shall reprove .you; know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, for you have forsaken the LORD your God, and you have not revered me, says the LORD God of hosts.

For of old time I have broken your yoke and cut your bands; and you said, I shall never serve another god again; and behold, now upon every high hill and under every green tree you wander, playing the harlot.

For though you wash yourself with nitre and use much sulphur, yet your sins within you are marked before me, says the LORD God.

Who say to a piece of wood, You are our father; and to a stone, You have brought us forth; for they have turned their backs upon me and not their faces; but in the time of their trouble, they say, Arise and save us.

But where are your gods that you have made for yourself? Let them arise and save you in the time of your trouble; for according to the number of your cities are your gods, O Judah.

As for you, O generation, hear the word of the LORD. Have I been like a wilderness to Israel? Or a waste land? Wherefore then say my people, We are humiliated; we will come no more to you?

Why do you deck yourself to induce love? For behold you have also learned evil by means of your conduct.

Also on your hands is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents; I have not found it by hard search, for it is under every tree.

Yea, you shall go forth from him humiliated; for the LORD is angry against those upon whom you have put your trust, and you shall not prosper with them.

Lift up your eyes to the highways, and see if there is a place where you have not defiled yourself. In the roads you have sat waiting for them, like an ostrich in the wilderness; and you have polluted the land with your whoredom.

Will God reserve his anger for ever? Or will he keep it to the end? Behold, you have spoken, and have done evil things beyond measure.

And yet, for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not returned to me with her whole heart, but only with falsehood, says the LORD.