Study Desk

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts,Nor are your ways My ways," declares Yahweh.

"For as the heavens are higher than the earth,So are My ways higher than your waysAnd My thoughts than your thoughts.

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,And do not return there without watering the earthAnd making it bear and sprout,And giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth;It will not return to Me empty,Without accomplishing what pleases Me,And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

For you will go out with gladnessAnd be led forth with peace;The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you,And all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

Instead of the thorn bush the cypress will come up,And instead of the nettle the myrtle will come up,And it will be to Yahweh for His renown,For an everlasting sign which will not be cut off."

Thus says Yahweh,"Keep justice and do righteousness,For My salvation is about to comeAnd My righteousness to be revealed.

For thus says Yahweh,"To the eunuchs who keep My sabbaths,And choose what pleases Me,And hold fast My covenant,

Even those I will bring to My holy mountainAnd make them glad in My house of prayer.Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar;For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples."

Behind the door and the doorpostYou have set up your memorial;Indeed, far removed from Me, you have uncovered yourself,And have gone up and made your bed wide,And you have cut a covenant for yourself with them;You have loved their bed;You have looked on their manhood.

"Of whom were you anxious and fearfulWhen you lied and did not remember Me,Nor even put Me upon your heart?Was I not silent even for a long timeSo you do not fear Me?

For thus says the One high and lifted upWho dwells forever, whose name is Holy,"I dwell on a high and holy place,And also with the crushed and lowly of spiritIn order to revive the spirit of the lowlyAnd to revive the heart of the crushed.

For I will not contend forever,Nor will I always be angry;For the spirit would grow faint before Me,And the breath of those whom I have made.

But the wicked are like the tossing sea,For it cannot be quiet,And its waters toss up refuse and mud.

"There is no peace," says my God, "for the wicked."

Yet they seek Me day by day and find pleasure in knowing My ways,As a nation that has done righteousnessAnd has not forsaken the judgment of their God.They ask Me for righteous judgments;They find pleasure in the nearness of God.

Behold, you fast for contention and quarreling and to strike with a wicked fist.You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high.

Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to afflict himself?Is it for bowing one's head like a reedAnd for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed?Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to Yahweh?

Those from among you will rebuild the ancient waste places;You will raise up the foundations of past generation upon generation;And you will be called the repairer of the breach,The restorer of the paths for one to inhabit.

Then you will take delight in Yahweh,And I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;And I will feed you with the inheritance of Jacob your father,For the mouth of Yahweh has spoken."