Study Desk

O daughter of my people, gird on sackcloth, and roll in ashes; make mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.

The bellows blow fiercely, the lead is consumed by the fire; in vain the refining goes on, for the wicked are not removed.

Refuse silver they are called, for the LORD has rejected them."

"For if you truly amend your ways and your doings, if you truly execute justice one with another,

then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers for ever.

Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.

"As for you, do not pray for this people, or lift up cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I do not hear you.

The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger.

For in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to your fathers or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.

Cut off your hair and cast it away; raise a lamentation on the bare heights, for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.'

"For the sons of Judah have done evil in my sight, says the LORD; they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it.

Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when it will no more be called Topheth, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of Slaughter: for they will bury in Topheth, because there is no room elsewhere.

And the dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the air, and for the beasts of the earth; and none will frighten them away.

And I will make to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land shall become a waste.

Therefore I will give their wives to others and their fields to conquerors, because from the least to the greatest every one is greedy for unjust gain; from prophet to priest every one deals falsely.

Why do we sit still? Gather together, let us go into the fortified cities and perish there; for the LORD our God has doomed us to perish, and has given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.

We looked for peace, but no good came, for a time of healing, but behold, terror.

For behold, I am sending among you serpents, adders which cannot be charmed, and they shall bite you," says the LORD.

For the wound of the daughter of my people is my heart wounded, I mourn, and dismay has taken hold on me.

O that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!