Study Desk

"For My people are ignorant fools,They know Me not;They are simpleminded childrenAnd have no understanding.They are wise to do evil,But to do good they do not know."

For thus says Yahweh,"The whole land shall be a desolation,Yet I will not execute a complete destruction.

For this the earth shall mournAnd the heavens above be darkBecause I have spoken; I have purposed,And I will not relent, nor will I turn from it."

For I heard a sound as of a woman in labor pains,The distress as of one giving birth to her first child,The sound of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath,Stretching out her hands, saying,"Ah, woe is me, for my soul faints before murderers."

O Yahweh, do not Your eyes look for faithfulness?You have struck them,But they did not weaken;You have consumed them,But they refused to receive discipline.They have made their faces stronger than rock;They have refused to repent.

Then I said, "They are only the poor;They are foolish;For they do not know the way of YahwehOr the legal judgment of their God.

Let me go to the greatAnd let me speak to them,For they know the way of YahwehAnd the legal judgment of their God."But they too, altogether, have broken the yokeAnd torn apart the bonds.

"Go up through her vine rows and make them a ruin,But do not make a complete destruction;Remove her branches,For they are not Yahweh's.

For the house of Israel and the house of JudahHave dealt very treacherously with Me," declares Yahweh.

Do you not fear Me?' declares Yahweh.‘Do you not tremble in My presence?For I have placed the sand as a boundary for the sea,A perpetual statute, so it cannot cross over it.Though the waves toss, yet they cannot prevail;Though they roar, yet they cannot cross over it.

They do not say in their heart,"Let us now fear Yahweh our God,Who gives rain in its season,Both the early rain and the late rain,Who keeps for usThe appointed weeks of the harvest."

For wicked men are found among My people;They watch like fowlers lying in wait;They set a trap;They catch men.

They are fat, they are sleek;They also excel in deeds of evil;They do not plead the cause,The cause of the orphan, that they may succeed;And they do not render justice for the poor.

"Flee for safety, O sons of Benjamin,From the midst of Jerusalem!Now blow a trumpet in TekoaAnd raise a signal over Beth‑haccerem,For evil looks down from the north,As well as great destruction.

Set yourselves apart for war against her;Arise, and let us go up at noon.Woe to us, for the day declines,For the shadows of the evening stretch out!

For thus says Yahweh of hosts,"Cut down her treesAnd cast up a siege against Jerusalem.This is the city to be punished,In whose midst there is only oppression.

But I am full of the wrath of Yahweh;I am weary of holding it in."Pour it out on the infants in the streetAnd on the gathering of choice men together;For both husband and wife shall be captured,The aged with the one full of days.

Their houses shall be turned over to others,Their fields and their wives together,For I will stretch out My handAgainst the inhabitants of the land," declares Yahweh.

"For from the least of them even to the greatest of them,Everyone is greedy for gain,And from the prophet even to the priestEveryone practices lying.

Thus says Yahweh,"Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths,Where the good way is, and walk in it;And you will find rest for your souls.But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.'