Study Desk

"From this place as well you will go out With your hands on your head; For the LORD has rejected those in whom you trust, And you will not prosper with them."

"Raise your eyes to the bare heights and see; Where have you not been violated? You have sat for them by the roads Like an Arab in the desert, And you have defiled a land With your prostitution and your wickedness.

"And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and given her a certificate of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear; but she went and prostituted herself also.

"Go and proclaim these words toward the north and say, 'Return, faithless Israel,' declares the LORD; 'I will not look at you in anger. For I am gracious,' declares the LORD; 'I will not be angry forever.

'Return, you faithless sons,' declares the LORD; 'For I am a master to you, And I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, And bring you to Zion.'

"At that time they will call Jerusalem 'The Throne of the LORD,' and all the nations will assemble at it, at Jerusalem, for the name of the LORD; and they will no longer follow the stubbornness of their evil heart.

"Return, you faithless sons, I will heal your faithlessness." "Behold, we come to You; For You are the LORD our God.

"Let us lie down in our shame, and let our humiliation cover us; for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day. And we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God."

For this is what the LORD says to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem: "Break up your uncultivated ground, And do not sow among thorns.

"Raise a flag toward Zion! Take refuge, do not stand still, For I am bringing evil from the north, And great destruction.

"For this, put on sackcloth, Mourn and wail; For the fierce anger of the LORD Has not turned away from us."

a wind too strong for this—will come at My command; now I will also pronounce judgments against them."

"Behold, he goes up like clouds, And his chariots like the whirlwind; His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined!"

For a voice declares from Dan, And proclaims wickedness from Mount Ephraim.

Disaster upon disaster is proclaimed, For the whole land is devastated; Suddenly my tents are devastated, And my curtains in an instant.

"For My people are foolish, They do not know Me; They are foolish children And have no understanding. They are skillful at doing evil, But they do not know how to do good."

For this is what the LORD says: "The whole land shall be a desolation, Yet I will not execute a complete destruction.

"For this the earth will mourn, And the heavens above will become dark, Because I have spoken, I have purposed, And I have not changed My mind, nor will I turn from it."

For I heard a voice cry as of a woman in labor, The anguish as of one giving birth to her first child. The voice of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath, Stretching out her hands, saying, "Ah, woe to me, for I faint before murderers."

LORD, do Your eyes not look for honesty? You have struck them, But they did not weaken; You have consumed them, But they refused to accept discipline. They have made their faces harder than rock; They have refused to repent.