Study Desk

For [most certainly] You are our Father, even though Abraham [our ancestor] does not know us And Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O LORD, are [still] our Father, Our Redeemer from everlasting is Your name.

O LORD, why do You cause us to stray from Your ways And harden our heart from fearing You [with reverence and awe]? Return for Your servants' sake, the tribes of Your heritage.

Your holy people possessed Your sanctuary for [only] a little while; Our adversaries have trampled it down.

For from days of old no one has heard, nor has ear perceived, Nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who works and acts in behalf of the one who [gladly] waits for Him.

You meet him who rejoices in doing that which is morally right, Who remembers You in Your ways. Indeed, You were angry, for we sinned; We have long continued in our sins [prolonging Your anger]. And shall we be saved [under such circumstances]?

For we all have become like one who is [ceremonially] unclean [like a leper], And all our deeds of righteousness are like filthy rags; We all wither and decay like a leaf, And our wickedness [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing], like the wind, takes us away [carrying us far from God's favor, toward destruction].

There is no one who calls on Your name, Who awakens and causes himself to take hold of You; For You have hidden Your face from us And have handed us over to the [consuming and destructive] power of our wickedness [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing].

Do not be angry beyond measure, O LORD, Do not remember our wickedness [our sin, our injustice, our wrongdoing] forever. Now look, consider, for we are all Your people.

"I let Myself be sought by those who did not ask for Me; I let Myself be found by those who did not seek Me. I said, 'Here am I, here am I,' To the nation [Israel] which did not call on My Name.

Who say, 'Keep to yourself, do not come near me, For I am too holy for you [and you might defile me]!' These [people] are smoke in My nostrils, A fire that burns all the day.

Both your own wickedness and the wickedness of your fathers," says the LORD. "Since they too have made offerings with incense on the mountains And scorned and taunted Me on the hills, I therefore will measure [punishment for] their former work [directly] into their arms."

This is what the LORD says, "As the new wine is found in the cluster, And one says, 'Do not destroy it, for there is a blessing and benefit in it,' So I will do for the sake of My servants In order not to destroy all of them.

"And [the plain of] Sharon will be a place for flocks to graze, And the Valley of Achor a resting place for herds, For My people who seek Me [who long for Me and require My presence in their lives].

"But you who abandon (turn away from) the LORD, Who forget and ignore My holy mountain (Zion), Who set a table for Gad [the Babylonian god of fortune], And who fill a jug of mixed wine for Meni [the god of fate],

I will destine you for the sword, [says the LORD], And all of you will bow down to the slaughter, Because when I called, you did not answer; When I spoke, you did not listen or obey. But you did [what was] evil in My sight And chose that in which I did not delight."

"Indeed, My servants will shout for joy from a happy heart, But you will cry out with a heavy heart, And you shall wail and howl from a broken spirit.

"No longer shall there be in it an infant who lives only a few days, Or an old man who does not finish his days; For the youth who dies at the age of a hundred, And the one who does not reach the age of a hundred Will be thought of as accursed.

"They will not build and another occupy; They will not plant and another eat [the fruit]. For as the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people, And My chosen [people] will fully enjoy [and long make use of] the work of their hands.

"They will not labor in vain, Or bear children for disaster; For they are the descendants of those blessed by the LORD, And their offspring with them.

This is what the LORD says, "Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. Where, then, is a house that you could build for Me? And where will My resting place be?