Study Desk

The time has come, The day draws near. "Let not the buyer rejoice, Nor the seller mourn, For wrath is on their whole multitude.

For the seller shall not return to what has been sold, Though he may still be alive; For the vision concerns the whole multitude, And it shall not turn back; No one will strengthen himself Who lives in iniquity.

"They have blown the trumpet and made everyone ready, But no one goes to battle; For My wrath is on all their multitude.

"Those who survive will escape and be on the mountains Like doves of the valleys, All of them mourning, Each for his iniquity.

"As for the beauty of his ornaments, He set it in majesty; But they made from it The images of their abominations-- Their detestable things; Therefore I have made it Like refuse to them.

I will turn My face from them, And they will defile My secret place; For robbers shall enter it and defile it.

"Make a chain, For the land is filled with crimes of blood, And the city is full of violence.

Then He said to me, "Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the room of his idols? For they say, "The LORD does not see us, the LORD has forsaken the land."'

So He brought me to the door of the north gate of the LORD's house; and to my dismay, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz.

And He said to me, "Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it a trivial thing to the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they commit here? For they have filled the land with violence; then they have returned to provoke Me to anger. Indeed they put the branch to their nose.

Then He said to me, "The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great, and the land is full of bloodshed, and the city full of perversity; for they say, "The LORD has forsaken the land, and the LORD does not see!'

And as for Me also, My eye will neither spare, nor will I have pity, but I will recompense their deeds on their own head."

As for their appearance, all four looked alike--as it were, a wheel in the middle of a wheel.

As for the wheels, they were called in my hearing, "Wheel."

When the cherubim [fn] stood still, the wheels stood still, and when one [fn] was lifted up, the other [fn] lifted itself up, for the spirit of the living creature was in them.

Then the Spirit of the LORD fell upon me, and said to me, "Speak! "Thus says the LORD: "Thus you have said, O house of Israel; for I know the things that come into your mind.

And you shall know that I am the LORD; for you have not walked in My statutes nor executed My judgments, but have done according to the customs of the Gentiles which are all around you.""'

Therefore say, "Thus says the Lord GOD: "Although I have cast them far off among the Gentiles, and although I have scattered them among the countries, yet I shall be a little sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone."'

But as for those whose hearts follow the desire for their detestable things and their abominations, I will recompense their deeds on their own heads," says the Lord GOD.

"Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, which has eyes to see but does not see, and ears to hear but does not hear; for they are a rebellious house.