Study Desk

"But they will say, 'It's hopeless! For we are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will persist in the stubbornness of his evil heart.'

'For My people have forgotten Me, They burn incense to worthless gods. And they have stumbled in their ways, In the ancient roads, To walk on paths, Not on a highway,

Should good be repaid with evil? For they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before You To speak good in their behalf, So as to turn Your wrath away from them.

May a cry be heard from their houses When You suddenly bring raiders upon them; For they have dug a pit to capture me And hidden snares for my feet.

"And I will frustrate the planning of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their life; and I will make their carcasses food for the birds of the sky and the animals of the earth.

and say to them, 'This is what the LORD of armies says: "To the same extent I will break this people and this city, just as one breaks a potter's vessel, which cannot again be repaired; and they will bury their dead in Topheth, because there is no other place for burial.

"For this is what the LORD says: 'Behold, I am going to make you a horror to yourself and to all your friends; and while your eyes look on, they will fall by the sword of their enemies. So I will hand all Judah over to the king of Babylon, and he will take them away as exiles to Babylon and will kill them with the sword.

For each time I speak, I cry aloud; I proclaim violence and destruction, Because for me the word of the LORD has resulted In taunting and derision all day long.

For I have heard the whispering of many, "Terror on every side! Denounce him; let's denounce him!" All my trusted friends, Watching for my fall, say: "Perhaps he will be persuaded, so that we may prevail against him And take our revenge on him."

Yet, LORD of armies, who tests the righteous, Who sees the mind and the heart; Let me see Your vengeance on them, For to You I have disclosed my cause.

Sing to the LORD, praise the LORD! For He has saved the soul of the needy one From the hand of evildoers.

But may that man be like the cities Which the LORD overthrew without relenting, And may he hear an outcry in the morning And an alarm for war at noon;

"For I have set My face against this city for harm and not for good," declares the LORD. "It will be handed over to the king of Babylon and he will burn it with fire."'

"For if you will indeed perform this instruction, then kings will enter the gates of this house, sitting in David's place on his throne, riding in chariots and on horses, the king himself, his servants, and his people.

For this is what the LORD says concerning the house of the king of Judah: "You are like Gilead to Me, Like the summit of Lebanon; Yet most assuredly I will make you a wilderness, Cities that are not inhabited.

"For I will set apart destroyers against you, Each with his weapons; And they will cut down your choicest cedars And throw them on the fire.

Do not weep for the dead or mourn for him, But weep deeply for the one who goes away; For he will never return Or see his native land.

For this is what the LORD says regarding Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who became king in the place of his father Josiah, who went out from this place: "He will never return there;

"Do you become a king because you are competing in cedar? Did your father not eat and drink And do justice and righteousness? Then it was well for him.

Therefore this is what the LORD says regarding Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: "They will not mourn for him: 'Oh, my brother!' or, 'Oh, sister!' They will not mourn for him: 'Oh, for the master!' or, 'Oh, for his splendor!'