Study Desk

As for my people, their ruler is acting like a child, and those who have authority over them are women. O my people, your guides are the cause of your wandering, turning your footsteps out of the right way.

And in the place of sweet spices will be an evil smell, and for a fair band a thick cord; for a well-dressed head there will be the cutting-off of the hair, and for a beautiful robe there will be the clothing of sorrow; the mark of the prisoner in place of the ornaments of the free.

And in that day seven women will put their hands on one man, saying, There will be no need for you to give us food or clothing, only let us go under your name, so that our shame may be taken away.

And it will come about that the rest of the living in Zion, and of those who have been kept from destruction in Jerusalem, will be named holy, even everyone who has been recorded for life in Jerusalem:

And over every living-place on Mount Zion, all over all her meetings, the Lord will make a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night, for over all, the glory of the Lord will be a cover and a tent;

Let me make a song about my loved one, a song of love for his vine-garden. My loved one had a vine-garden on a fertile hill:

And after working the earth of it with a spade, he took away its stones, and put in it a very special vine; and he put up a watchtower in the middle of it, hollowing out in the rock a place for the grape-crushing; and he was hoping that it would give the best grapes, but it gave common grapes.

Is there anything which might have been done for my vine-garden which I have not done? why then, when I was hoping for the best grapes did it give me common grapes?

For the vine-garden of the Lord of armies is the people of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plant of his delight: and he was looking for upright judging, and there was blood; for righteousness, and there was a cry for help.

Cursed are those who are joining house to house, and putting field to field, till there is no more living-space for any but themselves in all the land!

For ten fields of vines will only give one measure of wine, and a great amount of seed will only give a small measure of grain.

For this cause my people are taken away as prisoners into strange countries for need of knowledge: and their rulers are wasted for need of food, and their loud-voiced feasters are dry for need of water.

For this cause the underworld has made wide its throat, opening its mouth without limit: and her glory, and the noise of her masses, and her loud-voiced feasters, will go down into it.

Cursed are those who make use of ox-cords for pulling the evil thing, and the bands of a young ox for their sin!

Who for a reward give support to the cause of the sinner, and who take away the righteousness of the upright from him.

For this cause, as the waste of the grain is burned up by tongues of fire, and as the dry grass goes down before the flame, so their root will be like the dry stems of grain, and their flower will go up in dust: because they have gone against the law of the Lord of armies, and have given no honour to the word of the Holy One of Israel.

For this reason the wrath of the Lord has been burning against his people, and his hand has been stretched out against them in punishment, and the hills were shaking, and their dead bodies were like waste in the open places of the town.

Over him were the winged ones: every one had six wings; two for covering his face, two for covering his feed, and two for flight.

Then I said, The curse is on me, and my fate is destruction; for I am a man of unclean lips, living among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of armies.

And the voice of the Lord came to my ears, saying, Whom am I to send, and who will go for us? Then I said, Here am I, send me.