Study Desk

Ask for rain from the LORD at the time of the spring rain— The LORD who makes the storm winds; And He will give them showers of rain, vegetation in the field to each person.

For the household idols speak deception, And the diviners see an illusion And tell deceitful dreams; They comfort in vain. Therefore the people wander like sheep, They are wretched because there is no shepherd.

"My anger is kindled against the shepherds, And I will punish the male goats; For the LORD of armies has visited His flock, the house of Judah, And will make them like His majestic horse in battle.

"And I will strengthen the house of Judah, And I will save the house of Joseph, And I will bring them back, Because I have had compassion on them; And they will be as though I had not rejected them, For I am the LORD their God and I will answer them.

"I will whistle for them and gather them together, For I have redeemed them; And they will be as numerous as they were before.

"I will bring them back from the land of Egypt And gather them from Assyria; And I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon Until no room can be found for them.

Wail, juniper, because the cedar has fallen, For the magnificent trees have been destroyed; Wail, oaks of Bashan, Because the impenetrable forest has come down.

There is a sound of the shepherds' wail, For their splendor is ruined; There is a sound of the young lions' roar, For the pride of the Jordan is ruined.

"Those who buy them slaughter them and go unpunished, and each of those who sell them says, 'Blessed be the LORD, for I have become rich!' And their own shepherds have no compassion for them.

"For I will no longer have compassion for the inhabitants of the land," declares the LORD; "but behold, I will let the people fall, each into another's power and into the power of his king; and they will crush the land, and I will not rescue them from their power."

So I pastured the flock doomed to slaughter, therefore also the afflicted of the flock. And I took for myself two staffs: the one I called Favor, and the other I called Union; so I pastured the flock.

Then I did away with the three shepherds in one month, for my soul was impatient with them, and their soul also was tired of me.

And the LORD said to me, "Take again for yourself the equipment of a foolish shepherd.

"For behold, I am going to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for the perishing, seek the scattered, heal the broken, or provide for the one who is exhausted, but will devour the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hoofs.

"It will come about on that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will injure themselves severely. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it.

"Then the clans of Judah will say in their hearts, 'The inhabitants of Jerusalem are a strong support for us through the LORD of armies, their God.'

"And I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and of pleading, so that they will look at Me whom they pierced; and they will mourn for Him, like one mourning for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.

"On that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for defilement.

Behold, a day is coming for the LORD when the spoils taken from you will be divided among you.

For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be taken, the houses plundered, the women raped, and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be eliminated from the city.