Study Desk

Her children rise up and bless her; Her husband also, and he praises her, saying:

If a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, however many they may be, but his soul is not satisfied with good things and he does not even have a proper burial, then I say, "Better the miscarriage than he,

For You have abandoned Your people, the house of Jacob, Because they are filled with influences from the east, And they are soothsayers like the Philistines. They also strike bargains with the children of foreigners.

And I will make mere boys their leaders, And mischievous children will rule over them,

Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are for signs and wonders in Israel from the LORD of armies, who dwells on Mount Zion.

And their bows will mow down the young men, They will not even have compassion on the fruit of the womb, Nor will their eye pity children.

But when he sees his children, the work of My hands, in his midst, They will sanctify My name; Indeed, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, And will stand in awe of the God of Israel.

"Woe to the rebellious children," declares the LORD, "Who execute a plan, but not Mine, And make an alliance, but not of My Spirit, In order to add sin to sin;

And they said to him, "This is what Hezekiah says: 'This day is a day of distress, rebuke, and humiliation; for children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to deliver them.

"Now, then, hear this, you luxuriant one, Who lives securely, Who says in her heart, 'I am, and there is no one besides me. I will not sit as a widow, Nor know the loss of children.'

"But these two things will come on you suddenly in one day: Loss of children and widowhood. They will come on you in full measure In spite of your many sorceries, In spite of the great power of your spells.

"The children you lost will yet say in your ears, 'The place is too cramped for me; Make room for me that I may live here.'

"Then you will say in your heart, 'Who has fathered these for me, Since I have been bereaved of my children And cannot conceive, and I am an exile, and a wanderer? And who has raised these? Behold, I was left alone; Where are these from?'"

"Of whom do you make fun? Against whom do you open wide your mouth And stick out your tongue? Are you not children of rebellion, Offspring of deceit,

Who inflame yourselves among the oaks, Under every luxuriant tree, Who slaughter the children in the ravines, Under the clefts of the rocks?

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

"For My people are foolish, They do not know Me; They are foolish children And have no understanding. They are skillful at doing evil, But they do not know how to do good."

But I am full of the wrath of the LORD; I am weary of holding it in. "Pour it out on the children in the street And on the gathering of young men together; For both husband and wife shall be taken, The old and the very old.

"The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough to make sacrificial cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods in order to provoke Me to anger.

For death has come up through our windows; It has entered our palaces To eliminate the children from the streets, The young men from the public squares.