Study Desk

Tell them: ‘Hear this, you foolish people who have no understanding, who have eyes but do not discern, who have ears but do not perceive:

"You should fear me!" says the Lord . "You should tremble in awe before me! I made the sand to be a boundary for the sea, a permanent barrier that it can never cross. Its waves may roll, but they can never prevail. They may roar, but they can never cross beyond that boundary."

But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. They have turned aside and gone their own way.

The prophets prophesy lies. The priests exercise power by their own authority. And my people love to have it this way. But they will not be able to help you when the time of judgment comes!

They will say, ‘Prepare to do battle against it! Come on! Let's attack it at noon!' But later they will say, ‘Oh, oh! Too bad! The day is almost over and the shadows of evening are getting long.

All of this is because the Lord who rules over all has said: ‘Cut down the trees around Jerusalem and build up a siege ramp against its walls. This is the city which is to be punished. Nothing but oppression happens in it.

They offer only superficial help for the harm my people have suffered. They say, ‘Everything will be all right!' But everything is not all right!

The Lord said to his people: "You are standing at the crossroads. So consider your path. Ask where the old, reliable paths are. Ask where the path is that leads to blessing and follow it. If you do, you will find rest for your souls." But they said, "We will not follow it!"

The Lord said, "I appointed prophets as watchmen to warn you, saying: ‘Pay attention to the warning sound of the trumpet!'" But they said, "We will not pay attention!"

The fiery bellows of judgment burn fiercely. But there is too much dross to be removed. The process of refining them has proved useless. The wicked have not been purged.

"‘But just look at you! You are putting your confidence in a false belief that will not deliver you.

You also have done all these things, says the Lord , and I have spoken to you over and over again. But you have not listened! You have refused to respond when I called you to repent!

But I am not really the one being troubled!" says the Lord . "Rather they are bringing trouble on themselves to their own shame!

But they did not listen to me or pay any attention to me. They followed the stubborn inclinations of their own wicked hearts. They acted worse and worse instead of better.

But your ancestors did not listen to me nor pay attention to me. They became obstinate and were more wicked than even their own forefathers.'"

So, watch out!" says the Lord . "The time will soon come when people will no longer call those places Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom. But they will call that valley the Valley of Slaughter and they will bury so many people in Topheth they will run out of room.

However, I will leave some of these wicked people alive and banish them to other places. But wherever these people who survive may go, they will wish they had died rather than lived," says the Lord who rules over all.

I have listened to them very carefully, but they do not speak honestly. None of them regrets the evil he has done. None of them says, "I have done wrong!" All of them persist in their own wayward course like a horse charging recklessly into battle.

Even the stork knows when it is time to move on. The turtledove, swallow, and crane recognize the normal times for their migration. But my people pay no attention to what I, the Lord , require of them.

They offer only superficial help for the hurt my dear people have suffered. They say, "Everything will be all right!" But everything is not all right!