Study Desk

"The wall and those who covered it with whitewash will feel the force of my anger. Then I will tell you that the wall is gone and so are those who whitewashed it—

and tell them what the Sovereign Lord is saying to them: "You women are doomed! You sew magic wristbands for everyone and make magic scarves for everyone to wear on their heads, so that they can have power over other people's lives. You want to possess the power of life and death over my people and to use it for your own benefit.

You dishonor me in front of my people in order to get a few handfuls of barley and a few pieces of bread. You kill people who don't deserve to die, and you keep people alive who don't deserve to live. So you tell lies to my people, and they believe you."

So now your false visions and misleading predictions are over. I am rescuing my people from your power, so that you will know that I am the Lord ."

I will oppose you. I will make an example of you. I will remove you from the community of my people, so that all of you will know that I am the Lord .

"Or I might send wild animals to kill the people, making the land so dangerous that no one could travel through it,

Now this is what the Sovereign Lord is saying: "Just as a vine is taken from the forest and burned, so I will take the people who live in Jerusalem

They have been unfaithful to me, and so I will make the country a wilderness." The Sovereign Lord has spoken.

You became famous in every nation for your perfect beauty, because I was the one who made you so lovely." This is what the Sovereign Lord says.

They were proud and stubborn and did the things that I hate, so I destroyed them, as you well know.

And now you will have to endure your disgrace. Your sins are so much worse than those of your sisters that they look innocent beside you. Now blush and bear your shame, because you make your sisters look pure."

But the vine had already been planted in a fertile, well-watered field so that it could grow leaves and bear grapes and be a magnificent vine.

"So I, the Sovereign Lord , ask: Will this vine live and grow? Won't the first eagle pull it up by its roots, pull off the grapes, and break off the branches and let them wither? It will not take much strength or a mighty nation to pull it up.

and lends money for profit. Will he live? No, he will not. He has done all these disgusting things, and so he will die. He will be to blame for his own death.

His father, on the other hand, cheated and robbed and always did evil to everyone. And so he died because of the sins he himself had committed.

"But you ask, ‘Why shouldn't the son suffer because of his father's sins?' The answer is that the son did what was right and good. He kept my laws and followed them carefully, and so he will certainly live.

He realizes what he is doing and stops sinning, so he will certainly not die, but go on living.

They put him in a cage and took him to the king of Babylonia. They kept him under guard, so that his roar would never be heard again on the hills of Israel.

"Are you ready to pass sentence on them, mortal man? Then do so. Remind them of the disgusting things their ancestors did.

"And so I led them out of Egypt into the desert.