Study Desk

Hear the word that the Lord has spoken to^[a] you, house of Israel.

This is what the Lord says: Do not learn the way of the nations^(a) or be terrified by signs in the heavens, although the nations are terrified by them,

for the customs of the peoples are worthless. Someone cuts down a tree from the forest; it is worked by the hands of a craftsman with a chisel.

He decorates it with silver and gold.^(b) It is fastened with hammer and nails,^(c) so it won't totter.

Like scarecrows in a cucumber patch, their idols cannot speak.^(d) They must be carried^(e) because they cannot walk. Do not fear them for they can do no harm^(f)— and they cannot do any good.^(g)

Yahweh, there is no one like You.^(h) You are great; Your name is great in power.⁽ⁱ⁾

Who should not fear You, King of the nations?^(j) It is what You deserve. For among all the wise people of the nations and among all their kingdoms, there is no one like You.

They are both stupid and foolish, instructed by worthless idols made of wood!

Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish,^(k) and gold from Uphaz^[b](l) from the hands of a goldsmith, the work of a craftsman. Their clothing is blue and purple, all the work of skilled artisans.

But Yahweh is the true God;^(m) He is the living God⁽ⁿ⁾ and eternal King.^(o) The earth quakes at His wrath,^(p) and the nations cannot endure His rage.

You are to say this to them, "The gods that did not make the heavens^(q) and the earth will perish from the earth^(r) and from under these heavens."^[c]

He made the earth by His power, established the world^(s) by His wisdom,^(t) and spread out the heavens by His understanding.^(u)

When He thunders,^[d] the waters in the heavens are in turmoil,^(v) and He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain and brings the wind from His storehouses.^(w)

Everyone is stupid and ignorant. Every goldsmith is put to shame by his carved image,^(x) for his cast images are a lie;^(y) there is no breath in them.^(z)

They are worthless, a work to be mocked. At the time of their punishment they will be destroyed.^(aa)

Jacob's Portion^[e] is not like these because He is the One who formed all things.^(ab) Israel is the tribe of His inheritance;^(ac) Yahweh of Hosts is His name.^(ad)

Gather up your belongings^[f] from the ground,^(ae) you who live under siege.

For this is what the Lord says: Look, I am slinging out^(af) the land's residents at this time and bringing them such distress that they will feel it.

Woe to me because of my brokenness— I am severely wounded!^(ag) I exclaimed, "This is my intense suffering, but I must bear it."

My tent is destroyed;^(ah) all my tent cords are snapped. My sons have departed from me and are no more. I have no one to pitch my tent again or to hang up my curtains.

For the shepherds are stupid: they don't seek the Lord .^(ai) Therefore they have not prospered, and their whole flock is scattered.

Listen! A noise—it is coming— a great commotion^(aj) from the land to the north. The cities of Judah will be made desolate, a jackals' den.^(ak)

I know, Lord , that a man's way of life is not his own; no one who walks determines his own steps.^(al)

Discipline me, Lord , but with justice— not in Your anger,^(am) or You will reduce me to nothing.

Pour out Your wrath on the nations that don't recognize You and on the families that don't call on Your name, for they have consumed Jacob; they have consumed him and finished him off and made his homeland desolate.^(an)

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord :

"Listen to the words of this covenant^(a) and tell them to the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem.

You must tell them: This is what the Lord , the God of Israel, says: ‘Let a curse be on the man who does not obey the words of this covenant,^(b)

which I commanded your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt,^(c) out of the iron furnace.'^(d) I declared: ‘Obey Me, and do everything that I command you, and you will be My people, and I will be your God,'^(e)

in order to establish the oath I swore to your ancestors,^(f) to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is today." I answered, "Amen, Lord ."^(g)

The Lord said to me, "Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: Obey the words of this covenant and carry them out.

For I strongly warned your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt until today, warning them time and time again,^[a](h) ‘Obey My voice.'

Yet they would not obey or pay attention; each one followed the stubbornness of his evil heart.⁽ⁱ⁾ So I brought on them all the curses of this covenant, because they had not done what I commanded them to do."

The Lord said to me, "A conspiracy has been discovered among the men of Judah^(j) and the residents of Jerusalem.

They have returned to the sins of their ancestors^(k) who refused to obey My words and have followed other gods to worship them.^(l) The house of Israel and the house of Judah broke My covenant I made with their ancestors.

"Therefore, this is what the Lord says: I am about to bring on them disaster that they cannot escape.^(m) They will cry out to Me, but I will not hear them.

Then the cities of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods they have been burning incense to, but they certainly will not save them in their time of disaster.⁽ⁿ⁾

Your gods are indeed as numerous as your cities, Judah,^(o) and the altars you have set up to Shame^[b](p)—altars to burn incense to Baal—as numerous as the streets of Jerusalem.

"As for you, do not pray for these people. Do not raise up a cry or a prayer on their behalf,^(q) for I will not be listening when they call out to Me at the time of their disaster.

What right does My beloved have to be in My house,^(r) having carried out so many evil schemes? Can holy meat^[c](s) prevent your disaster^[d] so you can rejoice?

The Lord named you a flourishing olive tree,^(t) beautiful with well-formed fruit. He has set fire to it, and its branches are consumed^[e](u) with a great roaring sound.^(v)

"The Lord of Hosts who planted you^(w) has decreed disaster against you, because of the harm the house of Israel and the house of Judah brought on themselves, provoking Me to anger by burning incense to Baal."

The Lord informed me, so I knew. Then You helped me to see their deeds,

for I was like a docile^[f] lamb led to slaughter.^(x) I didn't know that they had devised plots against me: "Let's destroy the tree with its fruit;^[g] let's cut him off from the land of the living^(y) so that his name will no longer be remembered."

But, Lord of Hosts, who judges righteously, who tests^(z) heart^[h] and mind,^(aa) let me see Your vengeance on them, for I have presented my case to You.^(ab)

Therefore, here is what the Lord says concerning the people of Anathoth^(ac) who want to take your life. They warn, "You must not prophesy in the name of Yahweh, or you will certainly die at our hand."

Therefore, this is what the Lord of Hosts says: "I am about to punish them. The young men will die by the sword; their sons and daughters will die by famine.^(ad)

They will have no remnant, for I will bring disaster on the people of Anathoth^(ae) in the year of their punishment."

You will be righteous, Lord ,^(a) even if I bring a case against You. Yet, I wish to contend with You:^(b) Why does the way of the wicked prosper?^(c) Why do all the treacherous live at ease?

You planted them,^(d) and they have taken root. They have grown and produced fruit. You are ever on their lips,^[a] but far from their conscience.^[b](e)

As for You, Lord , You know me; You see me.^(f) You test whether my heart is with You.^(g) Drag the wicked away like sheep to slaughter^(h) and set them apart for the day of killing.

How long will the land mourn⁽ⁱ⁾ and the grass of every field wither? Because of the evil of its residents, animals and birds have been swept away, for the people have said, "He cannot see what our end will be."^[c](j)

If you have raced with runners and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble^[d] in a peaceful land, what will you do in the thickets of the Jordan?^(k)

Even your brothers—your own father's household— even they were treacherous to you;^(l) even they have cried out loudly after you.^(m) Do not have confidence in them, though they speak well of you.

I have abandoned My house;⁽ⁿ⁾ I have deserted My inheritance. I have given the love of My life into the hands of her enemies.

My inheritance has acted toward Me like a lion in the forest. She has roared against Me. Therefore, I hate her.^(o)

Is My inheritance like a hyena^[e] to Me? Are birds of prey circling her? Go, gather all the wild animals;^(p) bring them to devour her.

Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard; they have trampled My plot of land.^(q) They have turned My desirable plot into a desolate wasteland.

They have made it a desolation. It mourns, desolate, before Me. All the land is desolate, but no one takes it to heart.^(r)

Over all the barren heights in the wilderness the destroyers have come, for the Lord has a sword that devours from one end of the earth to the other. No one has peace.^(s)

They have sown wheat but harvested thorns.^(t) They have exhausted themselves but have no profit.^(u) Be put to shame by your harvests because of the Lord 's burning anger.^(v)

This is what the Lord says: "Concerning all My evil neighbors who attack the inheritance that I bequeathed to My people, Israel, I am about to uproot them^(w) from their land, and I will uproot the house of Judah from them.

After I have uprooted them, I will once again have compassion^(x) on them and return each one to his inheritance and to his land.

If they will diligently learn the ways of My people^(y)—to swear by My name, ‘As Yahweh lives,' just as they taught My people to swear by Baal—they will be built up among My people.

However, if they will not obey, then I will uproot and destroy that nation."^(z) This is the Lord 's declaration.

This is what the Lord said to me: "Go and buy yourself a linen undergarment^(a) and put it on,^[a] but do not put it in water."

So I bought underwear as the Lord instructed me and put it on.

Then the word of the Lord came to me a second time:

"Take the underwear that you bought and are wearing,^[b] and go at once to the Euphrates^[c] and hide it in a rocky crevice."^(b)

So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me.

A long time later the Lord said to me, "Go at once to the Euphrates and get the underwear that I commanded you to hide there."

So I went to the Euphrates and dug up the underwear and got it from the place where I had hidden it, but it was ruined—of no use at all.

Then the word of the Lord came to me:

"This is what the Lord says: Just like this I will ruin the great pride of both Judah and Jerusalem.^(c)

These evil people, who refuse to listen to Me, who follow the stubbornness of their own hearts,^(d) and who have followed other gods to serve and worship—they will be like this underwear, of no use at all.

Just as underwear clings to one's waist, so I fastened the whole house of Israel and of Judah to Me"^(e)—this is the Lord 's declaration—"so that they might be My people for My fame, praise, and glory,^(f) but they would not obey.

"Say this to them: This is what the Lord , the God of Israel, says: Every jar should be filled with wine. Then they will respond to you, ‘Don't we know that every jar should be filled with wine?'

And you will say to them: This is what the Lord says: I am about to fill all who live in this land—the kings who reign for David on his throne, the priests, the prophets and all the residents of Jerusalem—with drunkenness.

I will smash them against each other, fathers and sons alike"—this is the Lord 's declaration. "I will allow no mercy, pity, or compassion to keep Me from destroying them."^(g)

Listen and pay attention. Do not be proud, for the Lord has spoken.

Give glory to the Lord your God^(h) before He brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the mountains at dusk. You wait for light, but He brings darkest gloom^[d] and makes thick darkness.

But if you will not listen, my innermost being will weep in secret because of your pride. My eyes will overflow with tears, for the Lord 's flock⁽ⁱ⁾ has been taken captive.

Say to the king and the queen mother:^(j) Take a humble seat, for your glorious crowns have fallen from your heads.

The cities of the Negev are under siege; no one can help them. All of Judah has been taken into exile, taken completely into exile.

Look up and see those coming from the north.^(k) Where is the flock entrusted to you, the sheep that were your pride?

What will you say when He appoints close friends as leaders over you, ones you yourself trained? Won't labor pains seize you,^(l) as they do a woman in labor?

And when you ask yourself, "Why have these things happened to me?" It is because of your great guilt^(m) that your skirts have been stripped off,⁽ⁿ⁾ your body exposed.^[e]

Can the Cushite change his skin, or a leopard his spots? If so, you might be able to do what is good,^(o) you who are instructed in evil.

I will scatter you^[f] like drifting chaff^(p) before the desert wind.

This is your lot, what I have decreed for you— this is the Lord 's declaration— because you have forgotten Me and trusted in Falsehood.^[g](q)

I will pull your skirts up over your face so that your shame might be seen.^(r)

Your adulteries and your lustful neighing,^(s) your heinous prostitution on the hills, in the fields— I have seen your detestable acts. Woe to you, Jerusalem! You are unclean— for how long yet?^(t)