Study Desk

Behold, I am going to ^(C1)stir up the Medes against them, Who will not value silver or ^(C2)take pleasure in gold.

And their bows will ^(F1)mow down the ^(C1)young men, They will not even have compassion on the fruit of the womb, Nor will their ^(C2)eye pity ^(F2)children.

And ^(C1)Babylon, the ^(C2)beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldeans' pride, Will be as when God ^(C3)overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.

It will ^(C1)never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation; Nor will the ^(C2)Arab pitch his tent there, Nor will shepherds allow their flocks to lie down there.

But ^(C1)desert creatures will lie down there, And their houses will be full of ^(F1)owls; Ostriches also will live there, and ^(F2)shaggy goats will frolic there.

^(F1)Hyenas will howl in their fortified towers And jackals in their luxurious ^(C1)palaces. Her fateful time also ^(F2)will soon come, And her days will not be prolonged.

When the LORD ^(C1)has compassion on Jacob and again ^(C2)chooses Israel, and settles them on their own land, then ^(C3)strangers will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob.

The peoples will take them along and bring them to their place, and the ^(C1)house of Israel will make them their own possession in the land of the LORD ^(C2)as male and female servants; and ^(F1)they will take their captors captive and will rule over their oppressors.

And it will be on the day when the LORD gives you ^(C1)rest from your hardship, your turmoil, and from the harsh service in which you have been enslaved,

that you will ^(C1)take up this ^(F1)taunt against the king of Babylon, and say, "How ^(C2)the oppressor has ceased, And how the ^(F2)onslaught has ceased!

-"The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, The scepter of rulers,

^(C1)Which used to strike the peoples in fury with unceasing strokes, Which ^(F1)subdued the nations in anger with unrestrained persecution.

-"The whole earth is at rest and is quiet; They ^(C1)break forth into shouts of joy.

-"Even the ^(C1)juniper trees rejoice over you, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, 'Since you have been laid low, no tree cutter comes up against us.'

-"^(C1)Sheol below is excited about you, to meet you when you come; It stirs the ^(F1)spirits of the dead for you, all the ^(F2)leaders of the earth; It raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones.

-"^(C1)They will all respond and say to you, 'Even you have become weak as we, You have become like us.

-'Your ^(C1)pride and the music of your harps Have been brought down to Sheol; Maggots are spread out as your bed beneath you And worms are your covering.'

-"How you have ^(C1)fallen from heaven, You ^(F1)(C2)star of the morning, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, You who defeated the nations!

-"But you said in your heart, 'I will ^(C1)ascend to heaven; I will ^(C2)raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north.

-'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; ^(C1)I will make myself like the Most High.'

-"Nevertheless you ^(C1)will be brought down to Sheol, To the recesses of the pit.

-"Those who see you will stare at you, They will ^(F1)closely examine you, saying, 'Is this the man who made the earth tremble, Who shook kingdoms,

Who made the world like a ^(C1)wilderness And overthrew its cities, Who ^(C2)did not ^(F1)allow his prisoners to go home?'

-"All the kings of the nations lie in glory, Each in his own ^(F1)tomb.

-"But you have been ^(C1)hurled out of your tomb Like ^(F1)a rejected branch, ^(F2)Clothed with those killed who have been pierced with a sword, Who go down to the stones of the ^(C2)pit Like a ^(C3)trampled corpse.

-"You will not be united with them in burial, Because you have ruined your country, You have killed your people. May the ^(C1)descendants of evildoers never be mentioned.

-"Prepare a place of slaughter for his sons Because of the ^(C1)wrongdoing of their fathers. They must not arise and take possession of the earth, And fill the surface of the world with cities."

"I will rise up against them," declares the LORD of armies, "and eliminate from Babylon ^(C1)name and survivors, ^(C2)offspring and descendants," declares the LORD.

"I will also make it the property of the ^(C1)hedgehog and swamps of water, and I will sweep it away with the broom of ^(C2)destruction," declares the LORD of armies.

The LORD of armies has sworn, saying, "Certainly, ^(C1)just as I have intended, so it has happened, and just as I have planned, so it will stand,

to ^(C1)break Assyria in My land, and I will trample him on My mountains. Then his ^(C2)yoke will be removed from them, and his burden removed from their shoulders.

"This is the ^(C1)plan ^(F1)devised against the entire earth; and this is the ^(C2)hand that is stretched out against all the nations.

"For ^(C1)the LORD of armies has planned, and who can frustrate it? And as for His stretched-out hand, who can turn it back?"

In the ^(C1)year that King Ahaz died, this ^(C2)pronouncement came:

"Do not rejoice, ^(C1)Philistia, all of you, Because the rod that ^(C2)struck you is broken; For from the serpent's root a ^(C3)viper will come out, And its fruit will be a ^(C4)winged serpent.

-"^(F1)Those who are most ^(C1)helpless will eat, And the poor will lie down in security; I will kill your root with ^(C2)famine, And it will kill your survivors.

-"Wail, you ^(C1)gate; cry, you city; ^(F1)Melt away, ^(C2)Philistia, all of you! For smoke comes from the ^(C3)north, And ^(C4)there is no straggler in his ranks.

-"What answer will one give the ^(C1)messengers of the nation? That ^(C2)the LORD has founded Zion, And ^(C3)the poor of His people will take refuge in it."

The pronouncement concerning ^(C1)Moab: Certainly in a night ^(C2)Ar of Moab is devastated and ruined; Certainly in a night Kir of Moab is devastated and ruined.

^(F1)The people have gone up to the ^(F2)temple and to ^(C1)Dibon, to the high places to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba; Everyone's head is ^(C2)bald and every beard is cut off.

In their streets they have put on ^(C1)sackcloth; ^(C2)On their housetops and in their public squares Everyone is wailing, ^(F1)(C3)overcome with weeping.

^(C1)Heshbon and Elealeh also cry out, Their voice is heard all the way to Jahaz; Therefore the ^(F1)armed men of Moab cry aloud; His soul trembles within him.

My heart cries out for Moab; His fugitives are as far as ^(C1)Zoar and Eglath-shelishiyah, For they go up the ^(C2)ascent of Luhith weeping; Indeed, on the road to Horonaim they raise a cry of distress ^(C3)over their collapse.

For the ^(C1)waters of Nimrim are ^(F1)desolate. Indeed, the grass is withered, the new growth has died, There is ^(C2)no greenery.

Therefore the ^(C1)abundance which they have acquired and stored up, They carry it off over the brook of ^(F1)Arabim.

For the cry of distress has gone around the territory of Moab, Its wailing goes as far as Eglaim and its howling to Beer-elim.

For the waters of Dimon are full of ^(F1)blood; I will certainly bring added woes upon Dimon, A ^(C1)lion upon the fugitives of Moab and the remnant of the land.

^(C1)Send the tribute lamb to the ruler of the land, From ^(F1)(C2)Sela by way of the wilderness to the ^(C3)mountain of the daughter of Zion.

Then, like ^(C1)fluttering birds or scattered nestlings, The daughters of ^(C2)Moab will be at the crossing places of the ^(C3)Arnon.

"^(F1)Give us advice, make a decision; ^(F2)Cast your ^(C1)shadow like night ^(F3)at high noon; ^(C2)Hide the outcasts, do not betray the fugitive.

-"Let the ^(F1)outcasts of Moab stay with you; Be a hiding place to them from the destroyer." For the oppressor has come to an end, destruction has ceased, ^(C1)Oppressors have been removed from the land.

A ^(C1)throne will be established in faithfulness, And a judge will sit on it in trustworthiness in the tent of ^(C2)David; Moreover, he will seek justice, And be prompt in righteousness.

^(C1)We have heard of the pride of Moab, an excessive pride; Even of his arrogance, pride, and fury; ^(C2)His idle boasts are ^(F1)false.

Therefore Moab will wail; everyone of Moab will wail. You will moan for the ^(C1)raisin cakes of ^(C2)Kir-hareseth As those who are utterly stricken.

For the fields of ^(C1)Heshbon have ^(F1)withered, the vines of ^(C2)Sibmah as well; The lords of the nations have trampled down its choice clusters Which reached as far as Jazer and wandered to the deserts; ^(C3)Its ^(F2)tendrils spread themselves out and passed over the sea.

Therefore I will ^(C1)weep bitterly for Jazer, for the vine of Sibmah; I will drench you with my tears, ^(C2)Heshbon and Elealeh; For the shouting over your ^(C3)summer fruits and your harvest has fallen away.

^(C1)Gladness and joy are taken away from the fruitful field; In the ^(C2)vineyards also there will be no cries of joy or jubilant shouting, No ^(C3)treader treads out wine in the presses, For I have made the shouting to cease.

Therefore my ^(F1)(C1)inner being sounds like a harp for Moab. And my ^(F2)heart for Kir-hareseth.

So it will come about when Moab ^(C1)presents himself, When he ^(C2)tires himself upon his ^(C3)high place And comes to his sanctuary to pray, That he will not prevail.

This is the word which the LORD spoke earlier concerning Moab.

But now the LORD has spoken, saying, "Within three years, as ^(F1)(C1)a hired worker would count them, the glory of ^(C2)Moab will become contemptible along with all his great population, and his remnant will be very small and ^(F2)impotent."

The ^(C1)pronouncement concerning ^(C2)Damascus: "Behold, Damascus is about to be ^(C3)removed from being a city And will become a ^(C4)fallen ruin.

-"The cities ^(F1)of ^(C1)Aroer are abandoned; They will be for ^(C2)herds ^(F2)to lie down in, And there will be ^(C3)no one to frighten them.

-"The ^(F1)(C1)fortified city will disappear from Ephraim, And ^(F2)sovereignty from Damascus And the remnant of Aram; They will be like the ^(C2)glory of the sons of Israel," Declares the LORD of armies.

Now on that day the ^(C1)glory of Jacob will ^(F1)fade, And ^(C2)the fatness of his flesh will become lean.

It will be ^(C1)like the ^(F1)reaper gathering the standing grain, As his arm harvests the ears, Or it will be like one gleaning ears of grain In the ^(C2)Valley of Rephaim.

Yet ^(C1)gleanings will be left in it like the ^(F1)shaking of an olive tree, Two or three olives on the topmost branch, Four or five on the branches of a fruitful tree, Declares the LORD, the God of Israel.

On that day man will ^(C1)look to his Maker And his eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel.

And he will not look to the ^(C1)altars, the work of his hands, Nor will he look to that which his ^(C2)fingers have made, Even the ^(F1)(C3)Asherim and incense altars.

On that day ^(F1)their strong cities will be like ^(F2)abandoned places in the forest, Or like branches which they abandoned before the sons of Israel; And ^(F3)the land will be a desolation.

For ^(C1)you have forgotten the ^(C2)God of your salvation And have not remembered the ^(C3)rock of your refuge. Therefore you plant delightful plants And set them with vine shoots of a strange god.

On the day that you plant it you carefully fence it in, And in the ^(C1)morning you bring your seed to blossom; But the harvest will ^(C2)flee On a day of illness and incurable pain.

Oh, the uproar of many peoples ^(C1)Who roar like the roaring of the seas, And the rumbling of nations Who rush on like the ^(C2)rumbling of mighty waters!

The ^(C1)nations rumble on like the rumbling of many waters, But He will ^(C2)rebuke them, and they will flee far away, And be chased ^(C3)like chaff on the mountains before the wind, Or like whirling dust before a gale.

At evening time, behold, there is terror! Before morning ^(C1)they are gone. This will be the ^(F1)fate of those who plunder us And the lot of those who pillage us.

Woe, land of whirring wings Which lies beyond the rivers of ^(F1)(C1)Cush,

Which sends messengers by the sea, Even in ^(C1)papyrus vessels on the surface of the waters. Go, swift messengers, to a nation ^(F1)(C2)tall and smooth, To a people ^(C3)feared ^(F2)far and wide, A powerful and oppressive nation Whose land the rivers divide.

^(C1)All you who inhabit the world, and live on earth, As soon as a flag is raised on the mountains, ^(C2)you will see it, And as soon as the trumpet is blown, you will hear it.

For this is what the LORD has told me: "I will quietly look ^(F1)from My ^(C1)dwelling place Like dazzling heat in the ^(F2)(C2)sunshine, Like a cloud of ^(C3)dew in the heat of harvest."

For ^(C1)before the harvest, as soon as the bud ^(F1)blossoms And the flower becomes a ripening grape, He will cut off the shoots with pruning knives, And remove and tear away the spreading branches.

They will be left together for mountain birds ^(C1)of prey, And for the animals of the earth; And the birds of prey will spend the summer feeding on them, And all the animals of the earth will spend harvest time on them.

At that time a gift of tribute will be brought to the LORD of armies ^(F1)From a ^(C1)people ^(F2)tall and smooth, From a people feared ^(F3)far and wide, A powerful and oppressive nation, Whose land the rivers divide— To the ^(C2)place of the name of the LORD of armies, to Mount Zion.

The ^(C1)pronouncement concerning ^(C2)Egypt: Behold, the LORD is ^(C3)riding on a swift cloud and is about to come to Egypt; The ^(C4)idols of Egypt will tremble at His presence, And the ^(C5)heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.

"So I will incite Egyptians against Egyptians; And they will fight, ^(C1)each against his brother and each against his neighbor, City against city and kingdom against kingdom.

-"Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be demoralized within them; And I will confuse their strategy, So that ^(C1)they will resort to idols and ghosts of the dead, And to ^(F1)mediums and spiritists.

-"Furthermore, I will hand the Egyptians over to a ^(C1)cruel master, And a ^(F1)mighty king will rule over them," declares the Lord ^(F2)GOD of armies.

^(C1)The waters from the sea will dry up, And the river will be parched and dry.

The ^(F1)(C1)canals will emit a stench, The ^(F2)(C2)streams of Egypt will thin out and dry up; ^(C3)The reeds and rushes will rot away.

The bulrushes by the ^(C1)Nile, by the ^(F1)edge of the Nile And all the sown fields by the Nile Will become dry, be driven away, and be no more.

And the ^(C1)fishermen will grieve, And all those who cast a ^(F1)line into the Nile will mourn, And those who spread nets on the waters will dwindle away.

Moreover, the manufacturers of linen made from combed flax And the weavers of white ^(C1)cloth will be ^(F1)utterly dejected.

And ^(F1)the ^(C1)pillars of Egypt will be crushed; All the hired laborers will be grieved in soul.