Study Desk

Then the LORD said to me, "Even ^(C1)if ^(C2)Moses and ^(C3)Samuel were to ^(C4)stand before Me, My ^(F1)heart would not be ^(F2)with this people. ^(C5)Send them away from My presence and have them go!

"And it shall be that when they say to you, 'Where should we go?' then you are to tell them, 'This is what the LORD says: "Those destined ^(C1)for death, to death; And those destined for the sword, to the sword; And those destined for famine, to famine; And those destined for captivity, to captivity."'

"And I will ^(C1)appoint over them four kinds of doom," declares the LORD: "the sword to kill, the ^(C2)dogs to drag away, and the ^(C3)birds of the sky and the animals of the earth to devour and destroy.

"I will ^(C1)make them an object of terror among all the kingdoms of the earth because of ^(C2)Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.

"Indeed, who will have ^(C1)pity on you, Jerusalem, Or who will ^(C2)mourn for you, Or who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?

-"You who have ^(C1)forsaken Me," declares the LORD, "You keep ^(C2)going backward. So I will ^(C3)stretch out My hand against you and destroy you; I am ^(C4)tired of relenting!

-"I will ^(C1)winnow them with a winnowing fork At the gates of the land; I will ^(C2)bereave them of children, I will destroy My people; ^(C3)They did not ^(F1)repent of their ways.

-"Their ^(C1)widows will be more numerous before Me Than the sand of the seas; I will bring against them, against the mother of a young man, A ^(C2)destroyer at noon; I will suddenly bring down on her Shock and horror.

-"She who ^(C1)gave birth to seven sons withers away; ^(F1)Her breathing is labored. Her ^(C2)sun has set while it was still day; She has been ^(C3)shamed and humiliated. So I will ^(C4)turn over their survivors to the sword Before their enemies," declares the LORD.

^(C1)Woe to me, my mother, that you have given birth to me As a ^(C2)man of strife and a man of contention to all the land! I have not ^(C3)lent, nor have people lent money to me, Yet everyone curses me.

The LORD said, "I will certainly ^(C1)set you free for purposes of good; I will certainly make the ^(C2)enemy plead with you In a time of disaster and a time of distress.

"Can anyone smash iron, ^(C1)Iron from the north, or bronze?

-"I will give your ^(C1)wealth and your treasures As plunder ^(C2)without cost, For all your sins And within all your borders.

-"Then I will make your enemies bring your possessions Into a ^(C1)land that you do not know; For a ^(C2)fire has been kindled in My anger, And it will burn upon you."

^(C1)You know, LORD; Remember me, take notice of me, And ^(C2)take vengeance for me on my persecutors. Do not, in view of Your patience, take me away; Know that ^(C3)for Your sake I endure reproach.

Your words were found and I ^(C1)ate them, And Your ^(C2)words became a joy to me and the delight of my heart; For I have been ^(C3)called by Your name, LORD God of armies.

I ^(C1)did not sit in a circle of revelers and celebrate. Because of Your hand upon me I sat ^(C2)alone, For You ^(C3)filled me with indignation.

Why has my pain been endless And my ^(C1)wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will You indeed be to me ^(C2)like a deceptive stream With water that is unreliable?

Therefore, this is what the LORD says: "^(C1)If you return, then I will restore you— ^(C2)You will stand before Me; And ^(C3)if you extract the precious from the worthless, You will become ^(F1)My spokesman. They, for their part, may turn to you, But as for you, you are not to turn to them.

-"Then I will ^(C1)make you to this people A fortified wall of bronze; And though they fight against you, They will not prevail over you; For ^(C2)I am with you to save you And rescue you," declares the LORD.

"So I will ^(C1)rescue you from the hand of the wicked, And I will ^(C2)redeem you from the ^(F1)grasp of the violent."

The word of the LORD also came to me, saying,

"You shall not take a wife for yourself nor have sons or daughters in this place."

For this is what the LORD says concerning the sons and daughters born in this place, and concerning their ^(C1)mothers who give birth to them, and their ^(C2)fathers who father them in this land:

"They will ^(C1)die of deadly diseases, they ^(C2)will not be mourned or buried; they will be like ^(C3)dung on the surface of the ground. And they will perish by sword and famine, and their dead bodies will become food for the ^(C4)birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth."

For this is what the LORD says: "Do not enter a house of ^(C1)mourning, or go to mourn or to console them; for I have ^(C2)withdrawn My peace from this people," declares the LORD, "and My ^(C3)favor and compassion.

"Both ^(C1)great people and small will die in this land; they will not be buried, people will not mourn for them, nor will anyone ^(C2)make cuts on himself or have his head ^(C3)shaved for them.

"People will not ^(C1)break bread in mourning for them, to comfort anyone for the dead, nor give them a cup of consolation to drink for anyone's father or mother.

"Moreover, you shall ^(C1)not go into a house of feasting to sit with them to eat and drink."

For this is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: "Behold, I am going to ^(C1)eliminate from this place, before your eyes and in your time, the voice of rejoicing and the voice of joy, the voice of the groom and the voice of the bride.

"Now it will happen that, when you tell this people all these words, they will say to you, '^(C1)For what reason has the LORD declared all this great disaster against us? And what is our wrongdoing, or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?'

"Then you are to say to them, 'It is ^(C1)because your forefathers have abandoned Me,' declares the LORD, 'and have followed ^(C2)other gods, and served and worshiped them; but they have abandoned Me and have not kept My Law.

'You too have done evil, even ^(C1)more than your forefathers; for behold, each one of you is following the ^(C2)stubbornness of his own ^(C3)evil heart, without listening to Me.

'So I will ^(C1)hurl you off this land to the ^(C2)land which you have not known, neither you nor your fathers; and there you will ^(C3)serve other gods day and night, because I will show you no compassion.'

"^(C1)Therefore behold, days are coming," declares the LORD, "when it will no longer be said, 'As the LORD lives, who ^(C2)brought up the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt,'

but, 'As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the ^(C1)land of the north and from all the lands where He had banished them.' For I will restore them to their own land which I gave to their fathers.

"Behold, I am going to send for many ^(C1)fishermen," declares the LORD, "and they will fish for them; and afterward I will send for many hunters, and they will ^(C2)hunt them ^(C3)from every mountain and every hill and from the clefts of the rocks.

"^(C1)For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, ^(C2)nor is their wrongdoing concealed from My eyes.

"I will first repay them ^(C1)double for their wrongdoing and their sin, because they have ^(C2)defiled My land; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their ^(C3)detestable idols and their abominations."

LORD, my ^(C1)strength and my stronghold, And my ^(C2)refuge in the day of distress, To You the ^(C3)nations will come From the ends of the earth and say, "Our fathers have inherited nothing but ^(C4)falsehood, Futility, and ^(F1)(C5)things of no benefit."

Can a person make gods for himself? But they are ^(C1)not gods!

"Therefore behold, I am going to make them know— This time I will ^(C1)make them know My ^(F1)power and My might; And they will ^(C2)know that My name is the LORD."