Study Desk

^(F1)(C1)Oh, that my head were waters And my eyes a fountain of tears, That I might weep day and night For those slain of the ^(C2)daughter of my people!

^(F1)(C1)Oh that I had in the desert A travelers' lodging place; So that I might leave my people And go away from them! For all of them are ^(C2)adulterers, An assembly of ^(C3)treacherous people.

"They ^(C1)bend their tongues like their bows; Lies and not truth prevail in the land; For they ^(C2)proceed from evil to evil, And they ^(C3)do not know Me," declares the LORD.

"Let everyone ^(C1)be on guard against his neighbor, And ^(C2)do not trust any brother; Because every ^(C3)brother utterly ^(F1)betrays, And every neighbor ^(C4)goes about as a slanderer.

-"Everyone ^(C1)deceives his neighbor And does not speak the truth. They have taught their tongue to speak lies; They ^(C2)weary themselves committing wrongdoing.

-"Your ^(C1)dwelling is in the midst of deceit; Through deceit they ^(C2)refuse to know Me," declares the LORD.

Therefore this is what the LORD of armies says: "Behold, I will refine them and ^(C1)put them to the test; For ^(C2)what else can I do, because of the daughter of My people?

-"Their ^(C1)tongue is a deadly arrow; It speaks deceit; With his mouth one ^(C2)speaks peace to his neighbor, But inwardly he ^(C3)sets an ambush for him.

-"^(C1)Shall I not punish them for these things?" declares the LORD. "Shall I not avenge Myself On a nation such as this?

"I will take up a weeping and wailing for the ^(C1)mountains, And for the pastures of the ^(C2)wilderness a song of mourning, Because they are ^(C3)laid waste so that no one passes through, And the sound of the livestock is not heard; Both the ^(C4)birds of the sky and the animals have fled; they are gone.

-"I will make Jerusalem a ^(C1)heap of ruins, A haunt of ^(C2)jackals; And I will make the cities of Judah a ^(C3)desolation without inhabitant."

Who is the ^(C1)wise person who may understand this? And who is he to whom ^(C2)the mouth of the LORD has spoken, that he may declare it? ^(C3)Why is the land destroyed, laid waste like the desert, so that no one passes through?

The LORD said, "Because they have ^(C1)abandoned My Law which I put before them, and have not obeyed My voice nor walked according to it,

but have ^(C1)followed the stubbornness of their heart and the ^(C2)Baals, ^(F1)as their ^(C3)fathers taught them,"

therefore this is what the LORD of armies, the God of Israel says: "Behold, ^(C1)I will feed this people wormwood; and I will give them ^(C2)poisoned water to drink.

"I will also ^(C1)scatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the ^(C2)sword after them until I have put an end to them."

This is what the LORD of armies says: "Consider and call for the ^(C1)mourning women, that they may come; And send for the ^(F1)(C2)skillful women, that they may come!

-"Have them hurry and take up a wailing for us, So that our ^(C1)eyes may shed tears, And our eyelids flow with water.

-"For a voice of ^(C1)wailing is heard from Zion: '^(C2)How devastated we are! We are put to great shame, For we have ^(C3)abandoned the land Because they have torn down our homes.'"

Now hear the word of the LORD, you ^(C1)women, And let your ears receive the word of His mouth; Teach your daughters wailing, And have every woman teach her neighbor a song of mourning.

For ^(C1)death has come up through our windows; It has entered our palaces To eliminate the ^(C2)children from the streets, The young men from the public squares.

Speak, "This is what the LORD says: 'The corpses of people will fall ^(C1)like dung on the open field, And like the sheaf after the reaper, But no one will gather them.'"

This is what the LORD says: "^(C1)Let no wise man boast of his wisdom, nor let the ^(C2)mighty man boast of his might, nor a ^(C3)rich man boast of his riches;

but let the one who boasts ^(C1)boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who ^(C2)exercises ^(F1)mercy, justice, and righteousness on the earth; for I ^(C3)delight in these things," declares the LORD.

"Behold, the days are coming," declares the LORD, "that I will punish all who are circumcised and yet ^(C1)uncircumcised—

Egypt, Judah, Edom, the sons of Ammon, Moab, and ^(C1)all those inhabiting the desert who trim the hair on their temples; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are ^(C2)uncircumcised of heart."

Hear the word which the LORD speaks to you, house of Israel.

This is what the LORD says: "^(C1)Do not learn the way of the nations, And do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens, Although the nations are terrified by them;

For the customs of the peoples are ^(C1)futile; For ^(C2)it is wood cut from the forest, The work of the hands of a craftsman with a cutting tool.

-"They ^(C1)decorate the idol with silver and gold; They ^(C2)fasten it with nails and hammers So that it will not totter.

-"They are like a scarecrow in a cucumber field, And they ^(C1)cannot speak; They must be ^(C2)carried, Because they cannot walk! Do not fear them, For they ^(C3)can do no harm, Nor can they do any good."

^(C1)There is none like You, LORD; You are ^(C2)great, and Your name is great in might.

^(C1)Who would not fear You, O ^(C2)King of the nations? For it is Your due! For among all the ^(C3)wise men of the nations And in all their kingdoms, There is none like You.

But they are altogether ^(C1)stupid and foolish; The instruction from idols is nothing but wood!

Beaten ^(C1)silver is brought from ^(C2)Tarshish, And ^(C3)gold from Uphaz, The work of a craftsman and of the hands of a goldsmith; Their clothing is of violet and purple; They are all the ^(C4)work of skilled people.

But the LORD is the ^(C1)true God; He is the ^(C2)living God and the ^(C3)everlasting King. The ^(C4)earth quakes at His wrath, And the nations cannot ^(C5)endure His indignation.

^(F1)This is what you shall say to them: "The ^(C1)gods that did not make the heavens and the earth will ^(C2)perish from the earth and from under these heavens."

It is ^(C1)He who made the earth by His power, Who ^(C2)established the world by His wisdom; And by His understanding He has ^(C3)stretched out the heavens.

When He utters His ^(C1)voice, there is a roar of waters in the heavens, And He makes the ^(C2)clouds ascend from the end of the earth; He makes lightning for the rain, And brings out the ^(C3)wind from His storehouses.

Every person is ^(C1)stupid, devoid of knowledge; Every goldsmith is put to shame by his idols, For his cast metal images are deceitful, And there is no breath in them.

They are ^(C1)worthless, a work of mockery; At the ^(C2)time of their punishment they will perish.

The ^(C1)Portion of Jacob is not like these; For He is the ^(F1)(C2)Maker of everything, And ^(C3)Israel is the tribe of His inheritance; The ^(C4)LORD of armies is His name.

^(C1)Pick up your bundle from the ground, You who live under siege!

For this is what the LORD says: "Behold, I am ^(C1)slinging out the inhabitants of the land At this time, And I will cause them distress, So that they may ^(F1)be found."

^(C1)Woe to me, because of my ^(F1)injury! My ^(C2)wound is incurable. But I said, "This certainly is a sickness, And I ^(C3)must endure it."

My ^(C1)tent is destroyed, And all my ropes are broken. My ^(C2)sons have gone from me and are no more. There is ^(C3)no one to stretch out my tent again Or to set up my curtains.

For the shepherds have become stupid And ^(C1)have not sought the LORD. Therefore they have not prospered, And ^(C2)all their flock is scattered.

The sound of a ^(C1)report! Behold, it is coming— A great roar ^(C2)from the land of the north— To ^(C3)make the cities of Judah A desolation, a haunt of jackals.

I know, LORD, that ^(C1)a person's way is not in himself, ^(C2)Nor is it in a person who walks to direct his steps.

^(C1)Correct me, LORD, but with justice; Not with Your anger, or You will ^(F1)bring me to nothing.

^(C1)Pour out Your wrath on the nations that ^(C2)do not know You, And on the families who ^(C3)do not call upon Your name; For they have devoured Jacob; They have ^(C4)devoured him and consumed him, And have laid waste his ^(F1)settlement.

That which came as the word of the LORD to Jeremiah regarding the ^(C1)drought:

"Judah mourns And ^(C1)her gates languish; Her people sit on the ground ^(C2)in mourning garments, And the ^(C3)cry of Jerusalem has ascended.

-"Their nobles have ^(C1)sent their ^(F1)servants for water; They have come to the ^(C2)cisterns and found no water. They have returned with their containers empty; They have been ^(C3)put to shame and humiliated, And they ^(C4)cover their heads,

Because the ^(C1)ground is ^(F1)cracked, For there has been ^(C2)no rain on the land. The ^(C3)farmers have been put to shame, They have covered their heads.

-"For even the doe in the field has given birth only to abandon her young, Because there is ^(C1)no grass.

-"The ^(C1)wild donkeys stand on the bare heights; They pant for air like jackals, Their eyes fail Because there is ^(C2)no vegetation.

-"Though our ^(C1)wrongdoings testify against us, LORD, act ^(C2)for the sake of Your name! Our ^(C3)apostasies have indeed been many, We have ^(C4)sinned against You.

-"^(C1)Hope of Israel, Its ^(C2)Savior in ^(C3)time of distress, Why are You like a stranger in the land, Or like a traveler who has pitched his tent for the night?

-"Why are You like a confused person, Like a warrior who ^(C1)cannot save? Yet ^(C2)You are in our midst, LORD, And we are ^(C3)called by Your name; Do not leave us!"

This is what the LORD says to this people: "So much they have ^(C1)loved to wander; they have not ^(C2)restrained their feet. Therefore the LORD does ^(C3)not accept them; now He will ^(C4)remember their wrongdoing and call their sins to account."

So the LORD said to me, "^(C1)Do not pray for a good outcome on behalf of this people.

"When they fast, I am ^(C1)not going to listen to their cry; and when they offer ^(C2)burnt offering and grain offering, I am not going to accept them. Rather, I am going to ^(C3)put an end to them by the ^(C4)sword, famine, and plague."

But I said, "Oh, Lord ^(F1)GOD! Behold, the prophets are telling them, 'You ^(C1)will not see a sword, nor will you have famine; on the contrary, I will give you lasting ^(C2)peace in this place.'"

Then the LORD said to me, "The ^(C1)prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. ^(C2)I have neither sent them nor commanded them, nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a ^(C3)false vision, divination, futility, and the deception of their own ^(F1)minds.

"Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning the prophets who are prophesying in My name, although it was not I who sent them—yet they keep saying: 'There will be no sword or famine in this land'—^(C1)by sword and famine those prophets shall meet their end!

"And the people to whom they are prophesying will be ^(C1)thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and there will be no one to ^(C2)bury them—neither them, nor their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters. For I will ^(C3)pour out their own wickedness upon them.

-"You will say this word to them, '^(C1)Let my eyes stream down tears night and day, And let them not cease; For the virgin ^(C2)daughter of my people has been crushed with a mighty blow, With a sorely ^(C3)infected wound.

-'If I ^(C1)go out to the country, There are those killed by the sword! Or if I enter the city, There are diseases from famine! For ^(C2)both prophet and priest Have wandered around in the land that they do not know.'"

Have You completely ^(C1)rejected Judah? Or have ^(F1)You loathed Zion? Why have You stricken us so that we ^(C2)are beyond healing? We ^(C3)waited for peace, but nothing good came; And for a time of healing, but behold, terror!

We ^(C1)know our wickedness, LORD, The wrongdoing of our fathers, for ^(C2)we have sinned against You.

Do not despise us, ^(C1)for the sake of Your own name; Do not disgrace the ^(C2)throne of Your glory. Remember and do not annul Your covenant with us.

Are there any among the ^(F1)(C1)idols of the nations who ^(C2)give rain? Or can the heavens grant showers? Is it not You, LORD our God? Therefore we ^(C3)wait for You, For You are the one who has done all these things.