Thematic Bible: Why desolation comes
Thematic Bible
Desolation » Why desolation comes
Many foreign rulers have destroyed my vineyard. They trampled down my fields and turned my beautiful land into a desert. They made it a wasteland. It lies desolate before me. The whole land has become a desert, and no one cares. Across the entire desert highlands people have come to plunder. Jehovah has sent war to destroy the entire land. No one can live in peace. read more.
My people planted wheat. They gathered weeds! They worked hard and got nothing for it. Because of my fierce anger their crops have failed.
My people planted wheat. They gathered weeds! They worked hard and got nothing for it. Because of my fierce anger their crops have failed.
I am Jehovah your God. I brought you out of Egypt so that you are no longer slaves of the Egyptians. I have broken their power over you and made you live as a free people. If you will not listen to me and obey all these commandments, if you reject my laws and look at my rules with disgust, if you reject my promise by disobeying my commandments, read more.
then this is what I will do to you: I will terrorize you with disease and fever. You will suffer from eye problems and depression. You will plant your crops and get nothing because your enemies will eat them. I will condemn you so that you will go down in defeat in front of your enemies. Those who hate you will be your rulers. You will run away even when no one is chasing you. If you still will not listen to me, I will discipline you seven times for your sins. I will crush your arrogance. You will have no rain, and your land will be as hard as cement. Your strength will be spent uselessly. Your land will not yield its produce and the trees of the land will not yield their fruit. If you act with hostility against me and are unwilling to obey me I will increase the plague on you seven times according to your sins. I will send wild animals among you. They will rob you of your children. They will destroy your cattle, and make you so few that your roads will be deserted. If this discipline does not help and you still resist, I will resist you. I will punish you seven times for your sins. I will bring war on you to get revenge for my promise you rejected. When you gather in your cities, I will send plagues on you and you will fall under the control of your enemy. I will destroy your food supply. Ten women will need only one oven to prepare your food. You will eat and go away hungry. If in spite of this you do not listen to me and still resist me, I will resist you with great fury. I will discipline you seven times for your sins. You will eat the bodies of your sons and daughters. I will destroy your worship sites. I will cut down your incense altars and pile your dead bodies on top of your dead idols. I will view you with disgust. I will make your cities deserted and ruin your sacred places. I will no longer accept the soothing aroma from your sacrifices. I will make your land so deserted that your enemies will be shocked as they settle in it.
then this is what I will do to you: I will terrorize you with disease and fever. You will suffer from eye problems and depression. You will plant your crops and get nothing because your enemies will eat them. I will condemn you so that you will go down in defeat in front of your enemies. Those who hate you will be your rulers. You will run away even when no one is chasing you. If you still will not listen to me, I will discipline you seven times for your sins. I will crush your arrogance. You will have no rain, and your land will be as hard as cement. Your strength will be spent uselessly. Your land will not yield its produce and the trees of the land will not yield their fruit. If you act with hostility against me and are unwilling to obey me I will increase the plague on you seven times according to your sins. I will send wild animals among you. They will rob you of your children. They will destroy your cattle, and make you so few that your roads will be deserted. If this discipline does not help and you still resist, I will resist you. I will punish you seven times for your sins. I will bring war on you to get revenge for my promise you rejected. When you gather in your cities, I will send plagues on you and you will fall under the control of your enemy. I will destroy your food supply. Ten women will need only one oven to prepare your food. You will eat and go away hungry. If in spite of this you do not listen to me and still resist me, I will resist you with great fury. I will discipline you seven times for your sins. You will eat the bodies of your sons and daughters. I will destroy your worship sites. I will cut down your incense altars and pile your dead bodies on top of your dead idols. I will view you with disgust. I will make your cities deserted and ruin your sacred places. I will no longer accept the soothing aroma from your sacrifices. I will make your land so deserted that your enemies will be shocked as they settle in it.
Do not be like your ancestors and your relatives who were unfaithful to Jehovah the God of their ancestors. He made them something that shocks people, as you have seen.
You felt sure of yourself in your evil. You thought that no one could see you. Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray. Then you said to yourself: 'I am God! There is no one else like me.' Disaster will come upon you, and none of your magic can stop it. Ruin will come on you suddenly, ruin you never dreamed of!
Jehovah has sent all his servants the prophets to you. Yet, you have not listened or paid attention to them. The prophets said: Turn from your evil ways and the evil you have done, and live in the land that Jehovah permanently gave to you and your ancestors. Do not follow other gods to serve and worship them. Do not make me furious about the idols your hands have shaped. Then I will not harm you. read more.
You have not listened to me,' declares Jehovah. 'You have made me furious about the idols your hands have shaped. You have brought harm upon yourselves.' This is what Jehovah of Hosts says: 'You did not listen to my words, so I am going to send for all the families from the north. I will also send for my servant King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, says Jehovah. I will bring the families from the north to attack this land, its people, and all these surrounding nations. I am going to destroy them and turn them into something terrible, something ridiculed, and something permanently ruined. I will take from them the sounds of joy and happiness, the sounds of brides and grooms, the sound of mills, and the light of lamps. This whole land will be ruined and become a wasteland. These nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.' When the seventy years are over, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation for their crimes,' declares Jehovah. 'I will turn Babylon into a permanent wasteland.
You have not listened to me,' declares Jehovah. 'You have made me furious about the idols your hands have shaped. You have brought harm upon yourselves.' This is what Jehovah of Hosts says: 'You did not listen to my words, so I am going to send for all the families from the north. I will also send for my servant King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, says Jehovah. I will bring the families from the north to attack this land, its people, and all these surrounding nations. I am going to destroy them and turn them into something terrible, something ridiculed, and something permanently ruined. I will take from them the sounds of joy and happiness, the sounds of brides and grooms, the sound of mills, and the light of lamps. This whole land will be ruined and become a wasteland. These nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.' When the seventy years are over, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation for their crimes,' declares Jehovah. 'I will turn Babylon into a permanent wasteland.
For Gaza will be abandoned. Ashkelon will be a desolate waste. They will drive out Ashdod at high noon. Ekron will be exterminated. Woe to the inhabitants of the seacoast, the nation of the Cherethites! The word of Jehovah is against you, O Canaan, the land of the Philistines. I will destroy you and you will not be inhabited. The seacoast will be pastures, with cottages for shepherds and pens for sheep. read more.
The coast will be for the remnant of the house of Judah. They will feed their flocks there. They will rest at night in the houses of Ashkelon. Jehovah their God will visit them and gather back the captive ones. I have heard the reproach of Moab and the taunting by the children of Ammon. They have reproached my people. They behave arrogantly at the border. Just as I live, said Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, Moab will be like Sodom, and the children of Ammon like Gomorrah. They will be possessions of nettles and salt pits. They will be deserted forever! My people will plunder them and the remnant of my nation will take possession of their land. They will have this instead of their pride. This is because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of Jehovah of Hosts. Jehovah will fill them with fear for he will starve (emaciate) all the gods of the earth! Men will worship him, each one from his place, even the coastlands of the nations. You Ethiopians (Cushites) will be slain by my sword! He will stretch out his hand (exercise his power) against the north, and destroy Assyria. He will make Nineveh a desolation. It will be barren like the desert wilderness. And herds will lie down in her midst, all the beasts of the nations. The pelican and the porcupine will lodge on the top of her pillars. Their voice will sing (hoot) (croak) in the windows. Desolation will be in the thresholds for he will lay bare that which is built with cedar. This is the joyous city that dwelled in security. She said in her heart, 'I am! There is no one else!' She has become an object of desolation, a place for wild animals to lie down in. Every one who passes by her will hiss, and wag his hand.
The coast will be for the remnant of the house of Judah. They will feed their flocks there. They will rest at night in the houses of Ashkelon. Jehovah their God will visit them and gather back the captive ones. I have heard the reproach of Moab and the taunting by the children of Ammon. They have reproached my people. They behave arrogantly at the border. Just as I live, said Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, Moab will be like Sodom, and the children of Ammon like Gomorrah. They will be possessions of nettles and salt pits. They will be deserted forever! My people will plunder them and the remnant of my nation will take possession of their land. They will have this instead of their pride. This is because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of Jehovah of Hosts. Jehovah will fill them with fear for he will starve (emaciate) all the gods of the earth! Men will worship him, each one from his place, even the coastlands of the nations. You Ethiopians (Cushites) will be slain by my sword! He will stretch out his hand (exercise his power) against the north, and destroy Assyria. He will make Nineveh a desolation. It will be barren like the desert wilderness. And herds will lie down in her midst, all the beasts of the nations. The pelican and the porcupine will lodge on the top of her pillars. Their voice will sing (hoot) (croak) in the windows. Desolation will be in the thresholds for he will lay bare that which is built with cedar. This is the joyous city that dwelled in security. She said in her heart, 'I am! There is no one else!' She has become an object of desolation, a place for wild animals to lie down in. Every one who passes by her will hiss, and wag his hand.
They refused to pay heed, turned a stubborn shoulder (resisted), and stopped their ears, that they might not hear. They made their hearts hard like flint and would not listen to the law, and the words that Jehovah of Hosts sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Great anger came from Jehovah of Hosts! I cried, and they would not listen. Now they will cry, and I will not listen,' said Jehovah of Hosts! read more.
I will scatter them with a whirlwind among the nations that they have not known. Thus the land was desolate after them, so that no man passed through nor returned. They tread down the pleasant land and made it desolate.'
I will scatter them with a whirlwind among the nations that they have not known. Thus the land was desolate after them, so that no man passed through nor returned. They tread down the pleasant land and made it desolate.'