לֵבָב

Why do you want more beatings? Why do you keep rebelling? Your head has a massive wound, and your whole heart is afflicted.

Make the hearts of this people calloused; deafen their ears and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

When it was reported to the house of David that Aram was in league with Ephraim, the hearts of Ahaz and his people trembled like trees in the forest shaken by the wind.

…and say to him: Calm down and be quiet. Do not be afraid or disheartened over these two smoldering stubs of firewood—over the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah.

All the people will know it—Ephraim and the dwellers of Samaria. With pride and arrogance of heart they will say:

But this is not his intention; this is not his plan. For it is in his heart to destroy and cut off many nations.

So when the Lord has completed all His work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the fruit of his arrogant heart and the proud look in his eyes.

Therefore all hands will fall limp, and every man’s heart will melt.

You said in your heart: “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of assembly, in the far reaches of the north.

This is the burden against Egypt: Behold, the LORD rides on a swift cloud; He is coming to Egypt. The idols of Egypt will tremble before Him, and the hearts of the Egyptians will melt within them.

My heart falters; fear makes me tremble. The twilight I desired has turned to horror.

You will sing as on the night of a holy festival, and your heart will rejoice like one who walks to the music of a flute, going up to the mountain of the LORD, to the Rock of Israel.

The mind of the rash will know and understand, and the stammering tongue will speak clearly and fluently.

So now hear this, O lover of luxury who sits securely, who says to herself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or know the loss of children.’

Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has begotten these for me? I was bereaved and barren; I was exiled and rejected. So who has reared them? Look, I was left all alone, so where did they come from?’”

Then you will look and be radiant, and your heart will tremble and swell with joy, because the riches of the sea will be brought to you, and the wealth of the nations will come to you.

Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and remove the foreskins of your hearts, O men of Judah and people of Jerusalem. Otherwise, My wrath will break out like fire and burn with no one to extinguish it, because of your evil deeds.”

They have not said in their hearts, ‘Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives the rains, both autumn and spring, in season, who keeps for us the appointed weeks of harvest.’

And if you ask yourself, “Why has this happened to me?” It is because of the magnitude of your iniquity that your skirts have been stripped off and your body has been exposed.

Your words were found, and I ate them. Your words became my joy and my heart’s delight. For I bear Your name, O LORD God of Hosts.

You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never turn away from doing good to them, and I will put My fear in their hearts, so that they will never turn away from Me.

Do not let your heart grow faint, and do not be afraid when the rumor is heard in the land; for a rumor will come one year—and then another the next year—of violence in the land and of ruler against ruler.

You who have escaped the sword, depart and do not linger! Remember the LORD from far away, and let Jerusalem come to mind.”

Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven:

“Son of man,” He added, “listen carefully to all the words I speak to you, and take them to heart.

By your great skill in trading you have increased your wealth, but your heart has grown proud because of it.

Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Because you regard your heart as the heart of a god,

Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Since it became great in height and set its top among the clouds, and it grew proud on account of its height,

Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Surely in My burning zeal I have spoken against the rest of the nations, and against all Edom, who took My land as their own possession with wholehearted joy and utter contempt, so that its pastureland became plunder.

This is what the Lord GOD says: On that day, thoughts will arise in your mind, and you will devise an evil plan.

Through his craft and by his hand, he will cause deceit to prosper, and in his own mind he will make himself great. In a time of peace he will destroy many, and he will even stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be broken off, but not by human hands.

When the army is carried off, the king of the South will be proud in heart and will cast down tens of thousands, but he will not triumph.

And with a large army he will stir up his power and his courage against the king of the South, who will mobilize a very large and powerful army but will not withstand the plots devised against him.

And the two kings, with their hearts bent on evil, will speak lies at the same table, but to no avail, for still the end will come at the appointed time.

The king of the North will return to his land with great wealth, but his heart will be set against the holy covenant; so he will do damage and return to his own land.

But they fail to consider in their hearts that I remember all their evil. Now their deeds are all around them; they are before My face.

“Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to Me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning.”

So rend your hearts and not your garments, and return to the LORD your God. For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion. And He relents from sending disaster.

For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the current swirled about me; all Your breakers and waves swept over me.

It is decreed that the city be exiled and carried away; her maidservants moan like doves, and beat upon their breasts.

And at that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps and punish the men settled in complacency, who say to themselves, ‘The LORD will do nothing, either good or bad.’

This carefree city that dwells securely, that thinks to herself: “I am it, and there is none besides me,” what a ruin she has become, a resting place for beasts. Everyone who passes by her hisses and shakes his fist.

Now this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Consider carefully your ways.

This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Consider carefully your ways.

Now consider carefully from this day forward: Before one stone was placed on another in the temple of the LORD,

Consider carefully from this day forward—from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, the day the foundation of the LORD’s temple was laid—consider carefully: