2 CORINTHIANS 12:11-21
PSALM 56:1-13
PROVERBS 23:6-8
ISAIAH 10:1-11:16
Destruction is certain for the unjust judges, for those who issue unfair laws. 2 They deprive the poor, the widows, and the orphans of justice. Yes, they rob widows and fatherless children! 3 What will you do when I send desolation upon you from a distant land? To whom will you turn for help? Where will your treasures be safe? 4 I will not help you. You will stumble along as prisoners or lie among the dead. But even then the LORD's anger will not be satisfied. His fist is still poised to strike. 5 " Destruction is certain for Assyria, the whip of my anger. Its military power is a club in my hand. 6 Assyria will enslave my people, who are a godless nation. It will plunder them, trampling them like dirt beneath its feet. 7 But the king of Assyria will not know that it is I who sent him. He will merely think he is attacking my people as part of his plan to conquer the world. 8 He will say, ` Each of my princes will soon be a king, ruling a conquered land. 9 We will destroy Calno just as we did Carchemish. Hamath will fall before us as Arpad did. And we will destroy Samaria just as we did Damascus. 10 Yes, we have finished off many a kingdom whose gods were far greater than those in Jerusalem and Samaria. 11 So when we have defeated Samaria and her gods, we will destroy Jerusalem with hers.' " 12 After the Lord has used the king of Assyria to accomplish his purposes in Jerusalem, he will turn against the king of Assyria and punish him--for he is proud and arrogant. 13 He boasts, " By my own power and wisdom I have won these wars. By my own strength I have captured many lands, destroyed their kings, and carried off their treasures. 14 By my greatness I have robbed their nests of riches and gathered up kingdoms as a farmer gathers eggs. No one can even flap a wing against me or utter a peep of protest." 15 Can the ax boast greater power than the person who uses it? Is the saw greater than the person who saws? Can a whip strike unless a hand is moving it? Can a cane walk by itself? 16 Listen now, king of Assyria! Because of all your evil boasting, the Lord, the LORD Almighty, will send a plague among your proud troops, and a flaming fire will ignite your glory. 17 The LORD, the Light of Israel and the Holy One, will be a flaming fire that will destroy them. In a single night he will burn those thorns and briers, the Assyrians. 18 Assyria's vast army is like a glorious forest, yet it will be destroyed. The LORD will completely destroy Assyria's warriors, and they will waste away like sick people in a plague. 19 Only a few from all that mighty army will survive--so few that a child could count them! 20 Then at last those left in Israel and Judah will trust the LORD, the Holy One of Israel. They will no longer depend on the Assyrians, who would destroy them. 21 A remnant of them will return to the Mighty God. 22 But though the people of Israel are as numerous as the sand on the seashore, only a few of them will return at that time. The LORD has rightly decided to destroy his people. 23 Yes, the Lord, the LORD Almighty, has already decided to consume them. 24 So this is what the Lord, the LORD Almighty, says: " My people in Jerusalem, do not be afraid of the Assyrians when they oppress you just as the Egyptians did long ago. 25 It will not last very long. In a little while my anger against you will end, and then my anger will rise up to destroy them." 26 The LORD Almighty will beat them with his whip, as he did when Gideon triumphed over the Midianites at the rock of Oreb, or when the LORD's staff was raised to drown the Egyptian army in the sea. 27 In that day the LORD will end the bondage of his people. He will break the yoke of slavery and lift it from their shoulders.28 Look, the mighty armies of Assyria are coming! They are now at Aiath, now at Migron. They are storing some of their equipment at Micmash. 29 They are crossing the pass and are staying overnight at Geba. Fear strikes the city of Ramah. All the people of Gibeah--the city of Saul--are running for their lives. 30 Well may you scream in terror, you people of Gallim! Shout out a warning to Laishah, for the mighty army comes. Poor Anathoth, what a fate is yours! 31 There go the people of Madmenah, all fleeing. And the citizens of Gebim are preparing to run. 32 But the enemy stops at Nob for the rest of that day. He shakes his fist at Mount Zion in Jerusalem. 33 But look! The Lord, the LORD Almighty, will chop down the mighty tree! He will destroy all that vast army of Assyria--officers and high officials alike. 34 The Mighty One will cut down the enemy as an ax cuts down the forest trees in Lebanon.11:1 OUT of the stump of David's family will grow a shoot--yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root. 2 And the Spirit of the LORD will rest on him--the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. 3 He will delight in obeying the LORD. He will never judge by appearance, false evidence, or hearsay. 4 He will defend the poor and the exploited. He will rule against the wicked and destroy them with the breath of his mouth. 5 He will be clothed with fairness and truth. 6 In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together; the leopard and the goat will be at peace. Calves and yearlings will be safe among lions, and a little child will lead them all. 7 The cattle will graze among bears. Cubs and calves will lie down together. And lions will eat grass as the livestock do. 8 Babies will crawl safely among poisonous snakes. Yes, a little child will put its hand in a nest of deadly snakes and pull it out unharmed. 9 Nothing will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain. And as the waters fill the sea, so the earth will be filled with people who know the LORD. 10 In that day the heir to David's throne will be a banner of salvation to all the world. The nations will rally to him, for the land where he lives will be a glorious place. 11 In that day the Lord will bring back a remnant of his people for the second time, returning them to the land of Israel from Assyria, Lower Egypt, Upper Egypt, Ethiopia, Elam, Babylonia, Hamath, and all the distant coastlands. 12 He will raise a flag among the nations for Israel to rally around. He will gather the scattered people of Judah from the ends of the earth. 13 Then at last the jealousy between Israel and Judah will end. They will not fight against each other anymore. 14 They will join forces to swoop down on Philistia to the west. Together they will attack and plunder the nations to the east. They will occupy all the lands of Edom, Moab, and Ammon. 15 The LORD will make a dry path through the Red Sea. He will wave his hand over the Euphrates River, sending a mighty wind to divide it into seven streams that can easily be crossed. 16 He will make a highway from Assyria for the remnant there, just as he did for Israel long ago when they returned from Egypt.
2 CORINTHIANS 12:11-21
You [Corinthians] have made me [Paul] act like a fool--boasting like this. You ought to be writing commendations for me, for I am not at all inferior to these " super apostles," even though I am nothing at all. 12 When I was with you, I certainly gave you every proof that I am truly an apostle, sent to you by God himself. For I patiently did many signs and wonders and miracles among you. 13 The only thing I didn't do, which I do in the other churches, was to become a burden to you. Please forgive me for this wrong! 14 Now I am coming to you for the third time, and I will not be a burden to you. I don't want what you have; I want you. And anyway, little children don't pay for their parents' food. It's the other way around; parents supply food for their children. 15 I will gladly spend myself and all I have for your spiritual good, even though it seems that the more I love you, the less you love me. 16 Some of you admit I was not a burden to you. But they still think I was sneaky and took advantage of you by trickery. 17 But how? Did any of the men I sent to you take advantage of you? 18 When I urged Titus to visit you and sent our other brother with him, did Titus take advantage of you? No, of course not! For we both have the same Spirit and walk in each other's steps, doing things the same way.19 Perhaps you think we are saying all this just to defend ourselves. That isn't it at all. We tell you this as Christ's servants, and we know that God is listening. Everything we do, dear friends, is for your benefit. 20 For I am afraid that when I come to visit you I won't like what I find, and then you won't like my response. I am afraid that I will find quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfishness, backstabbing, gossip, conceit, and disorderly behavior. 21 Yes, I am afraid that when I come, God will humble me again because of you. And I will have to grieve because many of you who sinned earlier have not repented of your impurity, sexual immorality, and eagerness for lustful pleasure.
PSALM 56:1-13
For the choir director: A psalm of David, regarding the time the Philistines seized him in Gath. To be sung to the tune " Dove on Distant Oaks."
1 O God, have mercy on me.
The enemy troops press in on me.
My foes attack me all day long.
2 My slanderers hound me constantly,
and many are boldly attacking me.
3 But when I am afraid,
I put my trust in you.
4 O God, I praise your word.
I trust in God, so why should I be afraid?
What can mere mortals do to me?
5 They are always twisting what I say;
they spend their days plotting ways to harm me.
6 They come together to spy on me--
watching my every step, eager to kill me.
7 Don't let them get away with their wickedness;
in your anger, O God, throw them to the ground.
8 You keep track of all my sorrows.
You have collected all my tears in your bottle.
You have recorded each one in your book.
9 On the very day I call to you for help,
my enemies will retreat.
This I know: God is on my side.
10 O God, I praise your word.
Yes, LORD, I praise your word.
11 I trust in God, so why should I be afraid?
What can mere mortals do to me?
12 I will fulfill my vows to you, O God,
and offer a sacrifice of thanks for your help.
13 For you have rescued me from death;
you have kept my feet from slipping.
So now I can walk in your presence, O God,
in your life-giving light.
PROVERBS 23:6-8
Don't eat with people who are stingy; don't desire their delicacies. " Eat and drink," they say, but they don't mean it. They are always thinking about how much it costs. You will vomit up the delicious food they serve, and you will have to take back your words of appreciation for their " kindness."
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