ISAIAH 22:1-24:23
GALATIANS 2:17-3:9
PSALM 60:1-12
PROVERBS 23:15-16
ISAIAH 22:1-24:23
This message came to me [Isaiah] concerning Jerusalem: What is happening? Why is everyone running to the rooftops? 2 The whole city is in a terrible uproar. What do I see in this reveling city? Bodies are lying everywhere, killed by famine and disease. 3 All your leaders flee. They surrender without resistance. The people try to slip away, but they are captured, too. 4 Leave me alone to weep; do not try to comfort me. Let me cry for my people as I watch them being destroyed. 5 Oh, what a day of crushing trouble! What a day of confusion and terror the Lord, the LORD Almighty, has brought upon the Valley of Vision! The walls of Jerusalem have been broken, and cries of death echo from the mountainsides. 6 Elamites are the archers; Arameans drive the chariots. The men of Kir hold up the shields. 7 They fill your beautiful valleys and crowd against your gates. 8 Judah's defenses have been stripped away. You run to the armory for your weapons. 9 You inspect the walls of Jerusalem to see what needs to be repaired. You store up water in the lower pool. 10 You check the houses and tear some down to get stone to fix the walls. 11 Between the city walls, you build a reservoir for water from the old pool. But all your feverish plans are to no avail because you never ask God for help. He is the one who planned this long ago. 12 The Lord, the LORD Almighty, called you to weep and mourn. He told you to shave your heads in sorrow for your sins and to wear clothes of sackcloth to show your remorse. 13 But instead, you dance and play; you slaughter sacrificial animals, feast on meat, and drink wine. " Let's eat, drink, and be merry," you say. " What's the difference, for tomorrow we die." 14 The LORD Almighty has revealed to me that this sin will never be forgiven you until the day you die. That is the judgment of the Lord, the LORD Almighty. 15 Furthermore, the Lord, the LORD Almighty, told me to confront Shebna, the palace administrator, and to give him this message: 16 " Who do you think you are, building a beautiful tomb for yourself in the rock? 17 For the LORD is about to seize you and hurl you away. He is going to send you into captivity, you strong man! 18 He will crumple you up into a ball and toss you away into a distant, barren land. There you will die, and there your glorious chariots will remain, broken and useless. You are a disgrace to your master. 19 " Yes, I will drive you out of office," says the LORD. " I will pull you down from your high position. 20 And then I will call my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah to replace you. 21 He will have your royal robes, your title, and your authority. And he will be a father to the people of Jerusalem and Judah. 22 I will give him the key to the house of David--the highest position in the royal court. He will open doors, and no one will be able to shut them; he will close doors, and no one will be able to open them. 23 He will bring honor to his family name, for I will drive him firmly in place like a tent stake. 24 He will be loaded down with responsibility, and he will bring honor to even the lowliest members of his family." 25 The LORD Almighty says: " When that time comes, I will pull out the stake that seemed so firm. It will come out and fall to the ground. Everything it supports will fall with it. I, the LORD, have spoken!"23:1 THIS message came to me concerning Tyre: Weep, O ships of Tarshish, returning home from distant lands! Weep for your harbor at Tyre because it is gone! The rumors you heard in Cyprus are all true. 2 Mourn in silence, you people of the coast and you merchants of Sidon. Your traders crossed the sea, 3 sailing over deep waters. They brought you grain from Egypt and harvests from along the Nile. You were the merchandise mart of the world. 4 But now you are put to shame, city of Sidon, fortress on the sea. For the sea says, " Now I am childless; I have no sons or daughters." 5 When Egypt hears the news about Tyre, there will be great sorrow. 6 Flee now to Tarshish! Wail, you people who live by the sea! 7 How can this silent ruin be all that is left of your once joyous city? What a history was yours! Think of all the colonists you sent to distant lands. 8 Who has brought this disaster on Tyre, empire builder and chief trader of the world? 9 The LORD Almighty has done it to destroy your pride and show his contempt for all human greatness. 10 Come, Tarshish, sweep over your mother Tyre like the flooding Nile, for the city is defenseless. 11 The LORD holds out his hand over the seas. He shakes the kingdoms of the earth. He has spoken out against Phoenicia and depleted its strength. 12 He says, " Never again will you rejoice, O daughter of Sidon. Once you were a lovely city, but you will never again be strong. Even if you flee to Cyprus, you will find no rest." 13 Look at the land of Babylonia--the people of that land are gone! The Assyrians have handed Babylon over to the wild beasts. They have built siege ramps against its walls, torn down its palaces, and turned it into a heap of rubble. 14 Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for your home port is destroyed! 15 For seventy years, the length of a king's life, Tyre will be forgotten. But then the city will come back to life and sing sweet songs like a prostitute. 16 Long absent from her lovers, she will take a harp, walk the streets, and sing her songs, so that she will again be remembered. 17 Yes, after seventy years the LORD will revive Tyre. But she will be no different than she was before. She will return again to all her evil ways around the world. 18 But in the end her businesses will give their profits to the LORD. Her wealth will not be hoarded but will be used to provide good food and fine clothing for the LORD's priests.24:1 LOOK! The LORD is about to destroy the earth and make it a vast wasteland. See how he is scattering the people over the face of the earth. 2 Priests and laypeople, servants and masters, maids and mistresses, buyers and sellers, lenders and borrowers, bankers and debtors--none will be spared. 3 The earth will be completely emptied and looted. The LORD has spoken! 4 The earth dries up, the crops wither, the skies refuse to rain. 5 The earth suffers for the sins of its people, for they have twisted the instructions of God, violated his laws, and broken his everlasting covenant. 6 Therefore, a curse consumes the earth and its people. They are left desolate, destroyed by fire. Few will be left alive. 7 All the joys of life will be gone. The grape harvest will fail, and there will be no wine. The merrymakers will sigh and mourn. 8 The clash of tambourines will be stilled; the happy cries of celebration will be heard no more. The melodious chords of the harp will be silent. 9 Gone are the joys of wine and song; strong drink now turns bitter in the mouth. 10 The city writhes in chaos; every home is locked to keep out looters. 11 Mobs gather in the streets, crying out for wine. Joy has reached its lowest ebb. Gladness has been banished from the land. 12 The city is left in ruins, with its gates battered down. 13 Throughout the earth the story is the same--like the stray olives left on the tree or the few grapes left on the vine after harvest, only a remnant is left. 14 But all who are left will shout and sing for joy. Those in the west will praise the LORD's majesty. 15 In eastern lands, give glory to the LORD. In the coastlands of the sea, praise the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. 16 Listen to them as they sing to the LORD from the ends of the earth. Hear them singing praises to the Righteous One! But my heart is heavy with grief. I am discouraged, for evil still prevails, and treachery is everywhere. 17 Terror and traps and snares will be your lot, you people of the earth. 18 Those who flee in terror will fall into a trap, and those who escape the trap will step into a snare. Destruction falls on you from the heavens. The world is shaken beneath you. 19 The earth has broken down and has utterly collapsed. Everything is lost, abandoned, and confused. 20 The earth staggers like a drunkard. It trembles like a tent in a storm. It falls and will not rise again, for its sins are very great. 21 In that day the LORD will punish the fallen angels in the heavens and the proud rulers of the nations on earth. 22 They will be rounded up and put in prison until they are tried and condemned. 23 Then the LORD Almighty will mount his throne on Mount Zion. He will rule gloriously in Jerusalem, in the sight of all the leaders of his people. There will be such glory that the brightness of the sun and moon will seem to fade away.
GALATIANS 2:17-3:9
But what if we [Paul and other believers] seek to be made right with God through faith in Christ and then find out that we are still sinners? Has Christ led us into sin? Of course not! 18 Rather, I make myself guilty if I rebuild the old system I already tore down. 19 For when I tried to keep the law, I realized I could never earn God's approval. So I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ. 20 I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me. So I live my life in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I am not one of those who treats the grace of God as meaningless. For if we could be saved by keeping the law, then there was no need for Christ to die. 3:1 OH, foolish Galatians! What magician has cast an evil spell on you? For you used to see the meaning of Jesus Christ's death as clearly as though I had shown you a signboard with a picture of Christ dying on the cross. 2 Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by keeping the law? Of course not, for the Holy Spirit came upon you only after you believed the message you heard about Christ. 3 Have you lost your senses? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort? 4 You have suffered so much for the Good News. Surely it was not in vain, was it? Are you now going to just throw it all away? 5 I ask you again, does God give you the Holy Spirit and work miracles among you because you obey the law of Moses? Of course not! It is because you believe the message you heard about Christ. 6 In the same way, " Abraham believed God, so God declared him righteous because of his faith." 7 The real children of Abraham, then, are all those who put their faith in God. 8 What's more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would accept the Gentiles, too, on the basis of their faith. God promised this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, " All nations will be blessed through you." 9 And so it is: All who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith.
PSALM 60:1-12
For the choir director: A psalm of David useful for teaching, regarding the time David fought Aram-naharaim and Aram-zobah, and Joab returned and killed twelve thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt. To be sung to the tune " Lily of the Testimony."
1 You have rejected us, O God, and broken our defenses.
You have been angry with us; now restore us to your favor.
2 You have shaken our land and split it open.
Seal the cracks before it completely collapses.
3 You have been very hard on us,
making us drink wine that sent us reeling.
4 But you have raised a banner for those who honor you--
a rallying point in the face of attack.
Interlude5 Use your strong right arm to save us,
and rescue your beloved people.
6 God has promised this by his holiness:
" I will divide up Shechem with joy.
I will measure out the valley of Succoth.
7 Gilead is mine,
and Manasseh is mine.
Ephraim will produce my warriors,
and Judah will produce my kings.
8 Moab will become my lowly servant,
and Edom will be my slave.
I will shout in triumph over the Philistines."
9 But who will bring me into the fortified city?
Who will bring me victory over Edom?
10 Have you rejected us, O God?
Will you no longer march with our armies?
11 Oh, please help us against our enemies,
for all human help is useless.
12 With God's help we will do mighty things,
for he will trample down our foes.
PROVERBS 23:15-16
My child,> how I will rejoice if you become wise. Yes, my heart will thrill when you speak what is right and just.
