ISAIAH 33:10-36:22
GALATIANS 5:13-26
PSALM 64:1-10
PROVERBS 23:23
ISAIAH 33:10-36:22
But the LORD says: " I will stand up and show my power and might. 11 You Assyrians will gain nothing by all your efforts. Your own breath will turn to fire and kill you. 12 Your people will be burned up completely, like thorns cut down and tossed in a fire. 13 Listen to what I have done, you nations far away! And you that are near, acknowledge my might!" 14 The sinners in Jerusalem shake with fear. " Which one of us," they cry, " can live here in the presence of this all-consuming fire?" 15 The ones who can live here are those who are honest and fair, who reject making a profit by fraud, who stay far away from bribes, who refuse to listen to those who plot murder, who shut their eyes to all enticement to do wrong. 16 These are the ones who will dwell on high. The rocks of the mountains will be their fortress of safety. Food will be supplied to them, and they will have water in abundance. 17 Your eyes will see the king in all his splendor, and you will see a land that stretches into the distance. 18 You will think back to this time of terror when the Assyrian officers outside your walls counted your towers and estimated how much plunder they would get from your fallen city. 19 But soon they will all be gone. These fierce, violent people with a strange, unknown language will disappear.20 Instead, you will see Zion as a place of worship and celebration. You will see Jerusalem, a city quiet and secure. 21 The LORD will be our Mighty One. He will be like a wide river of protection that no enemy can cross. 22 For the LORD is our judge, our lawgiver, and our king. He will care for us and save us. 23 The enemies' sails hang loose on broken masts with useless tackle. Their treasure will be divided by the people of God. Even the lame will win their share! 24 The people of Israel will no longer say, " We are sick and helpless," for the LORD will forgive their sins. 34:1 COME here and listen, O nations of the earth. Let the world and everything in it hear my words. 2 For the LORD is enraged against the nations. His fury is against all their armies. He will completely destroy them, bringing about their slaughter. 3 Their dead will be left unburied, and the stench of rotting bodies will fill the land. The mountains will flow with their blood. 4 The heavens above will melt away and disappear like a rolled-up scroll. The stars will fall from the sky, just as withered leaves and fruit fall from a tree. 5 And when my sword has finished its work in the heavens, then watch. It will fall upon Edom, the nation I have completely destroyed. 6 The sword of the LORD is drenched with blood. It is covered with fat as though it had been used for killing lambs and goats and rams for a sacrifice. Yes, the LORD will offer a great sacrifice in the rich city of Bozrah. He will make a mighty slaughter in Edom. 7 The strongest will die--veterans and young men, too. The land will be soaked with blood and the soil enriched with fat. 8 For it is the day of the LORD's vengeance, the year when Edom will be paid back for all it did to Israel. 9 The streams of Edom will be filled with burning pitch, and the ground will be covered with fire.10 This judgment on Edom will never end; the smoke of its burning will rise forever. The land will lie deserted from generation to generation. No one will live there anymore. 11 It will be haunted by the horned owl, the hawk, the screech owl, and the raven. For God will bring chaos and destruction to that land. 12 It will be called the Land of Nothing, and its princes soon will all be gone. 13 Thorns will overrun its palaces; nettles will grow in its forts. The ruins will become a haunt for jackals and a home for ostriches. 14 Wild animals of the desert will mingle there with hyenas, their howls filling the night. Wild goats will bleat at one another among the ruins, and night creatures will come there to rest. 15 There the owl will make her nest and lay her eggs. She will hatch her young and cover them with her wings. And the vultures will come, each one with its mate. 16 Search the book of the LORD, and see what he will do. He will not miss a single detail. Not one of these birds and animals will be missing, and none will lack a mate, for the LORD has promised this. His Spirit will make it all come true. 17 He has surveyed and divided the land and deeded it over to those creatures. They will possess it forever, from generation to generation. 35:1 EVEN the wilderness will rejoice in those days. The desert will blossom with flowers. 2 Yes, there will be an abundance of flowers and singing and joy! The deserts will become as green as the mountains of Lebanon, as lovely as Mount Carmel's pastures and the plain of Sharon. There the LORD will display his glory, the splendor of our God. 3 With this news, strengthen those who have tired hands, and encourage those who have weak knees. 4 Say to those who are afraid, " Be strong, and do not fear, for your God is coming to destroy your enemies. He is coming to save you." 5 And when he comes, he will open the eyes of the blind and unstop the ears of the deaf. 6 The lame will leap like a deer, and those who cannot speak will shout and sing! Springs will gush forth in the wilderness, and streams will water the desert. 7 The parched ground will become a pool, and springs of water will satisfy the thirsty land. Marsh grass and reeds and rushes will flourish where desert jackals once lived.8 And a main road will go through that once deserted land. It will be named the Highway of Holiness. Evil-hearted people will never travel on it. It will be only for those who walk in God's ways; fools will never walk there. 9 Lions will not lurk along its course, and there will be no other dangers. Only the redeemed will follow it. 10 Those who have been ransomed by the LORD will return to Jerusalem, singing songs of everlasting joy. Sorrow and mourning will disappear, and they will be overcome with joy and gladness. 36:1 IN the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah's reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria came to attack the fortified cities of Judah and conquered them. 2 Then the king of Assyria sent his personal representative with a huge army from Lachish to confront King Hezekiah in Jerusalem. The Assyrians stopped beside the aqueduct that feeds water into the upper pool, near the road leading to the field where cloth is bleached. 3 These are the officials who went out to meet with them: Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator, Shebna the court secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the royal historian. 4 Then the Assyrian king's personal representative sent this message to King Hezekiah: " This is what the great king of Assyria says: What are you trusting in that makes you so confident? 5 Do you think that mere words can substitute for military skill and strength? Which of your allies will give you any military backing against Assyria? 6 Will Egypt? If you lean on Egypt, you will find it to be a stick that breaks beneath your weight and pierces your hand. The Pharaoh of Egypt is completely unreliable! 7 " But perhaps you will say, ` We are trusting in the LORD our God!' But isn't he the one who was insulted by King Hezekiah? Didn't Hezekiah tear down his shrines and altars and make everyone in Judah worship only at the altar here in Jerusalem? 8 " I'll tell you what! My master, the king of Assyria, will strike a bargain with you. If you can find two thousand horsemen in your entire army, he will give you two thousand horses for them to ride on! 9 With your tiny army, how can you think of challenging even the weakest contingent of my master's troops, even with the help of Egypt's chariots and horsemen? 10 What's more, do you think we have invaded your land without the LORD's direction? The LORD himself told us, ` Go and destroy it!' "11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the king's representative, " Please speak to us in Aramaic, for we understand it well. Don't speak in Hebrew, for the people on the wall will hear." 12 But Sennacherib's representative replied, " My master wants everyone in Jerusalem to hear this, not just you. He wants them to know that if you do not surrender, this city will be put under siege. The people will become so hungry and thirsty that they will eat their own dung and drink their own urine." 13 Then he stood and shouted in Hebrew to the people on the wall, " Listen to this message from the great king of Assyria! 14 This is what the king says: Don't let King Hezekiah deceive you. He will never be able to rescue you. 15 Don't let him fool you into trusting in the LORD by saying, ` The LORD will rescue us! This city will never be handed over to the Assyrian king.' 16 " Don't listen to Hezekiah! These are the terms the king of Assyria is offering: Make peace with me--open the gates and come out. Then I will allow each of you to continue eating from your own garden and drinking from your own well. 17 Then I will arrange to take you to another land like this one--a country with bountiful harvests of grain and wine, bread and vineyards--a land of plenty.18 " Don't let Hezekiah mislead you by saying, ` The LORD will rescue us!' Have the gods of any other nations ever saved their people from the king of Assyria? 19 What happened to the gods of Hamath and Arpad? And what about the gods of Sepharvaim? Did they rescue Samaria from my power? 20 What god of any nation has ever been able to save its people from my power? Name just one! So what makes you think that the LORD can rescue Jerusalem?" 21 But the people were silent and did not answer because Hezekiah had told them not to speak. 22 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, the palace administrator, Shebna the court secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the royal historian, went back to Hezekiah. They tore their clothes in despair, and they went in to see the king and told him what the Assyrian representative had said.
GALATIANS 5:13-26
For you have been called to live in freedom--not freedom to satisfy your sinful nature, but freedom to serve one another in love. 14 For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: " Love your neighbor as yourself." 15 But if instead of showing love among yourselves you are always biting and devouring one another, watch out! Beware of destroying one another. 16 So I advise you to live according to your new life in the Holy Spirit. Then you won't be doing what your sinful nature craves. 17 The old sinful nature loves to do evil, which is just opposite from what the Holy Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are opposite from what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, and your choices are never free from this conflict. 18 But when you are directed by the Holy Spirit, you are no longer subject to the law. 19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, your lives will produce these evil results: sexual immorality, impure thoughts, eagerness for lustful pleasure, 20 idolatry, participation in demonic activities, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, divisions, the feeling that everyone is wrong except those in your own little group, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other kinds of sin. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. 22 But when the Holy Spirit controls our lives, he will produce this kind of fruit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. Here there is no conflict with the law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. 25 If we are living now by the Holy Spirit, let us follow the Holy Spirit's leading in every part of our lives. 26 Let us not become conceited, or irritate one another, or be jealous of one another.
PSALM 64:1-10
For the choir director: A psalm of David.
1 O God, listen to my complaint.
Do not let my enemies' threats overwhelm me.
2 Protect me from the plots of the wicked,
from the scheming of those who do evil.
3 Sharp tongues are the swords they wield;
bitter words are the arrows they aim.
4 They shoot from ambush at the innocent,
attacking suddenly and fearlessly.
5 They encourage each other to do evil
and plan how to set their traps.
" Who will ever notice?" they ask.
6 As they plot their crimes, they say,
" We have devised the perfect plan!"
Yes, the human heart and mind are cunning.
7 But God himself will shoot them down.
Suddenly, his arrows will pierce them.
8 Their own words will be turned against them, destroying them.
All who see it happening will shake their heads in scorn.
9 Then everyone will stand in awe,
proclaiming the mighty acts of God,
realizing all the amazing things he does.
10 The godly will rejoice in the LORD
and find shelter in him.
And those who do what is right
will praise him.
PROVERBS 23:23
Get the truth and don't ever sell it; also get wisdom, discipline, and discernment.
