ISAIAH 25:1-28:13
GALATIANS 3:10-22
PSALM 61:1-8
PROVERBS 23:17-18
ISAIAH 25:1-28:13
O LORD, I [Isaiah] will honor and praise your name, for you are my God. You do such wonderful things! You planned them long ago, and now you have accomplished them. 2 You turn mighty cities into heaps of ruins. Cities with strong walls are turned to rubble. Beautiful palaces in distant lands disappear and will never be rebuilt. 3 Therefore, strong nations will declare your glory; ruthless nations will revere you. 4 But to the poor, O LORD, you are a refuge from the storm. To the needy in distress, you are a shelter from the rain and the heat. For the oppressive acts of ruthless people are like a storm beating against a wall, 5 or like the relentless heat of the desert. But you silence the roar of foreign nations. You cool the land with the shade of a cloud. So the boastful songs of ruthless people are stilled.6 In Jerusalem, the LORD Almighty will spread a wonderful feast for everyone around the world. It will be a delicious feast of good food, with clear, well-aged wine and choice beef. 7 In that day he will remove the cloud of gloom, the shadow of death that hangs over the earth. 8 He will swallow up death forever! The Sovereign LORD will wipe away all tears. He will remove forever all insults and mockery against his land and people. The LORD has spoken! 9 In that day the people will proclaim, " This is our God. We trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the LORD, in whom we trusted. Let us rejoice in the salvation he brings!" 10 For the LORD's good hand will rest on Jerusalem. Moab will be crushed like trampled straw and left to rot. 11 God will push down Moab's people as a swimmer pushes down water with his hands. He will end their pride and all their evil works. 12 The high walls of Moab will be demolished and ground to dust.26:1 IN that day, everyone in the land of Judah will sing this song: Our city is now strong!
We are surrounded by the walls of God's salvation.
2 Open the gates to all who are righteous;
allow the faithful to enter.
3 You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you,
whose thoughts are fixed on you!
4 Trust in the LORD always,
for the LORD GOD is the eternal Rock.
5 He humbles the proud
and brings the arrogant city to the dust.
Its walls come crashing down!
6 The poor and oppressed trample it underfoot.
7 But for those who are righteous,
the path is not steep and rough.
You are a God of justice,
and you smooth out the road ahead of them.
8 LORD, we love to obey your laws;
our heart's desire is to glorify your name.
9 All night long I search for you;
earnestly I seek for God.
For only when you come to judge the earth
will people turn from wickedness and do what is right.
10 Your kindness to the wicked does not make them do good.
They keep doing wrong and take no notice of the LORD's majesty.
11 O LORD, they do not listen when you threaten.
They do not see your upraised fist.
Show them your eagerness to defend your people.
Perhaps then they will be ashamed.
Let your fire consume your enemies.
12 LORD, you will grant us peace,
for all we have accomplished is really from you.
13 O LORD our God, others have ruled us,
but we worship you alone.
14 Those we served before are dead and gone.
Never again will they return!
You attacked them and destroyed them,
and they are long forgotten.
15 We praise you, LORD!
You have made our nation great;
you have extended our borders!
16 LORD, in distress we searched for you.
We were bowed beneath the burden of your discipline.
17 We were like a woman about to give birth,
writhing and crying out in pain.
When we are in your presence, LORD,
18 we, too, writhe in agony,
but nothing comes of our suffering.
We have done nothing to rescue the world;
no one has been born to populate the earth.
19 Yet we have this assurance:
Those who belong to God will live;
their bodies will rise again!
Those who sleep in the earth
will rise up and sing for joy!
For God's light of life will fall like dew
on his people in the place of the dead!
20 Go home, my people, and lock your doors! Hide until the LORD's anger against your enemies has passed. 21 Look! The LORD is coming from heaven to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will no longer hide those who have been murdered. They will be brought out for all to see. 27:1 IN that day the LORD will take his terrible, swift sword and punish Leviathan, the swiftly moving serpent, the coiling, writhing serpent, the dragon of the sea. 2 " In that day we will sing of the pleasant vineyard. 3 I, the LORD, will watch over it and tend its fruitful vines. Each day I will water them; day and night I will watch to keep enemies away. 4 My anger against Israel will be gone. If I find briers and thorns bothering her, I will burn them up. 5 These enemies will be spared only if they surrender and beg for peace and protection." 6 The time is coming when my people will take root. Israel will bud and blossom and fill the whole earth with her fruit! 7 Has the LORD punished Israel in the same way he has punished her enemies? No, for he devastated her enemies, 8 but he has punished Israel only a little. He has exiled her from her land as though blown away in a storm from the east. 9 The LORD did this to purge away Israel's sin. When he has finished, all the pagan altars will be crushed to dust. There won't be an Asherah pole or incense altar left standing. 10 Israel's fortified cities will be silent and empty, the houses abandoned, the streets covered with grass. Cattle will graze there, chewing on twigs and branches. 11 The people are like the dead branches of a tree, broken off and used for kindling beneath the cooking pots. Israel is a foolish and stupid nation, for its people have turned away from God. Therefore, the one who made them will show them no pity or mercy. 12 Yet the time will come when the LORD will gather them together one by one like handpicked grain. He will bring them to his great threshing floor--from the Euphrates River in the east to the brook of Egypt in the west. 13 In that day the great trumpet will sound. Many who were dying in exile in Assyria and Egypt will return to Jerusalem to worship the LORD on his holy mountain.28:1 DESTRUCTION is certain for the city of Samaria--the pride and joy of the drunkards of Israel! It sits in a rich valley, but its glorious beauty will suddenly disappear. Destruction is certain for that city--the pride of a people brought low by wine. 2 For the Lord will send the mighty Assyrian army against it. Like a mighty hailstorm and a torrential rain, they will burst upon it and dash it to the ground. 3 The proud city of Samaria--the pride and joy of the drunkards of Israel--will be trampled beneath its enemies' feet. 4 It sits in a fertile valley, but its glorious beauty will suddenly disappear. It will be greedily snatched up, as an early fig is hungrily picked and eaten. 5 Then at last the LORD Almighty will himself be Israel's crowning glory. He will be the pride and joy of the remnant of his people. 6 He will give a longing for justice to their judges. He will give great courage to their warriors who stand at the gates. 7 Now, however, Israel is being led by drunks! The priests and prophets reel and stagger from beer and wine. They make stupid mistakes as they carry out their responsibilities. 8 Their tables are covered with vomit; filth is everywhere. 9 They say, " Who does the LORD think we are? Why does he speak to us like this? Are we little children, barely old enough to talk? 10 He tells us everything over and over again, a line at a time, in very simple words!" 11 Since they refuse to listen, God will speak to them through foreign oppressors who speak an unknown language! 12 God's people could have rest in their own land if they would only obey him, but they will not listen. 13 So the LORD will spell out his message for them again, repeating it over and over, a line at a time, in very simple words. Yet they will stumble over this simple, straightforward message. They will be injured, trapped, and captured.
GALATIANS 3:10-22
But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say, " Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all these commands that are written in God's Book of the Law." 11 Consequently, it is clear that no one can ever be right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, " It is through faith that a righteous person has life." 12 How different from this way of faith is the way of law, which says, " If you wish to find life by obeying the law, you must obey all of its commands." 13 But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, " Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree." 14 Through the work of Christ Jesus, God has blessed the Gentiles with the same blessing he promised to Abraham, and we Christians receive the promised Holy Spirit through faith. 15 Dear brothers and sisters,* here's an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or amend an irrevocable agreement, so it is in this case. 16 God gave the promise to Abraham and his child. And notice that it doesn't say the promise was to his children, as if it meant many descendants. But the promise was to his child--and that, of course, means Christ. 17 This is what I am trying to say: The agreement God made with Abraham could not be canceled 430 years later when God gave the law to Moses. God would be breaking his promise. 18 For if the inheritance could be received only by keeping the law, then it would not be the result of accepting God's promise. But God gave it to Abraham as a promise. 19 Well then, why was the law given? It was given to show people how guilty they are. But this system of law was to last only until the coming of the child to whom God's promise was made. And there is this further difference. God gave his laws to angels to give to Moses, who was the mediator between God and the people. 20 Now a mediator is needed if two people enter into an agreement, but God acted on his own when he made his promise to Abraham. 21 Well then, is there a conflict between God's law and God's promises? Absolutely not! If the law could have given us new life, we could have been made right with God by obeying it. 22 But the Scriptures have declared that we are all prisoners of sin, so the only way to receive God's promise is to believe in Jesus Christ.
PSALM 61:1-8
For the choir director: A psalm of David, to be accompanied by stringed instruments.
1 O God, listen to my cry!
Hear my prayer!
2 From the ends of the earth,
I will cry to you for help,
for my heart is overwhelmed.
Lead me to the towering rock of safety,
3 for you are my safe refuge,
a fortress where my enemies cannot reach me.
4 Let me live forever in your sanctuary,
safe beneath the shelter of your wings!
Interlude5 For you have heard my vows, O God.
You have given me an inheritance reserved for those who fear your name.
6 Add many years to the life of the king!
May his years span the generations!
7 May he reign under God's protection forever.
Appoint your unfailing love and faithfulness to watch over him.
8 Then I will always sing praises to your name
as I fulfill my vows day after day.
PROVERBS 23:17-18
Don't envy sinners, but always continue to fear the LORD. For surely you have a future ahead of you; your hope will not be disappointed.
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