Through My Bible Yr 1 – December 28

Isaiah 30:18-32:20 (NIV84)


Through My Bible – December 28

Bible reading based on Isaiah 30:18-32:20 (NIV84)

See series: Through My Bible

 18 Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you;
       he rises to show you compassion.
       For the LORD is a God of justice.
       Blessed are all who wait for him!

 19 O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you. 20 Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them. 21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” 22Then you will defile your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, “Away with you!”

 23 He will also send you rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the food that comes from the land will be rich and plentiful. In that day your cattle will graze in broad meadows. 24 The oxen and donkeys that work the soil will eat fodder and mash, spread out with fork and shovel. 25 In the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall, streams of water will flow on every high mountain and every lofty hill. 26The moon will shine like the sun, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven full days, when the LORD binds up the bruises of his people and heals the wounds he inflicted.

 27 See, the Name of the LORD comes from afar,
       with burning anger and dense clouds of smoke;
       his lips are full of wrath,
       and his tongue is a consuming fire.

 28 His breath is like a rushing torrent,
       rising up to the neck.
       He shakes the nations in the sieve of destruction;
       he places in the jaws of the peoples
       a bit that leads them astray.

 29 And you will sing
       as on the night you celebrate a holy festival;
       your hearts will rejoice
       as when people go up with flutes
       to the mountain of the LORD,
       to the Rock of Israel.

 30 The LORD will cause men to hear his majestic voice
       and will make them see his arm coming down
       with raging anger and consuming fire,
       with cloudburst, thunderstorm and hail.

 31 The voice of the LORD will shatter Assyria;
       with his scepter he will strike them down.

 32 Every stroke the LORD lays on them
       with his punishing rod
       will be to the music of tambourines and harps,
       as he fights them in battle with the blows of his arm.

 33 Topheth has long been prepared;
       it has been made ready for the king.
       Its fire pit has been made deep and wide,
       with an abundance of fire and wood;
       the breath of the LORD,
       like a stream of burning sulfur,
       sets it ablaze.

Isaiah 31

Woe to Those Who Rely on Egypt

 1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help,
       who rely on horses,
       who trust in the multitude of their chariots
       and in the great strength of their horsemen,
       but do not look to the Holy One of Israel,
       or seek help from the LORD.

 2 Yet he too is wise and can bring disaster;
       he does not take back his words.
       He will rise up against the house of the wicked,
       against those who help evildoers.

 3 But the Egyptians are men and not God;
       their horses are flesh and not spirit.
       When the LORD stretches out his hand,
       he who helps will stumble,
       he who is helped will fall;
       both will perish together.

 4 This is what the LORD says to me:
       “As a lion growls,
       a great lion over his preyó
       and though a whole band of shepherds
       is called together against him,
       he is not frightened by their shouts
       or disturbed by their clamoró
       so the LORD Almighty will come down
       to do battle on Mount Zion and on its heights.

 5 Like birds hovering overhead,
       the LORD Almighty will shield Jerusalem;
       he will shield it and deliver it,
       he will ‘pass over’ it and will rescue it.”

 6 Return to him you have so greatly revolted against, O Israelites. 7For in that day every one of you will reject the idols of silver and gold your sinful hands have made.

 8 “Assyria will fall by a sword that is not of man;
       a sword, not of mortals, will devour them.
       They will flee before the sword
       and their young men will be put to forced labor.

 9 Their stronghold will fall because of terror;
       at sight of the battle standard their commanders will panic,”
       declares the LORD,
       whose fire is in Zion,
       whose furnace is in Jerusalem.

Isaiah 32

The Kingdom of Righteousness

 1 See, a king will reign in righteousness
       and rulers will rule with justice.

 2 Each man will be like a shelter from the wind
       and a refuge from the storm,
       like streams of water in the desert
       and the shadow of a great rock in a thirsty land.

 3 Then the eyes of those who see will no longer be closed,
       and the ears of those who hear will listen.

 4 The mind of the rash will know and understand,
       and the stammering tongue will be fluent and clear.

 5 No longer will the fool be called noble
       nor the scoundrel be highly respected.

 6 For the fool speaks folly,
       his mind is busy with evil:
       He practices ungodliness
       and spreads error concerning the LORD;
       the hungry he leaves empty
       and from the thirsty he withholds water.

 7 The scoundrel’s methods are wicked,
       he makes up evil schemes
       to destroy the poor with lies,
       even when the plea of the needy is just.

 8 But the noble man makes noble plans,
       and by noble deeds he stands.

The Women of Jerusalem

 9 You women who are so complacent,
       rise up and listen to me;
       you daughters who feel secure,
       hear what I have to say!

 10 In little more than a year
       you who feel secure will tremble;
       the grape harvest will fail,
       and the harvest of fruit will not come.

 11 Tremble, you complacent women;
       shudder, you daughters who feel secure!
       Strip off your clothes,
       put sackcloth around your waists.

 12 Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields,
       for the fruitful vines

 13 and for the land of my people,
       a land overgrown with thorns and briersó
       yes, mourn for all houses of merriment
       and for this city of revelry.

 14 The fortress will be abandoned,
       the noisy city deserted;
       citadel and watchtower will become a wasteland forever,
       the delight of donkeys, a pasture for flocks,

 15 till the Spirit is poured upon us from on high,
       and the desert becomes a fertile field,
       and the fertile field seems like a forest.

 16 Justice will dwell in the desert
       and righteousness live in the fertile field.

 17 The fruit of righteousness will be peace;
       the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.

 18 My people will live in peaceful dwelling places,
       in secure homes,
       in undisturbed places of rest.

 19 Though hail flattens the forest
       and the city is leveled completely,

 20 how blessed you will be,
       sowing your seed by every stream,
       and letting your cattle and donkeys range free.

Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright©1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.