Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 17

/in

Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 17

Isaiah 51:17 – 52:12 (EHV)


Through My Bible – January 17

Bible reading based on Isaiah 51:17 – 52:12 (EHV)

See series: Through My Bible

The Cup of the Lord’s Wrath

Isaiah 51

17 Rouse yourself! Rouse yourself! Get up, Jerusalem!
You have drunk the cup filled with the Lord’s wrath from his hand.
You drank it. You drained the chalice, the cup that makes you stagger.
18 There is no one to guide her from among all the sons she bore.
There is no one to take her hand from among all the sons she raised.
19 Those two things are happening to you.[1]

Who will grieve for you?
Devastation and destruction and famine and sword!
Who will comfort you? [2]
20 Your children faint and collapse at the corner of every street,
    like an antelope in a net.
They are full of the wrath of the Lord,
full of the rebuke of your God.
21 Therefore hear this, you afflicted woman,
a woman drunk, but not from wine.
22 This is what the Lord God says,
your God, who will contend for his people.
    Look, I am taking the cup that makes you stagger out of your hand,
    the chalice, the cup filled with my wrath.
    Never again will you drink from it,
23  because I will place it into the hand of your tormentors,
    who have said to you,
    “Lie down so that we can walk over you.”
    You made your back like the ground
    and like the street for those who walked over you.

Freedom for Zion

Isaiah 52 

Wake, awake!
Clothe yourself with strength, O Zion.
Put on your beautiful garments,
Jerusalem, you holy city,
for never again will the uncircumcised
and the unclean enter you.
2 Shake off the dust.
Get up and take your seat, Jerusalem.
Loosen the chains from your neck,
you captive daughter of Zion.

3 Yes, this is what the Lord says.
You were sold for nothing,
and you will be redeemed without money.

4 Yes, this is what the Lord God says.
In the beginning, my people went down to Egypt to stay there
    for a while.
Later Assyria oppressed them without cause.

5 Now what do I have here? declares the Lord.
Indeed, my people have been taken away for nothing.
Their rulers howl with mockery, declares the Lord.
My name is continually despised all day.
6 Therefore my people will know my name.
So on that day they will know that I am the one—
the one who is saying, “Here I am!”

The Herald of the Gospel

7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of a herald,
    who proclaims peace and preaches good news,
    who proclaims salvation,
    who says to Zion, “Your God is king!”
8 The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their voices.
Together they shout for joy,
because with both eyes they will see it
when the Lord returns to Zion.
9 Break out, shout for joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem,
because the Lord is comforting his people.
    He is redeeming Jerusalem.
10 The Lord lays bare 3  his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation from our God.

Get Away From Babylon

11 Get away! Get away! Get out of there!
Do not touch any unclean thing!
Go out from her midst.
Purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the Lord!
12 You will not be in a hurry when you go out.
You will not be fleeing when you walk out,
because the one who walks in front of you is the Lord,
and your rearguard is the God of Israel.



Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 51:19 It is uncertain whether this line goes with what precedes it or with what follows, but it seems to be preceded by two disasters and followed by four disasters.
  2. Isaiah 51:19 The translation follows the Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah and the ancient versions. The Hebrew reads how can I comfort you?
  3. Isaiah 52:10 Or flexes


The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.



Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 16

/in

Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 16

Isaiah 50:4 – 51:16 (EHV)


Through My Bible – January 16

Bible reading based on Isaiah 50:4 – 51:16 (EHV)

See series: Through My Bible

The Third Servant Song
The Lord’s Servant Is Vindicated

Isaiah 50

4 The Lord God gave me a tongue like the learned, an instructed tongue,
so I know how to sustain the weary with a word.
He wakes me up morning by morning.
He wakes up my ears so that I listen like the learned.
5 The Lord God opened my ear,
and I myself was not rebellious.
I did not turn back.
6 I submitted my back to those who beat me,
and my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard.
I did not hide my face from disgrace and from spit.
7 The Lord God will help me,
so I will not be disgraced.
Therefore I have made my face hard like flint.
I know that I will not be put to shame.
8 The one who will acquit me is near!
Who can accuse me?
Let us take our stand.
Who can pass judgment on me?
Let him approach me.
9 Look, the Lord God will help me.
Who then can declare me guilty?
Look, all of them will wear out like a garment.
A moth will consume them.

10 Who among you worships the Lord
and listens to the voice of his servant?
Anyone who walks in darkness
and who has no bright light—
let him trust in the name of the Lord,
and let him lean on his God.
11 Watch out, all of you who are lighting fires
    to arm yourselves with flaming arrows. [1] 
Go ahead, walk by the light of your fires
and by the flaming arrows you lit!
But from my hand you will receive this:
You will lie down in a place of torment.

The Creator Comforts His People

Isaiah 51 

Listen to me, you people who pursue righteousness,
you people who seek the Lord!
Look confidently to the rock from which you were hewn
and to the quarry from which you were cut.
2 Look confidently to Abraham your father,
and to Sarah, who gave birth to you.
Yes, when I called him, Abraham was only one person,
but I blessed him and multiplied him.
3 The Lord is certain to comfort Zion.
He will comfort all her ruins.
Certainly he will make her wilderness like Eden
and her wasteland like the garden of the Lord.
Joy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and the sound of music.

4 Pay attention to me, O my people.
My nation, listen to me!
For the law [2]  will go out from me,
and I will establish my justice [3] as a light to the peoples.
5 My righteousness is near.
My salvation goes forth,
and my arms will bring justice to the peoples.
The seacoasts will wait for me.
They will have confidence in my arm.
6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens.
Look closely at the earth beneath,
because the heavens will vanish like smoke,
and the earth will wear out like a garment,
and its inhabitants will die like gnats. [4]
But my salvation will remain forever,
and my righteousness will never be abolished.
7 Listen to me, you people who know righteousness,
you people who have my law in your hearts.
Do not fear the insults of men,
and do not be discouraged by their abuse.
8 Because a moth will consume them like a garment,
and its worm will consume them like wool.
But my righteousness will remain forever,
and my salvation will last for all generations.

9 Wake up! Wake up!
Clothe yourself with strength, you arm of the Lord!
Awake as in days of old,
as in generations of long ago.
Was it not you who cut Rahab [5]  to pieces,
and who pierced the sea monster? [6] 
10 Was it not you who dried up the sea,
    the waters of the great deep,
and who made a road through the depths of the sea
    for the redeemed to cross over?
11 Then those ransomed by the Lord will return.
They will enter Zion with a joyful shout,
and everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Happiness and joy will overtake them.
Sorrow and sighing will flee away.

12 I, even I, am the one who comforts you.
Who are you, Zion, [7]  that you fear humans, who die,
or a child of Adam, who passes away like grass?
13 You have forgotten the Lord, your Creator,
who stretches out the heavens,
who makes the earth stand firm.
You tremble continually all day,
because of the rage of the oppressor,
who is preparing to destroy.
But where is the rage of the oppressor now?
14 The prisoner [8]  will soon be released.
He will not die and go to the pit,
and he will not lack bread.

15 I am the Lord your God,
who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar.
The Lord of Armies is his name!
16 I have placed my words in your mouth,
and with the shadow of my hand I have covered you—
I, who planted the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth,
I, who say to Zion, “You are my people.”



Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 50:11 Or torches
  2. Isaiah 51:4 Or teaching. The word torah here refers to the whole word of God, including the gospel.
  3. Isaiah 51:4 Or just verdict
  4. Isaiah 51:6 Or in the same way
  5. Isaiah 51:9 Rahab is the name of a monster that sometimes represents the wild sea and sometimes hostile nations.
  6. Isaiah 51:9 Or dragon
  7. Isaiah 51:12 The pronouns are feminine, addressing Zion as a woman.
  8. Isaiah 51:14 The meaning of this term is uncertain.


The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.



Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 15

/in

Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 15

Isaiah 49:1 – 50:3 (EHV)


Through My Bible – January 15

Bible reading based on Isaiah 49:1 – 50:3 (EHV)

See series: Through My Bible

The Second Servant Song
The Lord’s Servant Saves the Nations

Isaiah 49 

Listen to me, you coastlands.
Pay attention, you faraway peoples!
The Lord called me from the womb.
When I was inside my mother, he mentioned my name.
2 He made my mouth like a sharpened sword.
He hid me in the shadow of his hand.
He made me a polished arrow.
He concealed me in his quiver.
3 He said to me, “You are my servant Israel,
in whom I will display my glory.”

4 But I said to myself, “I have labored in vain.
I spent my strength and came up empty, with nothing.
Yet a just verdict for me rests with the Lord,
and my reward is with my God.”

5 But now the Lord,
who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to turn Jacob back to him,
so that Israel might be gathered to him,
so that I will be honored in the eyes of the Lord,
because my God has been my strength—
6 the Lord said:
It is too small a thing that you should just be my servant
    to raise up only the tribes of Jacob
    and to restore the ones I have preserved in Israel,
so I will appoint you to be a light for the nations,
so that my salvation will be known to the end of the earth.

7 This is what the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, its Holy One,
says to the one deeply despised,
to the one who is detested by the nation,
to the servant of rulers.
    Kings will see and stand up.
    Officials will see and bow down,
    because of the Lord, who is faithful,
    because of the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.

8 This is what the Lord says.
In the time of favor, I will answer you.
In the day of salvation, I will help you.
I will guard you,
and I will appoint you to be a covenant for the people,
to re-establish the land,
to redistribute inheritances that are now deserted,
9 to say to the prisoners, “Go forth!”
to those who are in the darkness, “Show yourselves!”
They will graze beside roads,
and they will find pasture on all the barren heights.
10 They will not hunger, and they will not thirst,
and neither scorching wind nor sun will strike them,
because the one who shows them mercy will lead them.
He will guide them beside springs of water.
11 I will make all my mountains into a smooth road,
and my highways will be raised up.
12 Look, people will come from far away.
Look, some will come from the north and the west,
and some from the land of Sinim.[1]
13 Shout for joy, O heavens,
and rejoice, O earth.
Let mountains burst forth with shouts of joy,
because the Lord is comforting his people,
and he is showing mercy to his afflicted ones.

The Faithful Few Are Not Forgotten

14 But Zion said, “The Lord has abandoned me.
The Lord has forgotten me.”

15 Can a woman forget her nursing child
and not show mercy to the son from her womb?
Even if these women could forget,
I will never forget you.
16 Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands.
Your walls are never out of my sight.
17 Your children[2] are hurrying back.
Those who destroyed and devastated you will depart from you.
18 Lift up your eyes all around and see!
All of them are gathered. They are coming to you.
As surely as I live, declares the Lord,
all of them are like jewelry that you will put on.
You will wear them like a bride.

19 Though your land was wasted and desolate and devastated,
now it will be too small for its inhabitants.
Then those who are swallowing you will be far from you.
20 The children you lost will say this into your ears once again,
“The place is too small for me.
Make room for me so that I can settle there.”
21 Then you will say in your heart,
“Who has given birth to these for me?
I had lost my children and could have no more.
I was exiled and divorced.
So who raised these?
I was left all by myself.
Where did these come from?”

22 This is what God the Lord says.
Look, I will lift up my hand to nations,
and I will raise my signal flag for peoples.
Then they will bring your sons in their embrace,
and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.
23 Then kings will be your foster fathers,
and their queens will be your nursing mothers.
With their faces to the ground, they will bow down to you.
They will lick the dust at your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord.
Those who wait hopefully for me will not be ashamed.

24 Can plunder be taken from a mighty man?
Can captives be rescued from a tyrant?[3]
25 This is what the Lord says.
Even from a mighty man captives can be taken,
and the victims of a tyrant can be rescued.
So I myself will contend with the one who contends with you,
and I myself will save your children.
26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh.
They will get drunk on the new wine of their own blood.
So all flesh will know that I am the Lord, your Savior
and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

Isaiah 50

1 This is what the Lord says.
So where are the divorce papers of your mother,
whom I sent away?
To which of my creditors did I sell you?
It was because of your guilt that you were sold.
Because of your rebellions, your mother was sent away.
2 When I came, why was no one there?
Why, when I called, was there no one who answered?
Is my arm really too short to redeem?
Do I not have enough power to rescue?
Yes! By my rebuke I can dry up the sea.
I can turn rivers into a wilderness,
so that their fish will stink from having no water,
and they will die of thirst.
3 I can clothe the heavens with blackness,
and I can cover them with sackcloth.



Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 49:12 Sinim, the reading of the Hebrew, may be a name for China. The Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah reads Syene, a place in the southern part of Egypt.
  2. Isaiah 49:17 Hebrew variant your builders
  3. Isaiah 49:24 The translation follows the Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah and ancient versions. The Hebrew reads the righteous.


The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.



Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 14

/in

Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 14

Isaiah 48 (EHV)


Through My Bible – January 14

Bible reading based on Isaiah 48 (EHV)

See series: Through My Bible

Judgment Is Coming on Stubborn Israel

Isaiah 48 

1 Hear this, you house of Jacob,
you who call yourselves by the name of Israel,
who came forth from the waters of Judah,
who swear by the name of the Lord
and invoke the God of Israel,
but not in true righteousness.
2 Yes, they name themselves after the Holy City,
and they lean on the God of Israel—
the Lord of Armies is his name.
3 Things that took place long ago,
I announced before they happened.
From my mouth the announcement went out.
I made these things known.
Then suddenly I acted, and they came about.
4 I did this because I know that you are stubborn.
Your neck is as stiff as iron,
and your forehead is as hard as bronze.
5 I declared this to you long ago.
Before it came about, I announced it to you,
to prevent you from saying, “My false god did it.
My wooden idol and my metal image commanded it.”
6 You heard all this.
Now look at the facts.
Won’t you admit that I am right?

From now on I will also announce new things to you,
hidden things that you never knew.
7 These things are being created right now, not long ago.
You have not heard of them before today,
so you cannot say, “Oh, I already knew that!”
8 No, you have never heard them.
You certainly never knew them.
Your ear was not open, even back then.
Yes, I knew that you would be extremely unfaithful.
You were called a rebel before you were born.

9 For my name’s sake, I am slow to express my anger.
So that I will be praised, I will hold it back from you.
As a result, you are not cut off.

10 You see, I refined you, but not in the same way silver is refined.
I tested you in the furnace of affliction.
11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I will act.
Why should my name be defiled?
My glory I will not give to another.

12 Listen to me, Jacob.
Listen to me, Israel, whom I called.
I am he. I am the first.
I am also the last.
13 It was my hand that laid the foundation of the earth,
and my right hand spread out the heavens.
I summon them and they stand together.
14 Gather together, all of you, and listen.
Who among them announced these things?

The Lord’s Servant Cyrus

The Lord loves him.
He will carry out his desire against Babylon,
and his arm is against Chaldea.
15 I, yes I, have spoken. I am the one who called him.
I have brought him, and his mission will succeed.
16 Come close to me and hear this.
From the beginning, I have not spoken in secret.
From the time it first existed, I was there.
And now God the Lord has sent me with his Spirit.

17 This is what the Lord says, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.

I am the Lord your God,
who teaches you how to succeed,
who leads you in the way you should walk.
18 If only you would have listened carefully to my commandments!
Then your peace would have been like a river,
and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
19 Your descendants [1] would have been like sand,
and the children from your body like grains of sand.
Their name would never have been cut off or destroyed
    from my presence.

20 Get out of Babylon. Flee from Chaldea.
With a joyful voice declare and announce this.
Send it out to the end of the earth.
Say, “The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob.”
21 They did not suffer thirst in the desolate places
    through which he led them.
He made water flow for them from a rock.
He split open a rock, and water gushed out.

22 There is no peace, says the Lord, for the wicked.



Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 48:19 Or your seed


The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.



Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 13

/in

Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 13

Isaiah 46 & 47 (EHV)


Through My Bible – January 13

Bible reading based on Isaiah 46 & 47 (EHV)

See series: Through My Bible

Isaiah 46

Judgment Against the Idols of Babylon

1 Bel bows down. Nebo stoops.
Babylon’s idols are a heavy load, carried by animals and cattle.
They are dead weight for the tired animals that carry them.
2 The animals stoop. They bow down together.
They are not able to save their burdensome load.
They go into captivity.

3 Listen to me, O house of Jacob,
all of you who are left from the house of Israel,
you who have been carried from birth,
you who have been lifted up from before you were born.
4     Until your old age, I am he,
    and until you have gray hair, I myself will hold you up.
    I myself made you, and I myself will lift you up.
    I myself will hold you up, and I will rescue you.

5 Whom can you set beside me as if we were equal?
Whom can you compare to me as if we were alike?
6 People pour out gold from a purse
and weigh out silver on a scale.
They hire a smith,
and he makes the metal into a god.
They bow down to it. They even worship it.
7 They lift it up. They carry it on their shoulders.
They set it up in its place, but it just stands there.
It cannot move from its place.
Even when someone cries out to it, it does not answer.
It cannot save him from his distress.
8 Remember this, and stand firm.
You rebels, take this to heart!

9 Remember the former [1] things that took place long ago,
for I am God, and there is no other.
I am God, and there is no one like me.
10 I am the one who announces the final outcome already in the beginning.
I announce ahead of time things that have not yet been done.
I am the one who says, “My plan will stand,
and I will do everything I want to do.”
11 I am the one who calls a bird of prey from the east.
I call the man who fulfills my plan from a faraway land.
Yes, I have spoken. I will certainly bring it to pass.
I have formed a plan, and I will certainly carry it out.
12 Listen to me, you who have stubborn hearts,
you who are far from righteousness.
13 I will bring my righteousness near. It will not be far away.
I will bring my salvation near. It will not be delayed.
I will set up salvation in Zion,
and I will show my splendor to Israel.

Babylon’s Fall

Isaiah 47 

Go down and sit in the dust, you virgin daughter of Babylon.
Sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of the Chaldeans,
for you will never again be called delicate and pampered.
2 Take millstones and grind meal.
Remove your veil. Strip off your skirt.
Expose your thighs. Wade through rivers.
3 Let your nakedness be exposed.
Let your shame be seen!
I will take vengeance.
I will not spare anyone.

4 Our Redeemer—the Lord of Armies is his name—is the Holy One of Israel.

5 Daughter of the Chaldeans, sit silently, and enter into the darkness,
for you will never again be called queen of the kingdoms.
6 I was angry with my people.
I defiled my heritage.
I gave them into your hand.
You showed them no mercy.
Even on the aged you made your yoke very heavy.
7 You said, “I will be a lady forever.”
You did not take these things to heart.
You did not remember how this will turn out.
8 But now hear this, you wanton lover of pleasure,
who sits securely,
who says in her heart,
“I am the one, and there is no one except me.
I will not live as a widow.
I will not experience the loss of children.”
9 But these two things will come upon you in an instant, in one day:
loss of children and widowhood.
They will come to you in full measure
in spite of your many magic spells,
in spite of the great power of your magic charms.

10 You felt secure in your wickedness.
You said, “No one sees me.”
Your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray.
So you said in your heart, “I am the one,
and there is not another one beside me.”
11 But disaster will come upon you.
You do not know when it will come.
Calamity will fall upon you.
You will not be able to atone for it.
A devastating blow that you did not expect will come
    upon you suddenly.
12 Go ahead, stand secure in your magic charms
    and in your many magic spells,
    with which you have been laboring since your youth.
Perhaps you will be able to profit.
Perhaps you will be able to inspire terror.
13 You are worn out by all the advice you receive.
Let them stand up and save you—
those who make charts of the skies to practice astrology,
those who gaze at the stars to obtain omens,
those who predict what will happen to you on each new moon.
14 Look, they are nothing but stubble.
Fire consumes them.
They are not able to save themselves from the power of the flame.
There are no burning coals to warm their food. [2]
There is no firelight to sit in front of.
15 They can do nothing more for you—
those who have worn you out with all their dealings with you
    from your youth.
Each one wanders in his own direction.
There is no one left to save you.



Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 46:9 Or first
  2. Isaiah 47:14 The translation follows the standard Hebrew reading. The Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah and some ancient versions read to warm them up.


The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.



Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 12

/in

Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 12

Isaiah 44:24 – 45:25 (EHV)


Through My Bible – January 12

Bible reading based on Isaiah 44:24 – 45:25 (EHV)

See series: Through My Bible

Isaiah 44

24 This is what the Lord, your Redeemer,
the Lord who formed you from the womb, says.
    I am the Lord, the one who does all things,
    who stretched out the heavens by myself,
    who hammered out the earth.
    (Who was with me then?)
25     I frustrate the signs of the deceivers
    and make fools of the fortune tellers. [1]
    I overturn the wisdom of the wise
    and turn their knowledge into foolishness.

26 He is the one who fulfills the word of his servants,
who completes the plan announced by his messengers,
who says about Jerusalem, “It will be inhabited,”
and about the cities of Judah, “They will be rebuilt,
and I will raise up their ruins.”
27 He is the one who says to the deep ocean, “Dry up,”
the one who says, “I will dry up your rivers.”
28 He is the one who says about Cyrus, “He is my shepherd,
and he will complete everything I desire.”
He is the one who says about Jerusalem, “It will be rebuilt,”
and who says to the temple, “Your foundations will be laid.”

Cyrus the Lord’s Anointed Shepherd

Isaiah 45 

1 This is what the Lord says to his anointed one,
to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped,
    to subdue nations before him
    by stripping kings of their weapons,
    to open doors before him
    so that the gates cannot be shut.

2     I myself will go before you,
    and I will level high mountains. [2]
    I will break bronze doors into pieces,
    and I will cut through iron bars.
3     I will give you treasures hidden in darkness
    and riches concealed in secret places,
    so that you will acknowledge that I am the Lord,
    the one who calls you by name, the God of Israel.
4     For the sake of my servant Jacob,
    for the sake of Israel my chosen one,
    I will call you by your name.
    I will give you an honored name, though you do not know me.
5     I am the Lord, and there is no other.
    Except for me, there is no god.
    I will equip you even though you do not know me,
6     so that people will know from the rising of the sun
            to the place where it sets
        that there is no one except me.
    I am the Lord, and there is no other.
7     I am the one who forms light and creates darkness,
    the one who makes peace and creates disaster.
    I am the Lord, the one who does all these things.

Coming Blessings

8 Shower down, you heavens, from above,
and let the clouds rain down righteousness.
Let the earth open up,
so that salvation will produce fruit.
Let righteousness sprout up along with it.
I, the Lord, am creating this.

Arguing With the Lord

9 Woe to anyone who argues against the potter who formed him.
He is just a potsherd among the broken pieces of pottery on the ground.
Does clay say to its potter, “What are you making?
Your work looks like something made by a potter with no hands”?
10 Woe to anyone who says to his father, “What have you fathered?”
or to a woman, “What are you giving birth to?”

11 This is what the Lord says,
the Holy One of Israel, who formed Israel.
    Do you wish to question me concerning things to come?
    Will you give me orders about my children
    and about the work of my hands?
12     I myself made the earth,
    and I created Adam [3] upon it.
    With my hands I stretched out the heavens,
    and I commanded all their army.

Cyrus as the Lord’s Servant

13 I myself will arouse him in righteousness,
and I will make all his roads level for him.
He himself will rebuild my city.
He will set my exiles free—
but not for a price and not for a gift,
says the Lord of Armies.
14 This is what the Lord says.
The wealth of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush
    and those tall Sabeans will cross over to you and become yours.
They will walk behind you and approach you in chains.
They will bow down to you and plead with you and say,
“Yes, God is with you, and there is no other.
There is no other God.”

The Hidden God Is Revealed

15 Indeed, you are a God who hides himself.
You are the God of Israel, the Savior.
16 They will be ashamed.
All of them will also be disgraced.
Together they will walk in humiliation—those experts at crafting images.
17 Israel will be saved by the Lord with everlasting salvation.
You will not be ashamed or disgraced for all eternity.

18 This is what the Lord says.
He created the heavens,
He is God!
He formed the earth and made it.
Yes, he established it!
He did not create it to remain empty. [4]
He formed it to be inhabited.

I am the Lord, and there is no other.
19 I did not speak in secret,
or from someplace in a land of darkness.
I did not say to the descendants [5] of Jacob,
“Seek me in the midst of chaos.” [6]
I, the Lord, am speaking in righteousness.
I am declaring what is right.

20 Gather! Come! Draw near together,
you survivors from the nations.
They have no knowledge—
those who are lifting up their idols of wood
and praying to a god that cannot save.
21 Make an announcement and come close.
Let them consult together.
Who made this known ahead of time?
From time past who announced it?
Was it not I, the Lord?
There is no god except me,
a righteous God and Savior.
There is no one except me.
22 Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth,
because I am God,
and there is no other.
23 I have sworn by myself.
From my mouth a righteous word has gone out,
and it will not return unfulfilled.
Indeed, to me every knee will bow,
and every tongue will swear allegiance.
24 “Only in the Lord,” they will say of me,
“Only in the Lord is there true righteousness and strength.”
To him they will come and be ashamed—
all those who are angry at him.
25 In the Lord, all the descendants [7] of Israel will be justified.
They will be praised by him. [8]



Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 44:25 Or omen readers
  2. Isaiah 45:2 The translation mountains follows the Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah and the Greek Old Testament. The word in the standard Hebrew text occurs only here. It may mean rough places or walls.
  3. Isaiah 45:12 Or mankind
  4. Isaiah 45:18 The same Hebrew word translated empty describes the first stage of creation in Genesis 1.
  5. Isaiah 45:19 Literally the seed
  6. Isaiah 45:19 The same Hebrew translated chaos describes the first stage of creation in Genesis 1.
  7. Isaiah 45:25 Or all the seed
  8. Isaiah 45:25 Or be confident in him or shine in glory


The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.



Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 11

/in

Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 11

Isaiah 43:14 – 44:23 (EHV)


Through My Bible – January 11

Bible reading based on Isaiah 43:14 – 44:23 (EHV)

See series: Through My Bible

Isaiah 43

14 This is what the Lord says,
    the Lord your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
    For your sake I am taking action against Babylon,
    and I will bring down all the Chaldeans as refugees,
        in the ships over which they rejoiced.
15     I am the Lord, your Holy One,
    Israel’s Creator, your King.
16     This is what the Lord says,
    who makes a road through the sea
    and a path through mighty waters,
17     who brings out the chariot and the horses,
    the army and the strong warrior.
    They will all lie down together.
    They will not get up.
    They are extinguished.
    Like a wick they go out.

18     Do not remember the former [1] things.
    Do not keep thinking about ancient things.
19     Watch, I am about to do a new thing.
    Now it will spring up. Don’t you know about it?
    Indeed I will make a road in the wilderness.
    In the wasteland I will make rivers.
20     The wild animals, the jackals and ostriches, will honor me,
    because I am providing water in the wilderness,
    rivers in a parched wasteland,
    water for my chosen people to drink.
21     This people that I formed for myself will declare my praise.

22     But you have not called on me, O Jacob.
    Instead, you have become weary of me, O Israel.
23     You have not brought me sheep as your whole burnt offerings.
    You did not glorify me with your sacrifices.
    I did not make you serve me with a grain offering.
    I did not make you weary with demands for incense.
24     You did not purchase fragrant cane for me with silver
    or satisfy me with the fat from your sacrifices.
    Instead you have made me serve because of your sins.
    You have made me weary because of your guilt.
25     I, yes I, am he.
    I blot out your rebellious deeds for my own sake,
    and I will not remember your sins.
26     Refresh my memory.
    Let us review your case together.
    Present your defense so that you may be acquitted.
27     Your first father sinned,
    and your mediators rebelled against me.
28     Therefore I am repudiating the officials of the sanctuary,
    and I am giving Jacob over to complete destruction
    and Israel to insults. [2]

The Lord Comforts His People

Isaiah 44 

But now listen, O Jacob my servant,
O Israel, whom I have chosen.
2 This is what the Lord, your Maker, says,
the Lord who formed you from the womb, who will help you.
    Do not be afraid, my servant Jacob,

    Jeshurun, [3] whom I have chosen,
3     because I will pour out water upon a thirsty land,
    and streams of water upon dry ground.
    I will pour out my Spirit on your offspring,
    and my blessing on your descendants.
4     They will spring up like a tree in a grassy meadow, [4]
    like willows beside flowing streams.

5     One person will say, “I belong to the Lord.”
    Another will be called by the name of Jacob.
    Another will write on his hand, “Belonging to the Lord,”
    and he will take the name of Israel.

The Lord Confronts Idols

6 This is what the Lord, the King of Israel,
Israel’s Redeemer, the Lord of Armies, says.
    I am the first, and I am the last.
    Except for me, there is no god.
7     For who is like me? Let him declare it.
    Let him recite in order for me the things that took place
        since the time I established an ancient people.
    Or let them declare what is yet to come,
    and what is going to take place.

8     Do not tremble, and do not be frightened.
    Did I not announce this to you,
    and declare it already long ago?
    You are my witnesses.
    Is there any god except me?
    There is no other Rock. I am not aware of any other.
9     All those who form an idol are good for nothing.
    All the things which delight them provide no benefit.
    As for their witnesses—they do not see.
    They know nothing, so they will be ashamed.

10 Who is this who forms a god or casts a metal image that can provide no profit? 11 Look at him! All his associates will be ashamed. The craftsmen are merely men. Let them all gather themselves and take a stand. They will be terrified and ashamed together.

12 A blacksmith uses a cutting tool and makes an idol over hot coals. With hammers he shapes it. He makes it with his strong arm, but he becomes hungry and has no strength left. He does not drink water, and so he grows faint.

13 A woodworker stretches out a measuring line. He marks the lines with a stylus. He shapes the idol with chisels. He marks it with a compass. Then he carves it till it is shaped like a person, like a splendid man to inhabit a shrine.

14 He goes to cut down cedars for himself, or he chooses a holm tree [5] or an oak, and he lets it grow strong among the trees of a forest. Or he plants a cedar, and rain causes it to grow tall, 15 but it becomes fuel for a man to burn. He takes part of it to warm himself. He lights a fire to bake bread, and then from the rest he makes a god and worships it. He carves an idol and bows down to it. 16 Half of it he burns in a fire—over that half he eats meat. He roasts meat and is satisfied. So he is warm and says, “Ah! I am warm. I see the light of the fire.” 17 Then from what is left he makes a god to serve as his idol. He bows down to it. He worships it, and he prays to it, “Save me, because you are my god.”

18 They are ignorant. They do not understand, because their eyes are plastered shut, [6] and they cannot see. Their hearts are unable to gain insight. 19 A person does not take this to heart, so he has no knowledge or understanding to say, “Half of it I burn in the fire, and I bake bread on its coals. I roast meat, and I eat. Should I make the rest of it into a disgusting idol? Should I bow down to a piece of wood?” 20 He is like a sheep grazing on ashes. A deceived mind leads him astray. He will not save his life, nor will he say, “Isn’t what I am holding in my right hand a fraud?”

Israel Will Be Restored

21 Remember these things, O Jacob, because you are my servant, Israel. I am forming you to be my servant. You, Israel, you will never be forgotten by me. [7] 22 I am blowing away your rebellious deeds like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to me, because I am redeeming you.

23 Shout for joy, you heavens, because of what the Lord is doing.
Make a joyful shout, you depths of the earth.
Burst forth with shouts of joy, you mountains,
you forest and every tree in it,
because the Lord has redeemed Jacob,
and in Israel he will display his beauty.



Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 43:18 Or first
  2. Isaiah 43:28 Or condemnation
  3. Isaiah 44:2 Jeshurun is another name for Israel. It means the upright one.
  4. Isaiah 44:4 The translation follows the Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah and some other manuscripts. The standard Hebrew text reads spring up between the grass.
  5. Isaiah 44:14 Also called an evergreen oak
  6. Isaiah 44:18 Or he has blinded their eyes
  7. Isaiah 44:21 Or you must not forget me


The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.



Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 10

/in

Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 10

Isaiah 42:1 – 43:13 (EHV)


Through My Bible – January 10

Bible reading based on Isaiah 42:1 – 43:13 (EHV)

See series: Through My Bible

Isaiah 42

The First Servant Song [1]

The Servant Is Called to Bring Justice

1 Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom I delight.
I am placing my Spirit on him.
He will announce a just verdict [2] for the nations.

2 He will not cry out.
He will not raise his voice.
He will not make his voice heard in the street.
3 A bent reed he will not break,
and a dimly burning wick he will not snuff out.
He will faithfully bring forth a just verdict.
4 He will not burn out, and he will not be broken
until he establishes justice on the earth.
The coastlands will wait for his law. [3]
5 This is what the true God says,
the Lord who creates the heavens and stretches them out,
who spreads out the earth
and everything that it produces,
who gives breath to the people on it
and life to those who walk on it.
6     I am the Lord.
    I have called you in righteousness.
    I will hold on to your hand,
    and I will guard you.
    I will appoint you to be a covenant for the people,
    to be a light for the nations,
7     to open the eyes of the blind,
    to bring the prisoners out from the dungeon,
    and to bring those who sit in darkness out of prison.

8     I am the Lord; that is my name.
    I will not give my glory to another,
    nor my praise to idols.
9     Look, the former things have taken place,
    and I am declaring new things.
    I am making them known to you before they spring forth.

Creation Rejoices

10 Sing to the Lord a new song.
Sing his praise from the end of the earth,
you people who go down to the sea
    and everything that fills it,
you coastlands and those who inhabit them.
11 Let the wilderness and its towns lift up their voice,
along with the settlements where Kedar lives.
Let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy.
Let them shout from the mountain tops.
12 Let them give glory to the Lord,
and let them declare his praise among the coastlands.
13 The Lord will set out like a hero.
Like a warrior, he will work himself into a frenzy.
He will shout. Yes, he will raise a war cry.
He will be heroic against his enemies.

The Lord Shouts

14 I have been silent for a long time.
I have kept still. I have restrained myself.
But now, like a woman giving birth, I will scream.
I will gasp and pant.
15 I will dry up mountains and hills.
I will make all their grass wither.
I will turn rivers into islands.
I will dry up pools.
16 I will lead the blind on a way they do not know.
Along paths they do not know I will direct them.
Ahead of them I will turn darkness into light
and rough places into level ground.
These are the things I will accomplish for them.
I will not abandon them.

17 They will be turned back and completely disgraced—
those who trust in an idol,
those who say to molten images, “You are our gods.”

But Israel Does Not Notice

18 You deaf ones, listen!
You blind ones, watch carefully so that you can see!
19 Who is as blind as my servant?
Who is as deaf as my messenger whom I sent?
Who is as blind as my associate, [4]
as blind as the servant of the Lord?
20 You, Israel, see many things, but you do not observe.
Israel opens his ears, but he does not hear.
21 Because of his own righteousness,
the Lord was pleased to make his law [5] great and glorious.
22 But this is a people plundered and looted.
All of them are trapped in holes,
and they are hidden in prisons.
They have become plunder, and there is no rescuer.
They have become loot and no one says, “Give it back!”
23 Who among you will turn his ear toward this?
Who will pay attention and listen for the future?
24 Who gave up Jacob to looters
and Israel to plunderers?
Was it not the Lord, against whom we sinned?
But they were not willing to walk in his ways,
and they did not listen to his law.
25 So he poured out wrath on them,
his anger, and the violence of battle.
It set them on fire all around, but they did not understand.
It burned in them, but they did not take it to heart.

The Lord’s New Act of Salvation

Isaiah 43 

1 But now this is what the Lord says,
the Lord who created you, O Jacob,
the Lord who formed you, O Israel.
    Do not be afraid, because I have redeemed you.
    I have called you by name. You are mine.
2     When you cross through the waters, I will be with you.
    When you cross the rivers, they will not sweep you away.
    When you walk through fire, you will not be burned,
    and the flame will not set you on fire.

3     Because I am the Lord your God,
    the Holy One of Israel, your Savior,
    I gave Egypt as your ransom,
    Cush and Seba in exchange for you.
4     Because you are precious and honored in my eyes,
    and I myself love you,
    I will give people in exchange for you,
    and peoples in exchange for your life.
5     Do not be afraid, because I am with you.
    From the east I will bring your offspring,
    and from the west I will gather you.
6     I will say to the north, “Give them back!”
    and to the south, “Do not hold them.”
    Bring my sons from far away
    and my daughters from the end of the earth—
7     everyone who is called by my name,
    everyone I created for my glory,
    everyone I formed,
    yes, everyone I have made.

8     Bring out the people who are blind, though they have eyes,
    and the people who are deaf, though they have ears.
9     Let all the nations be gathered together,
    and let peoples be assembled.
    Who among them has declared this?
    Who has made known to us the former things?
    Let them produce their witnesses to show that they were right,
    so that people can hear and say, “This is truth.”

10     You are my witnesses, declares the Lord.
    You are my servant, whom I have chosen,
    so that you may know me and believe in me,
    so that you will understand that I am he.
    Before me no god was formed,
    and after me there will not be another.
11     I, yes I, am the Lord,
    and apart from me there is no savior.
12     I myself declared it.
    I brought salvation, and I announced it.
    It was not some strange god among you.
    You are my witnesses, declares the Lord,
    and I am God.
13     Indeed, from the first day, I am he.
    There is no one who can deliver anyone from my hand.
    I act, and who can reverse it?



Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 42:1 The Lord has many servants. Among his servants in Isaiah are Israel and Cyrus. In this collection of songs his Servant par excellance is Jesus the Messiah.
  2. Isaiah 42:1 Or bring forth justice
  3. Isaiah 42:4 Or teaching. Law here refers to the whole Word of God.
  4. Isaiah 42:19 Or my dedicated one or the one at peace with me. The meaning of this word is uncertain.
  5. Isaiah 42:21 Or teaching


The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.



Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 9

/in

Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 9

Isaiah 41 (EHV)


Through My Bible – January 9

Bible reading based on Isaiah 41 (EHV)

See series: Through My Bible

Isaiah 41

A Summons to Judgment

1 Prepare to present your case to me, [1] you coastlands,
and let the peoples renew their strength.
Let them come near. Yes, let them say,
“We will gather together for the verdict.”

A Mystery Man Is Summoned From the East

2 Who has aroused this one from the east?
In righteousness he summons him to his feet.
He gives nations to him
and causes him to rule over kings.
He makes them like dust with his sword,
like wind-driven stubble with his bow.
3 He pursues them and passes by safely.
His feet do not touch the ground. [2]
4 Who accomplished this and carried it out
by summoning generations from the beginning?

The Lord Controls History

I, the Lord, am the first,
and at the very end I will still be the one.
5 The coastlands see and fear.
The ends of the earth tremble.
They draw near. They come.

The Idol Makers Appear

6 Each one assists his neighbor,
and to his brother he says, “Be strong.”
7 The craftsman strengthens the refiner.
The one who flattens with the hammer
    strengthens the one who strikes the anvil.
Concerning the soldering he says, “It is good.”
He fastens it with nails so that it cannot be moved.

The Lord Is Your Defender

8 But you, O Israel, my servant,
O Jacob, whom I have chosen,
the offspring [3] of Abraham, whom I love,
9 whom I have snatched from the ends of the earth,
whom I have called from its corners—
I have said to you, “You are my servant.”
I have chosen you and not rejected you.
10 Do not fear, for I am with you.
Do not be overwhelmed, [4] for I am your God.
I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you.
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
11 Just watch, they will be ashamed and humiliated—
all those who are angry with you.
They will become nothing and perish—
those men who oppose you.
12 You will look for them, but you will not find them—
those men who contend against you.
They will become absolutely nothing, less than nothing—
those men who battle against you.
13 For I am the Lord your God.
I am the one who is holding on to your right hand.
I am the one who says to you, “Do not fear. I myself am helping you.”
14 Do not fear, you worm, Jacob, you few men of Israel. [5]
I myself am helping you, declares the Lord,
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
15 Look, I am making you into a sharp, new threshing sledge
    with double-edged blades.
You will thresh mountains and crush them.
You will turn hills into chaff.
16 You will winnow them,
and a wind will lift them up.
A strong wind will scatter them.
But you, you will rejoice in the Lord.
In the Holy One of Israel you will be confident.
17 The afflicted and the poor seek water, but there is none.
Their tongues are parched with thirst.
I, the Lord, I myself will answer them.
I, the God of Israel, will not leave them.
18 I will open rivers on the barren heights.
In the middle of valleys there will be springs.
I will turn the wilderness into a pool of water,
and the dry land will pour out water.
19 In the wilderness I will place cedar, acacia, myrtle, and olive trees.
In the wasteland I will plant fir, maple, and pines together,
20 so that they may see and know,
and pay attention and perceive this all together,
    that the hand of the Lord has done this,
    and the Holy One of Israel has created it.

The Idols Are Placed on Trial

21 “Present your case,” says the Lord.
“Set forth your strongest points,” says the King of Jacob.
22 Let them present and declare to us what is going to occur.
What were the first things you predicted?
Tell us, so that we can ponder them,
so that we can know their outcome.
Or, announce to us the coming things.
23 Declare to us the things that are still coming in the distant future.
Then we will know that you are gods.
In fact, just do something, do anything—good or evil,
so that we may be overwhelmed and terrified together.
24 Look, you are less than nothing,
and your work is less than zero.
Anyone who chooses you is detestable.

The Man From the North

25 I have stirred up someone from the north,
and he is coming from the rising of the sun.
He will call upon my name.
He will walk over rulers as if they were mud,
the way a potter tramples clay.

26 Who declared this from the beginning so that we could know it,
and ahead of time so that we could say, “He is right”?
In fact, not one of them declares this.
In fact, not one of them makes this known.
In fact, no one hears you say anything.
27 I was first to announce to Zion, “Look, here they are,”
and I sent a herald of good news to Jerusalem.
28 When I looked, there was no one.
None of them could give advice,
even when I kept asking them to respond.
29 Look, all of them are useless.
Their works are nothing.
Their images are empty wind.



Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 41:1 Or be silent before me. The Hebrew root used here does often mean be silent, but the context seems to require a preparation for legal action. There is a Hebrew homonym that means fabricate. This meaning fits the context. The Greek Old Testament and the parallelism also support this meaning.
  2. Isaiah 41:3 Literally he does not enter a path with his feet. This seems to mean that he moves so fast that his feet don’t touch the ground, or that he goes in new paths where he has never gone before, or that he quickly gains new territory.
  3. Isaiah 41:8 Literally the seed
  4. Isaiah 41:10 Or dismayed
  5. Isaiah 41:14 Or you insect, Israel. The Isaiah Dead Sea Scroll reads dead ones.


The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.



Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 8

/in

Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 8

Isaiah 40 (EHV)


Through My Bible – January 8

Bible reading based on Isaiah 40 (EHV)

See series: Through My Bible

Isaiah 40

Overview of the Lord’s Plan

1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
2 Speak to the heart of Jerusalem and call out to her.
Her warfare [1] really is over.
Her guilt is fully paid for.
Yes, she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.
3 A voice is calling out:
In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord.
In the wasteland make a level [2] highway for our God.
4 Every valley will be raised up,
and every mountain and hill will be made low.
The rugged ground will become level,
and the rough places will become a plain.
5 Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all flesh together will see it.
    Yes, the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
6 A voice was saying, “Cry out!”
And I said, “What shall I cry out?”
    All flesh is grass,
    and all its beauty [3] is like a wildflower in the countryside.
7     Grass withers, flowers fade,
    when the breath [4] of the Lord blows on them.
    Yes, the people are grass.
8     Grass withers, flowers fade,
    but the Word of our God endures forever.

9 Get up on a high mountain,
O Zion, you herald of good news.
Lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, you herald of good news.
Lift it up! Do not be afraid!
Say to the cities of Judah,
“Here is your God!”
10 Look, God the Lord will come with strength,
and his arm is ruling for him.
Look, his reward is with him.
The result of his work is in front of him.
11 Like a shepherd he will care for his flock.
With his arm he will gather the lambs.
He will lift them up on his lap.
He will gently lead the nursing mothers.

The Lord Is Beyond Compare

12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand?
Who marked off the heavens with the width of his hand?
Who scooped up the dust of the earth with a measuring cup?
Who weighed the mountains with a balance
and the hills with scales?

13 Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord?
Who can teach him anything or serve as his advisor?
14 Who was his advisor to give him insight?
Who taught him the path of justice?
Who taught him knowledge?
Who showed him the way to complete understanding?

15 Indeed, nations are like a drop in a bucket,
and they are treated like powder on a scale.
Look, he lifts up islands like dust!
16 Not even the forests of Lebanon could provide enough wood to burn,
and its animals are not enough for a whole burnt offering.
17 All the nations are nothing to him.
By him they are regarded as worthless,
as less than nothing.

18 So to whom will you compare God?
What image can you compare to him?
19 A craftsman casts the idol,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold.
He forges silver chains for it.
20 He chooses mulberry wood as an offering, [5]
wood that will not rot.
He looks for a skillful craftsman
    to erect an idol that will not fall over.

21 Do you not know? Have you not heard?
Has it not been declared to you from the beginning?
Have you not understood it from the founding of the earth?
22 He is the one who sits above the circle of the earth.
To him its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.
He stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
and he spreads them out like a tent to live in.
23 He is the one who reduces dignitaries to nothing.
He makes the judges of the world useless.
24 They have hardly been planted.
They have hardly been sown.
Their stem has hardly taken root in the earth.
Then he blows on them, and they dry up.
A driving storm carries them away like chaff.

25 To whom can you compare me as if we were equals?
says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
and see who created these things.
See who brings out their army in great number
and calls them all by name.
Because of his great strength and mighty power,
not one of them is missing.

27 Why do you speak, O Jacob?
O Israel, why do you say,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
and justice for me is ignored by my God”?
28 Do you not know? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the eternal God.
He is the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired, and he will not become weary.
No one can find a limit to his understanding.
29 He is the one who gives strength to the weak,
and he increases the strength of those who lack power.
30 Young men grow tired and become weary.
Even strong men stumble and fall.
31 But those who wait for the Lord will receive new strength.
They will lift up their wings and soar like eagles.
They will run and not become weary.
They will walk and not become tired.



Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 40:2 Or hard labor
  2. Isaiah 40:3 Or straight
  3. Isaiah 40:6 The Hebrew literally reads mercy or faithfulness.
  4. Isaiah 40:7 The word also means wind and Spirit.
  5. Isaiah 40:20 Or the poor person chooses wood as an offering


The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.



Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 7

/in

Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 7

2 John & 3 John (EHV)


Through My Bible – January 7

Bible reading based on 2 John and 3 John (EHV)

See series: Through My Bible

2 John

Greeting

The Elder,

To the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in the truth—not only I, but also everyone who knows the truth— 2 because of the truth that remains in us and will be with us forever:

3 Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from [1] Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, in truth and love.

Keep on Walking According to God’s Word

4 I was overjoyed to find out that some of your children are walking in the truth, in keeping with the command we received from the Father. 5 And now I ask you, dear lady—not as though I were writing a new command to you, but the one we have had from the beginning—let us love one another. 6 And this is love: that we walk according to his commands. This is the command: Just as you have heard from the beginning, keep on walking in it.

Beware of Deceivers

7 Many deceivers who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh have gone out into the world. Such a person is a deceiver and an antichrist. 8 Watch yourselves so that you do not lose what we [2] have labored for but receive a full reward.

9 Anyone who goes on ahead and does not remain in the teaching of Christ does not have God. The one who remains in this teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 If someone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house. Do not even wish him well. 11 For the one who wishes him well shares in his wicked works.

Final Greetings

12 I have many things to write to you, but I did not want to do it with paper and ink. I hope instead to be with you and speak to you face to face so that our [3] joy may be made complete.

13 The children of your chosen sister greet you.

3 John

Greeting

The Elder,

To dear Gaius, whom I love in the truth:

Joy at Gaius’ Faithfulness and Cooperation in the Truth

2 Dear friend, I pray that you are doing well in every way and have good health, just as your soul is doing well. 3 Indeed, I was overjoyed when brothers [4] came and testified to your truthfulness because you are walking in the truth. 4 I have no greater joy than when I hear that my children are walking in the truth.

5 Dear friend, you are being faithful in what you are doing for the brothers even though they are strangers. 6 They have testified before the church about your love. You will do well to send them off in a manner worthy of God. 7 They went out for the sake of the Name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. 8 Therefore, we have an obligation to support such men, so that we may be coworkers for the truth.

A Warning About Diotrephes

9 I wrote something to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first, does not welcome us. 10 For this reason, if I do come, I will call attention to what he is doing. He is disparaging us with wicked words, and he is not content with that. He also refuses to welcome the brothers. He even hinders and puts out of the church those who wish to welcome them.

11 Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does what is good is from God. The one who does what is evil has not seen God.

12 Demetrius has been endorsed by everyone, even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true.

Final Greeting

13 I had many things to write you, but I do not want to do it with pen and ink. 14 I hope to see you soon, and we will speak face to face.

15 Peace to you. Your friends here send their greetings to you. Greet our friends there by name.



Footnotes

  1. 2 John 1:3 Some witnesses to the text add the Lord. (“Witnesses to the text” mentioned in footnotes may include Greek manuscripts, lectionaries, translations, and quotations in the church fathers.)
  2. 2 John 1:8 Some witnesses to the text read you.
  3. 2 John 1:12 Some witnesses to the text read your
  4. 3 John 1:3 When context indicates it, the Greek word for brothers may refer to all fellow believers, male and female.


The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.



Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 6

/in

Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 6

1 John 5:4-21 (EHV)


Through My Bible – January 6

Bible reading based on 1 John 5:4-21 (EHV)

See series: Through My Bible

1 John 5

4 because everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith. 5 Who is the one who overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

6 This is the one who came by water and blood: Jesus Christ. He did not come by the water alone but by the water and by the blood. The Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. 7 In fact, there are three that testify: [1] 8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and these three are one.

9 If we accept the testimony of people, God’s testimony is even greater, because it is the testimony that God gave about his Son. 10 The one who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in him, but the one who does not believe has made God out to be a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God gave about his Son. 11 This is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 The one who has the Son has life. The one who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 13 I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

14 This is the confidence that we have before him: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we also know that we receive the things we have asked from him.

16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin that does not result in death, he will ask, and God will give life—to those who commit sin that does not result in death. There is sin that results in death; I am not saying that he should ask about that. 17 All unrighteousness is sin, but there is sin that does not result in death.

18 We know that anyone who has been born of God does not go on sinning. But the one who was born of God protects him, [2] and the Evil One cannot take hold of him. 19 We know that we are from God and that the whole world lies in the grip of the Evil One. 20 We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true, in his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

21 Dear children, guard yourselves from idols.



Footnotes

  1. 1 John 5:7 Only a very few late Greek witnesses to the text read testify in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. 8 And there are three that testify on earth:
  2. 1 John 5:18 Some witnesses to the text read himself.


The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.



Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 5

/in

Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 5

1 John 4:7-5:3 (EHV)


Through My Bible – January 5

Bible reading based on 1 John 4:7-5:3 (EHV)

See series: Through My Bible

1 John 4

God Is Love

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love has not known God, because God is love. 9 This is how God’s love for us was revealed: God has sent his only-begotten Son into the world so that we may live through him. 10 This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, if God loved us so much, we also should love one another.

12 No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us and his love has been brought to its goal in us. 13 This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God. 16 We also have come to know and trust the love that God has for us.

God is love. Whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him. 17 In this way his love has been brought to its goal among us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are just like Jesus. [1] 18 There is no fear in love, but complete love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who continues to be afraid has not been brought to the goal in love.

19 We love [2] because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. For how can anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, [3] love God, whom he has not seen? 21 This then is the command we have from him: The one who loves God should also love his brother.

1 John 5

Faith, Love, and Obedience

1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the God who has given birth [4] also loves one who has been born of him. 2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: when we love God and keep his commands. 3 In fact, this is love for God: that we keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,



Footnotes

  1. 1 John 4:17 Literally that one
  2. 1 John 4:19 A few witnesses to the text add God or him.
  3. 1 John 4:20 A few witnesses to the text read For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God.
  4. 1 John 5:1 Or everyone who loves the Father


The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.



Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 4

/in

Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 4

1 John 3:11-4:6 (EHV)


Through My Bible – January 4

Bible reading based on 1 John 3:11-4:6 (EHV)

See series: Through My Bible

1 John 3

Love One Another

11 This is the message you have heard from the beginning: Love one another. 12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the Evil One and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own works were evil, while those of his brother were righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, brothers,[1] if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have crossed over from death to life, because we love our brothers. The one who does not love[2] remains in death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him. 16 This is how we have come to know love: Jesus[3] laid down his life for us. And we also should lay down our lives for our brothers. 17 Whoever has worldly wealth and sees his brother in need but closes his heart against him—how can God’s love remain in him? 18 Dear children, let us love not only with word or with our tongue, but also in action and truth.

19 This is how we know that we are of the truth and how we will set our hearts at rest in his presence: 20 If our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21 Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God. 22 We also receive from him whatever we ask, because we keep his commands and do what is pleasing in his sight. 23 This then is his command: that we believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and that we love one another just as he commanded us. 24 The one who keeps his commands remains in God[4] and God[5] in him. This is how we know that he remains in us: We know it from the Spirit, whom he has given to us.

John 4

Test the Spirits

1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit who does not confess Jesus[6] is not from God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard is coming and is already in the world. 4 You are from God, dear children, and you have overcome the false prophets,[7] because the one in you is greater than the one in the world. 5 They are from the world. That is why they speak from a worldly perspective and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. The one who knows God listens to us, but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. That is how we can distinguish between the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.



Footnotes

  1. 1 John 3:13 When context indicates it, the Greek word for brothers may refer to all fellow believers, male and female.
  2. 1 John 3:14 Some witnesses to the text add his brother.
  3. 1 John 3:16 Literally that one
  4. 1 John 3:24 Literally him
  5. 1 John 3:24 Literally he
  6. 1 John 4:3 Some witnesses to the text read that Jesus has come in the flesh.
  7. 1 John 4:4 Literally them, referring to the false prophets of verse 1.


The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.



Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 2

/in

Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 2

1 John 2:3-27 (EHV)


Through My Bible – January 2

Bible reading based on 1 John 2:3-27 (EHV)

See series: Through My Bible

1 John 2

3 This is how we know that we have known him: if we keep his commands. 4 The one who says, “I know him,” but does not keep his commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 If anyone keeps God’s word, the love of God is truly made complete in him. This is how we know that we are in him: 6 The one who says he remains in him should walk as Jesus[1] walked.

7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one that you have had since the beginning. The old command is the message you heard. 8 At the same time, the command I am writing is new—it is true in Jesus[2] and in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining. 9 The one who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is still in the darkness. 10 The one who loves his brother remains in the light, and nothing causes him to stumble. 11 The one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

12 I am writing to you, dear children,
    because your sins have been forgiven because of his name.
13 I am writing to you, fathers,
    because you have known him who is from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young men,
    because you have overcome the Evil One.
14 I have written to you, little children,
    because you have known the Father.
I have written to you, fathers,
    because you have known him who is from the beginning.
I have written to you, young men,
    because you are strong,
    and the word of God remains in you,
    and you have overcome the Evil One.

Do Not Love the World

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, boasting about material possessions—is not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but the one who does the will of God remains forever.

Warning Against False Teachers

18 Dear children, it is the last hour. The Antichrist is coming, just as you have heard, and even now many antichrists have come. (This is how you know that it is the last hour.) 19 They went out from us, but they really were not part of us. If they had been part of us, they would have stayed with us. Instead they all showed that they were not part of us.

20 You have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.[3] 21 I did not write to you because you do not know the truth but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. 22 Who is a liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is an antichrist: the one who denies the Father and the Son. 23 Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father. But the one who confesses the Son has the Father as well. 24 Let what you have heard from the beginning remain in you. If what you have heard from the beginning remains in you, then you will remain in the Son and the Father. 25 And this is what he promised you: eternal life.

26 I have written these things to you about those who are misleading you. 27 As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you have no need for someone to teach you. Rather, since his anointing teaches you all things and since it is true and is no lie, remain in him, just as it has taught you.



Footnotes

  1. 1 John 2:6 Literally that one
  2. 1 John 2:8 Literally him
  3. 1 John 2:20 A few witnesses to the text read But all of you know that you have an anointing from the Holy One.


The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.



Click here to add your own text

Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 1

/in

Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 1

1 John 1-2:2 (EHV)


Through My Bible – January 1

Bible reading based on 1 John 1-2:2 (EHV)

See series: Through My Bible

1 John 1

The Word of Life

1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have observed and our hands have touched regarding the Word of Life— 2 the life appeared, and we have seen it. We testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. 3 We are proclaiming what we have seen and heard also to you, so that you may have fellowship with us. Our fellowship is with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. 4 We write these things to you so that our[1] joy may be complete.

Walking in the Light

5 This is the message we heard from him and proclaim to you: God is light. In him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say we have fellowship with him but still walk in darkness, we are lying and do not put the truth into practice. 7 But if we walk in the light, just as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ,[2] his Son, cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar, and his Word[3] is not in us.

1 John 2

1 My children, I write these things to you so that you will not sin. If anyone does sin, we have an Advocate before the Father: Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the whole world.



Footnotes

  1. 1 John 1:4 Some witnesses to the text read your. (“Witnesses to the text” mentioned in footnotes may include Greek manuscripts, lectionaries, translations, and quotations in the church fathers.)
  2. 1 John 1:7 Some witnesses to the text omit Christ.
  3. 1 John 1:10 Or word. This term could refer to Jesus (Word) or God’s message (word).


The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.



Through My Bible Yr 01 – December 31

/in

Through My Bible Yr 01 – December 31

Isaiah 38 – 39

Through My Bible – December 31

Isaiah 38 – 39 (EHV)

See series: Through My Bible

Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery

Isaiah 38

1 In those days Hezekiah became sick and was dying. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him and said, “This is what the Lord says. Give instructions to your household, because you are going to die. You will not survive.”

2 So Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord. 3 He said, “Please remember, Lord, how I have walked before you in truth and with my whole heart. I have done what is good in your eyes.” Hezekiah wept bitterly.

4 Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah.

5 Go back and tell Hezekiah that this is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says:

I have heard your prayer and I have seen your tears. Now then, I will add fifteen years to your life. 6 I will rescue you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city.

7 This will be the sign from the Lord to you. The Lord will do what he has promised. 8 Watch! I will make the shadow of the setting sun that has moved down the stairway of Ahaz move back, ten steps higher on the staircase.

Then the sun’s shadow moved backwards, ten steps higher on the stairway that it had just descended.

9 A poem written by Hezekiah king of Judah, after his illness and recovery. [1]

10 I thought that, only halfway through my life,
I was entering into the gates of death, [2]
deprived of the remaining years of my life.
11 I thought, I will not see the Lord—
the Lord [3] in the land of the living.
I will no longer see anyone among the inhabitants of the world. [4]
12 My dwelling place is being pulled down.
It is carried away from me like a shepherd’s tent.
I have rolled up my life like a weaver.
He is cutting me off from the loom.
From day until night, you make an end of me. [5]
13 I pondered this until the morning.
He will break all my bones like a lion!
From day until night, you make an end of me.
14 I chirp weakly like a swift or a swallow.
I mourn like a dove.
My eyes are tired from looking upward.
O Lord, I am oppressed.
Be my security.

15 What can I say?
He has spoken to me, and he is the one to act.
I will march slowly throughout all my years,
because my heart is bitter. [6]
16 Lord, people live because you give them life.
My spirit lives through this. [7]
Restore me, and let me live. [8]
17 The bitter things I experienced were for my benefit.
Your love has preserved my life from the pit of destruction,
for you have thrown all my sins behind your back.
18 The grave [9] cannot thank you.
Death cannot praise you.
Those who go down into the pit cannot trust your faithfulness.
19 The living one, the living one, he praises you, as I do today.
A father tells his children about your faithfulness.
20 The Lord will save me,
so we will sing songs with stringed instruments
    all the days of our lives in the House of the Lord.

21 Isaiah had said, “Have them take a cake of figs, apply it as a poultice on the inflamed spot, and he will recover.”

22 Hezekiah had also asked, “What will be the sign that I will go up to the House of the Lord?”

Hezekiah Receives Envoys From Babylon

Isaiah 39

1 At that time, Merodak [10] Baladan, son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, because he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick and had recovered. 2 Hezekiah was happy to receive the envoys, and he showed them his palace treasury—the silver and the gold, the spices and the precious oil, his whole armory, and everything that was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his palace or in all his domain that Hezekiah did not show them.

3 Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did those men say? Where did they come from?”

Hezekiah replied, “They have come from a faraway country, from Babylon.”

4 The prophet asked, “What did they see in your palace?”

Hezekiah said, “They have seen everything in my palace. There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.”

5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Listen to the word of the Lord of Armies. 6 Listen carefully. The days are coming when whatever is in your house—everything that your fathers have stored up until today—will be carried away to Babylon. Not a thing will be left, says the Lord. 7 They will take away some of the sons who were born to you, your own children, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”

8 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord which you have spoken is good.” For Hezekiah also said, “There will be peace and stability during my days.”

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 38:9 This poem is not included in 2 Kings.
  2. Isaiah 38:10 Hebrew sheol
  3. Isaiah 38:11 The Hebrew text here has two occurrences of Yah, the short form of the divine name. Some Hebrew manuscripts have a single occurrence of Yahweh.
  4. Isaiah 38:11 Hebrew variant this passing world
  5. Isaiah 38:12 Or day, and then night! So quickly you have made an end of me. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
  6. Isaiah 38:15 The translation follows the Hebrew. The Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah and the Syriac read What can I say? I will say to him that he is the one to act. I cannot sleep, because my heart is bitter.
  7. Isaiah 38:16 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
  8. Isaiah 38:16 Or you restore me, and you let me live!
  9. Isaiah 38:18 Hebrew sheol
  10. Isaiah 39:1 Merodak is probably a derogatory form of the name Marduk, the chief god of Babylon.




The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.



Through My Bible Yr 01 – December 30

/in

Through My Bible Yr 01 – December 30

Isaiah 36 – 37

Through My Bible – December 30

Isaiah 36 – 37 (EHV)

See series: Through My Bible

Assyria Threatens Jerusalem

Isaiah 36

1 Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all of the fortified cities of Judah and seized them. 2 The king of Assyria sent his herald [1] from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah. A large army was with him. He stood by the water channel from the upper pool on the road to the launderer’s [2] field. 3 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was the palace administrator, Shebna, who was the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, who was the recorder, came out to meet him.

4 The herald told them this.

Tell Hezekiah this is what the Great King, the king of Assyria, says.

What makes you so confident? 5 Your wisdom and military strength are based on empty promises. Who do you trust, so that you now have rebelled against me? 6 Tell me! Are you really trusting in Egypt to be your staff, that splintered reed that will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it? That is what happens to anyone who relies on Pharaoh king of Egypt.

7 If you say to me that you trust in the Lord your God, isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed? Didn’t Hezekiah tell Judah and Jerusalem to worship at this altar?

8 Now then, make a bargain with my master the king of Assyria. I will give you two thousand horses, if you can find enough riders for them. 9 How can you resist even one officer from among the least of my lord’s servants? How can you put your trust in Egypt for chariots and charioteers?

10 What’s more, have I attacked this land to destroy it without the Lord’s orders? The Lord is the one who said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it.”

11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the herald, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, because we understand it. Do not speak to us in Hebrew, because there are people on the city wall who are listening.”

12 But the herald replied, “Has my lord sent me only to you and to your lord to speak these words, and not to the men who are sitting on the wall, who will eat their own excrement and drink their own urine with you?” [3]

13 Then the herald stood up and called out in a loud voice in Hebrew. He said:

Listen to the words of the Great King, the king of Assyria! 14 This is what the king says.

Do not let Hezekiah deceive you! He will not be able to deliver you. 15 Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the Lord, when he says that the Lord will save you, and that this city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.

16 Do not listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says. Make a peace treaty with me and surrender to me. Each one of you will eat from his own vine, from his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink water from his own cistern, 17 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land with grain and sweet wine, a land with bread and vineyards. 18 Do not let Hezekiah make you think that the Lord will deliver you!

Have any of the gods of the nations kept them from being handed over to the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they rescued Samaria from my hand? 20 Which of the gods of these countries have delivered their country from my hand? Will the Lord really deliver Jerusalem from my hand?

21 But the officials remained silent, saying nothing in reply, because the king had commanded, “Do not answer him.”

22 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was the palace administrator, Shebna, who was the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, who was the recorder, went to Hezekiah with their clothing torn and told him everything the herald had said.

Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah’s Advice

Isaiah 37

1 When King Hezekiah heard the report, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and went into the House of the Lord. 2 He sent Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, who were wearing sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.

3 They told him what Hezekiah said: “This is a day of distress, rebuke, and humiliation, because children are about to be born, but there is no strength left to give birth. 4 Perhaps the Lord your God will take note of the words of this herald, who was sent by his lord, the king of Assyria, in defiance of the living God, and perhaps the Lord your God will rebuke him for what he has heard. So please, pray for the small group that is left here.”

5 When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 6 he said to them, “Tell your master that this is what the Lord says. Do not be afraid of what you have heard. The lackeys [4] of the king of Assyria have blasphemed against me. 7 Watch! I will put a spirit in him, so that when he hears certain news, he will return to his own land. There I will cause him to be killed.”

8 Then the herald went back. He heard that the king of Assyria had already left Lachish and was fighting against Libnah.

9 When Sennacherib heard that Tirhakah king of Cush [5] had set out to fight against him, he sent messengers to Hezekiah 10 to say this to Hezekiah king of Judah:

Do not let the God you trust deceive you, saying that Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria. 11 Listen, you yourself have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the other lands, destroying them completely. And you expect to be saved? 12 Did the gods of the nations whom my fathers destroyed save them—Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden, who were in Tel Assar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arpad, and the kings of the cities of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah?

14 Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it. He went up to the House of the Lord and placed it there before the Lord. 15 Then he prayed to the Lord.

16 O Lord of Armies, God of Israel, seated above the cherubim, you alone are God of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth. 17 Turn your ear toward me, Lord, and hear. Open your eyes, Lord, and see. Listen to all of the words of Sennacherib, who has defied the living God. 18 It is true, Lord, that the kings of Assyria have destroyed all these lands and their territory. 19 They have thrown their gods into the fire, for they were not gods at all, but the work of human hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. 20 Now, Lord our God, save us from his power, and let all the kingdoms of the earth know that you are the Lord, and you alone.

The Lord Replies to Hezekiah Through Isaiah

21 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah.

The Lord, the God of Israel, says that because you have prayed to him about Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22 the Lord sends you this reply about him.

The virgin daughter of Zion [6] despises you and jeers at you.
The daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head at you in scorn.
23 Who is it whom you have mocked and blasphemed?
Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted up your proud eyes?
It is against the Holy One of Israel.
24 You have used your servants to mock the Lord.
You have boasted, “I have driven my many chariots
up the high mountains, to the most remote parts of Lebanon.
I cut down its tallest cedars and its best fir trees.
I have reached its highest peak, its most lush forest.
25 I dug wells and drank their water,
and I dried up all the rivers of Egypt with the soles of my feet.”

26 Have you not heard?
I did all this long ago.
I formed all this in ancient times.
Now I caused it all to take place.
I enabled you to destroy fortified cities,
reducing them to heaps of ruins.
27 Their inhabitants were powerless.
Overwhelmed and ashamed,
they were like plants in the field,
like fresh green grass, like grass on a housetop,
and like a field before it has grown. [7]
28 But I know when you stand and when you sit, [8]
when you go out and when you come in,
and how you rage wildly against me.
29 Because you rage against me,
and because your arrogance has reached my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your mouth,
and I will make you go back by the same way that you came.

30 This will be a sign for you:

This year you will eat what grows by itself.
Next year you will eat what springs up from that.
But in the third year, you will sow crops and harvest them.
You will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
31 The surviving remnant of the house of Judah
will again put down roots below and bear fruit above.
32 For from Jerusalem a remnant will go out,
and survivors from Mount Zion.
The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this.

33 This is what the Lord says about the king of Assyria:

He will not enter this city.
He will not shoot an arrow there.
He will not advance against it with a shield,
and he will not build a siege ramp against it.
34 He will go back by the same route that he came,
and he will not enter this city, declares the Lord.
35 For I will defend this city to save it,
for my own sake,
and for the sake of my servant David.

The Destruction of Sennacherib

36 Then an angel of the Lord went and struck down one hundred eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. Early in the morning, there they were—all the dead bodies. 37 Then Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and left. He returned to Nineveh and remained there. 38 One day when Sennacherib was worshipping in the house of his god Nisrok, his sons Adrammelek and Sharezer struck him down with the sword. They fled to the land of Ararat, [9] and his son Esarhaddon became king in his place.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 36:2 Or chief spokesman. The Hebrew/Assyrian term rab shakeh refers to a high-ranking military officer.
  2. Isaiah 36:2 Or washerman’s or wool-cleaner’s
  3. Isaiah 36:12 The Hebrew terms for excrement and urine are apparently coarse, because the scribal notes substitute euphemisms for them.
  4. Isaiah 37:6 Or junior officers, an insulting term to use for such high-ranking officers
  5. Isaiah 37:9 Cush is the ancient name for the territory south of the First Cataract of the Nile River. Called Ethiopia in Roman times, it included most of present-day Sudan and some of present-day Ethiopia. The Cushite or Nubian kings were the pharaohs of Egypt at this time.
  6. Isaiah 37:22 Daughter of Zion is a personification of Jerusalem and the people of Judah.
  7. Isaiah 37:27 The translation follows the main Hebrew reading of this verse. The parallel text in 2 Kings 19:26 reads scorched before it becomes a full-grown stalk. The Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah reads scorched by the east wind.
  8. Isaiah 37:28 The translation follows the Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah. The Hebrew does not have when you stand and.
  9. Isaiah 37:38 The region of present-day Armenia




The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.



Through My Bible Yr 01 – December 29

/in

Through My Bible Yr 01 – December 29

Isaiah 33 – 35

Through My Bible – December 29

Isaiah 33 – 35 (EHV)

See series: Through My Bible

Rise Up, O Lord!

Isaiah 33

1 Woe to you who destroy, even though you have not been destroyed,

you who betray, though you have not been betrayed!
When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed,
and when you have finished betraying, you will be betrayed.

2 O Lord, be gracious to us. We wait hopefully for you.
Be our strength every morning.
Be our salvation in times of trouble.
3 At the thunder of your voice, people flee.
When you stir up your great power, nations scatter.
4 Your plunder will be taken away
    the way a caterpillar [1] eats things up.
People will swarm on it like a locust swarm.
5 The Lord is exalted, because he dwells on high.
He will fill Zion with justice and righteousness.
6 There will be stability in your time,
a wealth of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge.
Your treasure will be the fear of the Lord.
7 Listen! Their elite troops [2] are crying in the streets.
The peace envoys weep bitterly.
8 The highways are deserted.
All travel has stopped.
The treaty has been broken.
Witnesses [3] are despised,
and no one is respected.
9 The land mourns and becomes weak.
Lebanon is ashamed and withers away.
The Plain of Sharon is like the Arabah,
and Bashan and Carmel are stripped bare.

10 Now I will arise, says the Lord.
Now I will lift myself up.
Now I will be exalted.
11 You will conceive chaff
and give birth to stubble.
Like fire, your own breath will consume you.
12 People will be burned to lime, [4]
like thorns that are cut and burned in the fire.
13 You who are far away, recognize what I have done.
You who are close by, acknowledge my mighty acts.

14 The sinners in Zion are afraid.
Trembling has seized the ungodly.
Who of us can live with a consuming fire?
Who of us can live in a place that burns without end?
15 Those who walk righteously and speak blamelessly,
those who despise dishonest gain,
whose hands refuse a bribe,
whose ears will not listen to violent plans,
whose eyes reject evil—
16 they will dwell on high.
Their defense will be a fortress on the cliffs.
Their bread will be provided.
    Their water supply will be reliable.

17 Your eyes will see the King [5] in his splendor.
They will see a land that stretches far and wide.
18 Your heart will think about the past terrors.
You will think, “Where is the one who took the inventory? [6]
Where is the one who weighed the silver?
Where is the one who counted the towers?”
19 You will no longer see a barbaric people,
a people with unintelligible speech, which you cannot understand,
a people who babble in a language that makes no sense.
20 Look at Zion, the city where we hold our festivals.
You will see Jerusalem as a peaceful place,
as a tent that cannot be removed.
Its stakes will never be pulled up.
Its ropes will never be broken.
21 There the Lord will be with us in majesty,
as in a place with wide rivers and streams,
where no enemy warship can row,
where no sailing ship can slip past.
22 Because the Lord is our judge,
the Lord is our lawgiver,
and the Lord is our king,
he is the one who will save us.

23 Your rigging hangs loose.
The mast is not steady.
The sail is not set. [7]

When they divide all the plunder,
there will be so much that even the crippled will take part.
24 No one who lives there will say, “I am sick.”
The guilt of the people who live there will be forgiven.

Judgment Against the Nations

Isaiah 34

1 Come near, you nations, and hear!

Listen, you peoples.
Let the earth and everything in it hear,
the world and everything that it produces.

2 The Lord is angry with all the nations,
and he is furious with all their armies.
He has condemned them to destruction.
He has handed them over for slaughter.
3 Their fallen bodies will lie unburied,
and the stench of their corpses will linger.
The mountains will flow with their blood.
4 The whole army of the heavens will fall apart.
The sky will be rolled up like a scroll,
and its whole army will waste away and fall,
    like leaves withering on a vine,
    like fruit that falls from a fig tree.

5 Yes, my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens.
Now it will fall on Edom,
on the people I have sentenced to judgment.
6 The sword of the Lord is covered with blood.
It is coated with fat,
with the blood of lambs and goats,
with the fat from the kidneys of rams,
for the Lord has made a sacrifice in Bozrah,
a massive slaughter in the land of Edom.
7 Wild oxen will fall along with them,
bull calves and powerful bulls.
Their land will be soaked with blood,
and their dust will be saturated with fat.
8 It will be a day of vengeance for the Lord,
a year of retribution for Zion’s sake. [8]
9 Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch,
its dust into sulfur,
and its land will become burning pitch,
10 which will not be extinguished night or day.
Its smoke will go up forever.
Generation after generation, it will lie in ruins.
No one will ever pass through it. Never again!
11 But the desert owl and the porcupine will live there. [9]
The screech owl and the raven will nest there.
God will stretch a measuring line for chaos over Edom,
and a plumb line for uninhabited ruins. [10]
12 There will be nothing left for its nobles to call a kingdom.
All its officials will be gone.
13 Thorns will cover its citadels.
Thistles and briers will overgrow its fortresses.
It will be a den of jackals,
a haunt for ostriches.
14 Desert animals and hyenas will gather,
and wild goats [11] will bleat to each other.
Creatures of the night [12] will settle there
and find a resting place.
15 An owl [13] will nest there.
She will lay eggs, hatch them,
and gather her young under her shade.
Falcons will gather there too,
each with its mate.

16 Search through the book of the Lord, and read.
Not one of them will be missing.
Not one will lack her mate.
For his mouth has commanded this,
and his Spirit has gathered them together.
17 He has allotted this land for these creatures.
His hand has divided it up for them with a surveying line.
They will possess it forever.
They will live there generation after generation.

The Joyful Return

Isaiah 35

1 The wilderness and the desert will be glad.

The wasteland of the Arabah will rejoice and blossom like a crocus.
2 It will bloom lavishly,
and there will be great joy and singing.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to it.
It will be excellent like Carmel and Sharon.
They will see the glory of the Lord,
the majesty of our God.

3 Strengthen the weak hands,
and make the shaky knees steady.
4 Tell those who have a fearful heart:
    Be strong.
    Do not be afraid.
    Look! Your God will come with vengeance.
    With God’s own retribution, he will come and save you.

5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened,
and the ears of the deaf will be unplugged.
6 The crippled will leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the mute will sing for joy.
Waters will flow in the wilderness,
and streams in the wasteland.
7 The burning sand will become a pool,
and in the thirsty ground there will be springs of water.
There will be grass, reeds, and rushes where the haunts
    of jackals once lay.
8 A highway will be there,
a road that will be called the holy way.
The impure will not walk there.
It will be reserved for those who walk in that holy way.
Wicked fools will not wander onto it.
9 No lion will be there,
nor will any ferocious animal go up on it.
They will not be found there,
but only the redeemed will walk there.
10 Then those ransomed by the Lord will return.
They will enter Zion with a joyful shout,
and everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Happiness and joy will overtake them,
and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 33:4 The term refers to a life stage or a type of locust.
  2. Isaiah 33:7 Or the people of Ariel
  3. Isaiah 33:8 The translation follows the Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah. The standard Hebrew text reads cities.
  4. Isaiah 33:12 Or to ashes
  5. Isaiah 33:17 Or the king
  6. Isaiah 33:18 The verse apparently refers to the actions of the enemy officers as they plundered Jerusalem.
  7. Isaiah 33:23 Or Your ropes are loose. Their flagpole is not firmly set, and the flag will not fly. But see verse 21.
  8. Isaiah 34:8 Or a time of retribution for the Defender of Zion
  9. Isaiah 34:11 The precise identification of these animals and other animals in this section is uncertain. The word translated porcupine may be another type of owl.
  10. Isaiah 34:11 The words translated chaos and uninhabited ruins are the same words that describe the undeveloped, empty world on the first day of creation.
  11. Isaiah 34:14 The term translated wild goats later became associated with satyrs and demons, but here it seems to refer to regular animals.
  12. Isaiah 34:14 Hebrew lilith. In later Jewish writing this term became the name of a female demon.
  13. Isaiah 34:15 Or the arrow snake. The meaning of the Hebrew term is uncertain.




The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.



Through My Bible Yr 01 – December 28

/in

Through My Bible Yr 01 – December 28

Isaiah 30:18 – 32:20

Through My Bible – December 28

Isaiah 30:18 – 32:20 (EHV)

See series: Through My Bible

Isaiah 30

18 But the Lord is eager to be gracious to you.
He waits on high to have mercy on you,
for the Lord is a God of justice.
Blessed are all those who long for him.

19 So people will live in Zion. In Jerusalem you will weep no more. The Lord will be very gracious to you when he hears your cry. When he hears you, he will answer you. 20 Though the Lord has given you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, he is your teacher. [1] He will not be hidden any longer. You will see your teacher with your own eyes. 21 Whenever you are tempted to turn to the right or to the left, you will hear his voice behind you, saying, “This is the way. Walk in it.” 22 You will defile your idols that are plated with silver and your images overlaid with gold. You will throw them away like a filthy cloth, [2] saying, “Get away from me!”

23 Then he will give you rain so that you can sow seed in the ground. The bread from your land’s harvest will be excellent and plentiful. On that day your livestock will graze in wide pastures. 24 The oxen and the donkeys that work the ground will eat the best feed [3]—winnowed with a shovel and a winnowing fork. 25 On every lofty mountain and on every high hill there will be streams flowing with water.

It will be a day of terrible slaughter, when towers fall. 26 The light of the moon will be as bright as the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter—like the light of seven days—on the day when the Lord will bind up the wounds of his people and heal the injuries he inflicted.

God Will Punish Assyria

27 Look! The name of the Lord is coming from far away,
burning with anger, in a column of thick smoke.
His lips are full of anger,
and his tongue is a consuming fire.
28 His breath is a stream at flood stage,
surging all the way up to your neck.
He shakes the nations in a sieve to destroy them,
and he puts a bridle in their mouths to lead them to destruction.
29 You will sing as you do on the night of a holy festival,
    with glad hearts,
as when they go up with flutes to the mountain of the Lord,
to the Rock of Israel.
30 The Lord will cause the majestic splendor of his voice to be heard.
He will make them see his arm come crashing down in fierce anger,
like the flames of a consuming fire,
like driving rain, a furious storm with hailstones.
31 The voice of the Lord will terrify Assyria.
He will strike it with his rod.
32 Every stroke of the punishing rod [4] which the Lord will lay on them
    will be accompanied by the music of drums and lyres.
He himself will fight, battling them, swinging weapons.
33 Topheth has long been made ready.
It is prepared for the king,
a flaming funeral pyre, deep and wide, with plenty of wood.
The breath of the Lord, like a river of liquid fire, sets it ablaze.

Woe to Those Who Rely on Egypt

Isaiah 31

1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help,

who put their faith in horses,
who trust in chariots because there are many of them,
who trust in charioteers [5] because they are very powerful.
They do not trust in the Holy One of Israel.
They do not seek the Lord.
2 The Lord is wise, and he will bring disaster.
He will not go back on his word,
but he will deal with those who do evil,
and with those who help the wicked.
3 The Egyptians are merely men, not gods.
Their horses are flesh, not spirit.
When the Lord stretches out his hand to punish,
both the helper and the one seeking help will fall.
Together they will perish.

4 This is what the Lord said to me:
    When a lion or a young lion snarls over its prey,
    and a band of shepherds is called out to drive it away,
    it is not afraid of their shouts,
    and it is not bothered by the noise they make.
    In the same way, the Lord of Armies will fearlessly come down
        to fight on Mount Zion and on its heights.
5 Like a hovering [6] bird,
the Lord of Armies will protect Jerusalem.
He will protect it and deliver it.
He will pass over it and preserve it.
6 O people of Israel, return to the one you have so completely betrayed. 7 In that day every one of you will throw away his idols of silver and his idols of gold—things you made, which caused you to sin.

8 Assyria will fall, but not by a human sword.
A sword will devour him, but not one wielded by men.
He will flee from the sword,
but his young men will be forced into slavery.
9 His rocky stronghold will pass away because of fear,
and his officials will abandon their banner in panic,
declares the Lord, whose fire is in Zion,
whose blast furnace is in Jerusalem.

The Righteous Kingdom

Isaiah 32

1 See, a king will reign in righteousness,

and officials will govern with justice.
2 Each of them will be like a shelter from the wind
and a refuge from the storm,
like streams of water for a dry place,
like the shade of a massive cliff in a parched land.
3 The eyes of those who see will not be closed,
and the ears of those who hear will listen.
4 Hasty hearts [7] will gain understanding,
and stammering tongues will speak clearly.

5 The fool will no longer be called noble,
nor will rogues be treated like respectable people. [8]
6 The fool speaks folly,
and his heart plots evil:
to do what is ungodly,
to tell lies about the Lord,
to deny food to the hungry,
and to refuse even one drink for the thirsty.
7 The rogue’s ways are evil.
He plots evil to ruin the humble with lies,
even when the poor speak with justice.

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

Judgment and Restoration

9 Get up, you complacent women, and listen!
You carefree girls, hear what I have to say!
10 In a little more than a year, you carefree women will be worried,
because the grape harvest will fail,
and the fruit harvest will not arrive.
11 Tremble, you complacent women!
Be worried, you carefree girls!
Strip yourselves naked,
and put sackcloth around your waist.
12 Beat your breasts in mourning
    for the pleasant fields,
    for the fruitful vines,
13 because my people’s land will yield only thorns and briers.
Weep for all the houses where you partied,
    in the city where you celebrated.
14 Then the fortress will be abandoned.
The crowded city will be deserted.
The citadel and the watchtower will become
    rugged ruins [9] for a long time,
    enjoyed by wild donkeys,
    and a pasture for flocks,
15 until the Spirit is poured out on us from on high,
and the wilderness becomes a fertile field,
and the fertile field seems like a forest.
16 Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,
and righteousness will live in the fertile field.
17 The result of righteousness will be peace,
and righteousness will bring lasting tranquility and security.
18 My people will live in a peaceful place,
in secure dwellings,
and in quiet resting places.
19 Even if hail destroys the forest,
or if the city is totally leveled,
20 how blessed you will be,
as you sow seed beside streams,
and let your cattle and donkeys run free.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 30:20 The Hebrew reads teachers, perhaps referring to the prophets, but the singular he occurs throughout verses 20-26.
  2. Isaiah 30:22 The Hebrew words refer to a cloth stained with menstrual blood. Blood made a person who contacted it ceremonially unclean.
  3. Isaiah 30:24 Or seasoned feed
  4. Isaiah 30:32 Or the appointed rod
  5. Isaiah 31:1 Or horsemen
  6. Isaiah 31:5 Or swooping
  7. Isaiah 32:4 Or rash minds
  8. Isaiah 32:5 Or celebrities
  9. Isaiah 32:14 Or animals’ dens




The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.



Through My Bible Yr 01 – December 27

/in

Through My Bible Yr 01 – December 27

Isaiah 29:1 – 30:17

Through My Bible – December 27

Isaiah 29:1 – 30:17 (EHV)

See series: Through My Bible

Woe to the City of David

Isaiah 29

1  Woe to Ariel! [1] Ariel, the city where David made his camp.

Add one year to another.
Let your cycle of festivals roll on.
2 But then I will bring distress to Ariel,
and there will be mourning and lamentation.
Then she will become an altar hearth [2] to me.
3 I will encamp against you on all sides,
and I will lay siege against you with towers. [3]
I will raise siege works against you.
4 You will be brought so low
that you will speak from the ground.
You will murmur from the dust.
Your voice will be like a ghost from a pit in the ground,
and your speech will whisper from the dust.
5 But your many foes will become like fine dust,
and the ruthless hordes like blowing chaff.
This will take place suddenly, in an instant.
6 You will be visited by the Lord of Armies
with thunder, earthquake, and a loud noise,
with a strong wind and a storm,
and with the flames of a devouring fire.
7 The hordes of nations that fight against Ariel,
all who fight against her and her stronghold,
all who besiege her—
all of them will be like a dream,
like a vision in the night.
8 They will be like a hungry man who dreams and sees himself eating,
but then he wakes up, and his hunger is not satisfied.
They will be like a thirsty man who dreams and sees himself drinking,
but then he wakes up and, sure enough, he is weak with thirst.
That is how it will be with the hordes of nations
    that fight against Mount Zion.
9 Be stunned! Be amazed!
Blind yourselves and be blind!
They are drunk, but not with wine.
They stagger, but not from beer. [4]
10 For the Lord has poured out a spirit of deep sleep over you.
He has closed your eyes—the prophets.
He has covered your heads—the seers.

11 For you this whole vision has become like the words of a sealed scroll. If you give it to someone who can read, and you say, “Read this, please,” he will say, “I can’t. It is sealed.” 12 And if you give it to someone who cannot read, and you say, “Read this, please,” he will say, “I can’t read.”

13 The Lord says:
These people approach me with their words,
and they honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me is nothing but commandments taught by men. [5]
14 So watch how I will continue to amaze these people
    with amazing, extraordinary things.
The wisdom of the wise will perish,
and the intelligence of the intelligent will be hidden.

Hope for the Future

15 Woe to those who try to hide their plans from the Lord.
Their deeds are done in darkness,
and they think that no one sees them
or knows what they are doing.

16 You turn things upside down!
Should the potter be treated like clay?
Should the thing that was made say to its maker,
    “You didn’t make me”?
Should the creation say to the creator,
    “You know nothing”?

17 Isn’t it true that in a very short time
    Lebanon will be turned into a fertile field,
    and the fertile field will seem like a forest?
18 On that day, the deaf will hear the words from a book,
and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.
19 The humble will rejoice in the Lord once again,
and the poor will delight in the Holy One of Israel.
20 But the ruthless will come to nothing.
Those who mock will be no more,
and all those who plan evil will be cut off—
21 all those who slander others with a word,
all those who argue cases at the city gate,
all those who use false testimony to deprive the innocent of justice.

22 Therefore this is what the Lord, who redeemed Abraham,
says about the house of Jacob:
    Jacob will not be ashamed anymore.
    His face will not grow pale.
23     But when his children see what I do among them,
    they will honor my name.
    They will honor the Holy One of Jacob.
    They will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24     Those who are confused will come to understand,
    and those who complain will gladly receive instruction.

A Useless Treaty With Egypt

Isaiah 30

1  Woe to this rebellious people, says the Lord.

They take advice, but not from me.
They establish an alliance, but not by my Spirit.
Then they sin more and more.
2 Woe to those who go down to Egypt, without consulting me.
They seek Pharaoh’s protection,
and they take refuge in the shade of Egypt!
3 So Pharaoh’s protection will bring you shame.
Taking refuge in the shade of Egypt will be your downfall.
4 Even though Israel’s officials are in Zoan,
and their envoys have gone as far as Hanes,
5 they will all be humiliated
because of a people that is useless to them.
They can neither help nor provide any benefit.
They bring only shame and reproach.

Judah’s Envoys Take Tribute to Egypt

6 An oracle about the animals of the Negev.

Through the land of trouble and distress,
the land of the lioness and the lion,
of the viper and the venomous flying serpent,
Judah’s envoys carry their wealth on the backs of donkeys
and their treasures on camels’ humps,
to a nation that cannot help them.
7 For Egypt’s help is useless and serves no purpose.
That is why I have called her “the dragon that just sits there.” [6]
8 Go and write it on a tablet for them.
Record it on a scroll,
so that in the future it may serve as a permanent witness.
9 These are a rebellious people, lying children,
children unwilling to hear the law of the Lord,
10 who tell the seers, “Stop seeing!”
who tell the prophets, “Stop prophesying what is right!
Tell us pleasant things. Prophesy illusions.
11 Leave the way! Turn from the path!
Stop getting in our face about the Holy One of Israel!”
12 This is what the Holy One of Israel says:
    Since you have rejected my word,
    and you trust in oppression and deceit,
    and you rely on them,
13     your guilt will be like a crack in a wall,
    bulging out and about to collapse.
    It will suddenly fall without warning.
14     It will crash like a broken clay pot,
    smashed to pieces so violently that not one useful piece will be left,
    not even a piece good enough to pick up a coal from the hearth
    or to ladle water from a cistern.
15 This is what the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, says:
    If you repent and wait quietly, you will be saved.
    Your strength will depend on quietness and trust.
But you refused.
16 You said, “No, we will flee on horseback!”
Yes indeed, you will flee.
You said, “We will ride away swiftly!”
Yes indeed, you will be pursued swiftly.
17 A thousand will flee when just one threatens.
When five threaten, you will flee,
until you are like a single flag, fluttering on a mountaintop,
like a lonely banner on a hill.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 29:1 That is, Jerusalem. Ariel means Lion of God, but it also can mean an altar hearth of burning coals, which is what Jerusalem will become.
  2. Isaiah 29:2 Hebrew Ariel
  3. Isaiah 29:3 Or a garrison or an invading army or earthen ramps
  4. Isaiah 29:9 Beer refers to any fermented drink not made from grapes. Distilled alcohol was unknown in biblical times.
  5. Isaiah 29:13 The translation follows the Hebrew. The Greek reads: They worship me in vain. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men. See Matthew 15:8-9.
  6. Isaiah 30:7 Literally Rahab who sits still. Rahab was the name of a dragon-like sea monster or river monster. See Job 26:12; Psalm 89:9-10.




The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.



Through My Bible Yr 01 – December 26

/in

Through My Bible Yr 01 – December 26

Isaiah 28

Through My Bible – December 26

Isaiah 28 (EHV)

See series: Through My Bible

A Warning to the Northern Kingdom

1 Woe to drunken Ephraim’s proud crown,

to the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
on the peak that overlooks a fertile valley.
Woe to those who are overcome with wine!

2 Look, the Lord has someone who is strong and mighty.
Like a hailstorm,
like a destructive windstorm,
like a hurricane that drives surging waters,
he will throw them down to the earth with his own hand.
3 Drunken Ephraim’s proud crown will be trampled underfoot.
4 The fading flower of its glorious beauty, on the peak overlooking
        a fertile valley,
    will be like the early figs before summer,
    which someone picks and swallows as soon as he sees them.
5 On that day the Lord of Armies will become a glorious crown
and a beautifully braided headband for the remnant of his people.
6 He will provide a spirit of justice to the one who sits in judgment,
and strength for those who turn back the battle at the gate.

The Drunken Prophets and Priests

7 They stagger into error because of wine,
and they stumble off the way because of beer.
The priests and prophets stagger with beer,
and they are dizzy from wine.
They stumble from beer.
They stagger when they see visions.
They reel when they render judgment.
8 All their tables are covered with vomit.
There is not a spot without filth.

9 They [1] say:
    Who is he trying to teach?
    Who needs his instruction?
    A baby who has just been weaned from milk?
    An infant just taken from the breast?
10 They say:
    Law by law, law by law,
    rule by rule, rule by rule, [2]
    a little here, a little there.
11 So the Lord will speak to this people
    with barbarous lips and in a foreign tongue.
12 He said to them,
“This is the resting place.
Let the weary rest.
This is the place to be refreshed,”
but they would not listen.
13 That is why to them the word of the Lord will be:
    Law by law, law by law,
    rule by rule, rule by rule, [3]
    a little here, a little there.
As a result they will try to walk,
but they will fall backwards.
They will be hurt, trapped, and taken.

A Covenant With Death

14 So now, hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers,
who rule this people in Jerusalem.
15 You said:
    We have made a covenant with death,
    an agreement with the grave. [4]
    When the punishing whip [5] comes, it will not touch us,
    for we have made lies our refuge,
    and we have hidden ourselves behind falsehood.

A Cornerstone for Zion

16 Therefore, this is what the Lord God says:
    Look, I am laying a stone in Zion as a foundation,
    a tested stone,
    a precious cornerstone to provide a sure foundation.
    Whoever believes will not be put to shame. [6]
17 I will make justice the measuring line
and righteousness the plumb line.
A hailstorm will sweep away the refuge of lies,
and floodwaters will wash away your shelter.
18 Your covenant with death will be canceled,
and your agreement with the grave will not stand.
When the punishing whip comes,
you will be beaten down by it.
19 Every time it comes, it will carry you away.
It could come any morning, any day, any night.

If you understand this message, you will be utterly terrified:
20     The bed is too short to lie on,
    and the blanket is too narrow to cover you.
21 For the Lord will rise up as he did on Mount Perazim.
He will be enraged, as he was in the valley of Gibeon,
    to do his work, his strange work,
    and to accomplish his task, his foreign task.
22 Now stop your scornful attitude, or your chains
        will be made stronger,
because I have heard a decree of destruction from the Lord,
        the Lord of Armies,
    against the whole earth.

A Parable

23 Listen! Hear my voice.
Pay attention to what I say.
24 Does the plowman keep plowing all day in order to plant?
Does he keep tilling the soil and turning over the dirt?
25 When he has leveled the surface,
doesn’t he plant the dill
and scatter cumin seed?
He plants the wheat in one place,
barley in another field,
and spelt along the edge.
26 His God instructs him
and teaches him good judgment.
27 Of course he does not thresh the dill with a threshing sledge,
nor does he roll the wheel of a cart over the cumin.
No, he beats the dill with a stick
and strikes the cumin with a staff.
28 Flour for bread needs to be ground,
so he does not thresh endlessly.
He drives the wheels of his threshing cart over it
and even his team of horses,
but he does not pulverize it.
29 This also springs forth from the Lord of Armies.
He gives amazing advice.
He provides great guidance.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 28:9 That is, the drunken priests and prophets who mock Isaiah
  2. Isaiah 28:10 The Hebrew text reads sav lasav sav lasav kav lakav kav lakav. It is possible that these are meaningless sounds imitating a baby’s babble and mocking the prophet’s words and rejecting God’s laws.
  3. Isaiah 28:13 The Hebrew is the same as in verse 10, but now the Lord uses the words of the mockers as a warning about the foreign speech of the invading Assyrians.
  4. Isaiah 28:15 Hebrew sheol
  5. Isaiah 28:15 Or overwhelming judgment. The two words in this phrase do not match well. The noun means whip. The adjective means flooding. Also in verse 18.
  6. Isaiah 28:16 The translation here follows the Greek text. The Hebrew and Latin read will not be in haste.




The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.



Through My Bible Yr 01 – December 25

/in

Through My Bible Yr 01 – December 25

Isaiah 26 – 27

Through My Bible – December 25

Isaiah 26 – 27 (EHV)

See series: Through My Bible

A Victory Song

Isaiah 26

1 On that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah.

We have a strong city.
God sets up salvation as its walls and ramparts.
2 Open the gates,
so that the righteous nation may enter,
the nation that guards the truth. [1]
3 You preserve perfect peace for the person
    whose resolve is steadfast,
because he trusts in you.
4 Trust in the Lord forever,
for Yah the Lord [2] is the eternal Rock.
5 He humbles those who live in a high place,
    in a high, secure city.
He brings it down!
He brings it down to the ground!
He throws it down into the dust!
6 It is trampled down
by the feet of the poor,
by the soles of the feet of the helpless.

A Prayer for Blessing

7 The way of the righteous is level and smooth.
You are righteous. [3] You smooth the path for the righteous.
8 Truly, Lord, we have waited for you on the path of your judgments.
Your name and your renown are what our soul desires.
9 My soul longs for you during the night.
My spirit within me looks for you early in the morning,
because when your judgments are known on earth,
the inhabitants of the world will learn what righteousness is.
10 Although grace is shown to the wicked,
they do not learn righteousness.
They will continue to act unjustly even in a righteous land.
They will not recognize the Lord’s majesty.
11 Lord, your hand is raised, ready to strike,
but they do not see it.
But they will see your zeal for the people,
and they will be put to shame.
May fire consume your enemies.
12 O Lord, you establish peace for us.
Everything we have done, you have accomplished for us.
13 O Lord our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us,
but we honor only your name.
14 They are dead. They will not live again.
Their departed spirits will not return.
You have dealt with them and destroyed them.
You have wiped out all memory of them.
15 You have enlarged the nation, O Lord.
You have enlarged the nation!
You are glorified!
You have extended all the borders of the land.

16 O Lord, they appealed to you in distress.
They whispered a prayer as you disciplined them.
17 Just as a pregnant woman nearing the time of her delivery
    writhes and cries out in her pain,
so we have done before you, O Lord.
18 We have been in pain
    as if we were about to give birth to a child,
but we gave birth only to wind.
We have not brought salvation for the earth.
We have not given birth to people who can inhabit the world. [4]
19 But your dead ones will live.
Their [5] dead bodies will rise.
Wake up and sing for joy,
you who dwell in the dust,
because your dew will glisten like morning light,
and the earth will give up the spirits of the dead. [6]
20 Go, my people, go into your rooms,
and shut the doors behind you.
Hide yourselves for a little while,
until his wrath has passed over.
21 Look! The Lord is coming out of his place
    to deal with the guilt of those who live on the earth.
Then the earth will reveal the blood shed on it.
It will no longer cover those who have been killed.

The Lord Will Deliver Israel

Isaiah 27

1 On that day, the Lord will draw his sharp, great, and powerful sword, and he will kill Leviathan, [7] the slithering serpent—Leviathan, the coiling serpent. The Lord will kill the monster [8] in the sea.

2 On that day, sing about a delightful vineyard! [9]
3 I, the Lord, am serving as its caretaker.
I water it constantly.
So that nothing will damage it,
I guard it night and day.
4 I am not angry,
but if I do find briers and thorns there,
I will fight them!
I will charge against them and set them all on fire.
5 To prevent this, let them turn to me for protection
and make peace with me.
Let them make peace with me! [10]

6 In days to come,
Jacob will take root.
Israel will blossom and bud.
It will fill the whole world with fruit.

7 Has he struck Israel the way he struck those who struck them?
Have they been killed the same way those who killed them were killed?
8 When you drive them away [11] and send them into exile,
you make your case against them.
He drives them out with his violent storm,
as on a day when the hot east wind blows.
9 In this way the guilt of Jacob will be atoned for,
and this will be all the fruit that results from taking away his sin.
He will make all the altar stones like chalk that has been crushed,
and no Asherah poles or incense altars will remain standing.
10 Then the fortified city will be all alone,
a dwelling place, deserted and forsaken, like a wilderness.
Calves will graze there.
They will lie down there and eat all the leaves off the branches.
11 When its twigs are dried up, they are broken off.
Women will come and build a fire with them.
Because they are a people who have no understanding,
therefore their Maker will have no compassion on them.
He who formed them will not be gracious to them.

12 On that day the Lord will thresh from the flowing river, the Euphrates, to the Stream of Egypt, [12] and you Israelites will be gathered one by one. 13 On that day there will be a very loud blast on a ram’s horn, and those who were about to perish in the land of Assyria, together with those who were scattered in the land of Egypt, will come. They will worship the Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 26:2 Or remains faithful
  2. Isaiah 26:4 The Hebrew text here includes both the short and long forms of the divine name, Yah and Yahweh. Since we usually translate Yahweh as Lord and there is no difference in meaning between the two terms, Yah is left untranslated.
  3. Isaiah 26:7 The grammatical construction of the line is unclear. The word translated you are righteous is the same Hebrew root that means level and smooth. It does not appear in the Greek text and perhaps should be omitted.
  4. Isaiah 26:18 The meaning of this line is uncertain.
  5. Isaiah 26:19 The Hebrew reads my dead body, but the verb is plural.
  6. Isaiah 26:19 The last lines of the verse are difficult.
  7. Isaiah 27:1 Leviathan is well known in the literature of the ancient Near East. It is a dragon or sea serpent that represents chaos and disorder. Like the dragon in Revelation 12, it can represent Satan.
  8. Isaiah 27:1 Hebrew tannin
  9. Isaiah 27:2 Hebrew variant a vineyard of red wine
  10. Isaiah 27:5 The precise line of thought in verses 4 and 5 is uncertain.
  11. Isaiah 27:8 The meaning of this phrase is uncertain.
  12. Isaiah 27:12 One of the intermittent streambeds near the border of Egypt, not the Nile




The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.



Through My Bible Yr 01 – December 24

/in

Through My Bible Yr 01 – December 24

Isaiah 24 – 25

Through My Bible – December 24

Isaiah 24 – 25 (EHV)

See series: Through My Bible

The Lord Will Judge the Earth

Isaiah 24

1 Watch, the Lord is going to strip the earth bare and make it desolate.
He will wring it out and scatter its inhabitants.
2 It will be the same for people and priest,
    for servant and master,
    for servant girl and lady,
    for buyer and seller,
    for lender and borrower,
    for creditor and debtor.
3 The earth will be stripped bare, totally plundered,
    for the Lord has spoken this word.
4 The earth mourns and withers.
The world fades and withers away.
The proud people of the earth fade away.
5 The earth is polluted by its inhabitants,
because they have bypassed the laws.
They have changed the statutes
and set aside the everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore a curse devours the earth,
and those who live there will be found guilty.
That is why the inhabitants of the earth will be burned up,
and so few will remain.
7 The new wine mourns.
The vine dries up.
Those who were feeling merry now sigh.
8 The happy sound of drums has ceased.
The noise of partying has ended.
The joyful lyre is silent.
9 They will drink no wine with their songs anymore.
Beer [1] is bitter to those who drink it.
10 The city is in chaos and ruins.
Every house is closed up,
and no one can get in.
11 They cry for wine in the streets,
but all festive joy is gone.
Joyful celebration is banished from the land.
12 The city is left desolate,
and the gate is smashed into pieces.
13 This is the way it will be among the peoples on earth:
It will be like an olive tree after it has been picked over,
like the gleanings left after the grape harvest.

14 They raise their voices and sing for joy.
From the west [2] they shout for the majesty of the Lord.
15 Therefore, in the east [3] glorify the Lord.
In the coastlands of the sea, glorify the name of the Lord,
    the God of Israel!
16 We hear songs from the ends of the earth:
Glory to the Righteous One!

But I said, “I am wasting away! I am wasting away! Woe is me!”
The treacherous deal treacherously.
Yes, the treacherous deal very treacherously.

17 Panic, pit, and peril [4] await all who live on the earth.
18 Whoever flees from the noise of terror will fall into the pit.
Whoever crawls out of the pit will be caught in the trap.
The windows [5] in the sky have opened,
and the foundations of the earth quake.
19 The earth is broken to pieces.
The earth is tearing itself apart.
The earth is shaking violently.
20 The earth staggers like a drunken man.
It shakes like a shack in a windstorm.
The burden of its rebellion is so heavy
    that it will fall, unable to rise again.

21 On that day the Lord will deal with the army on high
and with the kings of the earth below.
22 They will be gathered together like prisoners in a pit.
They will be locked up in prison,
and after many days they will be dealt with.
23 Then the bright moon will be ashamed,
and the hot sun will be embarrassed,
for the Lord of Armies will reign on Mount Zion in Jerusalem,
and his glory will shine in the presence of his elders.

A Song of Praise

Isaiah 25

1 O Lord, you are my God.

I will exalt you! I will praise your name,
because you have done astounding things,
plans laid long ago that are firm and faithful. [6]
2 For you have reduced the city to a heap,
the fortified city to ruins.
The citadel of foreigners is no longer a city at all.
It will never be rebuilt.
3 That is why powerful peoples will honor you.
The cities of cruel nations will fear you,
4 for you have been a stronghold for the poor,
a stronghold for the needy in their distress.
You have been a shelter from the rainstorm
and shade from the heat.
When the breath of the ruthless is like a rainstorm battering a wall,
5 like a hot wind drying up the desert,
you put down the uproar of foreigners.
It is like heat cooled by the shade of a cloud.
The song of the ruthless is silenced.

A Banquet for All Peoples

6 On this mountain
the Lord of Armies will prepare for all peoples
    a banquet of rich food,
    a banquet of aged wines,
    with the best cuts of meat,
    and with the finest wines. [7]
7 On this mountain
he will destroy the shroud that covers all peoples,
the burial cloth stretched over all nations.
8 He has swallowed up death forever!
The Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face.
He will take away the shame of his people throughout the earth.
For the Lord has spoken.
9 On that day it will be said,
“Look, here is our God!
We waited for him, and he saved us!
This is the Lord!
We waited for him.
Let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation!”

God Will Punish Moab

10 On this mountain
the Lord’s hand will rest.
Moab will be trampled underfoot,
like straw trampled into manure.
11 Moab will spread out his hands in the middle of it,
    like someone trying to swim,
but the Lord will bring down Moab’s pride,
along with everything [8] Moab’s hands have done.
12 The Lord will topple your high-walled fortress
and bring it to the ground,
all the way down to the dust.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 24:9 Beer refers to any fermented drink not made from grapes. Distilled alcohol was not used in biblical times.
  2. Isaiah 24:14 Literally sea
  3. Isaiah 24:15 Literally among the lights
  4. Isaiah 24:17 The Hebrew words pahad, pahat, and pah sound similar and are used for poetic effect. A bit of literalness is sacrificed to retain the effect; pah is more literally trap.
  5. Isaiah 24:18 Or floodgates
  6. Isaiah 25:1 The text has two forms of the Hebrew root amen, which are rendered firm and faithful.
  7. Isaiah 25:6 More literally a banquet of fat food, a banquet of wine dregs, fat food filled with marrow, and dregs that are filtered
  8. Isaiah 25:11 Or deceitful things. The meaning of this word is uncertain.




The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.



Through My Bible Yr 01 – December 23

/in

Through My Bible Yr 01 – December 23

Isaiah 22:15 – 23:18

Through My Bible – December 23

Isaiah 22:15 – 23:18 (EHV)

See series: Through My Bible

Isaiah 22

An Oracle Against Shebna

15 This is what the Lord, the God of Armies, says.

Go to this administrator Shebna, who is in charge of the palace, and ask him, 16 “What are you doing here? Who gave you permission to carve a tomb here?”

(Shebna was carving out a tomb for himself on a height, chiseling a resting place for himself in the cliff!)

17 Watch out! The Lord is going to hurl you away violently, you ordinary man. [1] He is going to grab you tightly, 18 whirl you around and around, [2] and throw you like a ball into the open countryside. There you will die, and your glorious chariots will be there, to the shame of your master’s house. 19 I will expel you from your office. You will be thrown out from your position.

20 On that day I will call for my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah. 21 I will clothe him with your robe and tie your sash around him. I will put your authority into his hand, and he will be a father for those who live in Jerusalem and for the house of Judah. 22 I will place the key of the house of David on his shoulder. Whatever he opens, no one will shut. Whatever he shuts, no one will open. 23 I will drive him like a nail into a solid place. He will be an honored throne for the house of his father. 24 They will hang all the splendor of his father’s house on him: the branches and leaves, [3] and all the small containers, from the large bowls all the way down to the smallest juglets. [4]

25 In that day, says the Lord of Armies, the nail that was driven into a solid place will give way. It will be sheared off and fall down. The load hanging on it will be cut off, because the Lord has spoken.

A Prophecy About Tyre

Isaiah 23

1 An oracle about Tyre.

Wail, you ships of Tarshish!
Because Tyre has been destroyed—
no more house or harbor! [5]
This is the news they heard from Cyprus. [6]
2 Be silent, you who live along the coast,
you merchants of Sidon,
whose agents have crossed the sea [7] 3 on the great waters.
The grain of the Shihor, the harvest of the Nile, provided her income.
She was the marketplace of nations.
4 Be ashamed, Sidon, fortress by the sea,
because the sea has spoken, saying,
“No longer do I feel the pain of childbirth.
No longer do I have children.
I have no young men to raise,
no virgin girls to bring up.” [8]
5 When the news comes to Egypt,
they will agonize over the report from Tyre.
6 Sail across to Tarshish!
Wail, you island people!
7 Is this your joyful city, older than old,
whose feet carried her to settle so far away?
8 Who has planned this against Tyre,
the city that crowned kings,
whose merchants were like royal officials,
whose traders were honored around the world?
9 The Lord of Armies has planned this,
to strip their pride of all its glory,
to humiliate those who were honored around the world.
10 Overflow your land, [9] daughter of Tarshish,
    like the Nile overflowing its banks.
You no longer have a harbor as a marketplace. [10]
11 He has stretched out his hand over the sea.
He has shaken the kingdoms.
It is the Lord who has ordered the destruction
    of Canaan’s [11] fortresses.
12 He said, “Rejoice no more, virgin daughter of Sidon,
you who have been violated.
Get up, sail across to Cyprus. [12]
But even there you will have no rest.”

13 (Compare it to the land of the Chaldeans—this people who have become nothing. It was the Assyrians who made it into a dwelling for wild animals from the desert. They raised up siege towers, tore down citadels, and made it a ruin.)

14 Wail, you ships of Tarshish,
because your stronghold is destroyed!

15 In that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, the days of a king’s life. After the end of the seventy years, Tyre will be like the prostitute in this song.

16 Pick up a lyre.
Go through the city,
you forgotten prostitute.
Play skillfully.
Sing many songs,
so that you might be remembered once again.

17 At the end of the seventy years, the Lord will deal with Tyre. She will go back to collecting wages, to selling herself to all the kingdoms of the world, to everyone on the surface of the earth. 18 But this time her merchandise and her wages will be dedicated to the Lord. It will not be stored away. Her goods will be for those who live in the presence of the Lord, so that they have enough to eat and clothing that will last.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 22:17 The Hebrew word is geber, man or mister, not gibbor, the word for a mighty military man.
  2. Isaiah 22:18 Or wrap you up tightly. This verse is difficult.
  3. Isaiah 22:24 Or the offspring and the offshoots or the produce and hidden treasure. The meaning of this term is uncertain, but it seems to mean from A to Z.
  4. Isaiah 22:24 Juglet is the archaeological term for the smallest jars in Israel’s pottery repertoire. The smallest, probably serving as containers for perfumed oil, were only a couple of inches tall.
  5. Isaiah 23:1 The meaning of this line is uncertain.
  6. Isaiah 23:1 Hebrew Kittim, a term which may include other areas of the Mediterranean besides Cyprus
  7. Isaiah 23:2 The translation follows a reading from the Hebrew Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah. The literal reading in the Masoretic text is the one passing over the sea they have replenished you.
  8. Isaiah 23:4 The meaning of this figurative statement spoken by the sea is unclear. The sea seems to be lamenting the loss of Tyre, a daughter of the sea.
  9. Isaiah 23:10 Or, following a variant, work your land. The text and meaning of this line are uncertain.
  10. Isaiah 23:10 Or there is no longer any restraint (or boundary). The Hebrew text and its meaning are uncertain.
  11. Isaiah 23:11 Or Phoenicia’s. Phoenicia is the Greek name for Canaan.
  12. Isaiah 23:12 Hebrew Kittim




The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.



Through My Bible Yr 01 – December 22

/in

Through My Bible Yr 01 – December 22

Isaiah 20:1 – 22:14

Through My Bible – December 22

Isaiah 20:1 – 22:14 (EHV)

See series: Through My Bible

A Prophecy Against Egypt and Cush

Isaiah 20

1 In the year that the field commander [1] sent by Sargon king of Assyria came to Ashdod and attacked and captured it— 2 at that time the Lord delivered a message through Isaiah son of Amoz. The Lord said, “Take off the sackcloth around your waist and remove the sandals from your feet.” Isaiah did this and went naked and barefoot. 3 The Lord said, “Just as my servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and an omen concerning Egypt and Cush, [2] 4 so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old, naked and barefoot, with bare buttocks, to Egypt’s shame. 5 They will be overwhelmed and ashamed because of Cush, their hope, and Egypt, their source of confidence. 6 On that day those who live on this coast will say, “Look what happened to our hope, to whom we fled for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! How can we escape?”

The Fall of Babylon

Isaiah 21

1 An oracle about the Wilderness by the Sea.

Like windstorms that sweep through the Negev,
it comes from the wilderness,
from a terrifying place.
2 An ominous vision has been shown to me.
The betrayer betrays; the destroyer destroys.
Elam, attack! Media, lay siege! [3]
I will bring all her groaning to an end.

3 That is why I am full of anguish.
Pain has taken hold of me,
    like the pain of a woman in labor.
I am stunned by what I hear,
terrified by what I see.
4 My heart pounds!
I am shaking with fear.
The twilight that I longed for is making me quake with terror.
5 They prepare the table.
They spread out the luxurious carpets.
They eat. They drink.
“Officers! Get up and oil your shields!”
6 Yes, this is what the Lord said to me:
    Go, post a watchman.
    Have him declare what he sees.
7     When he sees chariots pulled by teams of horses,
    riders on donkeys, and riders on camels,
    have him listen carefully—very carefully.
8 The lookout [4] cried out:
    Lord, [5] I stand on the watchtower day after day,
    and every night I stay at my post.
9     Now, look! Here come men in chariots pulled by teams of horses.
Then he announced:
    Fallen, fallen is Babylon!
    All the images of her gods lie broken on the ground.

10 O my people, you who have been threshed like grain on my threshing floor, everything I have heard from the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, I have proclaimed to you.

A Prophecy Against Edom

11 The oracle against Dumah. [6]

Someone calls out to me from Seir,
    Watchman, how much of the night remains?
    Watchman, how much of the night remains?
12 The watchman said:
    Morning is coming, but night is coming again.
    If you want to ask, go ahead and ask.
    Then return! Come back again.

A Prophecy Against Arabia

13 An oracle against Arabia.

You spend the night among the thickets of Arabia,
you caravans of Dedanites.
14 Bring water for the thirsty,
you who live in Tema.
Bring bread for the refugees.
15 They fled from the sword,
from the drawn sword,
from the bent bow,
and from the heat of battle.

16 This is what the Lord said to me: “Within a year, as a worker bound by contract would count it, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end, 17 and the archers who survive, the strong warriors of Kedar, will be few.” The Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.

A Prophecy About Jerusalem

Isaiah 22

1 An oracle about the Valley of Vision.

What is troubling you now?
Why have all of you gone up to the rooftops?
2 Why is the town full of shouting?
Why is the joyful city full of turmoil?
Your fallen were not run through with the sword.
Your dead did not fall in battle.
3 All your rulers fled together,
captured by archers without bows.
All your refugees were caught together.
They had fled far away.
4 That is why I said,
“Look away from me.
I will weep bitterly.
Do not try to comfort me over the destruction of the daughter
    of my people.” [7]
5 For it is a day of turmoil, trampling, and terror.
This has come from the Lord, the God of Armies,
in the Valley of Vision.
It is a day for breaking down walls
and crying out to the mountains.
6 Elam picks up the quiver, with chariots and charioteers,
and Kir removes the covering from their shields.
7 Your fertile [8] valleys are full of chariots,
and charioteers [9] are posted by the gate.
8 He removed the cover that was protecting Judah.

On that day you looked for the weapons in the House of the Forest.
9 You saw all the breaches through the walls of the City of David—
and there were many.
You collected water from the Lower Pool.
10 You counted the houses of Jerusalem.
You planned to tear them down to strengthen the wall.
11 You built a reservoir between the two walls
for the water from the Old Pool.
But you did not look to the one who had made it.
You did not consider the one who shaped this long ago.

12 On that day the Lord, the God of Armies,
called for weeping and loud mourning.
He called for shaved heads and for dressing in sackcloth.
13 But take a look and see:
    joy and gladness,
    butchering cattle, killing sheep,
    eating meat, and drinking wine.
“Let’s eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”

14 The Lord of Armies has revealed this in my hearing: “I swear, your guilt will not be atoned for until your dying day, says the Lord, the God of Armies.”

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 20:1 Literally the Tartan
  2. Isaiah 20:3 That is, the upper Nile region, roughly corresponding to present-day Sudan
  3. Isaiah 21:2 These countries are in present-day Iran.
  4. Isaiah 21:8 The translation follows the Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah and the Syriac. The Hebrew reads a lion.
  5. Isaiah 21:8 The divine name Adonai
  6. Isaiah 21:11 Dumah is a pun on the name Edom. In Hebrew dumah means silence.
  7. Isaiah 22:4 Or my dear people. The term the daughter of my people is an affectionate way of referring to the people of Israel.
  8. Isaiah 22:7 Or strategic
  9. Isaiah 22:7 Or horsemen




The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.



Through My Bible Yr 01 – December 21

/in

Through My Bible Yr 01 – December 21

Isaiah 17 – 19

Through My Bible – December 21

Isaiah 17 – 19 (EHV)

See series: Through My Bible

A Prophecy Against Damascus and Israel

Isaiah 17

1 An oracle against Damascus.

Soon Damascus will no longer be a city.
It will become a heap of ruins.
2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken.
They will be places for flocks.
The flocks will lie down,
and no one will make them afraid.
3 The fortress will disappear from Ephraim,
and the kingdom from Damascus.
What remains of Aram will be like the glory of the people of Israel,
    declares the Lord of Armies.
4 On that day the glory of Jacob will fade,
and his sturdy body will waste away.
5 It will be like the time when a reaper has gathered the standing grain,
and his arm has reaped the heads of grain,
when someone gleans grain in the Valley of Rephaim,
6 and a few gleanings are still left there,
or when the branches of an olive tree have been beaten,
and only two or three ripe olives are left on the top of the highest bough,
or four or five remain on the fruitful branches,
declares the Lord, the God of Israel.
7 On that day people will trust in their Maker,
and they will look to the Holy One of Israel.
8 They will not look to the altars, the work of their own hands.
They will not respect what their fingers have made,
    neither the Asherah poles nor the altars for incense.
9 On that day Israel’s strong cities will be
like the forsaken hilltops of the Amorites, [1]
like the places that were abandoned when the people of Israel
    first came.
They will be desolate.

10 You have forgotten the God who saves you.
You have not remembered the Rock who is your strength.
Therefore, although you set out the best quality plants,
and you plant cuttings from imported vines,
11 and you put a fence around them on the day you plant them,
and you get your seed to sprout in the morning,
nevertheless, the harvest will come to nothing
    in the day of grief and desperate sorrow. [2]

12 Oh, the roar of many peoples!
They roar like the raging seas.
Oh, the uproar of nations!
It sounds like huge, crashing waves!
13 The nations will roar like the crashing of great waves,
but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away.
They will be driven off the mountains like wind-blown chaff,
like a tumbleweed blown about in a storm.
14 In the evening, terror rushes in!
Before morning they are gone.
This will be the reward for those who plunder us,
the lot of those who rob us.

A Prophecy About Cush

Isaiah 18

1 Woe to the land of the whirring wings, along the rivers of Cush. [3]

2 They send ambassadors by sea, in papyrus boats on the water.

Go, you swift messengers,
to a tall people with smooth, dark skin, [4]
to a nation feared far and near,
a nation powerful and conquering, [5]
from a land divided by rivers!

3 All you inhabitants of the world,
and you who dwell on the earth,
look for a signal flag raised on the mountains!
Listen for the blast of the ram’s horn!
4 For the Lord has said to me,
“I will look on quietly from my dwelling place,
like the shimmering heat of the sun,
like the rising mist at harvest time.”
5 For before the harvest,
after the blossom has fallen
and the flower has turned into ripening grapes,
the Lord will cut off the new shoots with pruning hooks,
and he will cut down and remove the longer vines.
6 They will all be left for the scavenging birds in the mountains
and for the wild animals in the countryside.
The scavenging birds will feed on them all summer,
and wild animals will feed on them all winter.
7 At that time people will give gifts to the Lord of Armies.
These gifts will come from a tall people with smooth, dark skin,
a nation feared far and near,
a nation powerful and conquering,
from a land divided by rivers.
They will bring their gifts to Mount Zion,
the place where the Lord of Armies has put his name.

A Prophecy About Egypt

Isaiah 19

1 An oracle against Egypt.

Look, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud, coming to Egypt!
The worthless idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence,
and the hearts of the Egyptians will melt inside them.
2 I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian,
and they will fight,
    brother against brother,
    neighbor against neighbor,
    city against city,
    and kingdom against kingdom.
3 The spirit in the Egyptians will fail completely.
I will frustrate their plans.
They will turn to their worthless gods, [6]
to the spirits of the dead,
to mediums and spiritists.
4 But I will hand the Egyptians over to a cruel master,
and a fierce king will rule over them,
declares the Lord, the Lord of Armies.
5 The water will dry up from the sea, [7]
and the riverbed will dry up completely and be empty.
6 The rivers and canals will stink.
The streams in the Nile delta [8] will run low and dry up.
Reeds and rushes will wither away.
7 The plants that grow beside the Nile, at the mouth of the Nile,
and all the crops planted along the Nile will dry up.
They will blow away and vanish.
8 The fishermen will mourn.
All those who cast hooks into the Nile will lament,
and those who spread nets on the waters will grieve.
9 Those who work with flax,
the women who comb the flax,
and the men who weave the linen will despair.
10 Those who make cloth will be crushed.
All the hired workers will lose heart.
11 The officials of Zoan are complete fools.
Pharaoh’s wisest counselors give unreasonable advice.
How can you say to Pharaoh, “I am a son of wise men,
a son of ancient kings”?
12 Where then are your wise men?
Let them tell you now!
Let them make known what the Lord of Armies
    has planned against Egypt.
13 The officials of Zoan act like fools.
The officials of Memphis [9] are deceived.
They have caused Egypt to go astray—
these cornerstones of her tribes!
14 The Lord has poured a confused spirit into them.
They made Egypt go astray in everything it does,
like a drunken man staggering around in his own vomit.
15 No head or tail, no palm branch or reed,
    will accomplish anything for Egypt.

16 On that day the Egyptians will be like women. They will tremble with fear because of the threatening hand of the Lord of Armies, which he raises against them. 17 The land of Judah will terrify Egypt. Everyone who hears about Judah will be filled with dread, because of what the Lord of Armies is planning against Egypt.

18 On that day five cities in Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear an oath to the Lord of Armies. One will be called the City of the Sun. [10]

19 On that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the center of the land of Egypt, and a memorial pillar to the Lord at its border. 20 There will be a sign and a witness to the Lord of Armies in the land of Egypt. They will cry to the Lord because of their oppressors, and he will send them a savior and a champion, and he will rescue them. 21 The Lord will make himself known to Egypt, and on that day the Egyptians will know the Lord. They will worship with sacrifices and offerings. They will swear a vow to the Lord, and they will fulfill it. 22 The Lord will strike Egypt, striking them and then healing them. They will return to the Lord, and he will hear their prayer, and he will heal them.

23 On that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will come to Egypt, and the Egyptians will come to Assyria, and Egyptians will serve together with Assyrians.

24 On that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing to the earth, 25 because the Lord of Armies has blessed them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.”

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 17:9 The Hebrew reads like the abandonment of the wooded height and the top one. The Greek Old Testament reads the forsaken places of the Amorites and Horites.
  2. Isaiah 17:11 These verses are difficult and translations vary.
  3. Isaiah 18:1 Cush is the ancient name for the territory south of the First Cataract of the Nile. Called Ethiopia in Roman times, it included most of present-day Sudan and some of present-day Ethiopia.
  4. Isaiah 18:2 Literally polished skin
  5. Isaiah 18:2 Or a powerful nation with a strange language. The last two lines of the verse are difficult.
  6. Isaiah 19:3 Or gods that are not gods
  7. Isaiah 19:5 That is, the Nile, which is called a sea because of its size
  8. Isaiah 19:6 The Hebrew word for Egypt is usually a dual form, indicating two distinct parts, Upper and Lower Egypt, but here it is singular. It probably refers to lower (that is, northern) Egypt, also known as the Delta, which has many branches of the Nile.
  9. Isaiah 19:13 Hebrew Noph. Many of the English names of Egyptian cities are based on the Greek forms of their names.
  10. Isaiah 19:18 City of the Sun (‘ir cheres) is the reading of some Hebrew manuscripts, the Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah, and the Latin. Many Hebrew manuscripts read City of Destruction (‘ir heres), probably adding a negative twist to the word to avoid honoring the sun god.




The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.



Through My Bible Yr 01 – December 20

/in

Through My Bible Yr 01 – December 20

Isaiah 14:24 – 16:14

Through My Bible – December 20

Isaiah 14:24 – 16:14 (EHV)

See series: Through My Bible

Isaiah 14

A Prophecy Against Assyria

24 The Lord of Armies has sworn:
    Certainly, this will take place just as I have planned.
    It will stand just as I have intended it.
25     I will destroy the Assyrian in my land
    and trample him on my mountains.
    Then his yoke will be removed from my people,
    and his burden will be lifted from their shoulders.

26 This is the plan that has been determined for the whole world.
This is the hand that is stretched out over all nations.
27 For the Lord of Armies has made plans,
and who can stop him?
His hand is stretched out,
and who can turn it back?

A Prophecy Against the Philistines

28 This oracle came during the year that King Ahaz died.

29 Do not rejoice, all you Philistines,
that the rod that struck you is broken.
From the snake’s root a viper will slither out,
and from its egg a venomous flying serpent [1] will come.
30 The poorest of the poor will eat,
and the needy will lie down in safety.
But I will kill your root with famine,
and even those of you who remain will be put to death.
31 Wail, O gate! Howl, O city!
Melt away, all you Philistines!
A cloud of dust descends from the north,
and no one in its ranks will be left behind.
32 What answer will they give to the messengers from that nation?
The Lord has established Zion,
and the afflicted people will take refuge in her.

A Prophecy Against Moab

Isaiah 15

1 An oracle against Moab.

In one night, Ar [2] of Moab has been ruined and brought to nothing.
In one night, Kir of Moab has been ruined and brought to nothing.
2 They have gone up to the temple at Dibon,
up to the high places to weep.
Moab wails over Nebo and over Medeba.
Every head is shaved.
Every beard is cut off.
3 They wear sackcloth in their streets.
On the rooftops and in the public squares, everyone wails.
They all collapse in tears.
4 Heshbon cries out with Elealeh.
Their voice is heard even in Jahaz.
Therefore the armed men of Moab cry out,
and their spirit is weak.

5 My heart cries out for Moab!
Her refugees [3] flee to Zoar,
to Eglath Shelishiyah.
They go up the Ascent of Luhith,
    weeping all the way.
On the way to Horonaim,
    they weep continuously over their destruction.
6 The waters of Nimrim are dried up.
The grass has withered away.
The vegetation has died,
and no green thing remains.
7 So they will carry across the Ravine of Poplars [4]
    whatever remains from the wealth they acquired
    and from the supplies they stored up.
8 For a cry has echoed around the borders of Moab.
The wailing reaches to Eglaim
and all the way to Be’er Elim.
9 For the waters of Dimon are full of blood, [5]
and I will bring still more on Dimon.
I will bring a lion upon the refugees of Moab
and upon the survivors who remain in the land.

Isaiah 16

1 Send the tribute ram for the ruler of the land,

from Selah toward the wilderness,
to the mountain of the daughter of Zion.
2 At the fords of the Arnon, the daughters of Moab will be
like birds fleeing from a scattered nest.

3 Get advice and make a decision.
At high noon make your shade as dark as night.
Hide the refugees.
Do not betray the fugitive.
4 Let the refugees from Moab stay with you.
        Be a hiding place for them from the face of the destroyer.

For the extortionist is no longer present.
Violence has ceased,
and the oppressors have disappeared from the land.
5 A throne will be established in mercy.
In the tent of David a judge will sit on the throne in truth,
seeking justice, eager to bring righteousness.

6 We have heard about Moab’s pride,
about his egotistical conceit.
His pride, his arrogance, and his boasting are nothing but self-delusion.
7 Therefore Moab will wail for Moab.
Everyone will wail.
Completely devastated, you will mourn for the raisin cakes
    of Kir Hareseth.

8 Look, the fields of Heshbon wither,
along with the vines of Sibmah.
The rulers of the nations have trampled the choice vines,
    which reached even to Jazer,
    which spread out into the wilderness.
Their shoots were spread out all the way to the sea.
9 Therefore I will weep as Jazer weeps for the vines of Sibmah.
I will drench you with my tears, Heshbon and Elealeh,
because the noisy celebration over your ripened fruit
    and over your harvest has been silenced.
10 Gladness and joy are taken away from the rich fields.
In the vineyards there will be no cries of joy or happy shouting.
No one will tread out wine from the wine presses.
I have put a stop to the cheering.
11 That is why my deepest feelings moan like a lyre for Moab,
and everything inside me is poured out for Kir Hareseth.
12 When Moab presents himself on the high place,
he only wears himself out.
When he goes to his shrine to pray,
he will accomplish nothing.
13 This is the word that the Lord has already spoken concerning Moab.

14 But now the Lord also says, “Within three years, as a worker bound by contract would count them, the glory of Moab will fade away despite its noisy crowd, and those who remain will be few and feeble.”

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 14:29 Literally a burning, flying one
  2. Isaiah 15:1 Ar and the parallel terms in this chapter are names of cities in Moab. In general, the list moves from north to south.
  3. Isaiah 15:5 Or protectors, literally the bars of her gates
  4. Isaiah 15:7 Probably the ravine on the border between Moab and Edom
  5. Isaiah 15:9 The Hebrew word for blood (dam) sounds like the name of the city of Dimon. Dimon may be a pun on the name Dibon, the capital city of Moab.




The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.



Through My Bible Yr 01 – December 19

/in

Through My Bible Yr 01 – December 19

Isaiah 13:1 – 14:23

Through My Bible – December 19

Isaiah 13:1 – 14:23 (EHV)

See series: Through My Bible

Prophecies Against the Nations
A Prophecy Against Babylon

Isaiah 13

1 The oracle [1]about Babylon, which Isaiah son of Amoz saw.

2 Raise a banner on a bare hill!
Shout to them.
Signal to them to enter the gates of the nobles.
3 I have given a command to my consecrated warriors.
I have called my elite warriors to carry out my anger—
those who rejoice in my triumph.
4 The noise of a horde is heard on the mountains,
like the noise of many people,
    like the uproar of the kingdoms of the nations
    who are massing together!
The Lord of Armies is mustering an army for war.
5 They come from a faraway country,
from the ends of the heavens.
The Lord and the weapons of his wrath
come to destroy the whole land.
6 Wail, for the Day of the Lord is near.
It will come like destruction from the Almighty. [2]
7 Therefore all hands will hang limp,
and every heart will melt.
8 They will be terrified.
Pain will overcome them.
They will be in pain like a woman in labor.
They will look at each other in shock.
Their faces are flushed.

9 Look, the Day of the Lord is coming,
a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger,
a day to make the land desolate,
a day to destroy its sinners there.
10 For the stars of the sky and its constellations
    will not give their light.
The sun will be darkened as it rises,
and the moon will give no light.

11 I will punish the world for its evil,
and the wicked for their guilt.
I will put an end to the arrogance of the insolent,
and I will humble the pride of the ruthless.
12 I will make people rarer than fine gold,
and mankind scarcer than the gold of Ophir.
13 Therefore, I will make the heavens tremble,
and the earth will be shaken off its foundation
at the wrath of the Lord of Armies,
in the day of his fierce anger.

14 Like a hunted gazelle,
like sheep without a shepherd,
each of them will turn to his own people,
and everyone will flee to his own land.
15 Everyone who is caught will be run through.
Everyone who is captured will fall by the sword.
16 Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes.
Their houses will be looted, and their wives will be raped.

17 See, I will stir up against them the Medes,
who have no use for silver,
who do not delight even in gold.
18 Their bows will strike down the young,
and they will have no pity on newborn infants. [3]
There will be no compassion in their eyes for children.

19 Babylon is the glory of kingdoms,
the beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride,
but it will be just like the day when God overthrew
    Sodom and Gomorrah.
20 It will never be inhabited again,
nor will anyone live in it from generation to generation.
No Arab [4] will pitch his tent there.
No shepherd will rest his flocks there.
21 Instead, wild animals from the desert will rest there.
The houses will be full of wild dogs. [5]
Ostriches will nest there,
and wild goats will frolic.
22 Hyenas will howl in its fortresses,
and jackals in the luxurious palaces.
Its time is near,
and its days will not be prolonged.

Mercy for Israel

Isaiah 14

1 Yes, the Lord will have compassion on Jacob,
and he will choose Israel once again.
He will settle them in their own land.
Aliens will join them.
They will unite with the house of Jacob.
2 The peoples will take Israel
and bring them back to their own place.
In the Lord’s land the house of Israel will possess the nations
as male and female servants.
They will take their captors captive.
They will rule over their oppressors.

3 On that day, when the Lord will give you rest from your sorrow, rest from your trouble, and rest from the bondage forced upon you, 4 you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon:

“How the oppressor has ceased!
How his fury [6] has ended!”
5 The Lord has broken the rod of the wicked,
the scepter of the rulers,
6 who struck down peoples with fury, blow after blow,
who ruled the nations in anger,
with a persecution that no one restrained.

7 The whole earth is at rest and is quiet.
Everything breaks into song.
8 Yes, the fir trees rejoice with you,
along with the cedars of Lebanon.
They say, “Since the time you were humbled,
no woodcutter has come to cut us down.”
9 The grave below is ready to meet you when you come.
It stirs up the departed spirits to meet you—
all those who once were the rulers of the earth.
It makes all those who were kings over nations
    rise from their thrones.
10 They will all respond to you, Babylon.
The spirits all will ask you,
“Have you also become as weak as we are?
Have you become like us?”

11 Your pomp has been brought down to the grave,
    along with the sound of your harps.
Maggots are spread out beneath you,
and worms cover you.

12 How you have fallen from heaven,
you bright morning star, [7] son of the dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
you who laid the nations low!
13 You said in your heart,
“I will ascend to heaven!
I will raise my throne above the stars of God!
I will sit on the mountain of the assembly, in the far north!
14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds!
I will make myself like the Most High!”
15 But you will be brought down to the grave,
to the bottom of the pit.
16 Those who see you will stare at you.
They will ask themselves,
“Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
who shook kingdoms?
17 Is this the man who made the world like a wilderness,
who overthrew its cities,
who did not let his prisoners go home?”

18 All the kings of the nations lie in state,
each in his own tomb.
19 But you will be tossed out of your tomb,
like a rejected branch.
You will be covered with the dead bodies,
with those who have been run through by the sword,
with those who descend into a stone-filled pit.
Like a corpse trampled underfoot,
20 you will not join them in burial,
because you have destroyed your land and killed your people.
The offspring of the wicked will never be mentioned again.

God Will Destroy Babylon

21 Prepare a place to slaughter his sons
because of the guilt of their fathers,
so that they may not rise up to inherit the earth
and to cover the world with cities.

22 I will rise up against them,
declares the Lord of Armies.
I will cut off from Babylon her name and her remaining people,
her posterity and progeny, [8] declares the Lord.
23 I will turn it into a marsh, a home for porcupines, [9]
and I will sweep it away with the broom of destruction,
declares the Lord of Armies.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 13:1 The Hebrew word often has the connotation something burdensome.
  2. Isaiah 13:6 Hebrew Shaddai
  3. Isaiah 13:18 Literally on the fruit of the womb
  4. Isaiah 13:20 Or nomad
  5. Isaiah 13:21 The identification of some of the wild animals is uncertain.
  6. Isaiah 14:4 The translation follows the Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah, the Greek, and the Syriac. The meaning of the Hebrew text is uncertain.
  7. Isaiah 14:12 The term morning star here refers to the king of Babylon, but the Latin form of his name, Lucifer, has become a name for Satan.
  8. Isaiah 14:22 The Hebrew text uses two rare words here.
  9. Isaiah 14:23 Or owls




The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.



Through My Bible Yr 01 – December 18

/in

Through My Bible Yr 01 – December 18

Isaiah 11 – 12

Through My Bible – December 18

Isaiah 11 – 12 (EHV)

See series: Through My Bible

The Third Description of Immanuel: The Branch From Jesse

Isaiah 11

1 A shoot will spring up from the stump of Jesse,

and a Branch from his roots will bear fruit.
2 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 be delighted with the fear of the Lord.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
nor will he render decisions based on what he hears with his ears,
4 but with righteousness he will judge the poor,
and he will render fair decisions in favor of the oppressed on the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath from his lips he will put the wicked to death.
5 Righteousness will be the belt around his waist,
and faithfulness the belt around his hips.
6 The wolf will dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard will lie down with the young goat,
the calf, the young lion, and the fattened calf together,
and a little child will lead them.
7 The cow and the bear will graze together,
and their young ones will lie down together.
The lion will eat straw like the cattle.
8 The nursing child will play near a cobra’s hole,
and the weaned child will put his hand into a viper’s den.
9 They will not hurt or destroy anywhere on my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord,
as the waters cover the sea.

A Remnant of Israel Will Return

10 This is what will take place on that day. The peoples will seek the Root of Jesse, who will be standing like a banner [1] for the peoples, and his resting place will be glorious.

11 On that day the Lord will reach out his hand for the second time to reclaim the remnant of this people who survive from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coasts of the sea.

12 He will set up a banner for the nations,
and he will assemble the outcasts of Israel
and gather together the scattered people of Judah,
    from the four corners of the earth.
13 Ephraim’s envy will be turned aside,
and those who persecute Judah will be cut off.
Ephraim will not envy Judah,
and Judah will not persecute Ephraim.
14 They will swoop down on the slopes of the Philistines in the west.
Together they will plunder the peoples in the east.
They will extend their power over Edom and Moab,
and the people of Ammon will obey them.
15 The Lord will completely dry up the gulf of the Egyptian Sea.
With his scorching wind he will wave his hand over the River, [2]
and he will split it into seven streams,
so that people wearing sandals will be able to march through it.
16 There will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant
    of his people that is left there,
as there was for Israel in the day when they came up
    out of the land of Egypt.

A Song of Salvation

Isaiah 12

1 In that day you will say:
    I will give thanks to you, Lord,
    for though you were angry with me,
    your anger has turned away,
    and you comfort me.
2     Surely God is my salvation.
    I will trust him and will not be afraid,
    because Yah, the Lord, [3] is my strength and song,
    and he has become my salvation.
3 Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
4 In that day you will say:
Give thanks to the Lord! Proclaim [4] his name.
Declare among the peoples what he has done.
Proclaim that his name is exalted!
5 Sing to the Lord, for he has done amazing things!
Let this be known in all the earth!
6 Shout aloud and sing for joy, daughter [5] of Zion,
for the Holy One of Israel is great among you!

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 11:10 Or signal flag
  2. Isaiah 11:15 That is, the Euphrates
  3. Isaiah 12:2 The Hebrew uses both forms of the divine name, the short form Yah and the full form Yahweh, which EHV usually translates Lord.
  4. Isaiah 12:4 Or call on
  5. Isaiah 12:6 The word daughter has been added to reflect the feminine form of the phrase those who live in Zion.




The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.