Isaiah 34–37
34:1Draw near, O nations, to hear,and give attention, O peoples!Let the earth hear, and all that fills it;the world, and all that comes from it.2For the LORD is enraged against all the nations,and furious against all their host;he has devoted them to destruction, has given them over for slaughter.3Their slain shall be cast out,and the stench of their corpses shall rise;the mountains shall flow with their blood.4All the host of heaven shall rot away,and the skies roll up like a scroll.All their host shall fall,as leaves fall from the vine,like leaves falling from the fig tree. 5For my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens;behold, it descends for judgment upon Edom,upon the people I have devoted to destruction.6The LORD has a sword; it is sated with blood;it is gorged with fat,with the blood of lambs and goats,with the fat of the kidneys of rams.For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah,a great slaughter in the land of Edom.7Wild oxen shall fall with them,and young steers with the mighty bulls.Their land shall drink its fill of blood,and their soil shall be gorged with fat. 8For the LORD has a day of vengeance,a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.9And the streams of Edom shall be turned into pitch,and her soil into sulfur;her land shall become burning pitch.10Night and day it shall not be quenched;its smoke shall go up forever.From generation to generation it shall lie waste;none shall pass through it forever and ever.11But the hawk and the porcupine shall possess it,the owl and the raven shall dwell in it.He shall stretch the line of confusion over it,and the plumb line of emptiness.12Its nobles—there is no one there to call it a kingdom,and all its princes shall be nothing. 13Thorns shall grow over its strongholds,nettles and thistles in its fortresses.It shall be the haunt of jackals,an abode for ostriches.14And wild animals shall meet with hyenas;the wild goat shall cry to his fellow;indeed, there the night bird settlesand finds for herself a resting place. 15There the owl nests and laysand hatches and gathers her young in her shadow;indeed, there the hawks are gathered,each one with her mate.16Seek and read from the book of the LORD:Not one of these shall be missing;none shall be without her mate.For the mouth of the LORD has commanded,and his Spirit has gathered them.17He has cast the lot for them;his hand has portioned it out to them with the line;they shall possess it forever;from generation to generation they shall dwell in it.
35:1The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad;the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus;2it shall blossom abundantlyand rejoice with joy and singing.The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.They shall see the glory of the LORD,the majesty of our God. 3Strengthen the weak hands,and make firm the feeble knees.4Say to those who have an anxious heart,“Be strong; fear not!Behold, your Godwill come with vengeance,with the recompense of God.He will come and save you.” 5Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,and the ears of the deaf unstopped;6then shall the lame man leap like a deer,and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.For waters break forth in the wilderness,and streams in the desert;7the burning sand shall become a pool,and the thirsty ground springs of water;in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down,the grass shall become reeds and rushes. 8And a highway shall be there,and it shall be called the Way of Holiness;the unclean shall not pass over it.It shall belong to those who walk on the way;even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.9No lion shall be there,nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;they shall not be found there,but the redeemed shall walk there.10And the ransomed of the LORD shall returnand come to Zion with singing;everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;they shall obtain gladness and joy,and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
36:1In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 2And the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem, with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer’s Field. 3And there came out to him Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.
4And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? 5Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me? 6Behold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. 7But if you say to me, “We trust in the LORD our God,” is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar”? 8Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. 9How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master’s servants, when you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 10Moreover, is it without the LORD that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The LORD said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it.”’”
11Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 12But the Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”
13Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! 14Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. 15Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD by saying, “The LORD will surely deliver us. This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 16Do not listen to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of Assyria: Make your peace with me and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, 17until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you by saying, “The LORD will deliver us.” Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 19Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? 20Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”
21But they were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s command was, “Do not answer him.” 22Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.
37:1As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the LORD. 2And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz. 3They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. 4It may be that the LORD your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the LORD your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’”
5When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 6Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the LORD: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the young men of the king of Assyria have reviled me. 7Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’”
8The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish. 9Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, “He has set out to fight against you.” And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, 10“Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. 11Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered? 12Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? 13Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?’”
14Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD. 15And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD: 16“O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made the heavens and the earth. 17Incline your ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. 18Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, 19and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. 20So now, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the LORD.”
21Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22this is the word that the LORD has spoken concerning him:
“‘She despises you, she scorns you—the virgin daughter of Zion;she wags her head behind you—the daughter of Jerusalem. 23“‘Whom have you mocked and reviled?Against whom have you raised your voiceand lifted your eyes to the heights?Against the Holy One of Israel!24By your servants you have mocked the Lord,and you have said, With my many chariotsI have gone up the heights of the mountains,to the far recesses of Lebanon,to cut down its tallest cedars,its choicest cypresses,to come to its remotest height,its most fruitful forest.25I dug wellsand drank waters,to dry up with the sole of my footall the streams of Egypt. 26“‘Have you not heardthat I determined it long ago?I planned from days of oldwhat now I bring to pass,that you should make fortified citiescrash into heaps of ruins,27while their inhabitants, shorn of strength,are dismayed and confounded,and have become like plants of the fieldand like tender grass,like grass on the housetops,blighted before it is grown. 28“‘I know your sitting downand your going out and coming in,and your raging against me.29Because you have raged against meand your complacency has come to my ears,I will put my hook in your noseand my bit in your mouth,and I will turn you back on the wayby which you came.’
30“And this shall be the sign for you: this year you shall eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that. Then in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. 31And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. 32For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
33“Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it. 34By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the LORD. 35For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”
36And the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. 37Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at Nineveh. 38And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword. And after they escaped into the land of Ararat, Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.
John 7:25–44
25Some of the people of Jerusalem therefore said, “Is not this the man whom they seek to kill? 26And here he is, speaking openly, and they say nothing to him! Can it be that the authorities really know that this is the Christ? 27But we know where this man comes from, and when the Christ appears, no one will know where he comes from.” 28So Jesus proclaimed, as he taught in the temple, “You know me, and you know where I come from. But I have not come of my own accord. He who sent me is true, and him you do not know. 29I know him, for I come from him, and he sent me.” 30So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come. 31Yet many of the people believed in him. They said, “When the Christ appears, will he do more signs than this man has done?”
32The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about him, and the chief priests and Pharisees sent officers to arrest him. 33Jesus then said, “I will be with you a little longer, and then I am going to him who sent me. 34You will seek me and you will not find me. Where I am you cannot come.” 35The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to the Dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks? 36What does he mean by saying, ‘You will seek me and you will not find me,’ and, ‘Where I am you cannot come’?”
37On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” 39Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.
40When they heard these words, some of the people said, “This really is the Prophet.” 41Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Is the Christ to come from Galilee? 42Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David, and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David was?” 43So there was a division among the people over him. 44Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.
Psalm 104:24–35
24O LORD, how manifold are your works!In wisdom have you made them all;the earth is full of your creatures.25Here is the sea, great and wide,which teems with creatures innumerable,living things both small and great.26There go the ships,and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it. 27These all look to you,to give them their food in due season.28When you give it to them, they gather it up;when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.29When you hide your face, they are dismayed;when you take away their breath, they dieand return to their dust.30When you send forth your Spirit, they are created,and you renew the face of the ground. 31May the glory of the LORD endure forever;may the LORD rejoice in his works,32who looks on the earth and it trembles,who touches the mountains and they smoke!33I will sing to the LORD as long as I live;I will sing praise to my God while I have being.34May my meditation be pleasing to him,for I rejoice in the LORD.35Let sinners be consumed from the earth,and let the wicked be no more!Bless the LORD, O my soul!Praise the LORD!
Proverbs 28:9–12
9If one turns away his ear from hearing the law,even his prayer is an abomination.10Whoever misleads the upright into an evil waywill fall into his own pit,but the blameless will have a goodly inheritance.11A rich man is wise in his own eyes,but a poor man who has understanding will find him out.12When the righteous triumph, there is great glory,but when the wicked rise, people hide themselves.
