The Daily Audio Bible

The divine throne room

6 In the year of King Uzziah’s death, I saw the Lord sitting on a high and exalted throne, the edges of his robe filling the temple. ² Winged creatures were stationed around him. Each had six wings: with two they veiled their faces, with two their feet, and with two they flew about. ³ They shouted to each other, saying:

⁴ The doorframe shook at the sound of their shouting, and the house was filled with smoke.

⁵ I said, “Mourn for me; I’m ruined! I’m a man with unclean lips, and I live among a people with unclean lips. Yet I’ve seen the king, the Lord of heavenly forces!”

⁶ Then one of the winged creatures flew to me, holding a glowing coal that he had taken from the altar with tongs. ⁷ He touched my mouth and said, “See, this has touched your lips. Your guilt has departed, and your sin is removed.”

⁸ Then I heard the Lord’s voice saying, “Whom should I send, and who will go for us?”

I said, “I’m here; send me.”

⁹ God said, “Go and say to this people:

¹¹ I said, “How long, Lord?”

And God said, “Until cities lie ruined with no one living in them, until there are houses without people and the land is left devastated.” ¹² The Lord will send the people far away, and the land will be completely abandoned. ¹³ Even if one-tenth remain there, they will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, which when it is cut down leaves a stump. Its stump is a holy seed.

Reassurance to King Ahaz

7 In the days of Ahaz (Jotham’s son and grandson of Judah’s King Uzziah), Aram’s King Rezin and Israel’s King Pekah (Remaliah’s son) came up to attack Jerusalem, but they couldn’t overpower it.

² When the house of David was told that Aram had become allies with Ephraim, their hearts and the hearts of their people shook as the trees of a forest shake when there is a wind. ³ But the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shear-jashub,^[a] at the end of the channel of the Upper Pool, by the road to the field where laundry is washed, ⁴ and say to him, ‘Be careful and stay calm. Don’t fear, and don’t lose heart over these two pieces of smoking torches, over the burning anger of Rezin, Aram, and Remaliah’s son. ⁵ Aram has planned evil against you with Ephraim and Remaliah’s son, saying, ⁶ “Let’s march up against Judah, tear it apart, capture it for ourselves, and install Tabeel’s son as its king.” ⁷ But the Lord God says: It won’t happen; it won’t take place. ⁸ The chief of Aram is Damascus; the chief of Damascus is Rezin (in sixty-five more years Ephraim will be shattered as a nation); ⁹ the chief of Ephraim is Samaria; and the chief of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you don’t believe this, you can’t be trusted.’”

The sign of Immanuel

¹⁰ Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: ¹¹ “Ask a sign from the Lord your God. Make it as deep as the grave^[b] or as high as heaven.”

¹² But Ahaz said, “I won’t ask; I won’t test the Lord.”

¹³ Then Isaiah said, “Listen, house of David! Isn’t it enough for you to be tiresome for people that you are also tiresome before my God? ¹⁴ Therefore, the Lord will give you a sign. The young woman is pregnant and is about to give birth to a son, and she will name him Immanuel.^{[c] 15} He will eat butter and honey, and learn to reject evil and choose good. ¹⁶ Before the boy learns to reject evil and choose good, the land of the two kings you dread will be abandoned. ¹⁷ The Lord will bring upon you, upon your people, and upon your families days unlike any that have come since the day Ephraim broke away from Judah—the king of Assyria.”

The devastated land

¹⁸ On that day, the Lord will whistle for the flies from the remotest streams of Egypt and for the bees that are in the land of Assyria. ¹⁹ They will come and settle in the steep ravines, in the cracks of the cliffs, in all the thornbushes, and in all the watering holes.

²⁰ On that day, the Lord will shave with a razor hired from beyond the Euphrates—with the king of Assyria—the head and the pubic hair, and will cut off the beard as well.

²¹ On that day, one will raise a young cow and two sheep ²² and will eat butter because of the abundance of milk, for all who remain in the land will eat butter and honey.

²³ On that day, there will be thorns and thistles in every place where a thousand vines worth a thousand silver shekels once grew. ²⁴ Only those with bows and arrows will go there, because the entire land will become thorns and thistles. ²⁵ As for the hills that were once farmed with hoes, you won’t go there for fear of the thorns and thistles. They will become places where cattle are turned loose and sheep wander.

Paul defends himself

¹⁶ I repeat, no one should take me for a fool. But if you do, then allow me to be a fool so that I can brag like a fool for a bit. ¹⁷ I’m not saying what I’m saying because the Lord tells me to. I’m saying it like I’m a fool. I’m putting my confidence in this business of bragging. ¹⁸ Since so many people are bragging based on human standards, that is how I’m going to brag too. ¹⁹ Because you, who are so wise, are happy to put up with fools. ²⁰ You put up with it if someone enslaves you, if someone exploits you, if someone takes advantage of you, if someone places themselves over you, or if someone hits you in the face. ²¹ I’m ashamed to say that we have been weak in comparison! But in whatever they challenge me, I challenge them (I’m speaking foolishly).

²² Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. ²³ Are they ministers of Christ? I’m speaking like a crazy person. What I’ve done goes well beyond what they’ve done. I’ve worked much harder. I’ve been imprisoned much more often. I’ve been beaten more times than I can count. I’ve faced death many times. ²⁴ I received the “forty lashes minus one” from the Jews five times. ²⁵ I was beaten with rods three times. I was stoned once. I was shipwrecked three times. I spent a day and a night on the open sea. ²⁶ I’ve been on many journeys. I faced dangers from rivers, robbers, my people, and Gentiles. I faced dangers in the city, in the desert, on the sea, and from false brothers and sisters. ²⁷ I faced these dangers with hard work and heavy labor, many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, often without food, and in the cold without enough clothes.

²⁸ Besides all the other things I could mention, there’s my daily stress because I’m concerned about all the churches. ²⁹ Who is weak without me being weak? Who is led astray without me being furious about it? ³⁰ If it’s necessary to brag, I’ll brag about my weaknesses. ³¹ The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, the one who is blessed forever, knows that I’m not lying. ³² At Damascus the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of Damascus in order to capture me, ³³ but I got away from him by being lowered in a basket through a window in the city wall.

Psalm 54

For the music leader. With stringed instruments. A maskil^[a] of David, when the Ziphites came and said to Saul, “Isn’t David hiding among us?”