The Daily Audio Bible
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Hymn of trust
12 You will say on that day:
“I thank you, Lord.
Though you were angry with me,
your anger turned away and you comforted me.
2 God is indeed my salvation;
I will trust and won’t be afraid.
Yah, the Lord, is my strength and my shield;
he has become my salvation.”
3 You will draw water with joy from the springs of salvation.
4 And you will say on that day:
“Thank the Lord; call on God’s name;
proclaim God’s deeds among the peoples;
declare that God’s name is exalted.
5 Sing to the Lord, who has done glorious things;
proclaim this throughout all the earth.”
6 Shout and sing for joy, city of Zion,
because the holy one of Israel is great among you.
Babylon falls
13 An oracle about Babylon, which Isaiah, Amoz’s son, saw.
2 On a bare mountain raise a signal;
cry aloud to them;
wave a hand;
let them enter the officials’ gates.
3 I have commanded my holy ones;
I have called my warriors,
my proud, jubilant ones,
to execute my wrath.
4 Listen![a] A roar on the mountains like that of a great crowd.
Listen! An uproar of kingdoms,
of nations coming together.
The Lord of heavenly forces is mustering an army for battle.
5 They are coming from a distant land,
from the faraway heavens,
the Lord and the instruments of his fury, to destroy the whole land.
6 Wail, for the day of the Lord is near.
Like destruction from the Almighty[b] it will come.
7 Then all hands will fall limp;
every human heart will melt,
8 and they will be terrified.
Like a woman writhing in labor,
they will be seized by spasms and agony.
They will look at each other aghast,
their faces blazing.
9 Look, the day of the Lord is coming with cruel rage and burning anger,
making the earth a ruin,
and wiping out its sinners.
10 Heaven’s stars and constellations won’t show their light.
The sun will be dark when it rises;
the moon will no longer shine.
11 I will bring disaster upon the world for its evil,
and bring their own sin upon the wicked.
I will end the pride of the insolent,
and the conceit of tyrants I will lay low.
12 I will make humans scarcer than fine gold;
people rarer than the gold of Ophir.
13 I will rattle the heavens;
the earth will shake loose from its place—because of the rage
of the Lord of heavenly forces
on the day his anger burns.
14 They will be like hunted gazelles, like sheep without a shepherd;
all will turn to their own people
and flee to their own lands.
15 Whoever is found will be stabbed;
whoever is caught will fall by the sword.
16 Their infants will be crushed before their eyes;
their houses plundered, their women raped.
17 Look! I’m rousing the Medes against them;
the Medes pay no mind to silver, no desire for gold.
18 Their bows will smash youths;
they will be merciless to newborns, pitiless to children.
19 So Babylon, a jewel among kingdoms,
the Chaldeans’ splendor and pride,
will be like Sodom and Gomorrah,
destroyed by God.
20 No one will ever resettle
or live there for generations.
No Arab will camp there;
no shepherds will rest flocks there.
21 Wildcats will rest there;
houses will be filled with owls.
Ostriches will live there,
and goat demons will dance there.
22 Hyenas will howl in its strongholds,
and jackals in its luxurious palaces.
Babylon’s[c] time is coming soon;
its days won’t drag on.
Compassion for Jacob
14 The Lord will have compassion on Jacob, will again choose Israel, and will give them rest in their own land. Immigrants will join them, and attach themselves to the house of Jacob. 2 The peoples will take them and will bring them to their own place. The house of Israel will possess them as male and female slaves in the Lord’s land, making captives of their captors and ruling their oppressors.
Mockery of a tyrant
3 When the Lord has given you rest from pain and trouble and from the hard labor that you perform, 4 you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon:
How the oppressor[d] has ceased!
How the flood[e] has receded!
5 The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,
the rod of tyrants 6 that struck peoples in rage with ceaseless blows,
that ruled nations with anger,
with relentless aggression.
7 All the earth rests quietly,
then it breaks into song.
8 Even the cypresses rejoice over you,
the cedars of Lebanon:
“Since you were laid low,
no logger comes up against us!”
9 The underworld[f] beneath becomes restless to greet your arrival.
It awakens the ghosts,
all the leaders of earth;
it makes the kings of the nations rise from their thrones.
10 All of them speak and say to you:
“Even you’ve become weak like we are!
You are the same as us!”
11 Your majesty has been brought down to the underworld,[g]
along with the sound of your harps.
Under you is a bed of maggots,
and worms are your blanket.
12 How you’ve fallen from heaven,
morning star, son of dawn!
You are cut down to earth,
helpless on your back!
13 You said to yourself, I will climb up to heaven;
above God’s stars, I will raise my throne.
I’ll sit on the mount of assembly,
on the heights of Zaphon.
14 I’ll go up to the cloud tops;
I’ll be like the Most High!
15 But down to the underworld[h] you are brought,
to the depths of the pit.
16 Those who see you will stare at you;
they will examine you closely:
“Is this the man who rattled the earth,
who shook kingdoms,
17 who made the world a wasteland
and tore down its cities,
and wouldn’t let his prisoners go home?”
18 All the kings of the nations lie down honored,
all of them, each in his own tomb.
19 But you are cast away from your own grave
like a rejected branch,
covered by the dead
and those pierced by the sword—
who go down to the stony pit—
like a trampled corpse.
20 You won’t join them in burial,
for you destroyed your own land;
you killed your own people.
Such evil offspring will never be mentioned again!
21 Prepare a place to slaughter his sons for the guilt of their father. Don’t let them arise to take over the earth or fill the world with cities.
22 I will arise against them, says the Lord of heavenly forces. I will cut off Babylon’s renown and remnant, offshoot and offspring. 23 I will make it the home of herons, a swampland. I will sweep it away with the broom of destruction, says the Lord of heavenly forces.
Promise for oppressed Judah
24 The Lord of heavenly forces has promised:
As I intended, so it will be;
and as I have planned, so it will happen:
25 I will break Assyria in my land;
on my mountains I will trample it
and remove its yoke from my people;[i]
his burden will be taken from their shoulders.
26 This is the plan that has been made for all the earth;
this is the hand extended over all the nations.
27 The Lord of heavenly forces has created a plan;
who can stop it?
God’s hand is extended;
who will stop it?
An oracle concerning the Philistines
28 This oracle came in the year of King Ahaz’s death:
29 Don’t rejoice, all you Philistines, that the rod that struck you is broken,
because from the snake’s root a viper will grow,
and it will produce a winged creature.
30 The oldest offspring of the poor will graze;
their needy will lie down secure.
But he will starve your offspring to death,
and murder all who remain.
31 Wail, gate! Cry out, city!
Melt in terror, all you Philistines!
Smoke is coming from the north;
there is no straggler in its ranks.[j]
32 What will one say to that nation’s messengers?
The Lord has founded Zion;
the oppressed among God’s people will find refuge there.
13 This is the third time that I’m coming to visit you. Every matter is settled on the evidence of two or three witnesses. 2 When I was with you on my second visit, I already warned those who continued to sin. Now I’m repeating that warning to all the rest of you while I’m at a safe distance: if I come again, I won’t spare anyone. 3 Since you are demanding proof that Christ speaks through me, Christ isn’t weak in dealing with you but shows his power among you. 4 Certainly he was crucified because of weakness, but he lives by the power of God. Certainly we also are weak in him, but we will live together with him, because of God’s power that is directed toward you.
5 Examine yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Don’t you understand that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless, of course, you fail the test. 6 But I hope that you will realize that we don’t fail the test. 7 We pray to God that you don’t do anything wrong, not because we want to appear to pass the test but so that you might do the right thing, even if we appear to fail.
8 We can’t do anything against the truth but only to help the truth. 9 We are happy when we are weak but you are strong. We pray for this: that you will be made complete. 10 This is why I’m writing these things while I’m away. I’m writing so that I won’t need to act harshly when I’m with you by using the authority that the Lord gave me. He gave it to me so that I could build you up, not tear you down.
Final greeting
11 Finally, brothers and sisters, good-bye. Put things in order, respond to my encouragement, be in harmony with each other, and live in peace—and the God of love and peace will be with you.
12 Say hello to each other with a holy kiss.[a] All of God’s people say hello to you.
13 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Psalm 57
For the music leader. Do not destroy. A miktam[a] of David, when he fled from Saul into the cave.
57 Have mercy on me, God;
have mercy on me
because I[b] have taken refuge in you.
I take refuge
in the shadow of your wings
until destruction passes by.
2 I call out to God Most High—
to God, who comes through for me.
3 He sends orders from heaven and saves me,
rebukes the one who tramples me. Selah
God sends his loyal love and faithfulness.
4 My life is in the middle of a pack of lions.
I lie down among those who devour humans.
Their teeth are spears and arrows;
their tongues are sharpened swords.
5 Exalt yourself, God, higher than heaven!
Let your glory be over all the earth!
6 They laid a net for my feet to bring me down;
they dug a pit for me,
but they fell into it instead! Selah
7 My heart is unwavering, God—
my heart is unwavering.
I will sing and make music.
8 Wake up, my glory!
Wake up, harp and lyre!
I will wake the dawn itself!
9 I will give thanks to you,
my Lord,
among all the peoples;
I will make music to you among the nations
10 because your faithful love
is as high as heaven;
your faithfulness reaches the clouds.
11 Exalt yourself, God, higher than heaven!
Let your glory be over all the earth!
9 Don’t speak in the ears of fools,
for they will scorn your insightful words.
10 Don’t remove an ancient boundary marker;
don’t invade the fields of orphans,
11 for their redeemer is strong.
He will bring charges against you.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible