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Jerusalemites rebuked
22 An oracle about the Valley of Vision.
What is wrong with you,
that you have all gone up to the rooftops,
2 you who are filled with noise,
you roaring city, you party town?
Your dead weren’t slaughtered by the sword;
they didn’t die in battle.
3 All your leaders escaped together
but were captured without a single bow shot.
All your escapees were bound together, even though they fled far away.[a]
4 Therefore, I said, “Don’t look at me;
let me weep bitterly.
Don’t try to comfort me
about the destruction of my dearly loved people.”
5 The Lord God of heavenly forces has a day of tumult and trampling and turmoil in the Valley of Vision,
a breaking down of walls,
a cry for help to the mountains.
6 Elam carried the quiver with chariots and horsemen,
and Kir uncovered the shield.
7 Your finest valleys were filled with chariots,
and horsemen doggedly guarded the gate.
8 Judah’s covering has been stripped away.
On that day, you trusted the weapons in the Forest House.
9 You observed the many broken defenses in David’s City,
and you collected the waters of the lower pool.
10 You counted Jerusalem’s houses,
and you tore down houses to fortify the wall.
11 You made a reservoir between the walls for the water of the earlier pool.
But you didn’t trust its maker;
you didn’t consider the one who planned it long ago.
12 The Lord God of heavenly forces called on that day
for weeping and mourning, and shaven heads, and wearing of mourning clothes.
13 But instead there was
fun and frivolity,
killing of cattle
and slaughtering of sheep,
eating of meat and drinking of wine:
“Eat and drink! Tomorrow we will die!”
14 But the Lord of heavenly forces has revealed in my hearing:
This iniquity won’t be forgiven you until you die, says the Lord God of heavenly forces.
An administrator rebuked
15 The Lord God of heavenly forces says, Go now to this official, to Shebna, who is in charge of the house, and say to him:
16 What do you have here—and whom do you have here—
that you have hewed out a tomb for yourself,
you who cuts his grave on high and carves himself a home in the cliff?
17 The Lord is about to hurl you down, mighty man!
He is surely going to cover you with darkness;
18 he will indeed unroll your head wrapping,
rolling it like a ball into the open country.
There you will die, with your glorious chariots,
you disgrace to the house of your master!
19 I will thrust you from your monument;
you will be pulled down from your platform.
20 On that day, I will call my servant
Eliakim, Hilkiah’s son.
21 I will give him your robe and wrap him in your sash,
and I will hand over to him your authority.
He will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem
and to the house of Judah.
22 I will place the key to David’s house on his shoulder;
what he opens no one will close,
and what he closes no one will open.
23 I will fasten him securely like a tent peg,
and he will be a throne of honor for his ancestors’ house.
24 All the honor of his household will hang on him, the offspring and the offshoots, every little dish, every bowl, every jar.
25 On that day, says the Lord of heavenly forces, the peg that is fastened securely will give way; it will be cut down, and it will fall, and all the load hanging on it will be lost. The Lord has spoken.
Concerning Tyre
23 An oracle about Tyre.
Wail, ships of Tarshish,
because your port is destroyed![b]
When returning from Cyprus, they heard about it.
2 Be still, inhabitants of the coast, traders of Sidon,
whose messengers crossed over the sea,[c]
3 over the mighty waters.
The grain of Shihor, the Nile’s harvest, was her income;
she was the marketplace of nations.
4 Be ashamed, Sidon, because the sea has spoken;
the fortress of the sea has said,
“I haven’t been in labor; I didn’t give birth;
I never raised young men or brought up young women.”
5 When the Egyptians hear,
they will be in anguish at the news about Tyre.
6 Cross over to Tarshish;
wail, inhabitants of the coast.
7 Is this your triumphant town,
whose origin is from ancient times,
whose feet carried her to settle far away?
8 Who planned this concerning Tyre,
the one who gives crowns,
whose merchants were princes,
whose traders were the honored of the earth?
9 The Lord of heavenly forces planned it,
to defile the pride of all beauty,
to shame all the honored of the earth.
10 Go through your own land, Daughter Tarshish,
for the harbor[d] is gone.
11 God’s hand is extended over the sea, shaking nations.
The Lord gave the command to destroy Phoenicia’s fortresses,
12 saying, You will no longer celebrate,
violated virgin Daughter Sidon.
Get up and head to Cyprus;
even there you will find no rest.
13 Look at the land of the Chaldeans,
the people who are no more.
Assyria destined it for wild animals:
they raised up their siege towers,
stripped its palaces,
and made it a ruin.
14 Wail, ships of Tarshish,
for your fortress is destroyed!
15 On that day, Tyre will be forgotten seventy years, the lifetime of one king. At the end of seventy years, Tyre will become like the prostitute in the song:
16 Take a harp, go around the city, forgotten prostitute.
Play well, sing many songs, so they’ll remember you.
17 At the end of seventy years, the Lord will visit Tyre. She will return to her trade and will prostitute herself with all the kingdoms on the earth. 18 Her profits and wages will be sacred to the Lord. They won’t be stored or saved. Her profits will go to those living before the Lord, for plentiful food and elegant clothes.
City of chaos falls
24 Look! The Lord will devastate the earth and destroy it,
will twist its face and scatter its inhabitants.
2 It will be the same for the people and for the priest;
for the slave and for his master;
for the female servant and for her mistress;
for the buyer and for the seller;
for the lender and for the borrower;
for the creditor and for the debtor.
3 The earth will be devastated, totally devastated;
it will be destroyed, completely destroyed
because the Lord has said it would be so.
4 The earth dries up and wilts;
the world withers and wilts;
the heavens wither away with the earth.
5 The earth lies polluted under its inhabitants,
for they have disobeyed instruction,
swept aside law,
and broken the ancient covenant.
6 Therefore, a curse devours the earth; its inhabitants suffer for their guilt.
Therefore, the earth’s inhabitants dwindle; very few are left.
7 The wine dries up;
the vine withers;
all the merry-hearted groan.
8 The joyous tambourines have ceased;
the roar of partiers has stopped;
the joyous harp has ceased.
9 No one drinks wine or sings;
beer is bitter to its drinkers.
10 The town is in chaos, broken;
every house is shut, without entrance.
11 There is a cry for wine in the streets.
All joy has reached its dusk;
happiness is exiled from the earth.
12 Ruin remains in the city,
and the gate is battered to wreckage.
13 It will be like this in the central part of the land and among the peoples,
like an olive tree that has been shaken,
like remains from the grape harvest.
14 They raise their voice;
they sing with joy;
from the west they will shout about the Lord’s majesty.
15 Therefore, in the east honor the Lord;
in the islands of the sea,
the name of the Lord God of Israel!
16 From the ends of the earth we have heard songs:
“Glory to the righteous one!”
But I say, “I waste away; I waste away;
I’m doomed!
Betrayers betray; treacherously betrayers betray.”
17 Terror, trench, and trap are upon you,
ruler of the earth!
18 Whoever flees from the sound of terror will fall into the trench;
whoever climbs from the trench will be caught in the trap.
Heaven’s windows will open, and the earth’s foundations will quake.
19 The earth is shattering, shattering;
the earth is shaking, shaking;
the earth is teetering, tottering.
20 The earth trembles like a drunk
and shudders like a hut;
its rebellion weighs heavy upon it;
it will fall, no more to rise.
21 On that day, the Lord will punish the forces of heaven in heaven, and the kings of the earth on earth. 22 They will be gathered together like prisoners in a pit, shut into a prison, and punished after many days. 23 The moon will be diminished, and the sun will fade, since the Lord of heavenly forces will rule on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, glorious before his elders.
17 But if it is discovered that we ourselves are sinners while we are trying to be made righteous in Christ, then is Christ a servant of sin? Absolutely not! 18 If I rebuild the very things that I tore down, I show that I myself am breaking the Law. 19 I died to the Law through the Law, so that I could live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the life that I now live in my body, I live by faith, indeed, by the faithfulness of God’s Son, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I don’t ignore the grace of God, because if we become righteous through the Law, then Christ died for no purpose.
Works versus the Spirit
3 You irrational Galatians! Who put a spell on you? Jesus Christ was put on display as crucified before your eyes! 2 I just want to know this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the Law or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so irrational? After you started with the Spirit, are you now finishing up with your own human effort? 4 Did you experience so much for nothing? I wonder if it really was for nothing. 5 So does the one providing you with the Spirit and working miracles among you do this by you doing the works of the Law or by you believing what you heard?
Abraham: an example of righteousness
6 Understand that in the same way that Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness,[a] 7 those who believe are the children of Abraham. 8 But when it saw ahead of time that God would make the Gentiles righteous on the basis of faith, scripture preached the gospel in advance to Abraham: All the Gentiles will be blessed in you.[b] 9 Therefore, those who believe are blessed together with Abraham who believed.
Psalm 60
For the music leader. According to “Lily.” A testimony. A miktam[a] of David. For instruction, when he went to war with Aram-naharaim and Aram-sobah, and when Joab returned and defeated Edom, killing twelve thousand in the Salt Valley.
60 God, you have rejected us—
shattered us.
You’ve been so angry.
Now restore us!
2 You’ve made the ground quake,
splitting it open.
Now repair its cracks
because it’s shaking apart!
3 You’ve made your people suffer hardship;
you’ve given us wine and we stagger.
4 Give a flag to those who honor you,
so they can rally around it,
safe from attack.[b] Selah
5 Save us by your power and answer us
so that the people you love might be rescued.
6 God has spoken in his sanctuary:
“I will celebrate as I divide up Shechem
and portion out the Succoth Valley.
7 Gilead is mine;
Manasseh is mine;
Ephraim is my helmet;
Judah is my scepter.
8 But Moab is my washbowl;
I’ll throw my shoe at Edom.
I shout in triumph over Philistia![c]
9 I wish someone would bring me to a fortified city!
I wish someone would lead me to Edom!”
10 But you have rejected us, God, haven’t you?
God, you no longer accompany our armies.
11 Give us help against the enemy;
human help is worthless.
12 With God we will triumph;
he’s the one who will trample our adversaries.
15 My child, if your heart is wise,
then my heart too will be happy.
16 My inner being will rejoice
when your lips speak with integrity.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible