Remember the Lord

8 “Carefully follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase, and may enter and take possession of the land^(A) the Lord swore to your ancestors. ² Remember that the Lord your God led you on the entire journey these forty years in the wilderness, so that he might humble you and test you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. ³ He humbled you by letting you go hungry; then he gave you manna to eat, which you and your ancestors had not known, so that you might learn that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.^{(B) 4} Your clothing did not wear out, and your feet did not swell these forty years.^{(C) 5} Keep in mind that the Lord your God has been disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son. ⁶ So keep the commands of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and fearing him. ⁷ For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land,^(D) a land with streams, springs, and deep water sources, flowing in both valleys and hills; ⁸ a land of wheat, barley, vines, figs, and pomegranates; a land of olive oil and honey; ⁹ a land where you will eat food without shortage, where you will lack nothing; a land whose rocks are iron and from whose hills you will mine copper. ¹⁰ When you eat and are full,^(E) you will bless the Lord your God for the good land^(F) he has given you.

¹¹ “Be careful that you don’t forget the Lord your God by failing to keep his commands, ordinances, and statutes that I am giving you today. ¹² When you eat and are full, and build beautiful houses to live in, ¹³ and your herds and flocks grow large, and your silver and gold multiply, and everything else you have increases, ¹⁴ be careful that your heart doesn’t become proud and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.^{(G) 15} He led you through the great and terrible wilderness with its poisonous^[a] snakes and scorpions, a thirsty land where there was no water. He brought water out of the flint rock for you. ¹⁶ He fed you in the wilderness with manna,^(H) which your ancestors had not known, in order to humble and test you, so that in the end he might cause you to prosper. ¹⁷ You may say to yourself, ‘My power and my own ability have gained this wealth for me,’ ¹⁸ but remember that the Lord your God gives you the power to gain wealth, in order to confirm his covenant he swore to your ancestors,^(I) as it is today. ¹⁹ If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods to serve them and bow in worship to them, I testify against you today that you will certainly perish.^{(J) 20} Like the nations the Lord is about to destroy before you, you will perish if you do not obey the Lord your God.

Psalm 91

The Protection of the Most High

Sennacherib’s Invasion

36 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah,^(A) King Sennacherib of Assyria attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them. ² Then the king of Assyria sent his royal spokesman, along with a massive army, from Lachish^(B) to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. The Assyrian stood near the conduit of the upper pool, by the road to Launderer’s Field.^{(C) 3} Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the court secretary,^(D) and Joah son of Asaph, the court historian, came out to him.

⁴ The royal spokesman said to them, “Tell Hezekiah:

The great king, the king of Assyria, says this: What are you relying on? ⁵ You^[a] think mere words are strategy and strength for war. Who are you now relying on that you have rebelled against me?^{(E) 6} Look, you are relying on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff^(F) that will pierce the hand of anyone who grabs it and leans on it. This is how Pharaoh king of Egypt is to all who rely on him.^{(G) 7} Suppose you say to me, ‘We rely on the Lord our God.’ Isn’t he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You are to worship at this altar’?^(H)

⁸ “Now make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria. I’ll give you two thousand horses if you’re able to supply riders for them! ⁹ How then can you drive back a single officer among the least of my master’s servants? How can you rely on Egypt for chariots and horsemen?^{(I) 10} Have I attacked this land to destroy it without the Lord’s approval? The Lord said to me, ‘Attack this land and destroy it.’”

¹¹ Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the royal spokesman, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic,^(J) since we understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew^[b] within earshot of the people who are on the wall.”

¹² But the royal spokesman replied, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men who are sitting on the wall, who are destined with you to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine?”

¹³ Then the royal spokesman stood and called out loudly in Hebrew:

Listen to the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! ¹⁴ This is what the king says: “Don’t let Hezekiah deceive you,^(K) for he cannot rescue you. ¹⁵ Don’t let Hezekiah persuade you to rely on the Lord, saying, ‘The Lord will certainly rescue us! This city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.’”

¹⁶ Don’t listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: “Make peace^[c] with me and surrender to me. Then every one of you may eat from his own vine and his own fig tree^(L) and drink water from his own cistern ¹⁷ until I come and take you away to a land like your own land—a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. ¹⁸ Beware that Hezekiah does not mislead you by saying, ‘The Lord will rescue us.’^(M) Has any one of the gods of the nations^(N) rescued his land from the power of the king of Assyria? ¹⁹ Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad?^(O) Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they rescued Samaria from my power?^{(P) 20} Who among all the gods of these lands ever rescued his land from my power? So will the Lord rescue Jerusalem from my power?”

²¹ But they kept silent; they didn’t say anything, for the king’s command was, “Don’t answer him.”^{(Q) 22} Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the court secretary, and Joah son of Asaph, the court historian, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and reported to him the words of the royal spokesman.

The First Seal on the Scroll

6 Then I saw the Lamb open one of the seven^[a] seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder,^(A) “Come!” ² I looked, and there was a white horse.^(B) Its rider held a bow;^(C) a crown^(D) was given to him, and he went out as a conqueror in order to conquer.^[b]

The Second Seal

³ When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” ⁴ Then another horse went out, a fiery red one,^(E) and its rider was allowed to take peace from the earth, so that people would slaughter one another. And a large sword was given to him.^(F)

The Third Seal

⁵ When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and there was a black horse.^(G) Its rider held a set of scales in his hand.^{(H) 6} Then I heard something like a voice among the four living creatures say, “A quart of wheat for a denarius,^[c] and three quarts of barley for a denarius,^(I) but do not harm the oil and the wine.”^(J)

The Fourth Seal

⁷ When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” ⁸ And I looked, and there was a pale green^[d] horse. Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following after him.^(K) They were^[e] given authority^(L) over a fourth of the earth, to kill by the sword, by famine, by plague, and by the wild animals of the earth.^(M)

The Fifth Seal

⁹ When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered because of the word of God and the testimony they had given.^{[f](N) 10} They cried out with a loud voice, “Lord,^[g] the one who is holy and true,^(O) how long until you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood?^(P)” ¹¹ So they were each given a white robe, and they were told to rest a little while longer until the number would be completed of their fellow servants and their brothers and sisters, who were going to be killed just as they had been.

The Sixth Seal

¹² Then I saw him open^[h] the sixth seal. A violent earthquake occurred;^(Q) the sun turned black like sackcloth^(R) made of hair; the entire moon^[i] became like blood;^{(S) 13} the stars^[j] of heaven fell to the earth as a fig tree drops its unripe figs when shaken by a high wind; ¹⁴ the sky was split apart like a scroll being rolled up;^(T) and every mountain and island was moved from its place.^(U)

¹⁵ Then the kings of the earth, the nobles, the generals, the rich, the powerful, and every slave and free person hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains.^{(V) 16} And they said to the mountains and to the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us^(W) from the face of the one seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb, ¹⁷ because the great day of their^[k] wrath has come! And who is able to stand?” ^(X)