Isaiah 34-36

English Standard Version

Judgment on the Nations

34 Draw near, ^(A)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 ^(B)devoted them to destruction,^[a] has given them over for slaughter.
³Their slain shall be cast out,
    and ^(C)the stench of their corpses shall rise;
    ^(D)the mountains shall flow with their blood.
⁴^(E)All 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 ^(F)Edom,
    upon the people ^(G)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.
^(H)For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah,
    a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
⁷^(I)Wild oxen shall ^(J)fall with them,
    and ^(K)young steers with ^(L)the mighty bulls.
Their land shall drink its fill of blood,
    and their soil shall be gorged with fat.

⁸^(M)For the Lord has a day of vengeance,
    a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
⁹^(N)And the streams of Edom^[b] shall be turned into pitch,
    and her soil into sulfur;
    her land shall become burning pitch.
¹⁰Night and day ^(O)it shall not be quenched;
    ^(P)its smoke shall go up forever.
^(Q)From generation to generation it shall lie waste;
    none shall pass through it forever and ever.
¹¹^(R)But the hawk and the porcupine^[c] shall possess it,
    the owl and the raven shall dwell in it.
^(S)He shall stretch the line of ^(T)confusion^[d] 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.

¹³^(U)Thorns shall grow over its strongholds,
    nettles and thistles in its fortresses.
It shall be the haunt of ^(V)jackals,
    an abode for ostriches.^[e]
¹⁴^(W)And wild animals shall meet with hyenas;
    the wild goat shall cry to his fellow;
indeed, there the night bird^[f] settles
    and finds for herself a resting place.

¹⁵There the owl nests and lays
    and hatches and gathers her young in her shadow;
indeed, there ^(X)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.
¹⁷^(Y)He 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.

The Ransomed Shall Return

35 ^(Z)The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad;
    ^(AA)the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus;
²it shall blossom abundantly
    and rejoice with joy and singing.
^(AB)The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
    the majesty of ^(AC)Carmel and ^(AD)Sharon.
^(AE)They shall see the glory of the Lord,
    the majesty of our God.

³^(AF)Strengthen the weak hands,
    and make firm the feeble knees.
⁴Say to those who have an anxious heart,
    “Be strong; fear not!
^(AG)Behold, your God
    will come with vengeance,
with the recompense of God.
    He will come and save you.”

⁵^(AH)Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
    and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
⁶^(AI)then shall the lame man leap like a deer,
    and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
^(AJ)For waters break forth in the wilderness,
    and streams in the desert;
⁷^(AK)the burning sand shall become a pool,
    and the thirsty ground springs of water;
in the haunt of ^(AL)jackals, where they lie down,
    the grass shall become reeds and rushes.

⁸^(AM)And a highway shall be there,
    and it shall be called the Way of Holiness;
^(AN)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.^[g]
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.
¹⁰^(AO)And the ransomed of the Lord shall return
    and come to Zion with singing;
^(AP)everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
    they shall obtain gladness and joy,
    and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Sennacherib Invades Judah

36 ^(AQ)In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, ^(AR)Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. ²^(AS)And the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh^[h] from ^(AT)Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem, with a great army. And he stood ^(AU)by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer's Field. ³And there came out to him ^(AV)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and ^(AW)Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.

⁴And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the ^(AX)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? ⁶^(AY)Behold, 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 ^(AZ)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 ^(BA)a single captain among the least of my master's servants, when ^(BB)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? ^(BC)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 ^(BD)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: ^(BE)‘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^[i] 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 ^(BF)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? ¹⁹^(BG)Where are the gods of ^(BH)Hamath and ^(BI)Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? ^(BJ)Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? ²⁰^(BK)Who 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.” ²²^(BL)Then 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.

Footnotes

Isaiah 34:2 That is, set apart (devoted) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction); also verse 5
Isaiah 34:9 Hebrew her streams
Isaiah 34:11 The identity of the animals rendered hawk and porcupine is uncertain
Isaiah 34:11 Hebrew formlessness
Isaiah 34:13 Or owls
Isaiah 34:14 Identity uncertain
Isaiah 35:8 Or if they are fools, they shall not wander in it
Isaiah 36:2 Rabshakeh is the title of a high-ranking Assyrian military officer
Isaiah 36:16 Hebrew Make a blessing with me

Psalm 111

English Standard Version

Great Are the Lord's Works

111 ^[a] ^(A)Praise the Lord!
I ^(B)will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart,
    in the company of ^(C)the upright, in the congregation.
²Great are the ^(D)works of the Lord,
    ^(E)studied by all who delight in them.
³^(F)Full of splendor and majesty is his work,
    and his ^(G)righteousness endures forever.
⁴He has ^(H)caused his wondrous works to be remembered;
    the Lord is gracious and merciful.
⁵He provides food for those who fear him;
    he ^(I)remembers his covenant forever.
⁶He has shown his people the power of his works,
    in giving them the inheritance of the nations.
⁷The works of his hands are faithful and just;
    all his precepts are ^(J)trustworthy;
⁸they are ^(K)established forever and ever,
    to be performed with ^(L)faithfulness and uprightness.
⁹He sent ^(M)redemption to his people;
    he has ^(N)commanded his covenant forever.
    ^(O)Holy and awesome is his name!
¹⁰^(P)The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
    all those who practice it have ^(Q)a good understanding.
    His ^(R)praise endures forever!

Footnotes

Psalm 111:1 This psalm is an acrostic poem, each line beginning with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet

1 Timothy 3

English Standard Version

Qualifications for Overseers

3 The saying is ^(A)trustworthy: If anyone aspires to ^(B)the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. ²Therefore ^(C)an overseer^[a] must be above reproach, ^(D)the husband of one wife,^[b] ^(E)sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, ^(F)hospitable, ^(G)able to teach, ³not a drunkard, not violent but ^(H)gentle, not quarrelsome, ^(I)not a lover of money. ⁴He must manage his own household well, with all dignity ^(J)keeping his children submissive, ⁵for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for ^(K)God's church? ⁶He must not be a recent convert, or he may ^(L)become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. ⁷Moreover, he must be well thought of by ^(M)outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into ^(N)a snare of the devil.

Qualifications for Deacons

⁸^(O)Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued,^[c] ^(P)not addicted to much wine, ^(Q)not greedy for dishonest gain. ⁹They must ^(R)hold the mystery of the faith with ^(S)a clear conscience. ¹⁰And ^(T)let them also be tested first; then let them serve as deacons if they prove themselves blameless. ¹¹^(U)Their wives likewise^[d] must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober-minded, ^(V)faithful in all things. ¹²Let deacons each be ^(W)the husband of one wife, ^(X)managing their children and their own households well. ¹³For ^(Y)those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and also great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

The Mystery of Godliness

¹⁴I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, ¹⁵if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, a pillar and buttress of the truth. ¹⁶Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness:

^(Z)He^[e] was manifested in the flesh,
    vindicated^[f] by the Spirit,^[g]
        ^(AA)seen by angels,
^(AB)proclaimed among the nations,
    ^(AC)believed on in the world,
        ^(AD)taken up in glory.