The Lord Reigns

The Lord Our God Is Holy

^10 (A)“Behold, the day! Behold, it comes! ^(B)Your doom has come; ^(C)the rod has blossomed; pride has budded. ^11 (D)Violence has grown up into ^(E)a rod of wickedness. ^(F)None of them shall remain, nor their abundance, nor their wealth; neither shall there be preeminence among them.^{[a] 12 (G)}The time has come; the day has arrived. Let not ^(H)the buyer rejoice, nor ^(I)the seller mourn, ^(J)for wrath is upon all their multitude.^{[b] 13} For ^(K)the seller shall not return to what he has sold, while they live. ^(L)For the vision concerns all their multitude; it shall not turn back; and because of his iniquity, none can maintain his life.^[c]

¹⁴ “They have blown the trumpet and made everything ready, but none goes to battle, ^(M)for my wrath is upon all their multitude. ^15 (N)The sword is without; pestilence and famine are within. ^(O)He who is in the field dies by the sword, ^(P)and him who is in the city famine and pestilence devour.

^23 (A)“Forge a chain!^{[a] (B)}For the land is full of bloody crimes ^(C)and the city is full of violence. ²⁴ I will bring ^(D)the worst of the nations to take possession of their houses. ^(E)I will put an end to the pride of the strong, ^(F)and their holy places^[b] shall be profaned. ^25 (G)When anguish comes, ^(H)they will seek peace, but there shall be none. ^26 (I)Disaster comes upon disaster; ^(J)rumor follows rumor. ^(K)They seek a vision from the prophet, while ^(L)the law^[c] perishes from the priest and ^(M)counsel from the elders. ²⁷ The king mourns, the prince is wrapped in despair, and the hands of the people of the land are paralyzed by terror. According to their way ^(N)I will do to them, and according to their judgments I will judge them, ^(O)and they shall know that I am the Lord.”

The Certainty of God's Promise

¹³ For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, ^(A)he swore by himself, ¹⁴ saying, ^(B)“Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” ¹⁵ And thus Abraham,^{[a] (C)}having patiently waited, obtained the promise. ¹⁶ For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes ^(D)an oath is final for confirmation. ¹⁷ So when God desired to show more convincingly to ^(E)the heirs of the promise ^(F)the unchangeable character of his purpose, ^(G)he guaranteed it with an oath, ¹⁸ so that by two unchangeable things, in which ^(H)it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope ^(I)set before us. ¹⁹ We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into ^(J)the inner place behind the curtain, ²⁰ where Jesus has gone ^(K)as a forerunner on our behalf, ^(L)having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

Jesus Sends Out the Seventy-Two

10 After this the Lord appointed ^(A)seventy-two^[a] others and ^(B)sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. ^2 (C)And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. ^(D)Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. ³ Go your way; ^(E)behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. ^4 (F)Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and ^(G)greet no one on the road. ⁵ Whatever house you enter, first say, ^(H)‘Peace be to this house!’ ⁶ And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, ^(I)it will return to you. ⁷ And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for ^(J)the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. ⁸ Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. ⁹ Heal the sick in it and say to them, ^(K)‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ ¹⁰ But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, ^11 (L)‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that ^(M)the kingdom of God has come near.’ ¹² I tell you, ^(N)it will be more bearable on ^(O)that day for Sodom than for that town.

Woe to Unrepentant Cities

^13 (P)“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in ^(Q)Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. ^14 (R)But it will be more bearable in the judgment for ^(S)Tyre and Sidon than for you. ¹⁵ And you, Capernaum, ^(T)will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to ^(U)Hades.

^16 (V)“The one who hears you hears me, and ^(W)the one who rejects you rejects me, and ^(X)the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.”

The Return of the Seventy-Two

^17 (Y)The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, ^(Z)even the demons are subject to us in your name!”