Book of Common Prayer

To the director: A song of David.

To the director: With instruments. A maskil of David written when the Ziphites went to Saul and told him, “We think David is hiding among our people.”

To the director: A song of David written when Nathan the prophet came to him after David’s sin with Bathsheba.

God Will Punish Assyria’s Pride

⁵ The Lord says, “I will use Assyria like a stick. In my anger I will use Assyria to punish Israel. ⁶ I will send Assyria to fight against the people who do evil. I am angry with them, and I will command Assyria to fight against them. Assyria will defeat them and take their wealth. Israel will be like dirt for Assyria to walk on in the streets.

⁷ “But Assyria does not understand that I will use him. He does not think of himself as my tool. He only wants to destroy other people. He only plans to destroy many nations. ⁸ Assyria says to himself, ‘All of my officers are like kings! ⁹ The city of Calno is no better than the city of Carchemish. Arpad is like Hamath, and Samaria is like Damascus. ¹⁰ I defeated those evil kingdoms and now I control them. The idols those people worship are better than the idols of Jerusalem and Samaria. ¹¹ I defeated Samaria and her gods. I will also defeat Jerusalem and the idols her people have made.’”

¹² When the Lord finishes doing what he planned to Jerusalem and Mount Zion, he will punish Assyria. The king of Assyria is very proud. His pride made him do many bad things, so God will punish him.

¹³ The king of Assyria said, “I am very wise. By my own wisdom and power I have done many great things. I have defeated many nations. I have taken their wealth and their people as slaves. I am a very powerful man. ¹⁴ With my own hands I have taken the riches of all these people—like someone taking eggs from a bird’s nest. A bird often leaves its nest and eggs, and there is nothing to protect the nest. There is no bird to chirp and fight with its wings and beak, so anyone can come take the eggs. And there is no one to stop me from taking all the people on earth.”

¹⁵ An ax is not better than the one who cuts with it. A saw is not better than the one who uses it. Is a stick stronger than the one who picks it up? It can’t do anything to the person who is using it to punish someone! ¹⁶ But Assyria doesn’t understand this. So the Lord God All-Powerful will send a terrible disease against him. He will lose his wealth and power like a sick man losing weight. Then Assyria’s glory will be destroyed. It will be like a fire burning until everything is gone. ¹⁷ The Light of Israel^[a] will be like a fire. The Holy One will be like a flame. He will be like a fire that first begins to burn the weeds and thorns ¹⁸ and then spreads to burn up the tall trees and vineyards. Finally, everything will be destroyed—even the people. Assyria will be like a rotting log. ¹⁹ There will be a few trees left standing in the forest—so few that even a child could count them.

¹⁷ These false teachers are like springs that have no water. They are like clouds that are blown by a storm. A place in the deepest darkness has been kept for them. ¹⁸ They boast with words that mean nothing. They lead people into the trap of sin. They find people who have just escaped from a wrong way of life and lead them back into sin. They do this by using the evil things people want to do in their human weakness. ¹⁹ These false teachers promise those people freedom, but they themselves are not free. They are slaves to a mind that has been ruined by sin. Yes, people are slaves to anything that controls them.

²⁰ People can be made free from the evil in the world. They can be made free by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But if they go back into those evil things and are controlled by them, then it is worse for them than it was before. ²¹ Yes, it would be better for them to have never known the right way. That would be better than to know the right way and then to turn away from the holy teaching that was given to them. ²² What they did is like these true sayings: “A dog vomits and goes back to what it threw up.”^[a] And, “After a pig is washed, it goes back and rolls in the mud again.”

² When John was in prison, he heard about the things that were happening—things the Messiah would do. So he sent some of his followers to Jesus. ³ They asked him, “Are you the one we have been expecting, or should we wait for someone else?”

⁴ Jesus answered, “Go tell John what you have heard and seen: ⁵ The blind can see. The crippled can walk. People with leprosy are healed. The deaf can hear. The dead are brought back to life. And the Good News is being told to the poor. ⁶ Great blessings belong to those who don’t have a problem accepting me.”

⁷ When John’s followers left, Jesus began talking to the people about John. He said, “What did you people go out to the desert to see? Someone who is weak, like a stem of grass^[a] blowing in the wind? ⁸ Really, what did you expect to see? Someone dressed in fine clothes? Of course not. People who wear fine clothes are all in kings’ palaces. ⁹ So what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, John is a prophet. But I tell you, he is more than that. ¹⁰ This Scripture was written about him:

¹¹ “The truth is that John the Baptizer is greater than anyone who has ever come into this world. But even the least important person in God’s kingdom is greater than John. ¹² Since the time John the Baptizer came until now, God’s kingdom has been going forward strongly.^[b] And people have been trying to take control of it by force. ¹³ Before John came, the Law of Moses and all the prophets told about the things that would happen. ¹⁴ And if you believe what they said, then John is Elijah.^[c] He is the one they said would come. ¹⁵ You people who hear me, listen!