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12 For this reason this is what the Holy One of Israel says:
“You have rejected this message;[a]
you trust instead in your ability to oppress and trick,[b]
and rely on that kind of behavior.[c]
13 So this sin will become your downfall.
You will be like a high wall
that bulges and cracks and is ready to collapse;
it crumbles suddenly, in a flash.[d]
14 It shatters in pieces like a clay jar,
so shattered to bits that none of it can be salvaged.[e]
Among its fragments one cannot find a shard large enough[f]
to scoop a hot coal from a fire[g]
or to skim off water from a cistern.”[h]
15 For this is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel says:
“If you repented and patiently waited for me, you would be delivered;[i]
if you calmly trusted in me, you would find strength,[j]
but you are unwilling.
16 You say, ‘No, we will flee on horses,’
so you will indeed flee.
You say, ‘We will ride on fast horses,’
so your pursuers will be fast.
17 One thousand will scurry at the battle cry of one enemy soldier;[k]
at the battle cry of five enemy soldiers you will all run away,[l]
until the remaining few are as isolated[m]
as a flagpole on a mountaintop
or a signal flag on a hill.”
The Lord Will Not Abandon His People
18 For this reason the Lord is ready to show you mercy;
he sits on his throne, ready to have compassion on you.[n]
Indeed, the Lord is a just God;
all who wait for him in faith will be blessed.[o]
19 For people will live in Zion;
in Jerusalem you will weep no more.[p]
When he hears your cry of despair, he will indeed show you mercy;
when he hears it, he will respond to you.[q]
20 The Lord[r] will give you distress to eat
and suffering to drink;[s]
but your teachers will no longer be hidden;
your eyes will see them.[t]
21 You[u] will hear a word spoken behind you, saying,
“This is the correct[v] way, walk in it,”
whether you are heading to the right or the left.
22 You will desecrate your silver-plated idols[w]
and your gold-plated images.[x]
You will throw them away as if they were a menstrual rag,
saying to them, “Get out!”
23 He will water the seed you plant in the ground,
and the ground will produce crops in abundance.[y]
At that time[z] your cattle will graze in wide pastures.
24 The oxen and donkeys used in plowing[aa]
will eat seasoned feed winnowed with a shovel and pitchfork.[ab]
25 On every high mountain
and every high hill
there will be streams flowing with water,
at the time of[ac] great slaughter when the fortified towers collapse.
26 The light of the full moon will be like the sun’s glare,
and the sun’s glare will be seven times brighter,
like the light of seven days,[ad]
when the Lord binds up his people’s fractured bones[ae]
and heals their severe wound.[af]
27 Look, the name[ag] of the Lord comes from a distant place
in raging anger and awesome splendor.[ah]
He speaks angrily,
and his word is like destructive fire.[ai]
28 His battle cry overwhelms like a flooding river[aj]
that reaches one’s neck.
He shakes the nations in a sieve that isolates the chaff;[ak]
he puts a bit into the mouth of the nations and leads them to destruction.[al]
29 You will sing
as you do in the evening when you are celebrating a festival.
You will be happy like one who plays a flute
as he goes to the mountain of the Lord, the Rock who shelters Israel.[am]
30 The Lord will give a mighty shout[an]
and intervene in power,[ao]
with furious anger and flaming, destructive fire,[ap]
with a driving rainstorm and hailstones.
31 Indeed, the Lord’s shout will shatter Assyria;[aq]
he will beat them with a club.
32 Every blow from his punishing cudgel[ar]
with which the Lord will beat them[as]
will be accompanied by music from the[at] tambourine and harp,
and he will attack them with his weapons.[au]
33 For[av] the burial place is already prepared;[aw]
it has been made deep and wide for the king.[ax]
The firewood is piled high on it.[ay]
The Lord’s breath, like a stream flowing with brimstone,
will ignite it.
Egypt Will Disappoint
31 Those who go down to Egypt for help are as good as dead;[az]
those who rely on war horses,
and trust in Egypt’s many chariots[ba]
and in their many, many horsemen.[bb]
But they do not rely on the Holy One of Israel[bc]
and do not seek help from the Lord.
2 Yet he too is wise[bd] and he will bring disaster;
he does not retract his decree.[be]
He will attack the wicked nation,[bf]
and the nation that helps[bg] those who commit sin.[bh]
3 The Egyptians are mere humans, not God;
their horses are made of flesh, not spirit.
The Lord will strike with[bi] his hand;
the one who helps will stumble
and the one being helped will fall.
Together they will perish.[bj]
The Lord Will Defend Zion
4 Indeed, this is what the Lord has said to me:
“The Lord will be like a growling lion,
like a young lion growling over its prey.[bk]
Though a whole group of shepherds gathers against it,
it is not afraid of their shouts
or intimidated by their yelling.[bl]
In this same way the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will descend
to do battle on Mount Zion and on its hill.[bm]
5 Just as birds hover over a nest,[bn]
so the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will protect Jerusalem.
He will protect and deliver it;
as he passes over[bo] he will rescue it.”
6 You Israelites! Return to the one you have so blatantly rebelled against![bp] 7 For at that time[bq] every one will get rid of[br] the silver and gold idols your hands sinfully made.[bs]
8 “Assyria will fall by a sword, but not one human-made;[bt]
a sword not made by humankind will destroy them.[bu]
They will run away from this sword[bv]
and their young men will be forced to do hard labor.
9 They will surrender their stronghold[bw] because of fear;[bx]
their officers will be afraid of the Lord’s battle flag.”[by]
This is what the Lord says—
the one whose fire is in Zion,
whose firepot is in Jerusalem.[bz]
Justice and Wisdom Will Prevail
32 Look, a king will promote fairness;[ca]
officials will promote justice.[cb]
2 Each of them[cc] will be like a shelter from the wind
and a refuge from a rainstorm;
like streams of water in a dry region
and like the shade of a large cliff in a parched land.
3 Eyes[cd] will no longer be blind[ce]
and ears[cf] will be attentive.
4 The mind that acts rashly will possess discernment,[cg]
and the tongue that stutters will speak with ease and clarity.
5 A fool will no longer be called honorable;
a deceiver will no longer be called principled.
6 For a fool speaks disgraceful things;[ch]
his mind plans out sinful deeds.[ci]
He commits godless deeds[cj]
and says misleading things about the Lord;
he gives the hungry nothing to satisfy their appetite[ck]
and gives the thirsty nothing to drink.[cl]
7 A deceiver’s methods are evil;[cm]
he dreams up evil plans[cn]
to ruin the poor with lies,
even when the needy are in the right.[co]
8 An honorable man makes honorable plans;
his honorable character gives him security.[cp]
The Lord Will Give True Security
9 You complacent[cq] women,
get up and listen to me!
You carefree[cr] daughters,
pay attention to what I say!
10 In a year’s time[cs]
you carefree ones will shake with fear,
for the grape harvest[ct] will fail,
and the fruit harvest will not arrive.
11 Tremble, you complacent ones!
Shake with fear, you carefree ones!
Strip off your clothes and expose yourselves—
put sackcloth around your waists.[cu]
12 Mourn over the field,[cv]
over the delightful fields
and the fruitful vine.
13 Mourn[cw] over the land of my people,
which is overgrown with thorns and briers,
and over all the once-happy houses[cx]
in the city filled with revelry.[cy]
14 For the fortress is neglected;
the once-crowded[cz] city is abandoned.
Hill[da] and watchtower
are permanently uninhabited.[db]
Wild donkeys love to go there,
and flocks graze there.[dc]
15 This desolation will continue[dd] until new life is poured out on us from heaven.[de]
Then the wilderness will become an orchard[df]
and the orchard will be considered a forest.[dg]
16 Justice will settle down in the wilderness
and fairness will live in the orchard.[dh]
17 Fairness will produce peace[di]
and result in lasting security.[dj]
18 My people will live in peaceful settlements,
in secure homes,
and in safe, quiet places.[dk]
19 Even if the forest is destroyed[dl]
and the city is annihilated,[dm]
20 you will be blessed,
you who plant seed by all the banks of the streams,[dn]
you who let your ox and donkey graze.[do]
The Lord Will Restore Zion
33 The destroyer is as good as dead,[dp]
you who have not been destroyed!
The deceitful one is as good as dead,[dq]
the one whom others have not deceived!
When you are through destroying, you will be destroyed;
when you finish[dr] deceiving, others will deceive you!
2 Lord, be merciful to us! We wait for you.
Give us strength each morning.[ds]
Deliver us when distress comes.[dt]
3 The nations run away when they hear a loud noise;[du]
the nations scatter when you spring into action![dv]
4 Your plunder[dw] disappears as if locusts were eating it;[dx]
they swarm over it like locusts.[dy]
5 The Lord is exalted,[dz]
indeed,[ea] he lives in heaven;[eb]
he fills Zion with justice and fairness.
6 He is your constant source of stability;[ec]
he abundantly provides safety and great wisdom;[ed]
he gives all this to those who fear him.[ee]
7 Look, ambassadors[ef] cry out in the streets;
messengers sent to make peace[eg] weep bitterly.
8 Highways are empty,[eh]
there are no travelers.[ei]
Treaties are broken,[ej]
witnesses are despised,[ek]
human life is treated with disrespect.[el]
9 The land[em] dries up[en] and withers away;
the forest of Lebanon shrivels up[eo] and decays.
Sharon[ep] is like the arid rift valley;[eq]
Bashan and Carmel[er] are parched.[es]
Freedom of the Believer
5 For freedom[a] Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke[b] of slavery. 2 Listen! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you at all! 3 And I testify again to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey[c] the whole law. 4 You who are trying to be declared righteous[d] by the law have been alienated[e] from Christ; you have fallen away from grace! 5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we wait expectantly for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision carries any weight—the only thing that matters is faith working through love.[f]
7 You were running well; who prevented you from obeying[g] the truth? 8 This persuasion[h] does not come from the one who calls you! 9 A little yeast makes the whole batch of dough rise![i] 10 I am confident[j] in the Lord that you will accept no other view.[k] But the one who is confusing[l] you will pay the penalty,[m] whoever he may be. 11 Now, brothers and sisters,[n] if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted?[o] In that case the offense of the cross[p] has been removed.[q] 12 I wish those agitators[r] would go so far as to[s] castrate themselves![t]
Psalm 63[a]
A psalm of David, written when he was in the Judean wilderness.[b]
63 O God, you are my God. I long for you.[c]
My soul thirsts[d] for you,
my flesh yearns for you,
in a dry and parched[e] land where there is no water.
2 Yes,[f] in the sanctuary I have seen you,[g]
and witnessed[h] your power and splendor.
3 Because[i] experiencing[j] your loyal love is better than life itself,
my lips will praise you.
4 For this reason[k] I will praise you while I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands.[l]
5 As with choice meat[m] you satisfy my soul.[n]
My mouth joyfully praises you,[o]
6 whenever[p] I remember you on my bed,
and think about you during the nighttime hours.
7 For you are my deliverer;[q]
under your wings[r] I rejoice.
8 My soul[s] pursues you;[t]
your right hand upholds me.
9 Enemies seek to destroy my life,[u]
but they will descend into the depths of the earth.[v]
10 Each one will be handed over to the sword;[w]
their corpses will be eaten by jackals.[x]
11 But the king[y] will rejoice in God;
everyone who takes oaths in his name[z] will boast,
for the mouths of those who speak lies will be shut up.[aa]
22 Listen to your father who gave you life,
and do not despise your mother when she is old.
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