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Judgment on Corrupt Rulers
10 Woe to those who prescribe unjust decrees,
and to those who issue oppressive rulings,
2 to deprive the needy of justice,
and to rob the poor among my people of their rights,
to plunder widows,
and to make the fatherless their prey!
3 What will you do when the day comes to settle accounts,
during the devastation that will descend from far away?
To whom will you flee for help?
Where will you leave your wealth?
4 The only thing left for you will be to kneel among the prisoners
and to fall under the dead bodies.
Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,
and his hand is still stretched out, ready to strike.
The Proud Assyrian Is God’s Instrument
5 Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of my anger.
The club of my rage is in his hand!
6 I will send him against a godless nation
and against the people who anger me.
I will command him to take the plunder,
to seize the spoils,
and to tread them down like mud in the streets.
7 But he does not intend to do this.
This is not what he has in mind.
The intention of his heart is to destroy
and to cut off more than just a few nations.
8 This is what he says:
Aren’t all of my officials kings?
9 Isn’t Kalno like Carchemish?
Isn’t Hamath like Arpad?
Isn’t Samaria like Damascus?
10 Just as my hand has reached the kingdoms of those petty gods,
kingdoms whose images were greater than those
of Jerusalem and of Samaria,
11 just as I have done to Samaria and her petty gods,
will I not do the same to Jerusalem and her worthless idols?
12 But it will not happen that way. When the Lord has completed all of his work against Mount Zion and against Jerusalem, I[a] will bring punishment against the bloated fruit of[b] the willful heart of the king of Assyria and against the glare in his haughty eyes. 13 For he has said:
By the strength of my hand I have done this,
and by my wisdom,
for I have understanding.
I have abolished the borders of the peoples
and have plundered their treasures.
Like a mighty warrior I have brought down their inhabitants.[c]
14 My hand has found the riches of the peoples like eggs in a nest.
I have gathered all the earth the way one gathers abandoned eggs.
Not one of them flapped its wings
or opened its mouth or chirped.
15 Should an ax brag that it is better than the woodsman
who chops with it?
Should a saw think that it is greater than the one who saws with it?
That would be like a scepter waving the one who raised it up,
or like a club lifting up a person, who is not made of wood.
16 Therefore, the Lord, the Lord of Armies, will make
the sturdy Assyrians waste away,
and in place of their glory, he will light a fire, a blazing fire.
17 The Light of Israel will be a fire, and his Holy One a flame, and it will burn and devour its thorns and its briers in a single day. 18 He will consume the splendor of its forest and of its fruitful field completely.[d] It will be like a sick man wasting away. 19 The remaining trees in its forest will be so few that a child could record their number.
A Remnant of Israel Will Return
20 It will come about in that day that those who remain from Israel and those from the house of Jacob who have survived will never again lean on the one who struck them, but they will truly lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. 21 A remnant will return to the mighty God, namely, the remnant of Jacob.
22 Although your people, Israel, are like the sand of the sea, only a remnant will return. Complete destruction has been decreed—overwhelming, but righteous. 23 For the Lord, the Lord of Armies, will bring about the destruction decreed for the whole earth.
24 Therefore the Lord, the Lord of Armies, says, “You my people who dwell in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrian, though he strikes you with the rod and lifts up his club against you as Egypt did. 25 For in a very little while, my rage against you will be finished, and my anger will be directed to his destruction.”
26 The Lord of Armies will raise up a whip against him, as he did in the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb. His rod will stretch over the sea, and he will lift it up as he did against Egypt. 27 In that day he will remove the burden that he placed on your shoulder and the yoke he placed on your neck. The yoke will be destroyed because your neck has grown so fat.[e]
But First, Assyria Will Come
28 The Assyrian has come to Aiath.[f]
He has passed through Migron.
At Mikmash he stores his supplies.
29 They have crossed over the pass.
They made their camp at Geba.
Ramah trembles.
Gibeah of Saul has fled.
30 Cry aloud with your voice, daughter of Gallim.
Listen, Laishah! You poor Anathoth!
31 Madmenah is a fugitive.
The inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety.
32 This very day he will halt at Nob.
He will shake his fist at the mountain of the daughter of Zion,
the hill of Jerusalem.
33 But look! The Lord, the Lord of Armies,
will chop off his branches with terrifying power.
The tall trees will be cut down,
and the lofty will be laid low.
34 He will cut down the thickets of the forest with an iron ax,
and mighty Lebanon will fall.[g]
The Third Description of Immanuel: The Branch From Jesse
11
A shoot will spring up from the stump of Jesse,
and a Branch from his roots will bear fruit.
2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him:
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 He will be delighted with the fear of the Lord.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
nor will he render decisions based on what he hears with his ears,
4 but with righteousness he will judge the poor,
and he will render fair decisions in favor of the oppressed on the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath from his lips he will put the wicked to death.
5 Righteousness will be the belt around his waist,
and faithfulness the belt around his hips.
6 The wolf will dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard will lie down with the young goat,
the calf, the young lion, and the fattened calf together,
and a little child will lead them.
7 The cow and the bear will graze together,
and their young ones will lie down together.
The lion will eat straw like the cattle.
8 The nursing child will play near a cobra’s hole,
and the weaned child will put his hand into a viper’s den.
9 They will not hurt or destroy anywhere on my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord,
as the waters cover the sea.
A Remnant of Israel Will Return
10 This is what will take place on that day. The peoples will seek the Root of Jesse, who will be standing like a banner[h] for the peoples, and his resting place will be glorious.
11 On that day the Lord will reach out his hand for the second time to reclaim the remnant of this people who survive from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coasts of the sea.
12 He will set up a banner for the nations,
and he will assemble the outcasts of Israel
and gather together the scattered people of Judah,
from the four corners of the earth.
13 Ephraim’s envy will be turned aside,
and those who persecute Judah will be cut off.
Ephraim will not envy Judah,
and Judah will not persecute Ephraim.
14 They will swoop down on the slopes of the Philistines in the west.
Together they will plunder the peoples in the east.
They will extend their power over Edom and Moab,
and the people of Ammon will obey them.
15 The Lord will completely dry up the gulf of the Egyptian Sea.
With his scorching wind he will wave his hand over the River,[i]
and he will split it into seven streams,
so that people wearing sandals will be able to march through it.
16 There will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant
of his people that is left there,
as there was for Israel in the day when they came up
out of the land of Egypt.
Not a Burden
11 I have become a fool. You forced me. After all, I ought to be commended by you, because I was not inferior to the “super-apostles” in any way, even if I am nothing. 12 The signs of an apostle—signs and wonders and miracles—were performed among you with all perseverance. 13 For how were you treated worse than the other churches, except that I myself was not a burden to you? Forgive me for this wrong.
14 See, this is the third time I am ready to come to you, and I will not be a burden to you, because I do not seek your possessions, but you. After all, the children should not have to save up for their parents, but the parents for their children. 15 But I will very gladly spend and be completely spent on behalf of your souls. If I love you all the more, am I to be loved that much less? 16 But be that as it may, I did not burden you. Oh, but I was just being crafty and using deceit to exploit you, wasn’t I! 17 Did I ever take advantage of you through any one of the men I sent to you? 18 I urged Titus to go and sent our brother with him. Surely Titus did not take any advantage of you, did he? Did we not walk in the same spirit—in the very same footprints?
Paul’s Visit
19 Are you thinking that we are trying to defend ourselves to you all this time?[a] We are speaking in the sight of God in Christ. Dear friends, all these words are for your strengthening. 20 For I am afraid that when I arrive, I may not find you as I want you to be, and that you might not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfishness, slander, gossip, pride, and disorder. 21 I fear that, when I arrive again, my God will humble me in regard to you, and I will have to grieve for many who sinned earlier and have not repented of the uncleanness, the sexual immorality, and the lewd sins they committed.
Psalm 56
When I Am Afraid
Heading
For the choir director. “A Dove on Distant Oaks.”[a]
By David. A miktam.[b]
When the Philistines had seized him in Gath.[c]
The Enemies
1 Be merciful to me, O God, for a man pants as he pursues me.[d]
All day long an attacker presses against me.
2 Those who spy on me pant as they pursue me all day long.
Yes, many are attacking me boldly.[e]
David’s Trust
3 On the day when I am afraid, I will trust in you.
4 In God I praise his word.
In God I trust. I will not fear.
What can flesh do to me?
The Enemies
5 All day long they hurt my cause.[f]
All their thoughts against me are evil.
6 They gather together. They hide.
They try to trip me by grabbing my heels
while they wait to take my life.
David’s Trust
7 Because of their wickedness do not let them escape.[g]
In your anger bring down the peoples, O God.
8 You keep a record of my tossing and turning.[h]
Keep my tears in your bottle.
Aren’t they all listed in your book?
9 Then my enemies will turn back on the day when I call.
This is how I will know that God is for me.
10 In God I praise a word.[i]
In the Lord I praise a word.
11 In God I trust. I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?
David’s Promise
12 My vows to you are binding, O God.
I will complete my thank offerings to you,
13 because you have delivered my life from death.
Have you not delivered my feet from stumbling
so I can walk before God in the light of life?
6 Do not eat the food of a miser.
Do not crave his delicious food,
7 because he is calculating how much things cost him.
So when he says to you, “Eat and drink,”
he does not mean it.
8 You will vomit up the little bit you ate
and spoil your pleasant conversation.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.