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A Prophecy Against Moab
15 An oracle against Moab.
In one night, Ar[a] of Moab has been ruined and brought to nothing.
In one night, Kir of Moab has been ruined and brought to nothing.
2 They have gone up to the temple at Dibon,
up to the high places to weep.
Moab wails over Nebo and over Medeba.
Every head is shaved.
Every beard is cut off.
3 They wear sackcloth in their streets.
On the rooftops and in the public squares, everyone wails.
They all collapse in tears.
4 Heshbon cries out with Elealeh.
Their voice is heard even in Jahaz.
Therefore the armed men of Moab cry out,
and their spirit is weak.
5 My heart cries out for Moab!
Her refugees[b] flee to Zoar,
to Eglath Shelishiyah.
They go up the Ascent of Luhith,
weeping all the way.
On the way to Horonaim,
they weep continuously over their destruction.
6 The waters of Nimrim are dried up.
The grass has withered away.
The vegetation has died,
and no green thing remains.
7 So they will carry across the Ravine of Poplars[c]
whatever remains from the wealth they acquired
and from the supplies they stored up.
8 For a cry has echoed around the borders of Moab.
The wailing reaches to Eglaim
and all the way to Be’er Elim.
9 For the waters of Dimon are full of blood,[d]
and I will bring still more on Dimon.
I will bring a lion upon the refugees of Moab
and upon the survivors who remain in the land.
16 Send the tribute ram for the ruler of the land,
from Selah toward the wilderness,
to the mountain of the daughter of Zion.
2 At the fords of the Arnon, the daughters of Moab will be
like birds fleeing from a scattered nest.
3 Get advice and make a decision.
At high noon make your shade as dark as night.
Hide the refugees.
Do not betray the fugitive.
4 Let the refugees from Moab stay with you.
Be a hiding place for them from the face of the destroyer.
For the extortionist is no longer present.
Violence has ceased,
and the oppressors have disappeared from the land.
5 A throne will be established in mercy.
In the tent of David a judge will sit on the throne in truth,
seeking justice, eager to bring righteousness.
6 We have heard about Moab’s pride,
about his egotistical conceit.
His pride, his arrogance, and his boasting are nothing but self-delusion.
7 Therefore Moab will wail for Moab.
Everyone will wail.
Completely devastated, you will mourn for the raisin cakes
of Kir Hareseth.
8 Look, the fields of Heshbon wither,
along with the vines of Sibmah.
The rulers of the nations have trampled the choice vines,
which reached even to Jazer,
which spread out into the wilderness.
Their shoots were spread out all the way to the sea.
9 Therefore I will weep as Jazer weeps for the vines of Sibmah.
I will drench you with my tears, Heshbon and Elealeh,
because the noisy celebration over your ripened fruit
and over your harvest has been silenced.
10 Gladness and joy are taken away from the rich fields.
In the vineyards there will be no cries of joy or happy shouting.
No one will tread out wine from the wine presses.
I have put a stop to the cheering.
11 That is why my deepest feelings moan like a lyre for Moab,
and everything inside me is poured out for Kir Hareseth.
12 When Moab presents himself on the high place,
he only wears himself out.
When he goes to his shrine to pray,
he will accomplish nothing.
13 This is the word that the Lord has already spoken concerning Moab.
14 But now the Lord also says, “Within three years, as a worker bound by contract would count them, the glory of Moab will fade away despite its noisy crowd, and those who remain will be few and feeble.”
A Prophecy Against Damascus and Israel
17 An oracle against Damascus.
Soon Damascus will no longer be a city.
It will become a heap of ruins.
2 The cities of Aroer are forsaken.
They will be places for flocks.
The flocks will lie down,
and no one will make them afraid.
3 The fortress will disappear from Ephraim,
and the kingdom from Damascus.
What remains of Aram will be like the glory of the people of Israel,
declares the Lord of Armies.
4 On that day the glory of Jacob will fade,
and his sturdy body will waste away.
5 It will be like the time when a reaper has gathered the standing grain,
and his arm has reaped the heads of grain,
when someone gleans grain in the Valley of Rephaim,
6 and a few gleanings are still left there,
or when the branches of an olive tree have been beaten,
and only two or three ripe olives are left on the top of the highest bough,
or four or five remain on the fruitful branches,
declares the Lord, the God of Israel.
7 On that day people will trust in their Maker,
and they will look to the Holy One of Israel.
8 They will not look to the altars, the work of their own hands.
They will not respect what their fingers have made,
neither the Asherah poles nor the altars for incense.
9 On that day Israel’s strong cities will be
like the forsaken hilltops of the Amorites,[e]
like the places that were abandoned when the people of Israel
first came.
They will be desolate.
10 You have forgotten the God who saves you.
You have not remembered the Rock who is your strength.
Therefore, although you set out the best quality plants,
and you plant cuttings from imported vines,
11 and you put a fence around them on the day you plant them,
and you get your seed to sprout in the morning,
nevertheless, the harvest will come to nothing
in the day of grief and desperate sorrow.[f]
12 Oh, the roar of many peoples!
They roar like the raging seas.
Oh, the uproar of nations!
It sounds like huge, crashing waves!
13 The nations will roar like the crashing of great waves,
but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away.
They will be driven off the mountains like wind-blown chaff,
like a tumbleweed blown about in a storm.
14 In the evening, terror rushes in!
Before morning they are gone.
This will be the reward for those who plunder us,
the lot of those who rob us.
A Prophecy About Cush
18 Woe to the land of the whirring wings, along the rivers of Cush.[g]
2 They send ambassadors by sea, in papyrus boats on the water.
Go, you swift messengers,
to a tall people with smooth, dark skin,[h]
to a nation feared far and near,
a nation powerful and conquering,[i]
from a land divided by rivers!
3 All you inhabitants of the world,
and you who dwell on the earth,
look for a signal flag raised on the mountains!
Listen for the blast of the ram’s horn!
4 For the Lord has said to me,
“I will look on quietly from my dwelling place,
like the shimmering heat of the sun,
like the rising mist at harvest time.”
5 For before the harvest,
after the blossom has fallen
and the flower has turned into ripening grapes,
the Lord will cut off the new shoots with pruning hooks,
and he will cut down and remove the longer vines.
6 They will all be left for the scavenging birds in the mountains
and for the wild animals in the countryside.
The scavenging birds will feed on them all summer,
and wild animals will feed on them all winter.
7 At that time people will give gifts to the Lord of Armies.
These gifts will come from a tall people with smooth, dark skin,
a nation feared far and near,
a nation powerful and conquering,
from a land divided by rivers.
They will bring their gifts to Mount Zion,
the place where the Lord of Armies has put his name.
Greeting
1 Paul, an apostle—not from men, nor through a man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— 2 and all of the brothers[a] who are with me,
To the churches of Galatia:
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 4 He gave himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father— 5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Not Another Gospel
6 I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ, for a different gospel, 7 which is really not another gospel at all. There are, however, some who are trying to disturb you by perverting the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven would preach any gospel other than the one we preached to you—a curse on him! 9 As we have said before, so I now say again: If anyone preaches to you any gospel other than the one you received—a curse on him!
10 Am I now seeking the favor of people or of God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to gain the approval of people, I would not be a servant of Christ.
Jesus Gave Paul the Gospel
11 But I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not of human origin. 12 For I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation from Jesus Christ.
13 Certainly you have heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God to an extraordinary degree and tried to destroy it. 14 I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my own people, because I was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers. 15 However, God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me by his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son in me, so that I would preach him among the Gentiles. At that time, I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, 17 and I did not go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me. Instead I went away into Arabia, and then I returned again to Damascus.
18 Next, after three years, I went up to Jerusalem to meet Cephas[b] and stayed with him fifteen days. 19 But I saw none of the other apostles, except James, the Lord’s brother. 20 (Now about the things I am writing to you—look, I assure you in the presence of God that I am not lying.) 21 Then I went to the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 I was still personally unknown to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23 They heard only: “The one who was once persecuting us is now preaching the faith that he once tried to destroy.” 24 And they were praising God for what happened to me.
Psalm 58
Do You Rulers Speak Justly?
Heading
For the choir director. “Do Not Destroy.”[a] By David. A miktam.
Unjust Rulers
1 Do you “gods” really speak righteously?[b]
Do you sons of Adam judge rightly?
2 No, in your heart you commit injustices.
On the earth your hands distribute violence.
3 The wicked go off course already from the womb.
From the belly they go astray. They speak lies.
4 Their venom is like the venom of a snake,
like a deaf cobra that has stopped its ears,
5 that will not listen to the sound of the charmers,
however skillful the spellbinder may be.
The Curse on Unjust Rulers
6 O God, break their teeth in their mouths.
Tear out the fangs of the young lions, Lord!
7 Let them vanish like water that flows away.
When he draws his bow, let his arrows be cut off.[c]
8 As a slug melts away as it crawls along, so let him disappear.
Like a stillborn child may they not see the sun.
9 Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns—
whether the thorns are green or dry—they will be swept away.[d]
The Joy of the Righteous
10 The righteous one will be glad when he sees vengeance.
He will bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 Then people will say, “Surely there is fruit for the righteous.
Surely there is a God judging on the earth.”
12 Apply your heart to discipline
and your ear to words that give knowledge.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.