The Daily Audio Bible
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A Prophecy About Egypt
19 An oracle against Egypt.
Look, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud, coming to Egypt!
The worthless idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence,
and the hearts of the Egyptians will melt inside them.
2 I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian,
and they will fight,
brother against brother,
neighbor against neighbor,
city against city,
and kingdom against kingdom.
3 The spirit in the Egyptians will fail completely.
I will frustrate their plans.
They will turn to their worthless gods,[a]
to the spirits of the dead,
to mediums and spiritists.
4 But I will hand the Egyptians over to a cruel master,
and a fierce king will rule over them,
declares the Lord, the Lord of Armies.
5 The water will dry up from the sea,[b]
and the riverbed will dry up completely and be empty.
6 The rivers and canals will stink.
The streams in the Nile delta[c] will run low and dry up.
Reeds and rushes will wither away.
7 The plants that grow beside the Nile, at the mouth of the Nile,
and all the crops planted along the Nile will dry up.
They will blow away and vanish.
8 The fishermen will mourn.
All those who cast hooks into the Nile will lament,
and those who spread nets on the waters will grieve.
9 Those who work with flax,
the women who comb the flax,
and the men who weave the linen will despair.
10 Those who make cloth will be crushed.
All the hired workers will lose heart.
11 The officials of Zoan are complete fools.
Pharaoh’s wisest counselors give unreasonable advice.
How can you say to Pharaoh, “I am a son of wise men,
a son of ancient kings”?
12 Where then are your wise men?
Let them tell you now!
Let them make known what the Lord of Armies
has planned against Egypt.
13 The officials of Zoan act like fools.
The officials of Memphis[d] are deceived.
They have caused Egypt to go astray—
these cornerstones of her tribes!
14 The Lord has poured a confused spirit into them.
They made Egypt go astray in everything it does,
like a drunken man staggering around in his own vomit.
15 No head or tail, no palm branch or reed,
will accomplish anything for Egypt.
16 On that day the Egyptians will be like women. They will tremble with fear because of the threatening hand of the Lord of Armies, which he raises against them. 17 The land of Judah will terrify Egypt. Everyone who hears about Judah will be filled with dread, because of what the Lord of Armies is planning against Egypt.
18 On that day five cities in Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear an oath to the Lord of Armies. One will be called the City of the Sun.[e]
19 On that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the center of the land of Egypt, and a memorial pillar to the Lord at its border. 20 There will be a sign and a witness to the Lord of Armies in the land of Egypt. They will cry to the Lord because of their oppressors, and he will send them a savior and a champion, and he will rescue them. 21 The Lord will make himself known to Egypt, and on that day the Egyptians will know the Lord. They will worship with sacrifices and offerings. They will swear a vow to the Lord, and they will fulfill it. 22 The Lord will strike Egypt, striking them and then healing them. They will return to the Lord, and he will hear their prayer, and he will heal them.
23 On that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will come to Egypt, and the Egyptians will come to Assyria, and Egyptians will serve together with Assyrians.
24 On that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing to the earth, 25 because the Lord of Armies has blessed them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.”
A Prophecy Against Egypt and Cush
20 In the year that the field commander[f] sent by Sargon king of Assyria came to Ashdod and attacked and captured it— 2 at that time the Lord delivered a message through Isaiah son of Amoz. The Lord said, “Take off the sackcloth around your waist and remove the sandals from your feet.” Isaiah did this and went naked and barefoot. 3 The Lord said, “Just as my servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and an omen concerning Egypt and Cush,[g] 4 so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old, naked and barefoot, with bare buttocks, to Egypt’s shame. 5 They will be overwhelmed and ashamed because of Cush, their hope, and Egypt, their source of confidence. 6 On that day those who live on this coast will say, “Look what happened to our hope, to whom we fled for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria! How can we escape?”
The Fall of Babylon
21 An oracle about the Wilderness by the Sea.
Like windstorms that sweep through the Negev,
it comes from the wilderness,
from a terrifying place.
2 An ominous vision has been shown to me.
The betrayer betrays; the destroyer destroys.
Elam, attack! Media, lay siege![h]
I will bring all her groaning to an end.
3 That is why I am full of anguish.
Pain has taken hold of me,
like the pain of a woman in labor.
I am stunned by what I hear,
terrified by what I see.
4 My heart pounds!
I am shaking with fear.
The twilight that I longed for is making me quake with terror.
5 They prepare the table.
They spread out the luxurious carpets.
They eat. They drink.
“Officers! Get up and oil your shields!”
6 Yes, this is what the Lord said to me:
Go, post a watchman.
Have him declare what he sees.
7 When he sees chariots pulled by teams of horses,
riders on donkeys, and riders on camels,
have him listen carefully—very carefully.
8 The lookout[i] cried out:
Lord,[j] I stand on the watchtower day after day,
and every night I stay at my post.
9 Now, look! Here come men in chariots pulled by teams of horses.
Then he announced:
Fallen, fallen is Babylon!
All the images of her gods lie broken on the ground.
10 O my people, you who have been threshed like grain on my threshing floor, everything I have heard from the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, I have proclaimed to you.
A Prophecy Against Edom
11 The oracle against Dumah.[k]
Someone calls out to me from Seir,
Watchman, how much of the night remains?
Watchman, how much of the night remains?
12 The watchman said:
Morning is coming, but night is coming again.
If you want to ask, go ahead and ask.
Then return! Come back again.
A Prophecy Against Arabia
13 An oracle against Arabia.
You spend the night among the thickets of Arabia,
you caravans of Dedanites.
14 Bring water for the thirsty,
you who live in Tema.
Bring bread for the refugees.
15 They fled from the sword,
from the drawn sword,
from the bent bow,
and from the heat of battle.
16 This is what the Lord said to me: “Within a year, as a worker bound by contract would count it, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end, 17 and the archers who survive, the strong warriors of Kedar, will be few.” The Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.
Paul’s Fellowship With Those in Jerusalem
2 Then, after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, also taking Titus with me. 2 I went up in keeping with a revelation, and I laid before them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did this privately before those who were considered important, in order to make sure that I was not running—or had not run—in vain. 3 But Titus, who was with me, was not compelled to be circumcised, even though he is Greek. 4 This was an issue because of the false brothers, who slipped in under false pretenses to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus. Their goal was to make us slaves. 5 We refused to give in to them even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel would continue with you.
6 But as for those who were considered to be important (what sort of people they once were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality), indeed, those who were considered to be important added nothing to my gospel. 7 On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel for the uncircumcised, just as Peter was entrusted with the gospel for the circumcised. 8 For God, who worked effectively in Peter to serve as an apostle to the circumcised, also worked effectively in me to serve as an apostle to the Gentiles. 9 And because James, Cephas, and John, who were considered to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship. They agreed that we were to go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10 The only thing they asked was that we remember the poor, the very thing that I was also eager to do.
Paul Opposed Cephas (Peter)
11 But when Cephas[a] came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly wrong. 12 For before some people came from James, he ate with the Gentiles. But when those people came, he drew back and separated himself, because he feared those from the circumcision group. 13 And the rest of the Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that they were not acting according to the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of all of them, “If you, a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, why do you compel the Gentiles to live like the Jews?”
Justified Through Faith!
15 “We are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners. 16 We know that a person is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. So we also believed in Christ Jesus that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because no one[b] will be justified by the works of the law.
Psalm 59
They Lie in Wait
Heading
For the choir director. “Do Not Destroy.”[a] By David. A miktam.
When Saul had sent men, and they watched the house to kill David.[b]
Opening Plea
1 Deliver me from my enemies, my God.
You set me high above those who rise up against me.
2 Deliver me from evildoers.
Save me from bloodthirsty men.
The Viciousness of the Enemy
3 Yes, look how they lie in ambush to take my life!
Strong men gather against me,
but it is not because I have rebelled,
not because I have sinned, O Lord.
4 I am not guilty,
yet they run to take up their positions against me.
Rise up to meet me and see!
5 You, O Lord, God of Armies, the God of Israel,
wake up and confront all the nations. Interlude
Do not show mercy to all the wicked traitors.
6 They return at evening. They growl like dogs.
They prowl around the city.
7 Look, they gush from their mouths.
Their lips are swords,
so they say, “Who hears?”
Conclusion and Refrain
8 But you laugh at them, Lord.
You scoff at all those nations.
9 O my Strength, I watch for you,
because God is my high fortress.
Confidence
10 My merciful God will go ahead of me.
God will make me look down on those who slander me.
The Judgment on the Enemies
11 Do not kill them, or my people may forget.
In your might make them wander about.
Bring them down, O Lord, our shield.
12 The sin of their mouth is the words of their lips,
so let them be caught in their pride,
because of the curses and lies they proclaim.
13 Consume them in wrath.
Consume them till they are no more.
Then they will know to the ends of the earth Interlude
that God rules over Jacob.
14 They return at evening. They growl like dogs.
They prowl around the city.
15 They wander about for food.
If not satisfied, they howl.
Conclusion and Refrain
16 But I will sing about your strength.
In the morning I will shout about your mercy,
because you are a high fortress for me,
a refuge in the day of my distress.
17 O my Strength, to you I make music,
because God is my high fortress, my merciful God.
13 Do not withhold discipline from a child,
for if you strike him with a rod, he will not die.
14 Strike him yourself with a rod,
and you will rescue his soul from death.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.