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66 This is what the Lord says.
The heavens are my throne,
and the earth is a footstool under my feet.
Where, then, is the house that you could build for me?
Where, then, is a place that could serve as my resting place?
2 For my hand made all these things,
so all these things came into existence,
declares the Lord.
Those Who Tremble at the Lord’s Word
Yet this is the person I will watch over:
the one who is afflicted and whose spirit is crushed,
the one who trembles at my word.
3 One who slaughters an ox, also smites a person.
One who sacrifices a lamb, also breaks the neck of a dog.
One who offers a grain offering, also offers the blood of pigs.
One who offers memorial incense, also blesses a useless idol.
Yes, they have chosen their own ways,
and their soul delights in their detestable things.
4 So I myself will choose their punishments,
and the things that terrify them I will bring to them,
because I called, and there was no one who answered.
I spoke, and they did not listen.
They did what is evil in my eyes,
and they chose things that do not please me.
5 Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at his word.
Your brothers, who hate you
and exclude you for the sake of my name, say:
“Let the Lord be glorified so that we may see your joy.”
But they themselves will be put to shame.
6 Listen! An uproar in the city,
the sound of an uproar from the temple,
the sound of the Lord repaying his enemies in full!
Lady Zion’s Final Blessing
7 Before she suffers labor pains, she gives birth.
Before birth pain comes upon her, she delivers a male child.
8 Who has ever heard of something like this?
Who has ever seen such a thing?
Is a land brought forth in one day?
Is a nation born all at once?
But as soon as Zion experiences labor pains, she gives birth
to her children.
9 Would I bring a baby to the point of birth and not let it be born?
says the Lord.
Or would I let a baby be conceived but shut the womb to prevent
its birth?
says your God.
10 Rejoice with Jerusalem and celebrate with her, all you who love her.
Share her joy with her, all you who have been mourning over her,
11 so that you may nurse and be satisfied from her comforting breast,
so that you may suck and find delight from her milk-filled breasts.[a]
12 Yes, this is what the Lord says.
I am ready to extend peace to her like a river,
and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream.
You will be nursed. You will be carried on her side,
and you will be bounced on her knees.
13 Just like a man[b] whom his mother comforts,
in the same way I myself will comfort you,
and you will be comforted concerning Jerusalem.
14 Then you will see, and your heart will be glad.
Like grass you will receive new strength, right down to your bones.
Then the Lord’s hand will be known to his servants,
but his fury to his enemies.
15 Look, the Lord will come like fire,
and his chariots like a whirlwind,
to pour out his furious anger
and his rebuke like flames of fire.
16 For the Lord will bring judgment on all flesh
by fire and by his sword,
and those slain by the Lord will be many.
17 Those who try to sanctify themselves
and those who try to purify themselves
in order to follow others into the groves,
in order to eat the meat of pigs and other disgusting things like mice—
together they will be swept away, declares the Lord.
18 As for me, because of their works and their thoughts,
the time is coming for me to gather people from all nations
and all languages.
They will come, and they will see my glory.
19 Then I will set up a sign among them,
and I will send out survivors from among them to the nations,
to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud,[c] to those who are archers,
to Tubal and Javan,[d] to the distant coastlands,
who have not heard my message and have not seen my glory.
Then they will declare my glory among the nations.
20 Then they will bring all your brothers from all the nations as an offering to the Lord. They will bring them on horses and chariots and wagons and mules and dromedaries[e] to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the Lord, in the same way that the people of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel to the Lord’s house. 21 Even from among these people I will take priests and Levites, says the Lord.
22 For just as the new heavens and the new earth that I am making will remain standing before me, declares the Lord, in the same way your offspring and your name will stand. 23 As often as one new moon follows another and one Sabbath follows another, all flesh will come to worship before me, says the Lord.
24 They will go out, and they will see the corpses of the ones who were rebelling against me, for their worm will not die, and their fire will not be quenched, and all flesh will be horrified by them.
4 even though I have grounds for confidence also in the flesh. If anyone else thinks that he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; 6 in regard to zeal, persecuting the church; in regard to the righteousness that is in the law, blameless.
7 But, whatever things were a profit for me, these things I have come to consider a loss because of Christ. 8 But even more than that, I consider everything to be a loss because of what is worth far more: knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his sake, I have lost all things and consider them rubbish, so that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, which comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God by faith. 10 I do this so that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, 11 in the hope that in some way I may arrive at the resurrection from the dead.
Press On
12 Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus also took hold of me. 13 Brothers, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it yet, but there is one thing I do: Forgetting the things that are behind and straining toward the things that are ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal, for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Therefore, let all of us who are mature continue to think this way. And if you think differently about anything, God will reveal this to you too. 16 Only let us think the same thing and[a] walk in line with what we already have attained.
17 Brothers, join together in imitating me and in paying attention to those who are walking according to the pattern we gave you. 18 To be sure, many walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. I told you about them often, and now I am saying it while weeping. 19 Their end is destruction, their god is their appetite,[b] and their glory is in their shame. They are thinking only about earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. We are eagerly waiting for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. 21 By the power that enables him to subject all things to himself, he will transform our humble bodies to be like his glorious body.
Psalm 74
The Destruction of the Temple
Heading
A maskil[a] by Asaph.
Introductory Plea
1 Why do you stay angry to the end, O God?
Why does your anger smoke against the flock in your pasture?
2 Remember your community that you purchased long ago,
the tribe that you redeemed to be your possession.
Remember Mount Zion where you dwell.
3 March toward the perpetual ruins.
March against all the evil done by the enemy in the sanctuary.
The Destruction
4 Your foes roared in the middle of your appointed place.
They set up their battle standards as signs.
5 They looked like men swinging axes in a thicket of trees.
6 Yes, they even chopped up all the carved paneling
with their hatchets and hammers.
7 They delivered your sanctuary to the fire.
They defiled the dwelling place for your Name
by throwing it to the ground.
8 They said in their hearts, “We will crush them completely!”
They burned all the appointed places of God in the land.
Deserted?
9 We do not see any signs to guide us.
There is no longer a prophet,
and none of us knows how long this will go on.
10 How long will the foe scoff, O God?
Will the enemy insult your name forever?
11 Why do you hold back your hand, even your right hand?
Take it out of your pocket[b] and finish them off!
God’s Past Goodness
12 But you, O God, are my king from long ago,
the one who works salvation right here on earth.
13 It was you who shattered the sea by your power.
You broke the heads of the great sea monsters.
14 It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan.[c]
You gave him as food to the people who live in the desert.
15 It was you who opened up a spring and a seasonal stream.
You dried up the rivers that flow year-round.
16 The day belongs to you, and the night is also yours.
You set the moon and sun in place.
17 It was you who laid out all the boundaries of the earth.
Summer and winter—you shaped them.
Plea for Relief
18 Remember this—the enemy scoffs, Lord,
and a foolish people has insulted your name.
19 Do not surrender the life of your turtledove to a wild animal.
Do not forget the life of your afflicted ones forever.
20 Pay attention to the covenant,
because dens of violence fill the dark places in the land.
21 Do not let the oppressed turn back in disgrace.
Let the poor and needy praise your name.
22 Rise up, O God, and prosecute your case.
Remember how the fools mocked you all day long.
23 Do not forget the sound of your foes,
the uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually.
15 Do not be like the wicked who attack the home of the righteous.
Do not destroy his resting place,
16 because a righteous person may fall seven times, but he will get up,
while wicked people will stumble into misfortune.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.