The Daily Audio Bible
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Thanksgiving and Praise
12 You will say on that day:
“I will give thanks to you, O Lord,
for though you were angry with me,
your anger turned away,
and you comforted me.(A)
2 Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust and will not be afraid,
for the Lord[a] is my strength and my might;
he has become my salvation.”(B)
3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.(C) 4 And you will say on that day:
“Give thanks to the Lord;
call on his name;
make known his deeds among the nations;
proclaim that his name is exalted.
5 Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously;
let this be known in all the earth.(D)
6 Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal[b] Zion,
for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”(E)
Proclamation against Babylon
13 The oracle concerning Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw.(F)
2 On a bare hill raise a signal;
cry aloud to them;
wave the hand for them to enter
the gates of the nobles.(G)
3 I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,
have summoned my warriors, my proudly exulting ones,
to execute my anger.[c](H)
4 Listen, a tumult on the mountains
as of a great multitude!
Listen, an uproar of kingdoms,
of nations gathering together!
The Lord of hosts is mustering
an army for battle.(I)
5 They come from a distant land,
from the end of the heavens,
the Lord and the weapons of his indignation,
to destroy the whole earth.(J)
6 Wail, for the day of the Lord is near;
it will come like destruction from the Almighty![d](K)
7 Therefore all hands will be feeble,
and every human heart will melt,(L)
8 and they will be terrified.
Pangs and agony will seize them;
they will be in anguish like a woman in labor.
They will look aghast at one another;
their faces will be aflame.(M)
9 See, the day of the Lord is coming,
cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,
to make the earth a desolation
and to destroy its sinners from it.(N)
10 For the stars of the heavens and their constellations
will not give their light;
the sun will be dark at its rising,
and the moon will not shed its light.(O)
11 I will punish the world for its evil
and the wicked for their iniquity;
I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant
and lay low the insolence of tyrants.(P)
12 I will make mortals more rare than fine gold
and humans than the gold of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,
and the earth will be shaken out of its place
at the wrath of the Lord of hosts
in the day of his fierce anger.(Q)
14 Like a gazelle on the run
or like sheep with no one to gather them,
all will turn back to their own people,
and all will flee to their own lands.(R)
15 Whoever is found will be thrust through,
and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.
16 Their infants will be dashed to pieces
before their eyes;
their houses will be plundered
and their wives raped.(S)
17 See, I am stirring up the Medes against them,
who have no regard for silver
and do not delight in gold.(T)
18 Their bows will slaughter the young men;
they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;
their eyes will not pity children.(U)
19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,
the splendor and pride of the Chaldeans,
will be like Sodom and Gomorrah
when God overthrew them.(V)
20 It will never be inhabited
or lived in for all generations;
Arabs will not pitch their tents there;
shepherds will not make their flocks lie down there.(W)
21 But wild animals will lie down there,
and its houses will be full of howling creatures;
there ostriches will live,
and there goat-demons will dance.(X)
22 Hyenas will cry in its towers
and jackals in the pleasant palaces;
its time is close at hand;
and its days will not be prolonged.(Y)
Restoration of Judah
14 But the Lord will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel and will settle them in their own land, and aliens will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob.(Z) 2 And the nations will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess the nations[e] as male and female slaves in the Lord’s land; they will take captive those who were their captors and rule over those who oppressed them.(AA)
Downfall of the King of Babylon
3 When the Lord has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve,(AB) 4 you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon:
How the oppressor has ceased!
How his insolence[f] has ceased!(AC)
5 The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,
the scepter of rulers,
6 that struck down the peoples in wrath
with unceasing blows,
that ruled the nations in anger
with unrelenting persecution.(AD)
7 The whole earth is at rest and quiet;
they break forth into singing.
8 The cypresses exult over you,
the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
“Since you were laid low,
no one comes to cut us down.”(AE)
9 Sheol beneath is stirred up
to meet you when you come;
it rouses the shades to greet you,
all who were leaders of the earth;
it raises from their thrones
all who were kings of the nations.(AF)
10 All of them will speak
and say to you:
“You, too, have become as weak as we!
You have become like us!”
11 Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,
and the sound of your harps;
maggots are the bed beneath you,
and worms are your covering.(AG)
12 How you are fallen from heaven,
O Morning Star, son of Dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
you who laid the nations low!(AH)
13 You said to yourself,
“I will ascend to heaven;
I will raise my throne
above the stars of God;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
on the heights of Zaphon;[g](AI)
14 I will ascend to the tops of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.”(AJ)
15 But you are brought down to Sheol,
to the depths of the Pit.(AK)
16 Those who see you will stare at you
and ponder over you:
“Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
who shook kingdoms,(AL)
17 who made the world like a desert
and overthrew its cities,
who would not let his prisoners go home?”(AM)
18 All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
each in his own tomb,
19 but you are cast out, away from your grave,
like loathsome carrion,[h]
clothed with the dead, those pierced by the sword,
who go down to the stones of the Pit
like a corpse trampled underfoot.(AN)
20 You will not be joined with them in burial
because you have destroyed your land;
you have killed your people.
May the descendants of evildoers
nevermore be named!(AO)
21 Prepare a place of slaughter for his sons
because of the guilt of their father.[i]
Let them never rise to possess the earth
or cover the face of the world with cities.(AP)
22 I will rise up against them, says the Lord of hosts, and will cut off from Babylon name and remnant, offspring and posterity, says the Lord.(AQ) 23 And I will make it a possession of the screech owl[j] and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction, says the Lord of hosts.(AR)
An Oracle concerning Assyria
24 The Lord of hosts has sworn:
As I have designed,
so shall it be,
and as I have planned,
so shall it come to pass:(AS)
25 I will break the Assyrian in my land
and on my mountains trample him under foot;
his yoke shall be removed from them
and his burden from their shoulders.(AT)
26 This is the plan that is planned
concerning the whole earth,
and this is the hand that is stretched out
over all the nations.(AU)
27 For the Lord of hosts has planned,
and who will annul it?
His hand is stretched out,
and who will turn it back?(AV)
An Oracle concerning Philistia
28 In the year that King Ahaz died this oracle came:(AW)
29 Do not rejoice, all you Philistines,
that the rod that struck you is broken,
for from the root of the snake will come forth an adder,
and its fruit will be a flying fiery serpent.(AX)
30 In my pastures the poor[k] will graze
and the needy lie down in safety,
but I will make your root die of famine,
and your remnant I[l] will kill.(AY)
31 Wail, O gate; cry, O city;
melt in fear, O Philistia, all of you!
For smoke comes out of the north,
and there is no straggler in its ranks.(AZ)
32 What will one answer the messengers of the nation?
“The Lord has founded Zion,
and the needy among his people
will find refuge in her.”(BA)
Further Warning
13 This is the third time I am coming to you. “Any charge must be sustained by the evidence of two or three witnesses.”(A) 2 I warned those who sinned previously and all the others, and I warn them now while absent, as I did when present on my second visit, that if I come again I will not be lenient— 3 since you desire proof that Christ is speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you but is powerful in you.(B) 4 For he was crucified in weakness but lives by the power of God. For we are weak in him,[a] but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.(C)
5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are living in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless, indeed, you fail to meet the test!(D) 6 I hope you will find out that we have not failed. 7 But we pray to God that you may not do anything wrong—not that we may appear to have met the test but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. 8 For we cannot do anything against the truth but only for the truth. 9 For we rejoice when we are weak but you are strong. This is what we pray for, that you may be restored.(E) 10 So I write these things while I am away from you, so that when I come I may not have to be severe in using the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.(F)
Final Greetings and Benediction
11 Finally, brothers and sisters, farewell.[b] Be restored; listen to my appeal;[c] agree with one another; live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.(G) 12 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the saints greet you.(H)
13 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of[d] the Holy Spirit be with all of you.(I)
Psalm 57
Praise and Assurance under Persecution
To the leader: Do Not Destroy. Of David. A Miktam, when he fled from Saul, in the cave.
1 Be merciful to me, O God; be merciful to me,
for in you my soul takes refuge;
in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge,
until the destroying storms pass by.(A)
2 I cry to God Most High,
to God who fulfills his purpose for me.(B)
3 He will send from heaven and save me;
he will put to shame those who trample on me. Selah
God will send forth his steadfast love and his faithfulness.(C)
4 I lie down among lions
that greedily devour[a] human prey;
their teeth are spears and arrows,
their tongues sharp swords.(D)
5 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens.
Let your glory be over all the earth.(E)
6 They set a net for my steps;
my soul was bowed down.
They dug a pit in my path,
but they have fallen into it themselves. Selah(F)
7 My heart is steadfast, O God;
my heart is steadfast.
I will sing and make melody.(G)
8 Awake, my soul!
Awake, O harp and lyre!
I will awake the dawn.(H)
9 I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples;
I will sing praises to you among the nations.(I)
10 For your steadfast love is as high as the heavens;
your faithfulness extends to the clouds.(J)
11 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens.
Let your glory be over all the earth.(K)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.