Old/New Testament
Chapter 17
Damascus
1 Oracle on Damascus:[a]
See, Damascus shall cease to be a city
and become a pile of ruins;(A)
2 Her cities shall be forever abandoned,
for flocks to lie in undisturbed.
3 The fortress shall vanish from Ephraim[b]
and dominion from Damascus;
The remnant of Aram shall become like the glory
of the Israelites—
oracle of the Lord of hosts.
4 On that day
The glory of Jacob shall fade,
and his full body shall grow thin.(B)
5 Like the reaper’s mere armful of stalks,
when he gathers the standing grain;
Or as when one gleans the ears
in the Valley of Rephaim.[c]
6 [d]Only gleanings shall be left in it,
as when an olive tree has been beaten—
Two or three olives at the very top,
four or five on its most fruitful branches—
oracle of the Lord, the God of Israel.(C)
7 On that day people shall turn to their maker,
their eyes shall look to the Holy One of Israel.(D)
8 They shall not turn to the altars, the work of their hands,
nor shall they look to what their fingers have made:
the asherahs[e] or the incense stands.
9 On that day his strong cities shall be
like those abandoned by the Hivites and Amorites
When faced with the Israelites;
and there shall be desolation.(E)
10 Truly, you have forgotten the God who saves you,
the Rock, your refuge, you have not remembered.(F)
Therefore, though you plant plants for the Pleasant One,[f]
and set out cuttings for a foreign one,(G)
11 Though you make them grow the day you plant them
and make them blossom the morning you set them out,
The harvest shall disappear on a day of sickness
and incurable pain.
12 Ah! the roaring of many peoples—[g]
a roar like the roar of the seas!
The thundering of nations—
thunder like the thundering of mighty waters!(H)
13 [h]But God shall rebuke them,
and they shall flee far away,
Driven like chaff on the mountains before a wind,
like tumbleweed before a storm.(I)
14 At evening, there is terror,
but before morning, they are gone!
Such is the portion of those who despoil us,
the lot of those who plunder us.(J)
Chapter 18
Ethiopia
1 Ah! Land of buzzing insects,[i]
beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,(K)
2 Sending ambassadors by sea,
in papyrus boats on the waters!
Go, swift messengers,
to a nation tall and bronzed,
To a people dreaded near and far,
a nation strong and conquering,
whose land is washed by rivers.(L)
3 [j]All you who inhabit the world,
who dwell on earth,
When the signal is raised on the mountain, look!
When the trumpet blows, listen!
4 For thus says the Lord to me:
I will be quiet, looking on from where I dwell,(M)
Like the shimmering heat in sunshine,
like a cloud of dew at harvest time.
5 Before the vintage, when the flowering has ended,
and the blooms are succeeded by ripening grapes,
Then comes the cutting of branches with pruning hooks,
and the discarding of the lopped-off shoots.
6 They shall all be left to the mountain vultures
and to the beasts of the earth;
The vultures shall summer on them,
all the beasts of the earth shall winter on them.
7 Then will gifts be brought to the Lord of hosts—to the place of the name of the Lord of hosts, Mount Zion—from a people tall and bronzed, from a people dreaded near and far, a nation strong and conquering, whose land is washed by rivers.(N)
Chapter 19
Egypt
1 Oracle on Egypt:
See, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud
on his way to Egypt;
The idols of Egypt tremble before him,
the hearts of the Egyptians melt within them.(O)
2 I will stir up Egypt against Egypt:
brother will war against brother,
Neighbor against neighbor,
city against city, kingdom against kingdom.
3 The courage of the Egyptians shall ebb away within them,
and I will bring their counsel to nought;
They shall consult idols and charmers, ghosts and clairvoyants.(P)
4 I will deliver Egypt
into the power of a cruel master,
A harsh king[k] who shall rule over them—
oracle of the Lord, the Lord of hosts.(Q)
5 The waters shall be drained from the sea,
the river shall parch and dry up;(R)
6 Its streams shall become foul,
and the canals of Egypt shall dwindle and parch.(S)
Reeds and rushes shall wither away,
7 and bulrushes on the bank of the Nile;(T)
All the sown land along the Nile
shall dry up and blow away, and be no more.
8 The fishermen shall mourn and lament,
all who cast hook in the Nile;
Those who spread their nets in the water
shall pine away.
9 The linen-workers shall be disappointed,
the combers and weavers shall turn pale;(U)
10 The spinners shall be crushed,
all the hired laborers shall be despondent.
11 Utter fools are the princes of Zoan![l]
the wisest of Pharaoh’s advisers give stupid counsel.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
“I am a descendant of wise men, of ancient kings”?
12 Where then are your wise men?
Let them tell you and make known
What the Lord of hosts has planned
against Egypt.(V)
13 The princes of Zoan have become fools,
the princes of Memphis have been deceived.
The chiefs of its tribes
have led Egypt astray.(W)
14 The Lord has prepared among them
a spirit of dizziness,
And they have made Egypt stagger in whatever she does,
as a drunkard staggers in his vomit.(X)
15 Egypt shall accomplish nothing—
neither head nor tail, palm branch nor reed,[m] shall accomplish anything.
16 On that day the Egyptians shall be like women, trembling with fear, because of the Lord of hosts shaking his fist at them.(Y) 17 And the land of Judah shall be a terror to the Egyptians. Every time they think of Judah, they shall stand in dread because of the plan the Lord of hosts has in mind for them.
18 On that day there shall be five cities[n] in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan and swear by the Lord of hosts; one shall be called “City of the Sun.”
19 On that day there shall be an altar to the Lord at the center of Egypt, and a sacred pillar to the Lord near its boundary. 20 This will be a sign and witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt, so that when they cry out to the Lord because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior to defend and deliver them.(Z) 21 The Lord shall make himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day; they shall offer sacrifices and oblations, make vows to the Lord and fulfill them.(AA) 22 Although the Lord shall smite Egypt severely, he shall heal them; they shall turn to the Lord and he shall be moved by their entreaty and heal them.(AB)
23 On that day there shall be a highway from Egypt to Assyria; the Assyrians shall enter Egypt, and the Egyptians enter Assyria, and the Egyptians shall worship with the Assyrians.
24 On that day Israel shall be a third party with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth,(AC) 25 when the Lord of hosts gives this blessing: “Blessed be my people Egypt, and the work of my hands Assyria, and my heritage, Israel.”
17 Therefore, do not continue in ignorance, but try to understand what is the will of the Lord. 18 And do not get drunk on wine, in which lies debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,(A) 19 addressing one another [in] psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and playing to the Lord in your hearts,(B) 20 giving thanks always and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.(C)
Wives and Husbands. 21 [a]Be subordinate to one another(D) out of reverence for Christ.[b] 22 Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord.(E) 23 For the husband is head of his wife just as Christ is head of the church, he himself the savior of the body.(F) 24 As the church is subordinate to Christ, so wives should be subordinate to their husbands in everything. 25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ loved the church and handed himself over for her(G) 26 to sanctify her, cleansing her by the bath of water with the word,(H) 27 that he might present to himself the church in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.(I) 28 So [also] husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one hates his own flesh but rather nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body.(J)
31 “For this reason a man shall leave [his] father and [his] mother
and be joined to his wife,
and the two shall become one flesh.”(K)
32 This is a great mystery, but I speak in reference to Christ and the church.(L) 33 In any case, each one of you should love his wife as himself, and the wife should respect her husband.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.