Old/New Testament
Chapter 23
Tyre and Sidon
1 [a]Oracle on Tyre:
Wail, ships of Tarshish,
for your port is destroyed;
From the land of the Kittim[b]
the news reaches them.(A)
2 Silence! you who dwell on the coast,
you merchants of Sidon,
Whose messengers crossed the sea
3 over the deep waters,
Whose revenue was the grain of Shihor,[c] the harvest of the Nile,
you who were the merchant among the nations.(B)
4 Be ashamed, Sidon, fortress on the sea,
for the sea[d] has spoken,
“I have not been in labor, nor given birth,
nor raised young men,
nor reared young women.”
5 When the report reaches Egypt
they shall be in anguish at the report about Tyre.
6 Pass over to Tarshish,[e]
wail, you who dwell on the coast!
7 Is this your exultant city,
whose origin is from old,
Whose feet have taken her
to dwell in distant lands?
8 Who has planned such a thing
against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,
Whose merchants are princes,
whose traders are the earth’s honored men?
9 The Lord of hosts has planned it,
to disgrace the height of all beauty,
to degrade all the honored of the earth.(C)
10 Cross to your own land,
ship of Tarshish;
the harbor is no more.
11 His hand he stretches out over the sea,
he shakes kingdoms;
The Lord commanded the destruction
of Canaan’s strongholds:[f](D)
12 Crushed, you shall exult no more,
virgin daughter Sidon.
Arise, pass over to the Kittim,
even there you shall find no rest.(E)
13 [g]Look at the land of the Chaldeans,
the people that has ceased to be.
Assyria founded it for ships,
raised its towers,
Only to tear down its palaces,
and turn it into a ruin.(F)
14 Lament, ships of Tarshish,
for your stronghold is destroyed.
15 On that day, Tyre shall be forgotten for seventy years,[h] the lifetime of one king. At the end of seventy years, the song about the prostitute will be Tyre’s song:
16 Take a harp, go about the city,
forgotten prostitute;
Pluck the strings skillfully, sing many songs,
that you may be remembered.
17 At the end of the seventy years the Lord shall visit Tyre. She shall return to her hire and serve as prostitute[i] with all the world’s kingdoms on the face of the earth.(G) 18 But her merchandise and her hire shall be sacred to the Lord. It shall not be stored up or laid away; instead, her merchandise shall belong to those who dwell before the Lord, to eat their fill and clothe themselves in choice attire.
D. Apocalypse of Isaiah[j]
Chapter 24
Judgment upon the World and the Lord’s Enthronement on Mount Zion[k]
1 See! The Lord is about to empty the earth and lay it waste;
he will twist its surface,
and scatter its inhabitants:(H)
2 People and priest shall fare alike:
servant and master,
Maid and mistress,
buyer and seller,
Lender and borrower,
creditor and debtor.(I)
3 The earth shall be utterly laid waste, utterly stripped,
for the Lord has decreed this word.
4 The earth mourns and fades,
the world languishes and fades;
both heaven and earth languish.(J)
5 The earth is polluted because of its inhabitants,
for they have transgressed laws, violated statutes,
broken the ancient covenant.[l](K)
6 Therefore a curse devours the earth,
and its inhabitants pay for their guilt;
Therefore they who dwell on earth have dwindled,
and only a few are left.(L)
7 The new wine mourns, the vine languishes,
all the merry-hearted groan.(M)
8 Stilled are the cheerful timbrels,
ended the shouts of the jubilant,
stilled the cheerful harp.(N)
9 They no longer drink wine and sing;
strong brew is bitter to those who drink it.(O)
10 Broken down is the city of chaos,[m]
every house is shut against entry.(P)
11 In the streets they cry out for lack of wine;
all joy has grown dim,
cheer is exiled from the land.(Q)
12 In the city nothing remains but desolation,
gates battered into ruins.
13 For thus it shall be in the midst of the earth,
among the peoples,
As when an olive tree has been beaten,
as with a gleaning when the vintage is done.(R)
14 These[n] shall lift up their voice,
they shall sing for joy in the majesty of the Lord,
they shall shout from the western sea:
15 “Therefore, in the east
give glory to the Lord!
In the coastlands of the sea,
to the name of the Lord, the God of Israel!”(S)
16 From the end of the earth we hear songs:
“Splendor to the Just One!”
But I said, “I am wasted, wasted away.
Woe is me! The traitors betray;
with treachery have the traitors betrayed!(T)
17 Terror, pit, and trap
for you, inhabitant of the earth!(U)
18 One who flees at the sound of terror
will fall into the pit;
One who climbs out of the pit
will be caught in the trap.
For the windows on high are open
and the foundations of the earth shake.(V)
19 The earth will burst asunder,
the earth will be shaken apart,
the earth will be convulsed.
20 The earth will reel like a drunkard,
sway like a hut;
Its rebellion will weigh it down;
it will fall, never to rise again.”(W)
21 On that day the Lord will punish
the host of the heavens[o] in the heavens,
and the kings of the earth on the earth.
22 They will be gathered together
like prisoners into a pit;
They will be shut up in a dungeon,
and after many days they will be punished.(X)
23 Then the moon will blush
and the sun be ashamed,(Y)
For the Lord of hosts will reign
on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
glorious in the sight of the elders.[p](Z)
Chapter 25
Praise for God’s Deliverance and the Celebration in Zion[q]
1 O Lord, you are my God,
I extol you, I praise your name;
For you have carried out your wonderful plans of old,
faithful and true.(AA)
2 For you have made the city a heap,
the fortified city a ruin,
The castle of the insolent, a city no more,
not ever to be rebuilt.(AB)
3 Therefore a strong people will honor you,
ruthless nations will fear you.
4 For you have been a refuge to the poor,
a refuge to the needy in their distress;
Shelter from the rain,
shade from the heat.(AC)
When the blast of the ruthless was like a winter rain,
5 the roar of strangers like heat in the desert,
You subdued the heat with the shade of a cloud,
the rain of the tyrants was vanquished.
6 On this mountain[r] the Lord of hosts
will provide for all peoples
A feast of rich food and choice wines,
juicy, rich food and pure, choice wines.
7 On this mountain he will destroy
the veil that veils all peoples,
The web that is woven over all nations.
8 He will destroy death forever.
The Lord God will wipe away
the tears from all faces;
The reproach of his people he will remove
from the whole earth; for the Lord has spoken.(AD)
9 On that day it will be said:
“Indeed, this is our God; we looked to him, and he saved us!
This is the Lord to whom we looked;
let us rejoice and be glad that he has saved us!”(AE)
Judgment on Moab[s]
10 For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain,
but Moab will be trodden down
as straw is trodden down in the mire.(AF)
11 He will spread out his hands in its midst,
as a swimmer spreads out his hands to swim;
His pride will be brought low
despite his strokes.(AG)
12 The high-walled fortress he will raze,
bringing it low, leveling it to the ground, to the very dust.(AH)
I. Address
Chapter 1
Greeting.[a] 1 Paul and Timothy, slaves[b] of Christ Jesus, to all the holy ones in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the overseers and ministers:(A) 2 (B)grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.[c]
Thanksgiving.[d] 3 I give thanks to my God at every remembrance of you,(C) 4 praying always with joy in my every prayer for all of you, 5 because of your partnership for the gospel from the first day until now. 6 (D)I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.[e] 7 It is right that I should think this way about all of you, because I hold you in my heart, you who are all partners with me in grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. 8 For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.(E) 9 And this is my prayer: that your love may increase ever more and more in knowledge and every kind of perception,(F) 10 to discern what is of value, so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,(G) 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.(H)
II. Progress of the Gospel[f]
12 (I)I want you to know, brothers, that my situation has turned out rather to advance the gospel, 13 so that my imprisonment has become well known in Christ throughout the whole praetorium[g] and to all the rest,(J) 14 [h]and so that the majority of the brothers, having taken encouragement in the Lord from my imprisonment, dare more than ever to proclaim the word fearlessly.
15 Of course, some preach Christ from envy and rivalry, others from good will. 16 The latter act out of love, aware that I am here for the defense of the gospel; 17 the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not from pure motives, thinking that they will cause me trouble in my imprisonment. 18 What difference does it make, as long as in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is being proclaimed?(K) And in that I rejoice.[i]
Indeed I shall continue to rejoice, 19 [j]for I know that this will result in deliverance for me[k] through your prayers and support from the Spirit of Jesus Christ.(L) 20 My eager expectation and hope is that I shall not be put to shame in any way, but that with all boldness, now as always, Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.(M) 21 For to me life is Christ, and death is gain.(N) 22 If I go on living in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. And I do not know which I shall choose.(O) 23 I am caught between the two. I long to depart this life and be with Christ, [for] that is far better.(P) 24 Yet that I remain [in] the flesh is more necessary for your benefit. 25 And this I know with confidence, that I shall remain and continue in the service of all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that your boasting in Christ Jesus may abound on account of me when I come to you again.
III. Instructions for the Community
Steadfastness in Faith.[l] 27 Only, conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear news of you, that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind struggling together for the faith of the gospel,(Q) 28 not intimidated in any way by your opponents. This is proof to them of destruction, but of your salvation. And this is God’s doing. 29 For to you has been granted, for the sake of Christ, not only to believe in him but also to suffer for him.(R) 30 Yours is the same struggle(S) as you saw in me and now hear about me.[m]
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.