Old/New Testament
God’s Message to Lebanon
23 This is a message about Tyre:
You trading ships, cry!
The houses and harbor of Tyre are destroyed.
This news came to the ships
from the land of Cyprus.
2 Be silent, you who live on the island of Tyre;
you merchants of Sidon, be silent.
Sailors have made you rich.
3 They traveled the sea to bring grain from Egypt;
the sailors of Tyre brought grain from the Nile Valley
and sold it to other nations.
4 Sidon, be ashamed.
Strong city of the sea, be ashamed, because the sea says:
“I have not felt the pain of giving birth;
I have not reared young men or women.”
5 Egypt will hear the news about Tyre,
and it will make Egypt hurt with sorrow.
6 You ships should return to Tarshish.
You people living near the sea should be sad.
7 Look at your once happy city!
Look at your old, old city!
People from that city have traveled
far away to live.
8 Who planned Tyre’s destruction?
Tyre made others rich.
Its merchants were treated like princes,
and its traders were greatly respected.
9 It was the Lord All-Powerful who planned this.
He decided to make these proud people unimportant;
he decided to disgrace those who were greatly respected.
10 Go through your land, people of Tarshish,
like the Nile goes through Egypt.
There is no harbor for you now!
11 The Lord has stretched his hand over the sea
and made its kingdoms tremble.
He commands that Canaan’s
strong, walled cities be destroyed.
12 He said, “Sidon, you will not rejoice any longer,
because you are destroyed.
Even if you cross the sea to Cyprus,
you will not find a place to rest.”
13 Look at the land of the Babylonians;
it is not a country now.
Assyria has made it a place for wild animals.
Assyria built towers to attack it;
the soldiers took all the treasures from its cities,
and they turned it into ruins.
14 So be sad, you trading ships,
because your strong city is destroyed.
15 At that time people will forget about Tyre for seventy years, which is the length of a king’s life. After seventy years, Tyre will be like the prostitute in this song:
16 “Oh woman, you are forgotten.
Take your harp and walk through the city.
Play your harp well. Sing your song often.
Then people will remember you.”
17 After seventy years the Lord will deal with Tyre, and it will again have trade. It will be like a prostitute for all the nations of the earth. 18 The profits will be saved for the Lord. Tyre will not keep the money she earns but will give them to the people who serve the Lord, so they will have plenty of food and nice clothes.
The Lord Will Punish the World
24 Look! The Lord will destroy the earth and leave it empty;
he will ruin the surface of the land and scatter its people.
2 At that time the same thing will happen to everyone:
to common people and priests,
to slaves and masters,
to women slaves and their women masters,
to buyers and sellers,
to those who borrow and those who lend,
to bankers and those who owe the bank.
3 The earth will be completely empty.
The wealth will all be taken,
because the Lord has commanded it.
4 The earth will dry up and die;
the world will grow weak and die;
the great leaders in this land will become weak.
5 The people of the earth have ruined it,
because they do not follow God’s teachings
or obey God’s laws
or keep their agreement with God that was to last forever.
6 So a curse will destroy the earth.
The people of the world are guilty,
so they will be burned up;
only a few will be left.
7 The new wine will be bad, and the grapevines will die.
People who were happy will be sad.
8 The happy music of the tambourines will end.
The happy sounds of wild parties will stop.
The joyful music from the harps will end.
9 People will no longer sing while they drink their wine.
The beer will taste bitter to those who drink it.
10 The ruined city will be empty,
and people will hide behind closed doors.
11 People in the streets will ask for wine,
but joy will have turned to sadness;
all the happiness will have left.
12 The city will be left in ruins,
and its gates will be smashed to pieces.
13 This is what will happen all over the earth
and to all the nations.
The earth will be like an olive tree after the harvest
or like the few grapes left on a vine after harvest.
14 The people shout for joy.
From the west they praise the greatness of the Lord.
15 People in the east, praise the Lord.
People in the islands of the sea,
praise the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
16 We hear songs from every part of the earth
praising God, the Righteous One.
But I said, “I am dying! I am dying!
How terrible it will be for me!
Traitors turn against people;
with their dishonesty, they turn against people.”
17 There are terrors, holes, and traps
for the people of the earth.
18 Anyone who tries to escape from the sound of terror
will fall into a hole.
Anyone who climbs out of the hole
will be caught in a trap.
The clouds in the sky will pour out rain,
and the foundations of the earth will shake.
19 The earth will be broken up;
the earth will split open;
the earth will shake violently.
20 The earth will stumble around like someone who is drunk;
it will shake like a hut in a storm.
Its sin is like a heavy weight on its back;
it will fall and never rise again.
21 At that time the Lord will punish
the powers in the sky above
and the rulers on earth below.
22 They will be gathered together
like prisoners thrown into a dungeon;
they will be shut up in prison.
After much time they will be punished.
23 The moon will be embarrassed,
and the sun will be ashamed,
because the Lord All-Powerful will rule as king
on Mount Zion in Jerusalem.
Jerusalem’s leaders will see his greatness.
A Song of Praise to God
25 Lord, you are my God.
I honor you and praise you,
because you have done amazing things.
You have always done what you said you would do;
you have done what you planned long ago.
2 You have made the city a pile of rocks
and have destroyed her walls.
The city our enemies built with strong walls is gone;
it will never be built again.
3 People from powerful nations will honor you;
cruel people from strong cities will fear you.
4 You protect the poor;
you protect the helpless when they are in danger.
You are like a shelter from storms,
like shade that protects them from the heat.
The cruel people attack
like a rainstorm beating against the wall,
5 like the heat in the desert.
But you, God, stop their violent attack.
As a cloud cools a hot day,
you silence the songs of those who have no mercy.
God’s Banquet for His Servants
6 The Lord All-Powerful will prepare a feast
on this mountain for all people.
It will be a feast with all the best food and wine,
the finest meat and wine.
7 On this mountain God will destroy
the veil that covers all nations,
the veil that stretches over all peoples;
8 he will destroy death forever.
The Lord God will wipe away every tear from every face.
He will take away the shame of his people from the earth.
The Lord has spoken.
9 At that time people will say,
“Our God is doing this!
We have waited for him, and he has come to save us.
This is the Lord. We waited for him,
so we will rejoice and be happy when he saves us.”
10 The Lord will protect Jerusalem,
but he will crush our enemy Moab
like straw that is trampled down in the manure.
11 They will spread their arms in it
like a person who is swimming.
But God will bring down their pride,
and all the clever things they have made will mean nothing.
12 Moab’s high walls protect them,
but God will destroy these walls.
He will throw them down to the ground,
even to the dust.
1 From Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus.
To all of God’s holy people in Christ Jesus who live in Philippi, including your overseers and deacons:
2 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul’s Prayer
3 I thank my God every time I remember you, 4 always praying with joy for all of you. 5 I thank God for the help you gave me while I preached the Good News—help you gave from the first day you believed until now. 6 God began doing a good work in you, and I am sure he will continue it until it is finished when Jesus Christ comes again.
7 And I know that I am right to think like this about all of you, because I have you in my heart. All of you share in God’s grace with me while I am in prison and while I am defending and proving the truth of the Good News. 8 God knows that I want to see you very much, because I love all of you with the love of Christ Jesus.
9 This is my prayer for you: that your love will grow more and more; that you will have knowledge and understanding with your love; 10 that you will see the difference between good and bad and will choose the good; that you will be pure and without wrong for the coming of Christ; 11 that you will be filled with the good things produced in your life by Christ to bring glory and praise to God.
Paul’s Troubles Help the Work
12 I want you brothers and sisters to know that what has happened to me has helped to spread the Good News. 13 All the palace guards and everyone else knows that I am in prison because I am a believer in Christ. 14 Because I am in prison, most of the believers have become more bold in Christ and are not afraid to speak the word of God.
15 It is true that some preach about Christ because they are jealous and ambitious, but others preach about Christ because they want to help. 16 They preach because they have love, and they know that God gave me the work of defending the Good News. 17 But the others preach about Christ for selfish and wrong reasons, wanting to make trouble for me in prison.
18 But it doesn’t matter. The important thing is that in every way, whether for right or wrong reasons, they are preaching about Christ. So I am happy, and I will continue to be happy. 19 Because you are praying for me and the Spirit of Jesus Christ is helping me, I know this trouble will bring my freedom. 20 I expect and hope that I will not fail Christ in anything but that I will have the courage now, as always, to show the greatness of Christ in my life here on earth, whether I live or die. 21 To me the only important thing about living is Christ, and dying would be profit for me. 22 If I continue living in my body, I will be able to work for the Lord. I do not know what to choose—living or dying. 23 It is hard to choose between the two. I want to leave this life and be with Christ, which is much better, 24 but you need me here in my body. 25 Since I am sure of this, I know I will stay with you to help you grow and have joy in your faith. 26 You will be very happy in Christ Jesus when I am with you again.
27 Only one thing concerns me: Be sure that you live in a way that brings honor to the Good News of Christ. Then whether I come and visit you or am away from you, I will hear that you are standing strong with one purpose, that you work together as one for the faith of the Good News, 28 and that you are not afraid of those who are against you. All of this is proof that your enemies will be destroyed but that you will be saved by God. 29 God gave you the honor not only of believing in Christ but also of suffering for him, both of which bring glory to Christ. 30 When I was with you, you saw the struggles I had, and you hear about the struggles I am having now. You yourselves are having the same kind of struggles.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.