Old/New Testament
The Lord Will Judge Tyre
23 This is an oracle[a] about Tyre:
Wail, you large ships,[b]
for the port is too devastated to enter![c]
From the land of Cyprus[d] this news is announced to them.
2 Lament,[e] you residents of the coast,
you merchants of Sidon who travel over the sea,
whose agents sail over 3 the deep waters.[f]
Grain from the Shihor region,[g]
crops grown near the Nile[h] she receives;[i]
she is the trade center[j] of the nations.
4 Be ashamed, O Sidon,
for the sea[k] says this, O fortress of the sea:
“I have not gone into labor
or given birth;
I have not raised young men
or brought up young women.”[l]
5 When the news reaches Egypt,
they will be shaken by what has happened to Tyre.[m]
6 Travel to Tarshish!
Wail, you residents of the coast!
7 Is this really your boisterous city[n]
whose origins are in the distant past,[o]
and whose feet led her to a distant land to reside?
8 Who planned this for royal Tyre,[p]
whose merchants are princes,
whose traders are the dignitaries[q] of the earth?
9 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies planned it—
to dishonor the pride that comes from all her beauty,[r]
to humiliate all the dignitaries of the earth.
10 Daughter Tarshish, travel back to your land, as one crosses the Nile;
there is no longer any marketplace in Tyre.[s]
11 The Lord stretched out his hand over the sea,[t]
he shook kingdoms;
he[u] gave the order
to destroy Canaan’s fortresses.[v]
12 He said,
“You will no longer celebrate,
oppressed[w] virgin daughter Sidon!
Get up, travel to Cyprus,
but you will find no relief there.”[x]
13 Look at the land of the Chaldeans,
these people who have lost their identity![y]
The Assyrians have made it a home for wild animals.
They erected their siege towers,[z]
demolished[aa] its fortresses,
and turned it into a heap of ruins.[ab]
14 Wail, you large ships,[ac]
for your fortress is destroyed!
15 At that time[ad] Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years,[ae] the typical life span of a king.[af] At the end of seventy years Tyre will try to attract attention again, like the prostitute in the popular song:[ag]
16 “Take the harp,
go through the city,
forgotten prostitute!
Play it well,
play lots of songs,
so you’ll be noticed.”[ah]
17 At the end of seventy years[ai] the Lord will revive[aj] Tyre. She will start making money again by selling her services to all the earth’s kingdoms.[ak] 18 Her profits and earnings will be set apart for the Lord. They will not be stored up or accumulated, for her profits will be given to those who live in the Lord’s presence and will be used to purchase large quantities of food and beautiful clothes.[al]
The Lord Will Judge the Earth
24 Look, the Lord is ready to devastate the earth
and leave it in ruins;
he will mar its surface
and scatter its inhabitants.
2 Everyone will suffer—the priest as well as the people,[am]
the master as well as the servant,[an]
the elegant lady as well as the female attendant,[ao]
the seller as well as the buyer,[ap]
the borrower as well as the lender,[aq]
the creditor as well as the debtor.[ar]
3 The earth will be completely devastated
and thoroughly ransacked.
For the Lord has decreed this judgment.[as]
4 The earth[at] dries up[au] and withers,
the world shrivels up and withers;
the prominent people of the earth[av] fade away.
5 The earth is defiled by[aw] its inhabitants,[ax]
for they have violated laws,
disregarded the regulation,[ay]
and broken the permanent treaty.[az]
6 So a treaty curse[ba] devours the earth;
its inhabitants pay for their guilt.[bb]
This is why the inhabitants of the earth disappear,[bc]
and are reduced to just a handful of people.[bd]
7 The new wine dries up,
the vines shrivel up,
all those who like to celebrate[be] groan.
8 The happy sound[bf] of the tambourines stops,
the revelry of those who celebrate comes to a halt,
the happy sound of the harp ceases.
9 They no longer sing and drink wine;[bg]
the beer tastes bitter to those who drink it.
10 The ruined town[bh] is shattered;
all the houses are shut up tight.[bi]
11 They howl in the streets because of what happened to the wine;[bj]
all joy turns to sorrow;[bk]
celebrations disappear from the earth.[bl]
12 The city is left in ruins;[bm]
the gate is reduced to rubble.[bn]
13 This is what will happen throughout[bo] the earth,
among the nations.
It will be like when they beat an olive tree,
and just a few olives are left at the end of the harvest.[bp]
14 They[bq] lift their voices and shout joyfully;
they praise[br] the majesty of the Lord in the west.
15 So in the east[bs] extol the Lord,
along the seacoasts extol[bt] the fame[bu] of the Lord God of Israel.
16 From the ends of the earth we[bv] hear songs—
the Just One is majestic.[bw]
But I[bx] say, “I’m wasting away! I’m wasting away! I’m doomed!
Deceivers deceive, deceivers thoroughly deceive!”[by]
17 Terror, pit, and snare
are ready to overtake, you inhabitants of the earth![bz]
18 The one who runs away from the sound of the terror
will fall into the pit;[ca]
the one who climbs out of the pit
will be trapped by the snare.
For the floodgates of the heavens[cb] are opened up[cc]
and the foundations of the earth shake.
19 The earth is broken in pieces,
the earth is ripped to shreds,
the earth shakes violently.[cd]
20 The earth will stagger around[ce] like a drunk;
it will sway back and forth like a hut in a windstorm.[cf]
Its sin will weigh it down,
and it will fall and never get up again.
The Lord Will Become King
21 At that time[cg] the Lord will punish[ch]
the heavenly forces in the heavens[ci]
and the earthly kings on the earth.
22 They will be imprisoned in a pit,[cj]
locked up in a prison,
and after staying there for a long time,[ck] they will be punished.[cl]
23 The full moon will be covered up,[cm]
the bright sun[cn] will be darkened;[co]
for the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will rule[cp]
on Mount Zion in Jerusalem
in the presence of his assembly, in majestic splendor.[cq]
25 O Lord, you are my God![cr]
I will exalt you in praise, I will extol your fame.[cs]
For you have done extraordinary things,
and executed plans made long ago exactly as you decreed.[ct]
2 Indeed,[cu] you have made the city[cv] into a heap of rubble,
the fortified town into a heap of ruins;
the fortress of foreigners[cw] is no longer a city,
it will never be rebuilt.
3 So a strong nation will extol you;
the towns of[cx] powerful nations will fear you.
4 For you are a protector for the poor,
a protector for the needy in their distress,
a shelter from the rainstorm,
a shade from the heat.
Though the breath of tyrants[cy] is like a winter rainstorm,[cz]
5 like heat[da] in a dry land,
you humble the boasting foreigners.[db]
Just as the shadow of a cloud causes the heat to subside,[dc]
so he causes the song of tyrants to cease.[dd]
6 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies will hold a banquet for all the nations on this mountain.[de]
At this banquet there will be plenty of meat and aged wine—
tender meat and choicest wine.[df]
7 On this mountain he will swallow up
the shroud that is over all the peoples,[dg]
the woven covering that is over all the nations;[dh]
8 he will swallow up death permanently.[di]
The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from every face,
and remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth.
Indeed, the Lord has announced it![dj]
9 At that time they will say,[dk]
“Look, here[dl] is our God!
We waited for him, and he delivered us.
Here[dm] is the Lord! We waited for him.
Let’s rejoice and celebrate his deliverance!”
10 For the Lord’s power will make this mountain secure.[dn]
Moab will be trampled down where it stands,[do]
as a heap of straw is trampled down in[dp] a manure pile.
11 Moab[dq] will spread out its hands in the middle of it,[dr]
just as a swimmer spreads his hands to swim;
the Lord[ds] will bring down Moab’s[dt] pride as it spreads its hands.[du]
12 The fortified city (along with the very tops of your[dv] walls)[dw] he will knock down,
he will bring it down, he will throw it down to the dusty ground.[dx]
Salutation
1 From Paul[a] and Timothy, slaves[b] of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the overseers[c] and deacons. 2 Grace and peace to you[d] from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
Prayer for the Church
3 I thank my God every time I remember you.[e] 4 I always pray with joy in my every prayer for all of you 5 because of your participation[f] in the gospel from the first day until now.[g] 6 For I am sure of this very thing,[h] that the one[i] who began a good work in[j] you will perfect it[k] until the day of Christ Jesus. 7 For[l] it is right for me to think this about all of you, because I have you in my heart,[m] since both in my imprisonment[n] and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel all of you became partners in God’s grace[o] together with me. 8 For God is my witness that I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And I pray this, that your love may abound even more and more in knowledge and every kind of insight 10 so that you can decide what is best, and thus be sincere and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.
Ministry as a Prisoner
12 I want you to know, brothers and sisters,[p] that my situation has actually turned out to advance the gospel:[q] 13 The[r] whole imperial guard[s] and everyone else knows[t] that I am in prison[u] for the sake of Christ, 14 and most of the brothers and sisters,[v] having confidence in the Lord[w] because of my imprisonment, now more than ever[x] dare to speak the word[y] fearlessly.
15 Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from goodwill. 16 The latter do so from love because they know that I am placed here for the defense of the gospel. 17 The former proclaim Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, because they think they can cause trouble for me in my imprisonment.[z] 18 What is the result? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is being proclaimed, and in this I rejoice.
Yes,[aa] and I will continue to rejoice, 19 for I know that this will turn out for my deliverance[ab] through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. 20 My confident hope[ac] is that I will in no way be ashamed[ad] but that with complete boldness, even now as always, Christ will be exalted in my body, whether I live or die.[ae] 21 For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. 22 Now if I am to go on living in the body,[af] this will mean productive work[ag] for me, yet I don’t know which I prefer:[ah] 23 I feel torn between the two,[ai] because I have a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far, 24 but it is more vital for your sake that I remain[aj] in the body.[ak] 25 And since I am sure of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for the sake of your progress[al] and joy in the faith,[am] 26 so that what you can be proud of may increase[an] because of me in Christ Jesus, when I come back to you.[ao]
27 Only conduct yourselves[ap] in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ so that—whether I come and see you or whether I remain absent—I should hear that[aq] you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind, by contending side by side for the faith of the gospel,[ar] 28 and by not being intimidated in any way by your opponents. This is[as] a sign of their[at] destruction, but of your salvation—a sign which[au] is from God. 29 For it has been granted to you[av] not only to believe in Christ but also to suffer for him, 30 since you are encountering[aw] the same conflict that you saw me face and now hear that I am facing.[ax]
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