Old/New Testament
An Oracle Concerning Tyre
23 The oracle of Tyre.
Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
for Tyre is laid waste
so that there is no house or harbor;
from the land of Cyprus
it is reported to them.
2 Be still, you inhabitants of the coastland,
you merchants of Sidon;
your messengers passed over the sea,
3 and were on many waters;
the grain of the Nile,
the harvest of the River[a] was her revenue;
and she was the market of nations.
4 Be ashamed, O Sidon; for the sea has spoken,
even the stronghold of the sea, saying,
“I have not travailed nor brought forth children;
neither have I brought up young men nor raised virgins.”
5 When the report reaches Egypt,
they shall be sorely pained at the report of Tyre.
6 Pass over to Tarshish;
wail, O inhabitants of the coastland.
7 Is this your joyous city,
whose origin is from ancient days,
whose feet used to carry her
to sojourn in distant locations?
8 Who has planned this against Tyre,
the crowning city,
whose merchants are princes,
whose traffickers are the honorable of the earth?
9 The Lord of Hosts has purposed it,
to stain the pride of all glory
and to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth.
10 Pass through your land as the Nile,
O daughter of Tarshish;
there is no more restraint.
11 He stretched out His hand over the sea,
He shook the kingdoms;
the Lord has given a command against the merchant city,
to destroy its strongholds.
12 He said: You shall rejoice no more,
O oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon.
Arise, pass over to Cyprus;
there also you shall have no rest.
13 Look at the land of the Chaldeans;
this was a people who was not;
Assyria founded it
for those who dwell in the wilderness.
They set up their siege towers,
they stripped its palaces,
and brought it to ruin.
14 Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
for your stronghold is laid waste.
15 In that day Tyre shall be forgotten for seventy years, according to the days of one king. After the end of seventy years Tyre shall sing as a harlot:
16 Take your harp, go about the city,
O forgotten harlot;
make sweet melody, sing many songs,
that you may be remembered.
17 At the end of seventy years, the Lord will punish Tyre. Then she shall turn to her harlot’s wages and shall commit fornication with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. 18 Her merchandise and her harlot’s wages shall be set apart to the Lord. It shall not be treasured nor stored up, for her merchandise shall be for those who dwell before the Lord, to eat sufficiently, and for choice clothing.
Judgment on the Earth
24 Now the Lord makes the earth empty,
and makes it waste,
and turns it upside down,
and scatters its inhabitants abroad.
2 It shall be:
as with the people, so with the priest;
as with the servant, so with his master;
as with the maid, so with her mistress;
as with the buyer, so with the seller;
as with the lender, so with the borrower;
as with the creditor, so with the debtor.
3 The land shall be utterly emptied,
and utterly despoiled,
for the Lord has spoken this word.
4 The earth mourns and fades away,
the world languishes and fades away,
the haughty people of the earth languish.
5 The earth also is defiled by its inhabitants
because they have transgressed the laws,
violated the ordinances,
broken the everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore, the curse devours the earth,
and those who dwell in it are held guilty.
Therefore, the inhabitants of the earth are burned,
and few men are left.
7 The new wine fails, the vine languishes,
all the merry-hearted sigh.
8 The joy of tambourines ceases,
the noise of those who rejoice ends,
the joy of the harp ceases.
9 They shall not drink wine with song;
strong drink shall be bitter to those who drink it.
10 The city of confusion is broken down;
every house is shut up so that no one may come in.
11 There is an outcry for wine in the streets,
all joy is turned to gloom,
the joyfulness of the earth is gone.
12 Desolation is left in the city,
and the gate is battered to destruction.
13 For thus it shall be in the midst of the earth
among the peoples,
as the shaking of an olive tree,
and as the gleaning of grapes when the vintage is done.
14 They lift up their voices; they sing for the majesty of the Lord;
they cry aloud from the west.
15 Therefore glorify the Lord in the east,
even the name of the Lord God of Israel
in the coastlands of the sea.
16 From the uttermost part of the earth we hear songs,
that is, “Glory to the Righteous One.”
But I say, Woe to me! Woe to me!
Alas for me!
The treacherous deal treacherously;
indeed, the treacherous deal very treacherously.
17 Terror and the pit and the snare are upon you,
O inhabitant of the earth.
18 He who flees from the report of disaster
shall fall into the pit,
and he who comes up out of the midst of the pit
shall be taken in the snare.
For the windows from on high are open,
and the foundations of the earth shake.
19 The earth is utterly broken down,
the earth is split through,
the earth is shaken violently.
20 The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard,
and it totters like a shack,
and its transgression is heavy upon it,
and it shall fall, never to rise again.
21 In that day the Lord shall punish
the host of heaven on high
and the kings of the earth on the earth.
22 They shall be gathered together,
as prisoners are gathered in the dungeon,
and shall be shut up in the prison,
and after many days they shall be punished.
23 Then the moon shall be humiliated and the sun ashamed,
when the Lord of Hosts reigns
in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
and His glory shall be before His elders.
Praise to the Lord
25 O Lord, You are my God.
I will exalt You, I will praise Your name,
for You have done wonderful things;
Your plans formed of old
are faithfulness and truth.
2 For You have made a city into a heap,
a fortified city into a ruin;
a palace of strangers is a city no longer;
it shall never be built.
3 Therefore a strong people shall glorify You;
cities of ruthless nations shall fear You.
4 For You have been a defense to the poor,
a defense to the needy in his distress,
a refuge from the storm,
a shadow from the heat;
for the breath of the ruthless ones
is as a storm against the wall.
5 You bring down the noise of strangers,
as heat in drought;
as the heat by the shadow of a cloud,
the song of the ruthless ones shall be brought low.
6 In this mountain the Lord of Hosts shall prepare
for all people a lavish feast,
a feast of aged wines,
choice pieces full of marrow, and refined, aged wines.
7 He will destroy in this mountain
the covering which is over all peoples,
even the veil that is spread over all nations.
8 He will swallow up death for all time,
and the Lord God will wipe away tears
from all faces;
and the reproach of His people He shall take away
from all the earth,
for the Lord has spoken it.
9 It shall be said in that day:
Look, this is our God
for whom we have waited that He might save us.
This is the Lord for whom we have waited;
we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.
10 For in this mountain the hand of the Lord shall rest,
and Moab shall be trodden down in his place
as straw is trodden down in the water for the manure pile.
11 He shall spread out his hands in the midst of it,
as a swimmer spreads out his hands to swim,
yet the Lord shall bring down his pride
together with the trickery of his hands.
12 The unassailable fortresses of your walls
He shall bring down, lay low,
and bring to the ground,
even to the dust.
Salutation
1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Jesus Christ,
To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul’s Prayer for the Philippians
3 I thank my God for every reminder of you. 4 In every prayer of mine for you all, I have always made requests with joy, 5 due to your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ.
7 It is right for me to think this of you all because I have you in my heart, since both in my imprisonments and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all are fellow partakers of my grace. 8 For God is my witness, how I long after you all with the affection of Jesus Christ.
9 And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all discernment, 10 that you may approve things that are excellent so that you may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 being filled with the fruit of righteousness, which comes through Jesus Christ, for the glory and praise of God.
To Live Is Christ
12 But I want you to know, brothers, that the things which happened to me have resulted in advancing the gospel, 13 so that my imprisonments in Christ have become known throughout the entire palace guard and to all the rest. 14 And a great many of the brothers in the Lord, having become confident because of my incarcerations, have dared to speak the word without fear.
15 Some indeed are preaching Christ out of envy and strife, and some also from good will. 16 The former preach Christ out of contention, not sincerely, intending to add trouble to my circumstance. 17 But the latter preach out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel. 18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached. And in this I rejoice.
Indeed, I will rejoice. 19 For I know that through your prayer and the support of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will result in my deliverance. 20 Accordingly, it is my earnest expectation and my hope that I shall be ashamed in nothing, but that with all boldness as always, so now also, Christ will be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death. 21 For to me, to continue living is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor to me. Yet I do not know what I shall choose. 23 I am in a difficult position between the two, having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better. 24 Nevertheless, to remain in the flesh is more needful for your sake. 25 Having this confidence, I know that I shall remain and continue with you all for your joyful advancement of the faith, 26 so that your rejoicing for me may be more abundant in Jesus Christ when I am in your presence again.
27 Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, that whether or not I come and see you, I may hear of your activities, that you are standing fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. 28 Do not be frightened by your adversaries. This is a sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and this from God. 29 For to you it was granted on behalf of Christ not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, 30 having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear is in me.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.