Old/New Testament
Judgment on the Nations
34 Come near, O nations, to hear;
and listen, O peoples!
Let the earth hear, and all that is in it,
the world, and all that comes from it.
2 For the indignation of the Lord is upon all nations
and His fury upon all their armies;
He has utterly destroyed them,
He has delivered them to the slaughter.
3 Their slain also shall be cast out,
and their corpses shall emit their stench,
and the mountains shall be drenched with their blood.
4 All the host of heaven shall be dissolved,
and the heavens shall be rolled together as a book;
and all their host shall fall down
as the leaf falls from the vine,
and as a falling fig from the fig tree.
5 For My sword is filled in heaven;
see, it shall come down for judgment on Edom,
and on the people whom I have devoted to destruction.
6 The sword of the Lord is filled with blood,
it is made full with fatness,
and with the blood of lambs and goats,
with the fat of the kidneys of rams.
For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah,
and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
7 The wild oxen shall also fall with them,
and the young bulls with the mighty bulls;
so their land shall be soaked with blood,
and their dust become greasy with fat.
8 For it is the day of the vengeance of the Lord,
and the year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
9 Its streams shall be turned into pitch,
and its dust into brimstone,
and its land shall become burning pitch.
10 It shall not be quenched night or day;
its smoke shall go up forever.
From generation to generation it shall lie waste;
no one shall pass through it forever and ever.
11 But the cormorant and the hedgehog shall possess it,
the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it.
And He shall stretch out on it
the line of desolation,
and the plumb line of emptiness.
12 They shall call its nobles to the kingdom, but no one shall be there,
and all her princes shall be nothing.
13 Thorns shall come up in her palaces,
nettles and brambles in the fortresses;
and it shall be a habitation of jackals
and a home for owls.
14 The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wolves,
and the wild goat shall cry to its kind;
the screech owl also shall rest there
and find for herself a place of rest.
15 There shall the tree snake make its nest and lay eggs,
and it shall hatch and gather them under its protection;
yes, there shall the vultures also be gathered,
every one with its kind.
16 Seek from the book of the Lord, and read.
Not one of these shall be missing,
not one shall lack its mate.
For His mouth has commanded,
and His Spirit has gathered them.
17 He has cast the lot for them,
and His hand has divided it to them by line.
They shall possess it forever,
from generation to generation they shall dwell in it.
The Future Glory of Zion
35 The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad,
and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose;
2 it shall blossom abundantly
and rejoice even with joy and singing.
The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
the excellency of Carmel and Sharon.
They shall see the glory of the Lord
and the excellency of our God.
3 Strengthen the weak hands,
and support the feeble knees.
4 Say to those who are of a fearful heart,
“Be strong, fear not.
Your God will come
with vengeance,
even God with a recompense;
He will come and save you.”
5 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped.
6 Then the lame man shall leap as a deer,
and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
For in the wilderness waters shall break out
and streams in the desert.
7 The parched ground shall become a pool,
and the thirsty land springs of water;
in the habitation of jackals where each lay,
there shall be grass with reeds and rushes.
8 A highway shall be there, a roadway,
and it shall be called the Highway of Holiness.
The unclean shall not pass on it,
but it shall be for the wayfaring men,
and fools shall not wander on it.
9 No lion shall be there,
nor any ravenous beast shall go up on it;
these shall not be found there,
but the redeemed shall walk there,
10 and the ransomed of the Lord shall return
and come to Zion with songs
and everlasting joy upon their heads.
They shall obtain joy and gladness,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Sennacherib Invades Judah(A)
36 Now it came to pass in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah that Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 2 The king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh[a] from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool in the highway of the fuller’s field. 3 Then Eliakim came to him, the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder.
4 The Rabshakeh said to them:
“Say now to Hezekiah: Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: What confidence is this that you have? 5 I say, Your counsel and strength for war are only empty words. Now on whom do you rely that you rebel against me? 6 You rely on the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him. 7 But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar’?
8 “Now therefore, come make a bargain with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. 9 How then will you turn away one captain of the least of my master’s servants and rely on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 10 Have I now come up without the approval of the Lord against this land to destroy it? The Lord said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.”
11 Then Eliakim and Shebna and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Speak now to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. And do not speak to us in Hebrew in the ears of the people who are on the wall.”
12 But the Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me only to your master and to you to speak these words? Has he not sent me to the men who sit on the wall, that they may eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?”
13 Then the Rabshakeh stood and cried out with a loud voice in Hebrew, and said, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. 14 Thus says the king, ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he shall not be able to deliver you; 15 nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, The Lord will surely deliver us. This city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria.’
16 “Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make your peace with me and come out to me, and eat every one of his vine and every one of his fig tree, and drink every one the waters of his own cistern, 17 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of corn and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
18 “ ‘Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, The Lord will deliver us. Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? And when have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? 20 Who are they among all the gods of these lands that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’ ”
21 But they held their peace, and answered him not a word, for the king’s commandment was, “Do not answer him.”
22 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.
2 I would like you to know what a great struggle I am having for you, and for those at Laodicea, and for everyone who has not seen my face in the flesh, 2 that their hearts may be comforted, being knit together in love, and receive all the riches and assurance of full understanding, and knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 Now this I say lest anyone beguile you with enticing words. 5 For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing and seeing your orderliness and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.
Fullness of Life in Christ
6 As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, 7 rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, and abounding with thanksgiving.
8 Beware lest anyone captivate you through philosophy and vain deceit, in the tradition of men and the elementary principles of the world, and not after Christ.
9 For in Him lives all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. 10 And you are complete in Him, who is the head of all authority and power. 11 In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 buried with Him in baptism, in which also you were raised with Him through the faith of the power of God, who has raised Him from the dead.
13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has resurrected together with Him, having forgiven you all sins. 14 He blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us and contrary to us, and He took it out of the way, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed authorities and powers, He made a show of them openly, triumphing over them by the cross.
16 Therefore let no one judge you regarding food, or drink, or in respect of a holy day or new moon or sabbath days. 17 These are shadows of things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Do not let anyone cheat you of your reward by delighting in false humility and the worship of angels, dwelling on those things which he has not seen, vainly arrogant due to his unspiritual mind, 19 and not supporting the head, from which the entire body, nourished and knit together by joints and sinews, grows as God gives the increase.
The New Life in Christ
20 Therefore, if you died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you subject yourself to legalistic rules? 21 “Do not touch! Do not taste! Do not handle!” 22 These all are to perish with use and are aligned with the commandments and doctrines of men. 23 These things have indeed a show of wisdom in self-imposed worship and humility and neglecting of the body, but are worthless against the indulgence of the flesh.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.