Old/New Testament
The Lord, Zion’s Defender[a]
Chapter 34
The End of Edom
1 Draw near, you nations, and listen;
pay attention, you peoples.
Let the earth and everything in it listen,
the world and all that issues forth from it.
2 For the Lord is angry with all the nations
and enraged against all their armies;
he has decreed their doom
and given them over to slaughter.
3 Their slain will be cast out,
and their corpses will emit a stench;
the mountains will flow with their blood.
4 All the host of heaven will crumble into nothing,
and the heavens will be rolled up like a scroll.
All their host will wither away
as the leaves wither on a vine
or as the fruit withers on a fig tree.
5 When my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens,
lo, it will descend upon Edom,
upon a people I have doomed to destruction.
6 The Lord has a sword sated with blood;
it is greasy with fat,
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 Wild oxen will also be struck down alongside them
as will the bullocks with the bulls.
Their land will be drenched with blood
and their soil will be greasy with fat.
8 For the Lord has a day of vengeance,
a year of reprisal by Zion’s defenders.
9 The streams of Edom will be turned into pitch
and her soil into sulfur;
her land will become burning pitch.[b]
10 Night or day it will never be quenched;
its smoke will rise forever.
From generation to generation it will lie waste;
never again will anyone pass through it.
11 But the hawk and the hedgehog will possess it;
the owl and the raven will dwell in it.
The Lord will stretch out over it
the measuring line of chaos
and the plumb line of desolation.
12 There will be no more nobles there
to proclaim the king;
all of its princes will have vanished.
13 Its citadels will be overgrown with thorns,
and nettles and briars will cover its fortresses.
It will become an abode for jackals
and a haunt for ostriches.
14 Desert creatures will frolic with hyenas,
and wild goats will call out to each other;
there, too, the nightjar will return to rest
and find a place for repose.
15 There will the owl nest and lay eggs,
and hatch and gather its young under her wings;
there, too, the buzzards will gather,
each one with its mate.
16 Consult the book[c] of the Lord and read it.
Not one of these will be missing,
not one will be without its mate.
For the mouth of the Lord has commanded this,
and his Spirit has gathered them together.
17 He has allotted the portion for each;
his hand has measured out their shares.
They will possess it forever
and dwell there from generation to generation.
Chapter 35
God’s Judgment and Promise[d]
1 The desert and the parched land will be glad.
The wilderness will rejoice and blossom.
2 Like the crocus it will bloom with abundant flowers
and rejoice with songs of joy.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,
the splendor of Carmel and Sharon.
They will behold the glory of the Lord,
the splendor of our God.
3 Strengthen the hands that are weak,
and make firm the knees that give way.
4 Say to those who are faint-hearted,
“Be strong! Do not be afraid!
Here is your God;
he will come with vengeance.
With divine retribution
he is coming to save you.”
5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened
and the ears of the deaf will no longer be sealed.
6 Then the lame will leap like a stag
and the tongue of the dumb will shout joyfully.
For waters will spring up in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.
7 The burning sand will evolve into a pool,
and the thirsty ground will become springs of water.
The haunts where jackals used to live
will bring forth grass and reeds and papyrus.
8 A highway will be there
that will be called the Way of Holiness.
No one who is unclean may pass over it;
it will serve as a path for pilgrims
and no fool will be able to use it.
9 No lion will be there;
no ravenous beast will be encountered along it.
Such animals will not be seen there;
only the redeemed will be allowed to use it.
10 Those whom the Lord has ransomed will return
and come to Zion with songs of happiness,
their heads crowned with everlasting joy.
Gladness and joy will accompany them,
while sorrow and mourning will flee away.
Historical Appendix[e]
Chapter 36
Sennacherib’s Challenge.[f] 1 In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah’s reign, King Sennacherib of Assyria attacked all the fortified towns of Judah and captured them. 2 From Lachish the king of Assyria sent his chief officer to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem with a great army. When the chief officer took up his position near the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Fuller’s Field 3 there came out to meet him Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was master of the palace, as well as Shebna the secretary, and the recorder Joah, son of Asaph.
4 The chief officer said to them, “Tell King Hezekiah: This is the message of the great king, the king of Assyria. On what do you base this great confidence of yours? 5 Do you think that mere words can overcome strategy and military strength? On whom are you relying for help that you dare to rebel against me? 6 This Egypt, the staff on whom you rely, is a broken reed that will pierce the hand of anyone who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely upon him. 7 And if you say to me that you are relying on the Lord, your God, is he not the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, commanding Judah and Jerusalem to worship at this altar?
8 “Now I challenge you to make a wager with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you two thousand horses if you can find riders for them. 9 But how could you repulse even a single one of my master’s soldiers, even though you are depending upon Egypt for chariots and horsemen? 10 Moreover, do you believe that I have come to attack this land and destroy it without the consent of the Lord? The Lord himself said to me, ‘Go forth against this land and destroy it.’ ”
11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the chief officer, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic,[g] for we understand it. Do not speak to us in Judean within earshot of the people on the ramparts.” 12 The chief officer replied, “Has my master sent me here to speak these words only to your master and to you, and not also to the people sitting on the wall who along with you will be doomed to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”
13 Then the chief officer stood up and shouted loudly in the Judean language, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria. 14 Thus says the king: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. 15 Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to rely on the Lord by saying, ‘The Lord will surely deliver us. This city will not fall into the power of the king of Assyria.’ 16 Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria, ‘Make peace with me and surrender. Then each of you will be free to eat the fruit of his own vine and drink the water of his own cistern 17 until I come to take you to a land like your own, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18 Do not let Hezekiah mislead you by saying that the Lord will save you. Have any of the gods of the nations saved their lands from the power of the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria from my clutches?[h] 20 Which of all the gods of these countries has saved his country from my hand? Will the Lord then save Jerusalem from my power?’ ”
21 However, the people remained silent and did not respond with even a single word, for the king had ordered them not to reply to him. 22 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was the master of the palace, and Shebna the secretary, and the recorder Joah son of Asaph, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and reported the words of the chief officer.
Chapter 2
Closely United in Love.[a] 1 I want you to realize how greatly I am struggling for you as well as for those in Laodicea[b] and all the others who have never seen me face to face. 2 I want their hearts to be encouraged and united in love so that they may grow rich in their complete understanding as they come to the knowledge of the mystery of God, that is, Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
4 I am telling you all this so that no one may deceive you with deceptive arguments. 5 Even if I am not physically present to you, I am with you in spirit, and I rejoice to see your unity and the resolute firmness of your faith in Christ.
Instruction about Errors That Are Circulating
Walk in Christ.[c] 6 Therefore, just as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to walk in him. 7 Be rooted and built up in him, and remain established in the faith as you were taught, overflowing with thanksgiving. 8 Make sure that no one leads you astray with an empty and deceitful philosophy that depends on human tradition[d] and worldly principles, and not on Christ.
God Has Given You Life in Christ. 9 For it is in him that the entire fullness of deity dwells in bodily form,[e] 10 and you share this fullness in him who is the head of every ruler and power. 11 In him also you were circumcised, not with a physical circumcision but with a spiritual stripping away of the old nature with the circumcision of Christ.
12 When you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God who raised him from the dead. 13 And even when you were dead in your sins and your flesh was uncircumcised, God gave you new life along with him. He has forgiven us all our sins, 14 erasing the record against us[f] with its decrees that are hostile to us. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 Disarming the rulers and powers, he made a public spectacle of them, parading them in his triumphal procession.
16 The Reality Is Christ.[g] Therefore, do not allow anyone to pass judgment on you in regard to what you eat or drink, or about the observance of Festivals, New Moons, or Sabbaths.[h] 17 These are only a shadow of what is to come. The reality is Christ.
18 Do not allow yourself to be declared disqualified by those who revel in false humility and worship angels and visions, their vanity foolishly inflated by a human way of thinking. 19 They are not united with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, achieves the growth that comes from God.
20 Since you died with Christ to the elemental principles of this world, why are you living in the world as if you were subject to it? 21 “Do not handle!” “Do not taste!” “Do not touch!” 22 All this refers to things that perish as they are used. They are simply human commands and teachings. 23 Rules of this type indeed appear to be wise in promoting self-imposed piety, false humility, and harsh treatment of the body, but they are of no value in combating the flesh.
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