An Oracle Concerning Damascus
1 An soracle concerning tDamascus.
Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city
and will become a heap of ruins.
2 The cities of uAroer are deserted;
they will be for flocks,
which will lie down, and vnone will make them afraid.
3 The fortress will disappear from wEphraim,
and the kingdom from wDamascus;
and the remnant of Syria will be
like xthe glory of the children of Israel,
declares the Lord of hosts.
4 And in that day xthe glory of Jacob will be brought low,
and ythe fat of his flesh will grow lean.
5 And it shall be zas when the reaper gathers standing grain
and his arm harvests the ears,
and as when one gleans the ears of grain
in athe Valley of Rephaim.
6 bGleanings will be left in it,
as when an olive tree is beaten—
two or three berries
in the top of the highest bough,
four or five
on the branches of a fruit tree,
declares the Lord God of Israel.
7 cIn that day man will look to his Maker, and his eyes will look on the Holy One of Israel. 8 dHe will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, and he will not look on what his own fingers have made, either the eAsherim or the altars of incense.
9 fIn that day their strong cities will be like the deserted places of the wooded heights and the hilltops, which they deserted because of the children of Israel, and there will be desolation.
10 For gyou have forgotten the God of your salvation
and have not remembered the hRock of your refuge;
therefore, though you plant pleasant plants
and sow the vine-branch of a stranger,
11 though you make them grow1 on the day that you plant them,
and make them blossom in the morning that you sow,
yet the harvest will flee away2
in a day of grief and incurable pain.
12 Ah, ithe thunder of many peoples;
they thunder like the thundering of the sea!
Ah, the roar of nations;
they roar like the roaring of mighty waters!
13 jThe nations roar like the roaring of many waters,
kbut he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away,
chased llike chaff on the mountains before the wind
and mwhirling dust before the storm.
14 nAt evening time, behold, terror!
Before morning, they are no more!
This is the portion of those who loot us,
and the lot of those who plunder us.
An Oracle Concerning Cush
1 Ah, land of owhirring wings
that is beyond the rivers of pCush,3
2 which qsends ambassadors by the sea,
in vessels of papyrus on the waters!
Go, you swift messengers,
to a nation rtall and smooth,
to a people feared near and far,
a nation smighty and conquering,
whose land the rivers divide.
3 All you inhabitants of the world,
you who dwell on the earth,
when ta signal is raised on the mountains, look!
When a trumpet is blown, hear!
4 For thus the Lord said to me:
“I will quietly look ufrom my dwelling
like clear heat in sunshine,
like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”
5 vFor before the harvest, when the blossom is over,
and the flower becomes a ripening grape,
he cuts off the shoots with pruning hooks,
and the spreading branches he lops off and clears away.
6 vThey shall all of them be left
to the birds of prey of the mountains
and to the beasts of the earth.
And the birds of prey will summer on them,
and all the beasts of the earth will winter on them.
7 wAt that time tribute will be brought to the Lord of hosts
from a people xtall and smooth,
from a people feared near and far,
a nation mighty and conquering,
whose land the rivers divide,
to yMount Zion, the place of the zname of the Lord of hosts.
An Oracle Concerning Egypt
1 An aoracle concerning bEgypt.
Behold, the Lord cis riding on a swift cloud
and comes to Egypt;
and dthe idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence,
and the heart of the Egyptians will emelt within them.
2 And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians,
fand they will fight, each against another
and each against his neighbor,
city against city, kingdom against kingdom;
3 and the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out,
and I will confound4 their gcounsel;
and they will inquire of the idols and the sorcerers,
and hthe mediums and the necromancers;
4 and I will give over the Egyptians
into the hand of ia hard master,
and a fierce king will rule over them,
declares the Lord God of hosts.
5 And the waters of the sea will be dried up,
and the river will be dry and parched,
6 and its canals will become foul,
and the branches of Egypt’s Nile will diminish and dry up,
reeds and rushes will rot away.
7 There will be bare places by the Nile,
on the brink of the Nile,
and all that is sown by the Nile will be parched,
will be driven away, and will be no more.
8 The jfishermen will mourn and lament,
all who cast a hook in the Nile;
and they will languish
who spread nets on the water.
9 The workers in kcombed flax will be in despair,
and the weavers of white cotton.
10 Those who are the lpillars of the land will be crushed,
and all who mwork for pay will be grieved.
11 The princes of nZoan are utterly foolish;
the wisest counselors of Pharaoh give stupid counsel.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
“I am a son of the wise,
a son of ancient kings”?
12 Where then are your owise men?
Let them tell you
that they might know what the Lord of hosts has purposed against Egypt.
13 The princes of nZoan have become fools,
and the princes of pMemphis are deluded;
those who are the qcornerstones of her tribes
have made Egypt stagger.
14 The Lord has mingled within her ra spirit of confusion,
and they will make Egypt stagger in all its deeds,
sas a drunken man staggers in his vomit.
15 And there will be nothing for Egypt
that thead or tail, palm branch or reed, may do.
Egypt, Assyria, Israel Blessed
16 In that day the Egyptians will be ulike women, and vtremble with fear before the hand that the Lord of hosts shakes over them. 17 And the land of Judah will become a terror to the Egyptians. Everyone to whom it is mentioned will fear because of the purpose that the Lord of hosts has purposed against them.
18 wIn that day there will be xfive cities in the land of Egypt that yspeak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord of hosts. One of these will be called the City of Destruction.5
19 In that day there will be an zaltar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a apillar to the Lord at its border. 20 aIt will be a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry to the Lord because of oppressors, bhe will send them a savior and defender, and deliver them. 21 cAnd the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day dand worship with sacrifice and offering, and they will make vows to the Lord and perform them. 22 eAnd the Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing, and they will return to the Lord, and he will listen to their pleas for mercy and heal them.
23 fIn that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, gand the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.
24 In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, ha blessing in the midst of the earth, 25 whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt imy people, and Assyria jthe work of my hands, and kIsrael my inheritance.”
Unity in the Body of Christ
1 I therefore, ma prisoner for the Lord, urge you to nwalk in a manner worthy of othe calling to which you have been called, 2 with all phumility and qgentleness, with rpatience, sbearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in tthe bond of peace. 4 There is uone body and vone Spirit—just as you were called to the one whope that belongs to your call— 5 xone Lord, yone faith, zone baptism, 6 aone God and Father of all, bwho is over all and through all and in all. 7 But cgrace was given dto each one of us eaccording to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it says,
f“When he ascended on high ghe led a host of captives,
and he gave gifts to men.”1
9 (hIn saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into ithe lower regions, the earth?2 10 He who descended is the one who also jascended kfar above all the heavens, that he might lfill all things.) 11 And mhe gave the napostles, the prophets, the oevangelists, the pshepherds3 and teachers,4 12 qto equip the saints for the work of ministry, for rbuilding up sthe body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to tthe unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, uto mature manhood,5 to the measure of the stature of vthe fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, wtossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in xdeceitful schemes. 15 Rather, yspeaking the truth in love, we are to zgrow up in every way into him who is athe head, into Christ, 16 bfrom whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, cwhen each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
The New Life
17 Now this I say and dtestify in the Lord, ethat you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, fin the futility of their minds. 18 They gare darkened in their understanding, halienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to itheir hardness of heart. 19 They jhave become callous and khave given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you llearned Christ!— 21 assuming that myou have heard about him and nwere taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to oput off pyour old self,6 which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through qdeceitful desires, 23 and rto be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on sthe new self, tcreated after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you uspeak the truth with his neighbor, for vwe are members one of another. 26 wBe angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and xgive no opportunity to the devil. 28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather ylet him labor, zdoing honest work with his own hands, so athat he may have something to share with anyone in need. 29 bLet no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give cgrace to those who hear. 30 And ddo not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, eby whom you were sealed for the day of fredemption. 31 gLet all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 hBe kind to one another, tenderhearted, iforgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
