Judgment on the Nations
1 Draw near, vO nations, to hear,
and give attention, O peoples!
Let the earth hear, and all that fills it;
the world, and all that comes from it.
2 For the Lord is enraged against all the nations,
and furious against all their host;
he has wdevoted them to destruction,1 has given them over for slaughter.
3 Their slain shall be cast out,
and xthe stench of their corpses shall rise;
ythe mountains shall flow with their blood.
4 zAll the host of heaven shall rot away,
and the skies roll up like a scroll.
All their host shall fall,
as leaves fall from the vine,
like leaves falling from the fig tree.
5 For my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens;
behold, it descends for judgment upon aEdom,
upon the people bI have devoted to destruction.
6 The Lord has a sword; it is sated with blood;
it is gorged with fat,
with the blood of lambs and goats,
with the fat of the kidneys of rams.
cFor the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah,
a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
7 dWild oxen shall efall with them,
and fyoung steers with fthe mighty bulls.
Their land shall drink its fill of blood,
and their soil shall be gorged with fat.
8 gFor the Lord has a day of vengeance,
a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
9 hAnd the streams of Edom2 shall be turned into pitch,
and her soil into sulfur;
her land shall become burning pitch.
10 Night and day iit shall not be quenched;
jits smoke shall go up forever.
kFrom generation to generation it shall lie waste;
none shall pass through it forever and ever.
11 lBut the hawk and the porcupine3 shall possess it,
the owl and the raven shall dwell in it.
mHe shall stretch the line of nconfusion4 over it,
and the plumb line of emptiness.
12 Its nobles—there is no one there to call it a kingdom,
and all its princes shall be nothing.
13 oThorns shall grow over its strongholds,
nettles and thistles in its fortresses.
It shall be the haunt of pjackals,
an abode for ostriches.5
14 qAnd wild animals shall meet with hyenas;
the wild goat shall cry to his fellow;
indeed, there the night bird6 settles
and finds for herself a resting place.
15 There the owl nests and lays
and hatches and gathers her young in her shadow;
indeed, there rthe hawks are gathered,
each one with her mate.
16 Seek and read from the book of the Lord:
Not one of these shall be missing;
none shall be without her mate.
For the mouth of the Lord has commanded,
and his Spirit has gathered them.
17 sHe has cast the lot for them;
his hand has portioned it out to them with the line;
they shall possess it forever;
from generation to generation they shall dwell in it.
The Ransomed Shall Return
1 tThe wilderness and the dry land shall be glad;
uthe desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus;
2 it shall blossom abundantly
and rejoice with joy and singing.
vThe glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
the majesty of wCarmel and xSharon.
yThey shall see the glory of the Lord,
the majesty of our God.
3 zStrengthen the weak hands,
and make firm the feeble knees.
4 Say to those who have an anxious heart,
“Be strong; fear not!
aBehold, your God
will come with vengeance,
with the recompense of God.
He will come and save you.”
5 bThen the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
6 bthen shall the lame man leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
cFor waters break forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert;
7 dthe burning sand shall become a pool,
and the thirsty ground springs of water;
in the haunt of ejackals, where they lie down,
the grass shall become reeds and rushes.
8 fAnd a highway shall be there,
and it shall be called the Way of Holiness;
gthe unclean shall not pass over it.
It shall belong to those who walk on the way;
even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.7
9 No lion shall be there,
nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;
they shall not be found there,
but the redeemed shall walk there.
10 hAnd the ransomed of the Lord shall return
and come to Zion with singing;
ieverlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Sennacherib Invades Judah
1 jIn the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, kSennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 2 lAnd the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh8 from mLachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem, with a great army. And he stood nby the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer’s Field. 3 And there came out to him oEliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and oShebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.
4 And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the pgreat king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? 5 Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me? 6 qBehold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. 7 But if you say to me, “We trust in the Lord our God,” is it not he rwhose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar”? 8 Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. 9 How then can you repulse sa single captain among the least of my master’s servants, when tyou trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 10 Moreover, is it without the Lord that I have come up against this land to destroy it? uThe Lord said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it.”’”
11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants vin Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 12 But the Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”
13 Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! 14 Thus says the king: w‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. 15 Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord by saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us. This city will not be given 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 me9 and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, 17 until xI come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18 Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you by saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 yWhere are the gods of zHamath and zArpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? aHave they delivered Samaria out of my hand? 20 bWho among all the gods of these lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”
21 But they were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s command was, “Do not answer him.” 22 cThen Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.
How Great Are Your Works
A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath.
1 fIt is good to give thanks to the Lord,
to sing praises to your name, gO Most High;
2 to declare your hsteadfast love in ithe morning,
and your hfaithfulness by inight,
3 to the music of jthe lute and jthe harp,
to the melody of jthe lyre.
4 For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your kwork;
at lthe works of your hands I sing for joy.
5 How mgreat are your works, O Lord!
Your nthoughts are very odeep!
6 The stupid man cannot know;
the fool cannot understand this:
7 that though pthe wicked sprout like grass
and all qevildoers flourish,
they are doomed to destruction forever;
8 but you, O Lord, are ron high forever.
9 For behold, your enemies, O Lord,
for behold, your enemies shall perish;
all evildoers shall be sscattered.
10 But you have exalted my thorn like that of uthe wild ox;
you have vpoured over me1 fresh oil.
11 My weyes have seen the downfall of my enemies;
my ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.
12 xThe righteous flourish like the palm tree
and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 They are planted in the house of the Lord;
they flourish in ythe courts of our God.
14 They still bear fruit in old age;
they are ever full of sap and green,
15 zto declare that the Lord is upright;
Timothy Joins Paul and Silas
1 Paul1 came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named zTimothy, athe son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. 2 He was well spoken of by bthe brothers2 at Lystra and Iconium. 3 Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he ctook him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. 4 As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance dthe decisions ethat had been reached by fthe apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. 5 gSo the churches were strengthened in hthe faith, and they increased in numbers idaily.
The Macedonian Call
6 And jthey went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. 7 And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but kthe Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. 8 So, passing by Mysia, they went down lto Troas. 9 And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 And when Paul3 had seen the vision, immediately mwe sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.
The Conversion of Lydia
11 So, setting sail from Troas, we nmade a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis, 12 and from there to oPhilippi, which is a leading city of the4 district of Macedonia and pa Roman colony. We remained in this city some days. 13 And qon the Sabbath day we went outside the gate rto the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we ssat down and spoke to the women who had come together. 14 One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, twho was a worshiper of God. The Lord uopened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. 15 And after she was baptized, vand her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she wprevailed upon us.
Paul and Silas in Prison
16 As we were going to xthe place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had ya spirit of zdivination and abrought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and us, bcrying out, “These men are cservants of dthe Most High God, who proclaim to you ethe way of salvation.” 18 And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, f“I command you gin the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And hit came out that very hour.
19 But iwhen her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and jdragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. 20 And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. 21 They kadvocate customs that are not lawful for us las Romans to accept or practice.” 22 The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders mto beat them with rods. 23 And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. 24 Having received this order, he put them into the inner nprison and fastened their feet in othe stocks.
The Philippian Jailer Converted
25 pAbout midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, 26 and suddenly qthere was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately rall the doors were opened, and severyone’s bonds were unfastened. 27 When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and twas about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” 29 And the jailer5 called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he ufell down before Paul and Silas. 30 Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, vwhat must I do to be wsaved?” 31 And they said, x“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you yand your household.” 32 And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them zthe same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he awas baptized at once, he and all his family. 34 Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he brejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.
35 But when it was day, the magistrates sent the police, saying, “Let those men go.” 36 And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go. Therefore come out now and go in peace.” 37 But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us publicly, cuncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now throw us out secretly? No! Let them come themselves and take us out.” 38 The police reported these words to the magistrates, and cthey were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens. 39 So they came and apologized to them. And they took them out and dasked them to leave the city. 40 So they went out of the prison and visited eLydia. And when they had seen fthe brothers, they encouraged them and departed.
