Today's Reading

¹The burden of Egypt: "Behold, the Lord rides on a swift cloud, and comes to Egypt. The idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence; and the heart of Egypt will melt in its midst.

²I will stir up the Egyptians against the Egyptians, and they will fight everyone against his brother, and everyone against his neighbor; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.

³The spirit of Egypt will fail in its midst. I will destroy its counsel. They will seek the idols, the charmers, those who have familiar spirits, and the wizards.

⁴I will give over the Egyptians into the hand of a cruel lord. A fierce king will rule over them," says the Lord, the Lord of hosts.

⁵The waters will fail from the sea, and the river will be wasted and become dry.

⁶The rivers will become foul. The streams of Egypt will be diminished and dried up. The reeds and flags will wither away.

⁷The meadows by the Nile, by the brink of the Nile, and all the sown fields of the Nile, will become dry, be driven away, and be no more.

⁸The fishermen will lament, and all those who fish in the Nile will mourn, and those who spread nets on the waters will languish.

⁹Moreover those who work in combed flax, and those who weave white cloth, will be confounded.

¹⁰The pillars will be broken in pieces. All those who work for hire will be grieved in soul.

¹¹The princes of Zoan are utterly foolish. The counsel of the wisest counselors of Pharaoh has become stupid. How do you say to Pharaoh, "I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?"

¹²Where then are your wise men? Let them tell you now; and let them know what the Lord of hosts has purposed concerning Egypt.

¹³The princes of Zoan have become fools. The princes of Memphis are deceived. They have caused Egypt to go astray, who are the cornerstone of her tribes.

¹⁴The Lord has mixed a spirit of perverseness in the midst of her; and they have caused Egypt to go astray in all of its works, like a drunken man staggers in his vomit.

¹⁵Neither shall there be for Egypt any work, which head or tail, palm branch or rush, may do.

¹⁶In that day the Egyptians will be like women. They will tremble and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which he shakes over them.

¹⁷The land of Judah will become a terror to Egypt. Everyone to whom mention is made of it will be afraid, because of the plans of the Lord of hosts, which he determines against it.

¹⁸In that day, there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan, and swear loyalty to the Lord of hosts. One will be called "The City of the Sun."

¹⁹In that day, there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the Lord at its border.

²⁰It will be for a sign and for a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the Lord because of oppressors, and he will send them a savior and a defender, and he will deliver them.

²¹The Lord will be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day. Yes, they will worship with sacrifice and offering, and will make vows to the Lord, and will perform them.

²²The Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing. They will return to the Lord, and he will listen to their pleas, and will heal them.

²³In that day there will be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria; and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.

²⁴In that day, Israel will be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth;

²⁵because the Lord of hosts has blessed them, saying, "Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance."

¹In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him, and he fought against Ashdod and took it;

²at that time the Lord spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, "Go, and loosen the sackcloth from off your waist, and take your shoes from off your feet." He did so, walking naked and barefoot.

³The Lord said, "As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and a wonder concerning Egypt and concerning Ethiopia,

⁴so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Ethiopia, young and old, naked and barefoot, and with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt.

⁵They will be dismayed and confounded, because of Ethiopia their expectation, and of Egypt their glory.

⁶The inhabitants of this coast land will say in that day, 'Behold, this is our expectation, where we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria. And we, how will we escape?'"

¹The oracle of the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the Negev sweep through, it comes from the wilderness, from an awesome land.

²A grievous vision is declared to me. The treacherous man deals treacherously, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, Elam; attack! I have stopped all of Media's sighing.

³Therefore my thighs are filled with anguish. Pains have taken hold on me, like the pains of a woman in labor. I am in so much pain that I can't hear. I so am dismayed that I can't see.

⁴My heart flutters. Horror has frightened me. The twilight that I desired has been turned into trembling for me.

⁵They prepare the table. They set the watch. They eat. They drink. Rise up, you princes, oil the shield!

⁶For the Lord said to me, "Go, set a watchman. Let him declare what he sees.

⁷When he sees a troop, horsemen in pairs, a troop of donkeys, a troop of camels, he shall listen diligently with great attentiveness."

⁸He cried like a lion: "Lord, I stand continually on the watchtower in the daytime, and every night I stay at my post.

⁹Behold, here comes a troop of men, horsemen in pairs." He answered, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon; and all the engraved images of her gods are broken to the ground.

¹⁰You are my threshing, and the grain of my floor!" That which I have heard from the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared to you.

¹¹The burden of Dumah. One calls to me out of Seir, "Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?"

¹²The watchman said, "The morning comes, and also the night. If you will inquire, inquire. Come back again."

¹³The burden on Arabia. In the forest in Arabia you will lodge, you caravans of Dedanites.

¹⁴They brought water to him who was thirsty. The inhabitants of the land of Tema met the fugitives with their bread.

¹⁵For they fled away from the swords, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow, and from the heat of battle.

¹⁶For the Lord said to me, "Within a year, as a worker bound by contract would count it, all the glory of Kedar will fail,

¹⁷and the residue of the number of the archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, will be few; for the Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken it."

¹Be therefore imitators of God, as beloved children.

²Walk in love, even as Christ also loved you, and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling fragrance.

³But sexual immorality, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not even be mentioned among you, as becomes saints;

⁴nor filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not appropriate; but rather giving of thanks.

⁵Know this for sure, that no sexually immoral person, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and God.

⁶Let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience.

⁷Therefore do not be partakers with them.

⁸For you were once darkness, but are now light in the Lord. Walk as children of light,

⁹for the fruit of the light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth,

¹⁰proving what is well pleasing to the Lord.

¹¹Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather even reprove them.

¹²For the things which are done by them in secret, it is a shame even to speak of.

¹³But all things, when they are reproved, are revealed by the light, for everything that reveals is light.

¹⁴Therefore he says, "Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."

¹⁵Therefore watch carefully how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise;

¹⁶redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

¹⁷Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

¹⁸Do not be drunken with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,

¹⁹speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs; singing, and singing praises in your heart to the Lord;

²⁰giving thanks always concerning all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father;

²¹subjecting yourselves one to another in the fear of Christ.

²²Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.

²³For the husband is the head of the wife, and Christ also is the head of the church, being himself the savior of the body.

²⁴But as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives also be to their own husbands in everything.

²⁵Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself up for it;

²⁶that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word,

²⁷that he might present the church to himself gloriously, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

²⁸Even so husbands also ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself.

²⁹For no man ever hated his own flesh; but nourishes and cherishes it, even as Christ also does the church;

³⁰because we are members of his body.

³¹"For this cause a man will leave his father and mother, and will be joined to his wife. The two will become one flesh."

³²This mystery is great, but I speak concerning Christ and of the church.

³³Nevertheless each of you must also love his own wife even as himself; and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

¹An unfriendly man pursues selfishness, and defies all sound judgment.

²A fool has no delight in understanding, but only in revealing his own opinion.

³When wickedness comes, contempt also comes, and with shame comes disgrace.

⁴The words of a man's mouth are like deep waters. The fountain of wisdom is like a flowing brook.

⁵To be partial to the faces of the wicked is not good, nor to deprive the innocent of justice.

⁶A fool's lips come into strife, and his mouth invites beatings.

⁷A fool's mouth is his destruction, and his lips are a snare to his soul.

⁸The words of a gossip are like dainty morsels: they go down into a person's innermost parts.

⁹One who is slack in his work is brother to him who is a master of destruction.

¹⁰The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous run to him, and are safe.

¹¹The rich man's wealth is his strong city, like an unscalable wall in his own imagination.

¹²Before destruction the heart of man is proud, but before honor is humility.

¹³He who gives answer before he hears, that is folly and shame to him.

¹⁴A man's spirit will sustain him in sickness, but a crushed spirit, who can bear?

¹⁵The heart of the discerning gets knowledge. The ear of the wise seeks knowledge.

¹⁶A man's gift makes room for him, and brings him before great men.

¹⁷He who pleads his cause first seems right; until another comes and questions him.

¹⁸The lot settles disputes, and keeps strong ones apart.

¹⁹A brother offended is more difficult than a fortified city; and disputes are like the bars of a castle.

²⁰A man's stomach is filled with the fruit of his mouth. With the harvest of his lips he is satisfied.

²¹Death and life are in the power of the tongue; those who love it will eat its fruit.

²²Whoever finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor of the Lord.

²³The poor plead for mercy, but the rich answer harshly.

²⁴A man of many companions may be ruined, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.