Today's Reading

¹The Lord, you are my God. I will exalt you! I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago, in complete faithfulness and truth.

²For you have made a city into a heap, a fortified city into a ruin, a palace of strangers to be no city. It will never be built.

³Therefore a strong people will glorify you. A city of awesome nations will fear you.

⁴For you have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat, when the blast of the dreaded ones is like a storm against the wall.

⁵As the heat in a dry place will you bring down the noise of strangers; as the heat by the shade of a cloud, the song of the dreaded ones will be brought low.

⁶In this mountain, the Lord of hosts will make all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of choice wines, of fat things full of marrow, of well refined choice wines.

⁷He will destroy in this mountain the surface of the covering that covers all peoples, and the veil that is spread over all nations.

⁸He has swallowed up death forever! The Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces. He will take the reproach of his people away from off all the earth, for the Lord has spoken it.

⁹It shall be said in that day, "Behold, this is our God! We have waited for him, and he will save us! This is the Lord! We have waited for him. We will be glad and rejoice in his salvation!"

¹⁰For in this mountain the hand of the Lord will rest. Moab will be trodden down in his place, even like straw is trodden down in the water of the dunghill.

¹¹He will spread out his hands in its midst, like one who swims spreads out hands to swim, but his pride will be humbled together with the craft of his hands.

¹²He has brought the high fortress of your walls down, laid low, and brought to the ground, even to the dust.

¹In that day, this song will be sung in the land of Judah: "We have a strong city. He appoints salvation for walls and ramparts.

²Open the gates, that the righteous nation may enter: the one which keeps faith.

³You will keep whoever's mind is steadfast in perfect peace, because he trusts in you.

⁴Trust in the Lord forever; for in Yah, the Lord, is an everlasting Rock.

⁵For he has brought down those who dwell on high, the lofty city. He lays it low. He lays it low even to the ground. He brings it even to the dust.

⁶The foot shall tread it down; Even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy."

⁷The way of the just is uprightness. You who are upright make the path of the righteous level.

⁸Yes, in the way of your judgments, the Lord, have we waited for you. Your name and your renown are the desire of our soul.

⁹With my soul have I desired you in the night. Yes, with my spirit within me will I seek you earnestly; for when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

¹⁰Let favor be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness. In the land of uprightness he will deal wrongfully, and will not see the Lord's majesty.

¹¹The Lord, your hand is lifted up, yet they do not see; but they will see your zeal for the people, and be disappointed. Yes, fire will consume your adversaries.

¹²The Lord, you will ordain peace for us, for you have also worked all our works for us.

¹³The Lord our God, other lords besides you have had dominion over us, but by you only will we make mention of your name.

¹⁴The dead shall not live. The deceased shall not rise. Therefore have you visited and destroyed them, and caused all memory of them to perish.

¹⁵You have increased the nation, O Lord. You have increased the nation! You are glorified! You have enlarged all the borders of the land.

¹⁶Lord, in trouble they have visited you. They poured out a prayer when your chastening was on them.

¹⁷Like as a woman with child, who draws near the time of her delivery, is in pain and cries out in her pangs; so we have been before you, Lord.

¹⁸We have been with child. We have been in pain. We gave birth, it seems, only to wind. We have not worked any deliverance in the earth; neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.

¹⁹Your dead shall live. My dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth will cast forth the dead.

²⁰Come, my people, enter into your chambers, and shut your doors behind you. Hide yourself for a little moment, until the indignation is past.

²¹For, behold, the Lord comes forth out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth also will disclose her blood, and will no longer cover her slain.

¹In that day, the Lord with his hard and great and strong sword will punish leviathan, the fleeing serpent, and leviathan the twisted serpent; and he will kill the dragon that is in the sea.

²In that day, sing to her, "A pleasant vineyard!

³I, the Lord, am its keeper. I will water it every moment. Lest anyone damage it, I will keep it night and day.

⁴Wrath is not in me, but if I should find briers and thorns, I would do battle! I would march on them and I would burn them together.

⁵Or else let him take hold of my strength, that he may make peace with me. Let him make peace with me."

⁶In days to come, Jacob will take root. Israel will blossom and bud. They will fill the surface of the world with fruit.

⁷Has he struck them as he struck those who struck them? Or are they killed like those who killed them were killed?

⁸In measure, when you send them away, you contend with them. He has removed them with his rough blast in the day of the east wind.

⁹Therefore, by this the iniquity of Jacob will be forgiven, and this is all the fruit of taking away his sin: that he makes all the stones of the altar as chalk stones that are beaten in pieces, so that the Asherim and the incense altars shall rise no more.

¹⁰For the fortified city is solitary, a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness. The calf will feed there, and there he will lie down, and consume its branches.

¹¹When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off. The women will come and set them on fire, for they are a people of no understanding. Therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them, and he who formed them will show them no favor.

¹²It will happen in that day, that the Lord will thresh from the flowing stream of the Euphrates to the brook of Egypt; and you will be gathered one by one, children of Israel.

¹³It will happen in that day that a great trumpet will be blown; and those who were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and those who were outcasts in the land of Egypt, shall come; and they will worship the Lord in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

¹Paul and Timothy, servants of Jesus Christ; To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and servants:

²Grace to you, and peace from God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.

³I thank my God whenever I remember you,

⁴always in every request of mine on behalf of you all making my requests with joy,

⁵for your partnership in furtherance of the Good News from the first day until now;

⁶being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

⁷It is even right for me to think this way on behalf of all of you, because I have you in my heart, because, both in my bonds and in the defense and confirmation of the Good News, you all are partakers with me of grace.

⁸For God is my witness, how I long after all of you in the tender mercies of Christ Jesus.

⁹This I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment;

¹⁰so that you may approve the things that are excellent; that you may be sincere and without offense to the day of Christ;

¹¹being filled with the fruit of righteousness, which are through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

¹²Now I desire to have you know, brothers, that the things which happened to me have turned out rather to the progress of the Good News;

¹³so that it became evident to the whole praetorian guard, and to all the rest, that my bonds are in Christ;

¹⁴and that most of the brothers in the Lord, being confident through my bonds, are more abundantly bold to speak the word of God without fear.

¹⁵Some indeed proclaim Christ even out of envy and strife, and some also out of good will.

¹⁶The former insincerely proclaim Christ from selfish ambition, thinking that they add affliction to my chains;

¹⁷but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the Good News.

¹⁸What does it matter? Only that in every way, whether out of false motives or in truth, Christ is proclaimed. I rejoice in this, yes, and will rejoice.

¹⁹For I know that this will turn out to my salvation, through your supplication and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,

²⁰according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will in no way be disappointed, but with all boldness, as always, now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life, or by death.

²¹For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

²²But if I live on in the flesh, this will bring fruit from my work; yet I do not make known what I will choose.

²³But I am in a dilemma between the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.

²⁴Yet, to remain in the flesh is more needful for your sake.

²⁵Having this confidence, I know that I will remain, yes, and remain with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith,

²⁶that your rejoicing may abound in Christ Jesus in me through my presence with you again.

²⁷Only let your manner of life be worthy of the Good News of Christ, that, whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your state, that you stand firm in one spirit, with one soul striving for the faith of the Good News;

²⁸and in nothing frightened by the adversaries, which is for them a proof of destruction, but to you of salvation, and that from God.

²⁹Because it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer on his behalf,

³⁰having the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear is in me.

¹Wine is a mocker, and beer is a brawler. Whoever is led astray by them is not wise.

²The terror of a king is like the roaring of a lion. He who provokes him to anger forfeits his own life.

³It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife; but every fool will be quarreling.

⁴The sluggard will not plow by reason of the winter; therefore he shall beg in harvest, and have nothing.

⁵Counsel in the heart of man is like deep water; but a man of understanding will draw it out.

⁶Many men claim to be men of unfailing love, but who can find a faithful man?

⁷A righteous man walks in integrity. Blessed are his children after him.

⁸A king who sits on the throne of judgment scatters away all evil with his eyes.

⁹Who can say, "I have made my heart pure. I am clean and without sin?"

¹⁰Differing weights and differing measures, both of them alike are an abomination to the Lord.

¹¹Even a child makes himself known by his doings, whether his work is pure, and whether it is right.

¹²The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, The Lord has made even both of them.

¹³Do not love sleep, lest you come to poverty. Open your eyes, and you shall be satisfied with bread.

¹⁴"It's no good, it's no good," says the buyer; but when he is gone his way, then he boasts.

¹⁵There is gold and abundance of rubies; but the lips of knowledge are a rare jewel.

¹⁶Take the garment of one who puts up collateral for a stranger; and hold him in pledge for a wayward woman.

¹⁷Fraudulent food is sweet to a man, but afterwards his mouth is filled with gravel.

¹⁸Plans are established by advice; by wise guidance you wage war!

¹⁹He who goes about as a tale-bearer reveals secrets; therefore do not keep company with him who opens wide his lips.

²⁰Whoever curses his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in blackness of darkness.

²¹An inheritance quickly gained at the beginning, won't be blessed in the end.

²²Do not say, "I will pay back evil." Wait for the Lord, and he will save you.

²³The Lord detests differing weights, and dishonest scales are not pleasing.

²⁴A man's steps are from the Lord; how then can man understand his way?

²⁵It is a snare to a man to make a rash dedication, then later to consider his vows.

²⁶A wise king winnows out the wicked, and drives the threshing wheel over them.

²⁷The spirit of man is the Lord's lamp, searching all his innermost parts.

²⁸Love and faithfulness keep the king safe. His throne is sustained by love.

²⁹The glory of young men is their strength. The splendor of old men is their gray hair.

³⁰Wounding blows cleanse away evil, and beatings purge the innermost parts.