Today's Reading

¹Oh that you would tear the heavens, that you would come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence,

²as when fire kindles the brushwood, and the fire causes the waters to boil; to make your name known to your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at your presence!

³When you did awesome things which we did not look for, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.

⁴For from of old men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither has the eye seen a God besides you, who works for him who waits for him.

⁵You meet him who rejoices and works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. Behold, you were angry, and we sinned. We have been in sin for a long time; and shall we be saved?

⁶For we have all become as one who is unclean, and all our righteousness is as a polluted garment: and we all fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

⁷There is none who calls on your name, who stirs up himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have consumed us by means of our iniquities.

⁸But now, Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you our potter; and we all are the work of your hand.

⁹Do not be furious, Lord, neither remember iniquity forever: see, look, we beg you, we are all your people.

¹⁰Your holy cities are become a wilderness, Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.

¹¹Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised you, is burned with fire; and all our pleasant places are laid waste.

¹²Will you refrain yourself for these things, Lord? Will you hold your peace, and afflict us very severely?

¹"I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me. I was near to those who did not seek me. I said, 'Here I am! Here I am!' to a nation that did not call on my name.

²I have spread out my hands all the day to a disobedient and obstinate people, who walk in a way that is not good, after their own thoughts;

³a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens, and burning incense on bricks;

⁴who sit among the graves, and lodge in the secret places; who eat pig's flesh, and the broth of abominable things is in their vessels;

⁵who say, Stand by yourself, do not come near to me, for I am holier than you. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burns all the day.

⁶"Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense, yes, I will recompense into their bosom,

⁷your own iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together," says the Lord, "who have burned incense on the mountains, and blasphemed me on the hills; therefore will I first measure their work into their bosom."

⁸Thus says the Lord, "As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one says, 'Do not destroy it, for a blessing is in it:' so will I do for my servants' sake, that I may not destroy them all.

⁹I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains; and my chosen shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.

¹⁰Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down in, for my people who have sought me.

¹¹"But you who forsake the Lord, who forget my holy mountain, who prepare a table for Fortune, and who fill up mixed wine to Destiny;

¹²I will destine you to the sword, and you shall all bow down to the slaughter; because when I called, you did not answer; when I spoke, you did not listen; but you did that which was evil in my eyes, and chose that in which I did not delight."

¹³Therefore thus says the Lord God, "Behold, my servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry; behold, my servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty; behold, my servants shall rejoice, but you shall be disappointed;

¹⁴behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but you shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall wail for anguish of spirit.

¹⁵You shall leave your name for a curse to my chosen; and the Lord God will kill you; and he will call his servants by another name:

¹⁶so that he who blesses himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he who swears in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hidden from my eyes.

¹⁷"For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.

¹⁸But be you glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.

¹⁹I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people; and there shall be heard in her no more the voice of weeping and the voice of crying.

²⁰"There shall be no more there an infant of days, nor an old man who has not filled his days; for the child shall die one hundred years old, and the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed.

²¹They shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.

²²They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree shall be the days of my people, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

²³They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for calamity; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them.

²⁴It shall happen that, before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.

²⁵The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain," says the Lord.

¹Thus says the Lord, "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: what kind of house will you build to me? And what place shall be my rest?

²For all these things has my hand made, and so all these things came to be," says the Lord: "but to this man will I look, even to him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word.

³He who kills an ox is as he who kills a man; he who sacrifices a lamb, as he who breaks a dog's neck; he who offers an offering, as he who offers pig's blood; he who burns frankincense, as he who blesses an idol. Yes, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations:

⁴I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears on them; because when I called, no one answered; when I spoke, they did not listen; but they did that which was evil in my eyes, and chose that in which I did not delight."

⁵Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at his word: "Your brothers who hate you, who cast you out for my name's sake, have said, 'Let the Lord be glorified, that we may see your joy;' but it is those who shall be disappointed.

⁶A voice of tumult from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of the Lord that renders recompense to his enemies.

⁷"Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she delivered a son.

⁸Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be brought forth at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.

⁹Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth?" says the Lord: "Shall I who cause to bring forth shut the womb?" says your God.

¹⁰"Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her: rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn over her;

¹¹that you may nurse and be satisfied at the comforting breasts; that you may drink deeply, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory."

¹²For thus says the Lord, "Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream: and you will nurse. You will be carried on her side, and will be dandled on her knees.

¹³As one whom his mother comforts, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted in Jerusalem."

¹⁴You will see it, and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like the tender grass: and the hand of the Lord shall be known toward his servants; and he will have indignation against his enemies.

¹⁵For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, and his chariots shall be like the whirlwind; to render his anger with fierceness, and his rebuke with flames of fire.

¹⁶For by fire will the Lord execute judgment, and by his sword, on all flesh; and the slain of the Lord shall be many.

¹⁷"Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves to go to the gardens, behind one in the midst, eating pig's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, they shall come to an end together," says the Lord.

¹⁸"For I know their works and their thoughts: the time comes, that I will gather all nations and languages; and they shall come, and shall see my glory.

¹⁹"I will set a sign among them, and I will send such as escape of them to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the islands afar off, who have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the nations.

²⁰They shall bring all your brothers out of all the nations for an offering to the Lord, on horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and on mules, and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the Lord, as the children of Israel bring their offering in a clean vessel into the house of the Lord.

²¹Of them also will I take for priests and for Levites," says the Lord.

²²"For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me," says the Lord, "so your seed and your name shall remain.

²³It shall happen, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me," says the Lord.

²⁴"They shall go forth, and look on the dead bodies of the men who have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they will be loathsome to all mankind."

¹Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ:

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

³We are bound to always give thanks to God for you, brothers, even as it is appropriate, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of each and every one of you towards one another abounds;

⁴so that we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions which you endure.

⁵This is an obvious sign of the righteous judgment of God, to the end that you may be counted worthy of the Kingdom of God, for which you also suffer.

⁶Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay affliction to those who afflict you,

⁷and to give relief to you who are afflicted with us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire,

⁸giving vengeance to those who do not know God, and to those who do not obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus,

⁹who will pay the penalty: eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might,

¹⁰when he comes to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired among all those who have believed (because our testimony to you was believed) in that day.

¹¹To this end we also pray always for you, that our God may count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire of goodness and work of faith, with power;

¹²that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

¹My son, if you will receive my words, and store up my commandments within you;

²So as to turn your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding;

³Yes, if you call out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding;

⁴If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures:

⁵then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God.

⁶For the Lord gives wisdom. Out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.

⁷He lays up sound wisdom for the upright. He is a shield to those who walk in integrity;

⁸that he may guard the paths of justice, and preserve the way of his holy ones.

⁹Then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity and every good path.

¹⁰For wisdom will enter into your heart. Knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.

¹¹Discretion will watch over you. Understanding will keep you,

¹²to deliver you from the way of evil, from the men who speak perverse things;

¹³who forsake the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;

¹⁴who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the perverseness of evil;

¹⁵who are crooked in their ways, and wayward in their paths:

¹⁶To deliver you from the strange woman, even from the foreigner who flatters with her words;

¹⁷who forsakes the friend of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God:

¹⁸for her house leads down to death, her paths to the dead.

¹⁹None who go to her return again, neither do they attain to the paths of life:

²⁰that you may walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.

²¹For the upright will dwell in the land. The perfect will remain in it.

²²But the wicked will be cut off from the land. The treacherous will be rooted out of it.