Today's Reading

¹The word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²"Son of man, set your face toward the children of Ammon, and prophesy against them:

³and tell the children of Ammon, 'Hear the word of the Lord God: Thus says the Lord God, "Because you said, 'Aha,' against my sanctuary, when it was profaned; and against the land of Israel, when it was made desolate; and against the house of Judah, when they went into captivity:

⁴therefore, behold, I will deliver you to the children of the east for a possession, and they shall set their encampments in you, and make their dwellings in you; they shall eat your fruit, and they shall drink your milk.

⁵I will make Rabbah a stable for camels, and the children of Ammon a resting place for flocks: and you shall know that I am the Lord."

⁶For thus says the Lord God: "Because you have clapped your hands, and stamped with the feet, and rejoiced with all the despite of your soul against the land of Israel;

⁷therefore, behold, I have stretched out my hand on you, and will deliver you for a spoil to the nations; and I will cut you off from the peoples, and I will cause you to perish out of the countries: I will destroy you; and you shall know that I am the Lord."'"

⁸"Thus says the Lord God: 'Because Moab and Seir say, "Behold, the house of Judah is like all the nations";

⁹therefore, behold, I will open the side of Moab from the cities, from his cities which are on his frontiers, the glory of the country, Beth Jeshimoth, Baal Meon, and Kiriathaim,

¹⁰to the children of the east, to go against the children of Ammon; and I will give them for a possession, that the children of Ammon may not be remembered among the nations.

¹¹and I will execute judgments on Moab; and they shall know that I am the Lord.'"

¹²"Thus says the Lord God: 'Because Edom has dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and has greatly offended, and revenged himself on them';

¹³therefore thus says the Lord God, 'I will stretch out my hand on Edom, and will cut off man and animal from it; and I will make it desolate from Teman; even to Dedan shall they fall by the sword.

¹⁴I will lay my vengeance on Edom by the hand of my people Israel; and they shall do in Edom according to my anger and according to my wrath; and they shall know my vengeance, says the Lord God.'"

¹⁵"Thus says the Lord God: 'Because the Philistines have dealt by revenge, and have taken vengeance with despite of soul to destroy with perpetual enmity;

¹⁶therefore thus says the Lord God, Behold, I will stretch out my hand on the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethites, and destroy the remnant of the sea coast.

¹⁷I will execute great vengeance on them with wrathful rebukes; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall lay my vengeance on them.'"

¹It happened in the eleventh year, in the first day of the month, that the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

²"Son of man, because Tyre has said against Jerusalem, 'Aha, she is broken: the gate of the peoples; she is turned to me; I shall be replenished, now that she is laid waste':

³therefore thus says the Lord God, 'Behold, I am against you, Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against you, as the sea causes its waves to come up.'

⁴They shall destroy the walls of Tyre, and break down her towers: I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her a bare rock.

⁵She shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea; for I have spoken it," says the Lord God; "and she shall become a spoil to the nations.

⁶Her daughters who are in the field shall be slain with the sword: and they shall know that I am the Lord.

⁷"For thus says the Lord God: 'Behold, I will bring on Tyre Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and a company, and many people.

⁸He shall kill your daughters in the field with the sword; and he shall make forts against you, and cast up a mound against you, and raise up the buckler against you.

⁹He shall set his battering engines against your walls, and with his axes he shall break down your towers.

¹⁰By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover you: your walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wagons, and of the chariots, when he shall enter into your gates, as men enter into a city in which is made a breach.

¹¹With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all your streets; he shall kill your people with the sword; and the pillars of your strength shall go down to the ground.

¹²They shall make a spoil of your riches, and make a prey of your merchandise; and they shall break down your walls, and destroy your pleasant houses; and they shall lay your stones and your timber and your dust in the midst of the waters.

¹³I will cause the noise of your songs to cease; and the sound of your harps shall be no more heard.

¹⁴I will make you a bare rock; you shall be a place for the spreading of nets; you shall be built no more: for I the Lord have spoken it,' says the Lord God.

¹⁵"Thus says the Lord God to Tyre: 'Shall not the islands shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan, when the slaughter is made in the midst of you?

¹⁶Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay aside their robes, and strip off their embroidered garments: they shall clothe themselves with trembling; they shall sit on the ground, and shall tremble every moment, and be astonished at you.

¹⁷They shall take up a lamentation over you, and tell you, "How you are destroyed, who were inhabited by seafaring men, the renowned city, who was strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, who caused their terror to be on all who lived there!

¹⁸Now shall the islands tremble in the day of your fall; yes, the islands that are in the sea shall be dismayed at your departure."'

¹⁹"For thus says the Lord God: 'When I shall make you a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I shall bring up the deep on you, and the great waters shall cover you;

²⁰then will I bring you down with those who descend into the pit, to the people of old time, and will make you to dwell in the lower parts of the earth, in the places that are desolate of old, with those who go down to the pit, that you be not inhabited; and I will set glory in the land of the living:

²¹I will make you a terror, and you shall no more have any being; though you are sought for, yet you will never be found again,' says the Lord God."

¹The word of the Lord came again to me, saying,

²"You, son of man, take up a lamentation over Tyre;

³and tell Tyre, 'You who dwell at the entry of the sea, who are the merchant of the peoples to many islands, thus says the Lord God: "You, Tyre, have said, 'I am perfect in beauty.'

⁴Your borders are in the heart of the seas; your builders have perfected your beauty.

⁵They have made all your planks of fir trees from Senir; they have taken a cedar from Lebanon to make a mast for you.

⁶Of the oaks of Bashan have they made your oars; they have made your benches of ivory inlaid in boxwood, from the islands of Kittim.

⁷Of fine linen with embroidered work from Egypt was your sail, that it might be to you for a banner; blue and purple from the islands of Elishah was your awning.

⁸The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were your rowers: your wise men, Tyre, were in you, they were your pilots.

⁹The old men of Gebal and the wise men of it were in you your repairers of ship seams: all the ships of the sea with their mariners were in you to deal in your merchandise.

¹⁰Persia and Lud and Put were in your army, your men of war: they hanged the shield and helmet in you; they set forth your comeliness.

¹¹The men of Arvad with your army were on your walls all around, and valorous men were in your towers; they hanged their shields on your walls all around; they have perfected your beauty.

¹²Tarshish was your merchant by reason of the multitude of all kinds of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded for your wares.

¹³Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were your traffickers; they traded the persons of men and vessels of brass for your merchandise.

¹⁴They of the house of Togarmah traded for your wares with horses and war horses and mules.

¹⁵The men of Dedan were your traffickers; many islands were the market of your hand: they brought you in exchange horns of ivory and ebony.

¹⁶Syria was your merchant by reason of the multitude of your handiworks: they traded for your wares with emeralds, purple, and embroidered work, and fine linen, and coral, and rubies.

¹⁷Judah, and the land of Israel, they were your traffickers: they traded for your merchandise wheat of Minnith, and confections, and honey, and oil, and balm.

¹⁸Damascus was your merchant for the multitude of your handiworks, by reason of the multitude of all kinds of riches, with the wine of Helbon, and white wool.

¹⁹Vedan and Javan traded with yarn for your wares: bright iron, cassia, and calamus, were among your merchandise.

²⁰Dedan was your trafficker in precious cloths for riding.

²¹Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they were the merchants of your hand; in lambs, and rams, and goats, in these were they your merchants.

²²The traffickers of Sheba and Raamah, they were your traffickers; they traded for your wares with the chief of all spices, and with all precious stones, and gold.

²³Haran and Canneh and Eden, the traffickers of Sheba, Asshur and Chilmad, were your traffickers.

²⁴These were your traffickers in choice wares, in wrappings of blue and embroidered work, and in chests of rich clothing, bound with cords and made of cedar, among your merchandise.

²⁵The ships of Tarshish were your caravans for your merchandise: and you were replenished, and made very glorious in the heart of the seas.

²⁶"'"Your rowers have brought you into great waters: the east wind has broken you in the heart of the seas.

²⁷Your riches, and your wares, your merchandise, your mariners, and your pilots, your repairers of ship seams, and the dealers in your merchandise, and all your men of war, who are in you, with all your company which is in the midst of you, shall fall into the heart of the seas in the day of your ruin.

²⁸At the sound of the cry of your pilots the suburbs shall shake.

²⁹All who handled the oar, the mariners, and all the pilots of the sea, shall come down from their ships; they shall stand on the land,

³⁰and shall cause their voice to be heard over you, and shall cry bitterly, and shall cast up dust on their heads, they shall wallow themselves in the ashes:

³¹and they shall make themselves bald for you, and clothe them with sackcloth, and they shall weep for you in bitterness of soul with bitter mourning.

³²In their wailing they shall take up a lamentation for you, and lament over you, saying, 'Who is there like Tyre, like her who is brought to silence in the midst of the sea?'

³³When your wares went forth out of the seas, you filled many peoples; you enriched the kings of the earth with the multitude of your riches and of your merchandise.

³⁴In the time that you were broken by the seas in the depths of the waters, your merchandise and all your company fell in your midst.

³⁵All the inhabitants of the islands are astonished at you, and their kings are horribly afraid; they are troubled in their face.

³⁶The merchants among the peoples hiss at you; you are become a terror, and you shall nevermore have any being."'"

¹Therefore let us also, seeing we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

²looking to Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

³For consider him who has endured such hostility from sinners against himself, that you do not grow weary, fainting in your souls.

⁴You have not yet resisted to blood, striving against sin;

⁵and you have forgotten the exhortation which reasons with you as with children, "My son, do not take lightly the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him;

⁶For whom the Lord loves, he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives."

⁷It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with children, for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

⁸But if you are without discipline, of which all have been made partakers, then are you illegitimate, and not children.

⁹Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live?

¹⁰For they indeed, for a few days, punished us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness.

¹¹All chastening seems for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been exercised thereby.

¹²Therefore, lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees,

¹³and make straight paths for your feet, so that which is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.

¹⁴Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man will see the Lord,

¹⁵looking carefully lest there be any man who falls short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and many be defiled by it;

¹⁶lest there be any sexually immoral person, or profane person, like Esau, who sold his own birthright for one meal.

¹⁷For you know that even when he afterward desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for a change of mind though he sought it diligently with tears.

¹⁸For you have not come to something that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and darkness, gloom, and storm,

¹⁹the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which those who heard it begged that not one more word should be spoken to them,

²⁰for they could not stand that which was commanded, "If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned;"

²¹and so fearful was the appearance, that Moses said, "I am terrified and trembling."

²²But you have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable multitudes of angels,

²³to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect,

²⁴to Jesus, the mediator of a New Covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better than that of Abel.

²⁵See that you do not refuse him who speaks. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned on the Earth, how much more will we not escape who turn away from him who warns from heaven,

²⁶whose voice shook the earth then, but now he has promised, saying, "Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens."

²⁷This phrase, "Yet once more," signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that have been made, that those things which are not shaken may remain.

²⁸So since we are receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, through which we may offer service pleasing to God, with reverence and awe,

²⁹for our God is a consuming fire.

¹The words of Agur the son of Jakeh, the oracle: the man says to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ucal:

²"Surely I am the most ignorant man, and do not have a man's understanding.

³I have not learned wisdom, neither do I have the knowledge of the Holy One.

⁴Who has ascended up into heaven, and descended? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has bound the waters in his garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son's name, if you know?

⁵"Every word of God is flawless. He is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

⁶Do not add to his words, lest he reprove you, and you be found a liar.

⁷"Two things I have asked of you; do not deny me before I die:

⁸Remove far from me falsehood and lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with the food that is needful for me;

⁹lest I be full, deny you, and say, 'Who is the Lord?' or lest I be poor, and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.

¹⁰"Do not slander a servant to his master, lest he curse you, and you be held guilty.

¹¹There is a generation that curses their father, and doesn't bless their mother.

¹²There is a generation that is pure in their own eyes, yet are not washed from their filthiness.

¹³There is a generation, oh how lofty are their eyes! Their eyelids are lifted up.

¹⁴There is a generation whose teeth are like swords, and their jaws like knives, to devour the poor from the earth, and the needy from among men.

¹⁵"The leach has two daughters: 'Give, give.' "There are three things that are never satisfied; four that do not say, 'Enough:'

¹⁶Sheol, the barren womb; the earth that is not satisfied with water; and the fire that doesn't say, 'Enough.'

¹⁷"The eye that mocks at his father, and scorns obedience to his mother: the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, the young eagles shall eat it.

¹⁸"There are three things which are too amazing for me, four which I do not understand:

¹⁹The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent on a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maiden.

²⁰"So is the way of an adulterous woman: she eats and wipes her mouth, and says, 'I have done nothing wrong.'

²¹"For three things the earth tremble, and under four, it can't bear up:

²²For a servant when he is king; a fool when he is filled with food;

²³for an unloved woman when she is married; and a handmaid who is heir to her mistress.

²⁴"There are four things which are little on the earth, but they are exceedingly wise:

²⁵the ants are not a strong people, yet they provide their food in the summer.

²⁶The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks.

²⁷The locusts have no king, yet they advance in ranks.

²⁸You can catch a lizard with your hands, yet it is in kings' palaces.

²⁹"There are three things which are stately in their march, four which are stately in going:

³⁰The lion, which is mightiest among animals, and doesn't turn away for any;

³¹the greyhound, the male goat also; and the king against whom there is no rising up.

³²"If you have done foolishly in lifting up yourself, or if you have thought evil, put your hand over your mouth.

³³For as the churning of milk brings forth butter, and the wringing of the nose brings forth blood; so the forcing of wrath brings forth strife."