Today's Reading

¹An oracle. The word of the Lord is against the land of Hadrach, and will rest upon Damascus; for the eye of man and of all the tribes of Israel is toward the Lord;

²and Hamath, also, which borders on it; Tyre and Sidon, because they are very wise.

³Tyre built herself a stronghold, and heaped up silver like the dust, and fine gold like the mire of the streets.

⁴Behold, the Lord will dispossess her, and he will strike her power in the sea; and she will be devoured with fire.

⁵Ashkelon will see it, and fear; Gaza also, and will writhe in agony; as will Ekron, for her expectation will be disappointed; and the king will perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon will not be inhabited.

⁶Foreigners will dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.

⁷I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth; and he also will be a remnant for our God; and he will be as a chieftain in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite.

⁸I will encamp around my house against the army, that none pass through or return; and no oppressor will pass through them any more: for now I have seen with my eyes.

⁹Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king comes to you! He is righteous, and having salvation; lowly, and riding on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

¹⁰I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow will be cut off; and he will speak peace to the nations: and his dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.

¹¹As for you also, because of the blood of your covenant, I have set free your prisoners from the pit in which is no water.

¹²Turn to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope! Even today I declare that I will restore double to you.

¹³For indeed I bend Judah as a bow for me. I have filled the bow with Ephraim; and I will stir up your sons, Zion, against your sons, Greece, and will make you like the sword of a mighty man.

¹⁴The Lord will be seen over them; and his arrow will go forth like lightning; and the Lord God will blow the trumpet, and will go with whirlwinds of the south.

¹⁵The Lord of hosts will defend them; and they will destroy and overcome with sling stones; and they will drink, and roar as through wine; and they will be filled like bowls, like the corners of the altar.

¹⁶The Lord their God will save them in that day as the flock of his people; for they are like the jewels of a crown, lifted on high over his land.

¹⁷For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! Grain will make the young men flourish, and new wine the virgins.

¹Ask of the Lord rain in the spring time, The Lord who makes storm clouds, and he gives rain showers to everyone for the plants in the field.

²For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie; and they have told false dreams. They comfort in vain. Therefore they go their way like sheep. They are oppressed, because there is no shepherd.

³My anger is kindled against the shepherds, and I will punish the male goats; For the Lord of hosts has visited his flock, the house of Judah, and will make them as his majestic horse in the battle.

⁴From him will come forth the cornerstone, from him the nail, from him the battle bow, from him every ruler together.

⁵They shall be as mighty men, treading down muddy streets in the battle; and they shall fight, because the Lord is with them; and the riders on horses will be confounded.

⁶"I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them back; for I have mercy on them; and they will be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the Lord their God, and I will hear them.

⁷Ephraim will be like a mighty man, and their heart will rejoice as through wine; yes, their children will see it, and rejoice. Their heart will be glad in the Lord.

⁸I will signal for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them; and they will increase as they have increased.

⁹I will sow them among the peoples; and they will remember me in far countries; and they will live with their children, and will return.

¹⁰I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and there won't be room enough for them.

¹¹He will pass through the sea of affliction, and will strike the waves in the sea, and all the depths of the Nile will dry up; and the pride of Assyria will be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt will depart.

¹²I will strengthen them in the Lord; and they will walk up and down in his name," says the Lord.

¹Open your doors, Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars.

²Wail, fir tree, for the cedar has fallen, because the stately ones are destroyed. Wail, you oaks of Bashan, for the strong forest has come down.

³A voice of the wailing of the shepherds! For their glory is destroyed: a voice of the roaring of young lions! For the pride of the Jordan is ruined.

⁴Thus says the Lord my God: "Feed the flock of slaughter.

⁵Their buyers slaughter them, and go unpunished. Those who sell them say, 'Blessed be the Lord, for I am rich;' and their own shepherds do not pity them.

⁶For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land," says the Lord; "but, behold, I will deliver the men everyone into his neighbor's hand, and into the hand of his king. They will strike the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them."

⁷So I fed the flock of slaughter, especially the oppressed of the flock. I took for myself two staffs. The one I called "Favor," and the other I called "Union," and I fed the flock.

⁸I cut off the three shepherds in one month; for my soul was weary of them, and their soul also loathed me.

⁹Then I said, "I will not feed you. That which dies, let it die; and that which is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let those who are left eat each other's flesh."

¹⁰I took my staff Favor, and cut it apart, that I might break my covenant that I had made with all the peoples.

¹¹It was broken in that day; and thus the poor of the flock that listened to me knew that it was the word of the Lord.

¹²I said to them, "If you think it best, give me my wages; and if not, keep them." So they weighed for my wages thirty pieces of silver.

¹³The Lord said to me, "Throw it to the potter, the handsome price that I was valued at by them!" I took the thirty pieces of silver, and threw them to the potter, in the house of the Lord.

¹⁴Then I cut apart my other staff, even Union, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

¹⁵The Lord said to me, "Take for yourself yet again the equipment of a foolish shepherd.

¹⁶For, behold, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, who will not visit those who are cut off, neither will seek those who are scattered, nor heal that which is broken, nor feed that which is sound; but he will eat the flesh of the fat sheep, and will tear their hoofs in pieces.

¹⁷Woe to the worthless shepherd who leaves the flock! The sword will be on his arm, and on his right eye. His arm will be completely withered, and his right eye will be totally blinded!"

¹The fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from the sky which had fallen to the earth. The key to the pit of the abyss was given to him.

²He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and smoke went up out of the shaft, like the smoke from a great furnace. The sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke from the pit.

³Then out of the smoke came forth locusts on the earth, and power was given to them, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

⁴They were told that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those people who do not have God's seal on their foreheads.

⁵They were given power not to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion, when it strikes a person.

⁶In those days people will seek death, and will in no way find it. They will desire to die, and death will flee from them.

⁷The shapes of the locusts were like horses prepared for war. On their heads were something like golden crowns, and their faces were like people's faces.

⁸They had hair like women's hair, and their teeth were like those of lions.

⁹They had breastplates, like breastplates of iron. The sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots, or of many horses rushing to war.

¹⁰They have tails like those of scorpions, and stings. In their tails is their power to harm men for five months.

¹¹They have over them as king the angel of the abyss. His name in Hebrew is "Abaddon," and in Greek, he has the name "Apollyon."

¹²The first woe is past. Behold, there are still two woes coming after this.

¹³The sixth angel sounded. I heard a voice from the horns of the golden altar which is before God,

¹⁴saying to the sixth angel who had one trumpet, "Free the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates!"

¹⁵The four angels were freed who had been prepared for this hour and day and month and year, so that they might kill one third of mankind.

¹⁶The number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million. I heard the number of them.

¹⁷Thus I saw the horses in the vision, and those who sat on them, having breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and the heads of lions. Out of their mouths proceed fire, smoke, and sulfur.

¹⁸By these three plagues were one third of mankind killed: from the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur, which proceeded out of their mouths.

¹⁹For the power of the horses is in their mouths, and in their tails. For their tails are like serpents, and have heads, and with them they harm.

²⁰The rest of mankind, who were not killed with these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they would not worship demons, and the idols of gold, and of silver, and of brass, and of stone, and of wood; which can neither see, nor hear, nor walk.

²¹They did not repent of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their sexual immorality, nor of their thefts.

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."