ISAIAH 20-22

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Prophecy about Egypt and Ethiopia  20:1 In the year that the commander came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him and he fought against Ashdod and captured it, 2 at that time the LORD spoke through Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go and loosen the sackcloth from your hips and take your shoes off your feet.” And he did so, going naked and barefoot. 3 And the LORD said, “Even as My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot three years as a sign and token against Egypt and Cush, 4 so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old, naked and barefoot with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. 5 Then they will be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and Egypt their boast. 6 So the inhabitants of this coastland will say in that day, ‘Behold, such is our hope, where we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria; and we, how shall we escape?’”
God Commands That Babylon Be Taken  21:1 The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea.

As windstorms in the Negev sweep on,

It comes from the wilderness, from a terrifying land.

2 A harsh vision has been shown to me;

The treacherous one still deals treacherously, and the destroyer still destroys.

Go up, Elam, lay siege, Media;

I have made an end of all the groaning she has caused.

3 For this reason my loins are full of anguish;

Pains have seized me like the pains of a woman in labor.

I am so bewildered I cannot hear, so terrified I cannot see.

4 My mind reels, horror overwhelms me;

The twilight I longed for has been turned for me into trembling.

5 They set the table, they spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink;

“Rise up, captains, oil the shields,”

6 For thus the Lord says to me,

“Go, station the lookout, let him report what he sees.

7 “When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs,

A train of donkeys, a train of camels,

Let him pay close attention, very close attention.”

8 Then the lookout called,

“O Lord, I stand continually by day on the watchtower,

And I am stationed every night at my guard post.

9 “Now behold, here comes a troop of riders, horsemen in pairs.”

And one said, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon;

And all the images of her gods are shattered on the ground.”

10 O my threshed people, and my afflicted of the threshing floor!

What I have heard from the LORD of hosts,

The God of Israel, I make known to you.

Oracles about Edom and Arabia    11 The oracle concerning Edom.

One keeps calling to me from Seir,

“Watchman, how far gone is the night?

Watchman, how far gone is the night?”

12 The watchman says,

“Morning comes but also night.

If you would inquire, inquire;

Come back again.”

    13 The oracle about Arabia.

In the thickets of Arabia you must spend the night,

O caravans of Dedanites.

14 Bring water for the thirsty,

O inhabitants of the land of Tema,

Meet the fugitive with bread.

15 For they have fled from the swords,

From the drawn sword, and from the bent bow

And from the press of battle.

    16 For thus the Lord said to me, “In a year, as a hired man would count it, all the splendor of Kedar will terminate; 17 and the remainder of the number of bowmen, the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, will be few; for the LORD God of Israel has spoken.”
The Valley of Vision  22:1 The oracle concerning the valley of vision.

What is the matter with you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops?

2 You who were full of noise,

You boisterous town, you exultant city;

Your slain were not slain with the sword,

Nor did they die in battle.

3 All your rulers have fled together,

And have been captured without the bow;

All of you who were found were taken captive together,

Though they had fled far away.

4 Therefore I say, “Turn your eyes away from me,

Let me weep bitterly,

Do not try to comfort me concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.”

5 For the Lord GOD of hosts has a day of panic, subjugation and confusion

In the valley of vision,

A breaking down of walls

And a crying to the mountain.

6 Elam took up the quiver

With the chariots, infantry and horsemen;

And Kir uncovered the shield.

7 Then your choicest valleys were full of chariots,

And the horsemen took up fixed positions at the gate.

8 And He removed the defense of Judah.

In that day you depended on the weapons of the house of the forest,

9 And you saw that the breaches

In the wall of the city of David were many;

And you collected the waters of the lower pool.

10 Then you counted the houses of Jerusalem

And tore down houses to fortify the wall.

11 And you made a reservoir between the two walls

For the waters of the old pool.

But you did not depend on Him who made it,

Nor did you take into consideration Him who planned it long ago.

12 Therefore in that day the Lord GOD of hosts called you to weeping, to wailing,

To shaving the head and to wearing sackcloth.

13 Instead, there is gaiety and gladness,

Killing of cattle and slaughtering of sheep,

Eating of meat and drinking of wine:

“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we may die.”

14 But the LORD of hosts revealed Himself to me,

“Surely this iniquity shall not be forgiven you

Until you die,” says the Lord GOD of hosts.

    15 Thus says the Lord GOD of hosts,

“Come, go to this steward,

To Shebna, who is in charge of the royal household,

16 ‘What right do you have here,

And whom do you have here,

That you have hewn a tomb for yourself here,

You who hew a tomb on the height,

You who carve a resting place for yourself in the rock?

17 ‘Behold, the LORD is about to hurl you headlong, O man.

And He is about to grasp you firmly

18 And roll you tightly like a ball,

To be cast into a vast country;

There you will die

And there your splendid chariots will be,

You shame of your master’s house.’

19 “I will depose you from your office,

And I will pull you down from your station.

20 “Then it will come about in that day,

That I will summon My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah,

21 And I will clothe him with your tunic

And tie your sash securely about him.

I will entrust him with your authority,

And he will become a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.

22 “Then I will set the key of the house of David on his shoulder,

When he opens no one will shut,

When he shuts no one will open.

23 “I will drive him like a peg in a firm place,

And he will become a throne of glory to his father’s house.

24 So they will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house, offspring and issue, all the least of vessels, from bowls to all the jars. 25 In that day,” declares the LORD of hosts, “the peg driven in a firm place will give way; it will even break off and fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut off, for the LORD has spoken.”

1 CORINTHIANS 2

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Paul’s Reliance upon the Spirit  2:1 And when I came to you, brethren, I did not come with superiority of speech or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 3 I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, 4 and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
    6 Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature; a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are passing away; 7 but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory; 8 the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; 9 but just as it is written,

“THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD,

AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN,

ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.”

10 For to us God revealed them through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. 11 For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the thoughts of God no one knows except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, 13 which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words.
    14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. 15 But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no one. 16 For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ.