EZEKIEL 5

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Jerusalem’s Desolation Foretold  5:1 “As for you, son of man, take a sharp sword; take and use it as a barber’s razor on your head and beard. Then take scales for weighing and divide the hair. 2 One third you shall burn in the fire at the center of the city, when the days of the siege are completed. Then you shall take one third and strike it with the sword all around the city, and one third you shall scatter to the wind; and I will unsheathe a sword behind them. 3 Take also a few in number from them and bind them in the edges of your robes. 4 Take again some of them and throw them into the fire and burn them in the fire; from it a fire will spread to all the house of Israel.
    5 “Thus says the Lord GOD, ‘This is Jerusalem; I have set her at the center of the nations, with lands around her. 6 But she has rebelled against My ordinances more wickedly than the nations and against My statutes more than the lands which surround her; for they have rejected My ordinances and have not walked in My statutes.’ 7 Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, ‘Because you have more turmoil than the nations which surround you and have not walked in My statutes, nor observed My ordinances, nor observed the ordinances of the nations which surround you,’ 8 therefore, thus says the Lord GOD, ‘Behold, I, even I, am against you, and I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the nations. 9 And because of all your abominations, I will do among you what I have not done, and the like of which I will never do again. 10 Therefore, fathers will eat their sons among you, and sons will eat their fathers; for I will execute judgments on you and scatter all your remnant to every wind. 11 So as I live,’ declares the Lord GOD, ‘surely, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable idols and with all your abominations, therefore I will also withdraw, and My eye will have no pity and I will not spare. 12 One third of you will die by plague or be consumed by famine among you, one third will fall by the sword around you, and one third I will scatter to every wind, and I will unsheathe a sword behind them.
    13 ‘Thus My anger will be spent and I will satisfy My wrath on them, and I will be appeased; then they will know that I, the LORD, have spoken in My zeal when I have spent My wrath upon them. 14 Moreover, I will make you a desolation and a reproach among the nations which surround you, in the sight of all who pass by. 15 So it will be a reproach, a reviling, a warning and an object of horror to the nations who surround you when I execute judgments against you in anger, wrath and raging rebukes. I, the LORD, have spoken. 16 When I send against them the deadly arrows of famine which were for the destruction of those whom I will send to destroy you, then I will also intensify the famine upon you and break the staff of bread. 17 Moreover, I will send on you famine and wild beasts, and they will bereave you of children; plague and bloodshed also will pass through you, and I will bring the sword on you. I, the LORD, have spoken.’”

EZEKIEL 6

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Idolatrous Worship Denounced  6:1 And the word of the LORD came to me saying, 2 “Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them 3 and say, ‘Mountains of Israel, listen to the word of the Lord GOD! Thus says the Lord GOD to the mountains, the hills, the ravines and the valleys: “Behold, I Myself am going to bring a sword on you, and I will destroy your high places. 4 So your altars will become desolate and your incense altars will be smashed; and I will make your slain fall in front of your idols. 5 I will also lay the dead bodies of the sons of Israel in front of their idols; and I will scatter your bones around your altars. 6 In all your dwellings, cities will become waste and the high places will be desolate, that your altars may become waste and desolate, your idols may be broken and brought to an end, your incense altars may be cut down, and your works may be blotted out. 7 The slain will fall among you, and you will know that I am the LORD.
    8 “However, I will leave a remnant, for you will have those who escaped the sword among the nations when you are scattered among the countries. 9 Then those of you who escape will remember Me among the nations to which they will be carried captive, how I have been hurt by their adulterous hearts which turned away from Me, and by their eyes which played the harlot after their idols; and they will loathe themselves in their own sight for the evils which they have committed, for all their abominations. 10 Then they will know that I am the LORD; I have not said in vain that I would inflict this disaster on them.”’
    11 “Thus says the Lord GOD, ‘Clap your hand, stamp your foot and say, “Alas, because of all the evil abominations of the house of Israel, which will fall by sword, famine and plague! 12 He who is far off will die by the plague, and he who is near will fall by the sword, and he who remains and is besieged will die by the famine. Thus will I spend My wrath on them. 13 Then you will know that I am the LORD, when their slain are among their idols around their altars, on every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, under every green tree and under every leafy oak--the places where they offered soothing aroma to all their idols. 14 So throughout all their habitations I will stretch out My hand against them and make the land more desolate and waste than the wilderness toward Diblah; thus they will know that I am the LORD.”’”

PROVERBS 31

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The Words of Lemuel  31:1 The words of King Lemuel, the oracle which his mother taught him:
2 What, O my son?

And what, O son of my womb?

And what, O son of my vows?

3 Do not give your strength to women,

Or your ways to that which destroys kings.

4 It is not for kings, O Lemuel,

It is not for kings to drink wine,

Or for rulers to desire strong drink,

5 For they will drink and forget what is decreed,

And pervert the rights of all the afflicted.

6 Give strong drink to him who is perishing,

And wine to him whose life is bitter.

7 Let him drink and forget his poverty

And remember his trouble no more.

8 Open your mouth for the mute,

For the rights of all the unfortunate.

9 Open your mouth, judge righteously,

And defend the rights of the afflicted and needy.

Description of a Worthy Woman10 An excellent wife, who can find?

For her worth is far above jewels.

11 The heart of her husband trusts in her,

And he will have no lack of gain.

12 She does him good and not evil

All the days of her life.

13 She looks for wool and flax

And works with her hands in delight.

14 She is like merchant ships;

She brings her food from afar.

15 She rises also while it is still night

And gives food to her household

And portions to her maidens.

16 She considers a field and buys it;

From her earnings she plants a vineyard.

17 She girds herself with strength

And makes her arms strong.

18 She senses that her gain is good;

Her lamp does not go out at night.

19 She stretches out her hands to the distaff,

And her hands grasp the spindle.

20 She extends her hand to the poor,

And she stretches out her hands to the needy.

21 She is not afraid of the snow for her household,

For all her household are clothed with scarlet.

22 She makes coverings for herself;

Her clothing is fine linen and purple.

23 Her husband is known in the gates,

When he sits among the elders of the land.

24 She makes linen garments and sells them,

And supplies belts to the tradesmen.

25 Strength and dignity are her clothing,

And she smiles at the future.

26 She opens her mouth in wisdom,

And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.

27 She looks well to the ways of her household,

And does not eat the bread of idleness.

28 Her children rise up and bless her;

Her husband also, and he praises her, saying:

29 “Many daughters have done nobly,

But you excel them all.”

30 Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain,

But a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised.

31 Give her the product of her hands,

And let her works praise her in the gates.

PSALM 129

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Prayer for the Overthrow of Zion’s Enemies.A Song of Ascents.
129:1 “Many times they have persecuted me from my youth up,”

Let Israel now say,

2 “Many times they have persecuted me from my youth up;

Yet they have not prevailed against me.

3 “The plowers plowed upon my back;

They lengthened their furrows.”

4 The LORD is righteous;

He has cut in two the cords of the wicked.

5 May all who hate Zion

Be put to shame and turned backward;

6 Let them be like grass upon the housetops,

Which withers before it grows up;

7 With which the reaper does not fill his hand,

Or the binder of sheaves his bosom;

8 Nor do those who pass by say,

“The blessing of the LORD be upon you;

We bless you in the name of the LORD.”

PSALM 130

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Hope in the LORD’S Forgiving Love.A Song of Ascents.
130:1 Out of the depths I have cried to You, O LORD.

2 Lord, hear my voice!

Let Your ears be attentive

To the voice of my supplications.

3 If You, LORD, should mark iniquities,

O Lord, who could stand?

4 But there is forgiveness with You,

That You may be feared.

5 I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait,

And in His word do I hope.

6 My soul waits for the Lord

More than the watchmen for the morning;

Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning.

7 O Israel, hope in the LORD;

For with the LORD there is lovingkindness,

And with Him is abundant redemption.

8 And He will redeem Israel

From all his iniquities.