ISAIAH 16

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Prophecy of Moab’s Devastation16:1 Send the tribute lamb to the ruler of the land,

From Sela by way of the wilderness to the mountain of the daughter of Zion.

2 Then, like fleeing birds or scattered nestlings,

The daughters of Moab will be at the fords of the Arnon.

3 “Give us advice, make a decision;

Cast your shadow like night at high noon;

Hide the outcasts, do not betray the fugitive.

4 “Let the outcasts of Moab stay with you;

Be a hiding place to them from the destroyer.”

For the extortioner has come to an end, destruction has ceased,

Oppressors have completely disappeared from the land.

5 A throne will even be established in lovingkindness,

And a judge will sit on it in faithfulness in the tent of David;

Moreover, he will seek justice

And be prompt in righteousness.

6 We have heard of the pride of Moab, an excessive pride;

Even of his arrogance, pride, and fury;

His idle boasts are false.

7 Therefore Moab will wail; everyone of Moab will wail.

You will moan for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth

As those who are utterly stricken.

8 For the fields of Heshbon have withered, the vines of Sibmah as well;

The lords of the nations have trampled down its choice clusters

Which reached as far as Jazer and wandered to the deserts;

Its tendrils spread themselves out and passed over the sea.

9 Therefore I will weep bitterly for Jazer, for the vine of Sibmah;

I will drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh;

For the shouting over your summer fruits and your harvest has fallen away.

10 Gladness and joy are taken away from the fruitful field;

In the vineyards also there will be no cries of joy or jubilant shouting,

No treader treads out wine in the presses,

For I have made the shouting to cease.

11 Therefore my heart intones like a harp for Moab

And my inward feelings for Kir-hareseth.

12 So it will come about when Moab presents himself,

When he wearies himself upon his high place

And comes to his sanctuary to pray,

That he will not prevail.

    13 This is the word which the LORD spoke earlier concerning Moab. 14 But now the LORD speaks, saying, “Within three years, as a hired man would count them, the glory of Moab will be degraded along with all his great population, and his remnant will be very small and impotent.”

ISAIAH 17

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Prophecy about Damascus  17:1 The oracle concerning Damascus.

“Behold, Damascus is about to be removed from being a city

And will become a fallen ruin.

2 “The cities of Aroer are forsaken;

They will be for flocks to lie down in,

And there will be no one to frighten them.

3 “The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim,

And sovereignty from Damascus

And the remnant of Aram;

They will be like the glory of the sons of Israel,”

Declares the LORD of hosts.

4 Now in that day the glory of Jacob will fade,

And the fatness of his flesh will become lean.

5 It will be even like the reaper gathering the standing grain,

As his arm harvests the ears,

Or it will be like one gleaning ears of grain

In the valley of Rephaim.

6 Yet gleanings will be left in it like the shaking of an olive tree,

Two or three olives on the topmost bough,

Four or five on the branches of a fruitful tree,

Declares the LORD, the God of Israel.

7 In that day man will have regard for his Maker

And his eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel.

8 He will not have regard for the altars, the work of his hands,

Nor will he look to that which his fingers have made,

Even the Asherim and incense stands.

9 In that day their strong cities will be like forsaken places in the forest,

Or like branches which they abandoned before the sons of Israel;

And the land will be a desolation.

10 For you have forgotten the God of your salvation

And have not remembered the rock of your refuge.

Therefore you plant delightful plants

And set them with vine slips of a strange god.

11 In the day that you plant it you carefully fence it in,

And in the morning you bring your seed to blossom;

But the harvest will be a heap

In a day of sickliness and incurable pain.

12 Alas, the uproar of many peoples

Who roar like the roaring of the seas,

And the rumbling of nations

Who rush on like the rumbling of mighty waters!

13 The nations rumble on like the rumbling of many waters,

But He will rebuke them and they will flee far away,

And be chased like chaff in the mountains before the wind,

Or like whirling dust before a gale.

14 At evening time, behold, there is terror!

Before morning they are no more.

Such will be the portion of those who plunder us

And the lot of those who pillage us.

PROVERBS 13

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Contrast the Upright and the Wicked13:1 A wise son accepts his father’s discipline,

But a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.

2 From the fruit of a man’s mouth he enjoys good,

But the desire of the treacherous is violence.

3 The one who guards his mouth preserves his life;

The one who opens wide his lips comes to ruin.

4 The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing,

But the soul of the diligent is made fat.

5 A righteous man hates falsehood,

But a wicked man acts disgustingly and shamefully.

6 Righteousness guards the one whose way is blameless,

But wickedness subverts the sinner.

7 There is one who pretends to be rich, but has nothing;

Another pretends to be poor, but has great wealth.

8 The ransom of a man’s life is his wealth,

But the poor hears no rebuke.

9 The light of the righteous rejoices,

But the lamp of the wicked goes out.

10 Through insolence comes nothing but strife,

But wisdom is with those who receive counsel.

11 Wealth obtained by fraud dwindles,

But the one who gathers by labor increases it.

12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

But desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

13 The one who despises the word will be in debt to it,

But the one who fears the commandment will be rewarded.

14 The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life,

To turn aside from the snares of death.

15 Good understanding produces favor,

But the way of the treacherous is hard.

16 Every prudent man acts with knowledge,

But a fool displays folly.

17 A wicked messenger falls into adversity,

But a faithful envoy brings healing.

18 Poverty and shame will come to him who neglects discipline,

But he who regards reproof will be honored.

19 Desire realized is sweet to the soul,

But it is an abomination to fools to turn away from evil.

20 He who walks with wise men will be wise,

But the companion of fools will suffer harm.

21 Adversity pursues sinners,

But the righteous will be rewarded with prosperity.

22 A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children,

And the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.

23 Abundant food is in the fallow ground of the poor,

But it is swept away by injustice.

24 He who withholds his rod hates his son,

But he who loves him disciplines him diligently.

25 The righteous has enough to satisfy his appetite,

But the stomach of the wicked is in need.

HEBREWS 1

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God’s Final Word in His Son  1:1 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. 3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.
    5 For to which of the angels did He ever say,

“YOU ARE MY SON,

TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU”?

And again,

“I WILL BE A FATHER TO HIM

AND HE SHALL BE A SON TO ME”?

6 And when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says,

“AND LET ALL THE ANGELS OF GOD WORSHIP HIM.”

7 And of the angels He says,

“WHO MAKES HIS ANGELS WINDS,

AND HIS MINISTERS A FLAME OF FIRE.”

8 But of the Son He says,

“YOUR THRONE, O GOD, IS FOREVER AND EVER,

AND THE RIGHTEOUS SCEPTER IS THE SCEPTER OF HIS KINGDOM.

9 “YOU HAVE LOVED RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HATED LAWLESSNESS;

THEREFORE GOD, YOUR GOD, HAS ANOINTED YOU

WITH THE OIL OF GLADNESS ABOVE YOUR COMPANIONS.”

10 And,

“YOU, LORD, IN THE BEGINNING LAID THE FOUNDATION OF THE EARTH,

AND THE HEAVENS ARE THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS;

11 THEY WILL PERISH, BUT YOU REMAIN;

AND THEY ALL WILL BECOME OLD LIKE A GARMENT,

12 AND LIKE A MANTLE YOU WILL ROLL THEM UP;

LIKE A GARMENT THEY WILL ALSO BE CHANGED.

BUT YOU ARE THE SAME,

AND YOUR YEARS WILL NOT COME TO AN END.”

13 But to which of the angels has He ever said,

“SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND,

UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES

A FOOTSTOOL FOR YOUR FEET”?

14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?