ISAIAH 25

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Song of Praise for God’s Favor25:1 O LORD, You are my God;

I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name;

For You have worked wonders,

Plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.

2 For You have made a city into a heap,

A fortified city into a ruin;

A palace of strangers is a city no more,

It will never be rebuilt.

3 Therefore a strong people will glorify You;

Cities of ruthless nations will revere You.

4 For You have been a defense for the helpless,

A defense for the needy in his distress,

A refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat;

For the breath of the ruthless

Is like a rain storm against a wall.

5 Like heat in drought, You subdue the uproar of aliens;

Like heat by the shadow of a cloud, the song of the ruthless is silenced.

6 The LORD of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain;

A banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow,

And refined, aged wine.

7 And on this mountain He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples,

Even the veil which is stretched over all nations.

8 He will swallow up death for all time,

And the Lord GOD will wipe tears away from all faces,

And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth;

For the LORD has spoken.

9 And it will be said in that day,

“Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us.

This is the LORD for whom we have waited;

Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”

10 For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain,

And Moab will be trodden down in his place

As straw is trodden down in the water of a manure pile.

11 And he will spread out his hands in the middle of it

As a swimmer spreads out his hands to swim,

But the Lord will lay low his pride together with the trickery of his hands.

12 The unassailable fortifications of your walls He will bring down,

Lay low and cast to the ground, even to the dust.

ISAIAH 26

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Song of Trust in God’s Protection  26:1 In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

“We have a strong city;

He sets up walls and ramparts for security.

2 “Open the gates, that the righteous nation may enter,

The one that remains faithful.

3 “The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace,

Because he trusts in You.

4 “Trust in the LORD forever,

For in GOD the LORD, we have an everlasting Rock.

5 “For He has brought low those who dwell on high, the unassailable city;

He lays it low, He lays it low to the ground, He casts it to the dust.

6 “The foot will trample it,

The feet of the afflicted, the steps of the helpless.”

7 The way of the righteous is smooth;

O Upright One, make the path of the righteous level.

8 Indeed, while following the way of Your judgments, O LORD,

We have waited for You eagerly;

Your name, even Your memory, is the desire of our souls.

9 At night my soul longs for You,

Indeed, my spirit within me seeks You diligently;

For when the earth experiences Your judgments

The inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

10 Though the wicked is shown favor,

He does not learn righteousness;

He deals unjustly in the land of uprightness,

And does not perceive the majesty of the LORD.

11 O LORD, Your hand is lifted up yet they do not see it.

They see Your zeal for the people and are put to shame;

Indeed, fire will devour Your enemies.

12 LORD, You will establish peace for us,

Since You have also performed for us all our works.

13 O LORD our God, other masters besides You have ruled us;

But through You alone we confess Your name.

14 The dead will not live, the departed spirits will not rise;

Therefore You have punished and destroyed them,

And You have wiped out all remembrance of them.

15 You have increased the nation, O LORD,

You have increased the nation, You are glorified;

You have extended all the borders of the land.

16 O LORD, they sought You in distress;

They could only whisper a prayer,

Your chastening was upon them.

17 As the pregnant woman approaches the time to give birth,

She writhes and cries out in her labor pains,

Thus were we before You, O LORD.

18 We were pregnant, we writhed in labor,

We gave birth, as it seems, only to wind.

We could not accomplish deliverance for the earth,

Nor were inhabitants of the world born.

19 Your dead will live;

Their corpses will rise.

You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy,

For your dew is as the dew of the dawn,

And the earth will give birth to the departed spirits.

20 Come, my people, enter into your rooms

And close your doors behind you;

Hide for a little while

Until indignation runs its course.

21 For behold, the LORD is about to come out from His place

To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity;

And the earth will reveal her bloodshed

And will no longer cover her slain.

PROVERBS 17

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Contrast the Upright and the Wicked17:1 Better is a dry morsel and quietness with it

Than a house full of feasting with strife.

2 A servant who acts wisely will rule over a son who acts shamefully,

And will share in the inheritance among brothers.

3 The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold,

But the LORD tests hearts.

4 An evildoer listens to wicked lips;

A liar pays attention to a destructive tongue.

5 He who mocks the poor taunts his Maker;

He who rejoices at calamity will not go unpunished.

6 Grandchildren are the crown of old men,

And the glory of sons is their fathers.

7 Excellent speech is not fitting for a fool,

Much less are lying lips to a prince.

8 A bribe is a charm in the sight of its owner;

Wherever he turns, he prospers.

9 He who conceals a transgression seeks love,

But he who repeats a matter separates intimate friends.

10 A rebuke goes deeper into one who has understanding

Than a hundred blows into a fool.

11 A rebellious man seeks only evil,

So a cruel messenger will be sent against him.

12 Let a man meet a bear robbed of her cubs,

Rather than a fool in his folly.

13 He who returns evil for good,

Evil will not depart from his house.

14 The beginning of strife is like letting out water,

So abandon the quarrel before it breaks out.

15 He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous,

Both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD.

16 Why is there a price in the hand of a fool to buy wisdom,

When he has no sense?

17 A friend loves at all times,

And a brother is born for adversity.

18 A man lacking in sense pledges

And becomes guarantor in the presence of his neighbor.

19 He who loves transgression loves strife;

He who raises his door seeks destruction.

20 He who has a crooked mind finds no good,

And he who is perverted in his language falls into evil.

21 He who sires a fool does so to his sorrow,

And the father of a fool has no joy.

22 A joyful heart is good medicine,

But a broken spirit dries up the bones.

23 A wicked man receives a bribe from the bosom

To pervert the ways of justice.

24 Wisdom is in the presence of the one who has understanding,

But the eyes of a fool are on the ends of the earth.

25 A foolish son is a grief to his father

And bitterness to her who bore him.

26 It is also not good to fine the righteous,

Nor to strike the noble for their uprightness.

27 He who restrains his words has knowledge,

And he who has a cool spirit is a man of understanding.

28 Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise;

When he closes his lips, he is considered prudent.

HEBREWS 3

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Jesus Our High Priest  3:1 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession; 2 He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house. 3 For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house. 4 For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. 5 Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later; 6 but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house--whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.
    7 Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says,

“TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE,

8 DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME,

AS IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS,

9 WHERE YOUR FATHERS TRIED Me BY TESTING Me,

AND SAW MY WORKS FOR FORTY YEARS.

10 “THEREFORE I WAS ANGRY WITH THIS GENERATION,

AND SAID, ‘THEY ALWAYS GO ASTRAY IN THEIR HEART,

AND THEY DID NOT KNOW MY WAYS’;

11 AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH,

‘THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.’”

The Peril of Unbelief12 Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end, 15 while it is said,

“TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE,

DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS, AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME.”

16 For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.