ISAIAH 27

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The Deliverance of Israel27:1 In that day the LORD will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent,

With His fierce and great and mighty sword,

Even Leviathan the twisted serpent;

And He will kill the dragon who lives in the sea.

2 In that day,

“A vineyard of wine, sing of it!

3 “I, the LORD, am its keeper;

I water it every moment.

So that no one will damage it,

I guard it night and day.

4 “I have no wrath.

Should someone give Me briars and thorns in battle,

Then I would step on them, I would burn them completely.

5 “Or let him rely on My protection,

Let him make peace with Me,

Let him make peace with Me.”

6 In the days to come Jacob will take root,

Israel will blossom and sprout,

And they will fill the whole world with fruit.

7 Like the striking of Him who has struck them, has He struck them?

Or like the slaughter of His slain, have they been slain?

8 You contended with them by banishing them, by driving them away.

With His fierce wind He has expelled them on the day of the east wind.

9 Therefore through this Jacob’s iniquity will be forgiven;

And this will be the full price of the pardoning of his sin:

When he makes all the altar stones like pulverized chalk stones;

When Asherim and incense altars will not stand.

10 For the fortified city is isolated,

A homestead forlorn and forsaken like the desert;

There the calf will graze,

And there it will lie down and feed on its branches.

11 When its limbs are dry, they are broken off;

Women come and make a fire with them,

For they are not a people of discernment,

Therefore their Maker will not have compassion on them.

And their Creator will not be gracious to them.

    12 In that day the LORD will start His threshing from the flowing stream of the Euphrates to the brook of Egypt, and you will be gathered up one by one, O sons of Israel. 13 It will come about also in that day that a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were perishing in the land of Assyria and who were scattered in the land of Egypt will come and worship the LORD in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

ISAIAH 28

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Ephraim’s Captivity Predicted28:1 Woe to the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim,

And to the fading flower of its glorious beauty,

Which is at the head of the fertile valley

Of those who are overcome with wine!

2 Behold, the Lord has a strong and mighty agent;

As a storm of hail, a tempest of destruction,

Like a storm of mighty overflowing waters,

He has cast it down to the earth with His hand.

3 The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim is trodden under foot.

4 And the fading flower of its glorious beauty,

Which is at the head of the fertile valley,

Will be like the first-ripe fig prior to summer,

Which one sees,

And as soon as it is in his hand,

He swallows it.

5 In that day the LORD of hosts will become a beautiful crown

And a glorious diadem to the remnant of His people;

6 A spirit of justice for him who sits in judgment,

A strength to those who repel the onslaught at the gate.

7 And these also reel with wine and stagger from strong drink:

The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink,

They are confused by wine, they stagger from strong drink;

They reel while having visions,

They totter when rendering judgment.

8 For all the tables are full of filthy vomit, without a single clean place.

9 “To whom would He teach knowledge,

And to whom would He interpret the message?

Those just weaned from milk?

Those just taken from the breast?

10 “For He says,

‘Order on order, order on order,

Line on line, line on line,

A little here, a little there.’”

11 Indeed, He will speak to this people

Through stammering lips and a foreign tongue,

12 He who said to them, “Here is rest, give rest to the weary,”

And, “Here is repose,” but they would not listen.

13 So the word of the LORD to them will be,

“Order on order, order on order,

Line on line, line on line,

A little here, a little there,”

That they may go and stumble backward, be broken, snared and taken captive.

Judah Is Warned

14 Therefore, hear the word of the LORD, O scoffers,

Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,

15 Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death,

And with Sheol we have made a pact.

The overwhelming scourge will not reach us when it passes by,

For we have made falsehood our refuge and we have concealed ourselves with deception.”

16 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD,

“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone,

A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed.

He who believes in it will not be disturbed.

17 “I will make justice the measuring line

And righteousness the level;

Then hail will sweep away the refuge of lies

And the waters will overflow the secret place.

18 “Your covenant with death will be canceled,

And your pact with Sheol will not stand;

When the overwhelming scourge passes through,

Then you become its trampling place.

19 “As often as it passes through, it will seize you;

For morning after morning it will pass through, anytime during the day or night,

And it will be sheer terror to understand what it means.”

20 The bed is too short on which to stretch out,

And the blanket is too small to wrap oneself in.

21 For the LORD will rise up as at Mount Perazim,

He will be stirred up as in the valley of Gibeon,

To do His task, His unusual task,

And to work His work, His extraordinary work.

22 And now do not carry on as scoffers,

Or your fetters will be made stronger;

For I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts

Of decisive destruction on all the earth.

23 Give ear and hear my voice,

Listen and hear my words.

24 Does the farmer plow continually to plant seed?

Does he continually turn and harrow the ground?

25 Does he not level its surface

And sow dill and scatter cummin

And plant wheat in rows,

Barley in its place and rye within its area?

26 For his God instructs and teaches him properly.

27 For dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge,

Nor is the cartwheel driven over cummin;

But dill is beaten out with a rod, and cummin with a club.

28 Grain for bread is crushed,

Indeed, he does not continue to thresh it forever.

Because the wheel of his cart and his horses eventually damage it,

He does not thresh it longer.

29 This also comes from the LORD of hosts,

Who has made His counsel wonderful and His wisdom great.

PROVERBS 18

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Contrast the Upright and the Wicked18:1 He who separates himself seeks his own desire,

He quarrels against all sound wisdom.

2 A fool does not delight in understanding,

But only in revealing his own mind.

3 When a wicked man comes, contempt also comes,

And with dishonor comes scorn.

4 The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters;

The fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook.

5 To show partiality to the wicked is not good,

Nor to thrust aside the righteous in judgment.

6 A fool’s lips bring strife,

And his mouth calls for blows.

7 A fool’s mouth is his ruin,

And his lips are the snare of his soul.

8 The words of a whisperer are like dainty morsels,

And they go down into the innermost parts of the body.

9 He also who is slack in his work

Is brother to him who destroys.

10 The name of the LORD is a strong tower;

The righteous runs into it and is safe.

11 A rich man’s wealth is his strong city,

And like a high wall in his own imagination.

12 Before destruction the heart of man is haughty,

But humility goes before honor.

13 He who gives an answer before he hears,

It is folly and shame to him.

14 The spirit of a man can endure his sickness,

But as for a broken spirit who can bear it?

15 The mind of the prudent acquires knowledge,

And the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.

16 A man’s gift makes room for him

And brings him before great men.

17 The first to plead his case seems right,

Until another comes and examines him.

18 The cast lot puts an end to strife

And decides between the mighty ones.

19 A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city,

And contentions are like the bars of a citadel.

20 With the fruit of a man’s mouth his stomach will be satisfied;

He will be satisfied with the product of his lips.

21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue,

And those who love it will eat its fruit.

22 He who finds a wife finds a good thing

And obtains favor from the LORD.

23 The poor man utters supplications,

But the rich man answers roughly.

24 A man of too many friends comes to ruin,

But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

HEBREWS 4

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The Believer’s Rest  4:1 Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. 3 For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said,

“AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH,

THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST,”

although His works were finished from the foundation of the world.

4 For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day: “AND GOD RESTED ON THE SEVENTH DAY FROM ALL HIS WORKS”; 5 and again in this passage, “THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.” 6 Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, 7 He again fixes a certain day, “Today,” saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before,

“TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE,

DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS.”

8 For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. 9 So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 10 For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. 11 Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
    14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. 16 Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.