ISAIAH 31

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Help Not in Egypt but in God31:1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help

And rely on horses,

And trust in chariots because they are many

And in horsemen because they are very strong,

But they do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek the LORD!

2 Yet He also is wise and will bring disaster

And does not retract His words,

But will arise against the house of evildoers

And against the help of the workers of iniquity.

3 Now the Egyptians are men and not God,

And their horses are flesh and not spirit;

So the LORD will stretch out His hand,

And he who helps will stumble

And he who is helped will fall,

And all of them will come to an end together.

    4 For thus says the LORD to me,

“As the lion or the young lion growls over his prey,

Against which a band of shepherds is called out,

And he will not be terrified at their voice nor disturbed at their noise,

So will the LORD of hosts come down to wage war on Mount Zion and on its hill.”

5 Like flying birds so the LORD of hosts will protect Jerusalem.

He will protect and deliver it;

He will pass over and rescue it.

    6 Return to Him from whom you have deeply defected, O sons of Israel. 7 For in that day every man will cast away his silver idols and his gold idols, which your sinful hands have made for you as a sin.

8 And the Assyrian will fall by a sword not of man,

And a sword not of man will devour him.

So he will not escape the sword,

And his young men will become forced laborers.

9 “His rock will pass away because of panic,

And his princes will be terrified at the standard,”

Declares the LORD, whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.

ISAIAH 32

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The Glorious Future32:1 Behold, a king will reign righteously

And princes will rule justly.

2 Each will be like a refuge from the wind

And a shelter from the storm,

Like streams of water in a dry country,

Like the shade of a huge rock in a parched land.

3 Then the eyes of those who see will not be blinded,

And the ears of those who hear will listen.

4 The mind of the hasty will discern the truth,

And the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak clearly.

5 No longer will the fool be called noble,

Or the rogue be spoken of as generous.

6 For a fool speaks nonsense,

And his heart inclines toward wickedness:

To practice ungodliness and to speak error against the LORD,

To keep the hungry person unsatisfied

And to withhold drink from the thirsty.

7 As for a rogue, his weapons are evil;

He devises wicked schemes

To destroy the afflicted with slander,

Even though the needy one speaks what is right.

8 But the noble man devises noble plans;

And by noble plans he stands.

9 Rise up, you women who are at ease,

And hear my voice;

Give ear to my word,

You complacent daughters.

10 Within a year and a few days

You will be troubled, O complacent daughters;

For the vintage is ended,

And the fruit gathering will not come.

11 Tremble, you women who are at ease;

Be troubled, you complacent daughters;

Strip, undress and put sackcloth on your waist,

12 Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine,

13 For the land of my people in which thorns and briars shall come up;

Yea, for all the joyful houses and for the jubilant city.

14 Because the palace has been abandoned, the populated city forsaken.

Hill and watch-tower have become caves forever,

A delight for wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks;

15 Until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high,

And the wilderness becomes a fertile field,

And the fertile field is considered as a forest.

16 Then justice will dwell in the wilderness

And righteousness will abide in the fertile field.

17 And the work of righteousness will be peace,

And the service of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever.

18 Then my people will live in a peaceful habitation,

And in secure dwellings and in undisturbed resting places;

19 And it will hail when the forest comes down,

And the city will be utterly laid low.

20 How blessed will you be, you who sow beside all waters,

Who let out freely the ox and the donkey.

PROVERBS 20

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On Life and Conduct20:1 Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler,

And whoever is intoxicated by it is not wise.

2 The terror of a king is like the growling of a lion;

He who provokes him to anger forfeits his own life.

3 Keeping away from strife is an honor for a man,

But any fool will quarrel.

4 The sluggard does not plow after the autumn,

So he begs during the harvest and has nothing.

5 A plan in the heart of a man is like deep water,

But a man of understanding draws it out.

6 Many a man proclaims his own loyalty,

But who can find a trustworthy man?

7 A righteous man who walks in his integrity--

How blessed are his sons after him.

8 A king who sits on the throne of justice

Disperses all evil with his eyes.

9 Who can say, “I have cleansed my heart,

I am pure from my sin”?

10 Differing weights and differing measures,

Both of them are abominable to the LORD.

11 It is by his deeds that a lad distinguishes himself

If his conduct is pure and right.

12 The hearing ear and the seeing eye,

The LORD has made both of them.

13 Do not love sleep, or you will become poor;

Open your eyes, and you will be satisfied with food.

14 “Bad, bad,” says the buyer,

But when he goes his way, then he boasts.

15 There is gold, and an abundance of jewels;

But the lips of knowledge are a more precious thing.

16 Take his garment when he becomes surety for a stranger;

And for foreigners, hold him in pledge.

17 Bread obtained by falsehood is sweet to a man,

But afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel.

18 Prepare plans by consultation,

And make war by wise guidance.

19 He who goes about as a slanderer reveals secrets,

Therefore do not associate with a gossip.

20 He who curses his father or his mother,

His lamp will go out in time of darkness.

21 An inheritance gained hurriedly at the beginning

Will not be blessed in the end.

22 Do not say, “I will repay evil”;

Wait for the LORD, and He will save you.

23 Differing weights are an abomination to the LORD,

And a false scale is not good.

24 Man’s steps are ordained by the LORD,

How then can man understand his way?

25 It is a trap for a man to say rashly, “It is holy!”

And after the vows to make inquiry.

26 A wise king winnows the wicked,

And drives the threshing wheel over them.

27 The spirit of man is the lamp of the LORD,

Searching all the innermost parts of his being.

28 Loyalty and truth preserve the king,

And he upholds his throne by righteousness.

29 The glory of young men is their strength,

And the honor of old men is their gray hair.

30 Stripes that wound scour away evil,

And strokes reach the innermost parts.

HEBREWS 6

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The Peril of Falling Away  6:1 Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do, if God permits. 4 For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame. 7 For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; 8 but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.
Better Things for You    9 But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way. 10 For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints. 11 And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, 12 so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
    13 For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, 14 saying, “I WILL SURELY BLESS YOU AND I WILL SURELY MULTIPLY YOU.” 15 And so, having patiently waited, he obtained the promise. 16 For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as confirmation is an end of every dispute. 17 In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have taken refuge would have strong encouragement to take hold of the hope set before us. 19 This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, 20 where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.