Isaiah 22
1 The word concerning the valley of Zion: What has happened to you, now that you have all gone up to worthless houses?†
2 The city is full of loud crying. Your slain men are not slain with the sword, nor are your dead those who died in war.
3 All your rulers have fled, and your captives are tightly bound, and the mighty among you have fled.
4 Therefore I said, “Let me alone; I will weep bitterly; do not labor to comfort me at the destruction of the daughter of my race.”
5 For it is a day of trouble, destruction, trampling, and error from the Lord of hosts in the Valley of Zion. They wander on the mountains, from the least to the greatest of them.
6 And the Elamites took their quivers, and there were men mounted on horses, gathered for battle.
7 It shall come to pass, your chosen valleys shall be full of chariots, and the horsemen shall block up your gates.
8 They shall uncover the gates of Judah, and look in that day on the chosen houses of the city.
9 They shall uncover the secret places of the houses of the citadel of David, and see they are many. They shall see they had turned back the waters of the old pool into the city,
10 and had pulled down the houses of Jerusalem to fortify the wall for the city.
11 You also made a reservoir for yourself between the two walls of the inner old pool. But you did not look to Him who made it from the beginning, nor did you perceive Him who created it.
12 In that day the Lord of hosts called for weeping and mourning, for baldness and for girding with sackcloth.†
13 But instead, they celebrated in joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, so as to eat and drink wine, saying, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
14 These things are revealed in the ears of the Lord of hosts, for this sin shall not be forgiven you until you die.
15 Thus the Lord of hosts says, “Go into the chamber, to Shebna the steward, and say to him,†
16 ‘What have you here, and what is this to you, that you have hewn a memorial here for yourself, and made yourself a memorial on high, and engraved a testimony for yourself in a rock?
17 Indeed the Lord of hosts will cast out and destroy such a man, and take away your robe
18 and glorious crown, and cast you into a large and unmeasured country. There you shall die, and there your beautiful chariot shall be brought to dishonor and your master’s house trampled.
19 You will be taken from your stewardship and position.
20 Then it shall be in that day, I will call My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah.†
21 I will clothe him with your robe and give your crown to him, and I will commit your power and your stewardship into his hands. He shall be like a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judah.
22 I will give him the glory of David, and he shall rule, and no one will oppose him.
23 I will establish him as a ruler in a trustworthy place, and he will become a glorious throne to his father’s house.
24 Everyone glorious in his father’s house will trust in him, from small to great, and they will depend on him.
25 In that day,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘the man established in a trustworthy place will be removed and fall, and the glory that was on him will be taken away; for the Lord has spoken.’ ”
Psalms 72
15 If I should speak, I would describe it thus: Behold, I am breaking covenant with the generation of your children.
16 And I sought to understand this; It was difficult in my sight,
17 Until I came into God’s holy place And understood their end.
18 Surely, for their deceits You appointed deceits for them; You cast them down in their exaltation.
19 Oh, how they came into desolation suddenly! They ceased to be; they perished in their lawlessness.
20 Like a dream to one who is awakened, So, O Lord, You shall despise their image in Your city.
21 For my heart was kindled, And my reins were changed,
22 And I was despised, and did not know; I became like a beast before You.
23 And I am continually with You; You hold fast my right hand;
24 With Your counsel You guide me, And with glory You take hold of me.
25 For what is there in heaven for me but You, And what do I desire on earth besides You?
26 My heart and my flesh fail, O God of my heart; and God is my portion forever.
27 For behold, those who keep themselves far away from You shall perish; You destroy away from You all who act unfaithfully.
28 But as for me, it is good to cling to God, To put my hope in the Lord, That I may proclaim all Your praises In the gates of the daughter of Zion.
Proverbs of Solomon 15
6 In abundant righteousness there is much strength, But the ungodly shall utterly perish from the earth.
7 In the houses of the righteous there is much strength, But the fruits of the ungodly shall perish.
8 The lips of the wise are bound by perception, But the hearts of those without discernment are not safe.†
9 The sacrifices of the ungodly are an abomination to the Lord, But the prayers of the upright are acceptable with Him.
10 The ways of the ungodly are an abomination to the Lord, But He loves those who pursue righteousness.
Galatians 1
Greeting
1 Paul, an apostle (not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead),†
2 and all the brethren who are with me, To the churches of Galatia:
Warning: True Gospel versus False Gospel
3 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ,†
4 who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
5 to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
6 I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel,†
7 which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.
8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.
9 As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.
10 For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.
God’s Call: Paul the Apostle
11 But I make known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man.†
12 For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ.†
13 For you have heard of my former conduct in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it.†
14 And I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries in my own nation, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.
15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace,
16 to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately confer with flesh and blood,
17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went to Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.
Paul’s Gospel: That of the Twelve
18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and remained with him fifteen days.†
19 But I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord’s brother.†
20 (Now concerning the things which I write to you, indeed, before God, I do not lie.)
21 Afterward I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia.
22 And I was unknown by face to the churches of Judea which were in Christ.
23 But they were hearing only, “He who formerly persecuted us now preaches the faith which he once tried to destroy.”
24 And they glorified God in me.†