Isaiah 37
1 Thus it came to pass, when King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord.†
2 Then he sent Eliakim the steward, Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz.
3 So they said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah: ‘This day is a day of affliction, disgrace, rebuke, and wrath; for the pangs of childbirth have come, but there is no strength to give birth.
4 May the Lord your God hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom the king of the Assyrians sent to denounce the living God, and to insult Him with words which the Lord your God heard. Therefore you shall pray to the Lord your God for the remnant that is left.’ ”
5 So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah,
6 and Isaiah said to them, “Thus shall you say to your lord: ‘The Lord says this, “Do not be afraid of the words you heard, whereby the ambassadors of the king of the Assyrians denounced Me.
7 Behold, I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a rumor and return to his land. Then he will fall by the sword in his own land.” ’ ”
8 So Rabshakeh returned and found the king warring against Libnah. Then the king of the Assyrians heard that†
9 Tirhakah king of the Ethiopians had come out to make war against him. So when he heard it, he returned and sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
10 “Thus you shall speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying, ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of the Assyrians.”†
11 You heard what the kings of the Assyrians did to all lands by destroying them.
12 Did the gods of the nations deliver those my fathers destroyed—Gozan and Haran and Rezeph in the country of Telassar?
13 Where are the kings of Hamath and Arpad, and the kings of the city of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivah?’ ”
14 So Hezekiah received the scroll from the messengers and opened it before the Lord.
15 Then Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, saying,
16 “O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, the One who sits between the cherubim, You alone are the God of all the kingdoms of the world. You made heaven and earth.
17 Hear, O Lord, and open Your eyes, O Lord, and see the words Sennacherib sent to denounce the living God.
18 For it is true, the kings of the Assyrians laid waste the inhabited earth and their countries,
19 and cast their idols into the fire; for they were not gods, but works of men’s hands—wood and stone. Therefore they destroyed them.
20 But now, O Lord our God, save us from their hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know You alone are God.”
21 Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah and said to him, “The Lord God of Israel says this: ‘I heard what you prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of the Assyrians.
22 This is the word God has spoken concerning him: “The virgin daughter of Zion has despised and laughed you to scorn. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you.†
23 Whom have you denounced and provoked? Or against whom have you raised your voice? You have lifted your eyes on high against the Holy One of Israel.
24 By your messengers, you have insulted the Lord, for you said, ‘By the multitude of my chariots I came to the height of the mountains, to the limits of Lebanon. I cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypress trees, and entered the height of its forest region.
25 I built a bridge, and dried up the waters and every pool of water.’
26 Did you not hear long ago the things I did? From ancient times I appointed them, but now have manifested my purpose to desolate nations in their strongholds and those who dwell in strong cities.
27 I weakened their hands, and they withered; and they became like dry grass on the housetops and like weeds.
28 Now then, I know your resting place, your going out and your coming in.
29 Your great rage and bitterness has come up to Me. Therefore I will put a hook in your nose and a bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way you came.’ ”
30 This shall be a sign to you: You shall eat this year what you sowed, and the second year what is left over; also in the third year sow and reap; plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them.
31 So the remnant in the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward.
32 For out of Jerusalem a remnant shall go forth, and those saved from Mount Zion. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform these things.
33 Therefore, thus says the Lord concerning the king of the Assyrians: ‘He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor build a siege mound against it.
34 By the way he came, by the same shall he return,’ says the Lord.
35 ‘I will protect this city, to save it for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’ ”
36 Then the Angel of the Lord went out and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, they discovered all the dead bodies.†
37 Then Sennacherib king of the Assyrians departed and returned to Nineveh, and dwelt there.
38 Now it came to pass, as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword, then escaped into the land of Ararat; and Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.
Psalms 82
1 An ode of a psalm for Asaph. †
2 O God, who can be likened to You? Be not silent nor appeased, O God,
3 For behold, Your enemies made a noise, And those who hate You raised up their heads.
4 They devised a wicked judgment against Your people, And they plotted against Your saints.
5 They said, “Come, and let us destroy them from among the people, And let the name Israel be remembered no more.”
6 For they plotted together in unity; They established a covenant against You:
7 The tents of the Edomites and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagarenes,
8 Gebal and Ammon and Amalek, And foreigners with the inhabitants of Tyre;
9 And even Assyria joined with them; They came to the aid of the sons of Lot. (Pause)
10 Deal with them as with Midian and Sisera, As with Jabin at the Brook Kishon;
11 They were destroyed at Endor; They became like dung on the earth.
12 Make their rulers like Oreb and Zeeb, And all their rulers like Zebah and Zalmunna,
13 Who said, “Let us inherit the holy place of God for ourselves.”
14 O my God, turn them like a wheel, Like straw before the face of the wind,
15 Like fire that burns through a thicket, Like a flame that sets mountains on fire;
16 Thus You shall pursue them with Your storm, And You shall trouble them in your wrath.
17 Fill their faces with disgrace, And they shall seek Your name, O Lord.
18 Let them be disgraced and troubled unto ages of ages, And let them be shamed and destroyed;
19 And let them know Your name is the Lord, That You alone are Most High over all the earth.
Proverbs of Solomon 17
16 He who judges the unrighteous as righteous, and the righteous as unrighteous, He is unclean and abominable before God.†
17 Why do goods belong to a man without discernment? For a heartless man is unable to gain wisdom.
18 He who makes his own house lofty seeks destruction, And the one who turns away from learning will fall into evils.
19 Let a friend be with you on every occasion, And let brethren be useful in necessities, For they are begotten for this reason.†
20 A man without discernment applauds and rejoices over himself, As also the one who gives himself as surety for his friend.
Philippians 3
Beware of Judaizers
1 Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe.
2 Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation!†
3 For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh,
4 though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so:†
5 circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee;
6 concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
7 But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ.†
8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ
9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;†
10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,
11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Press Toward True Righteousness
12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.†
13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,
14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
15 Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.
16 Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.
17 Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern.†
18 For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:†
19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things.
20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
21 who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.
Philippians 4
1 Therefore, my beloved and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, beloved.