Deuteronomy 32
1 “Take heed, O heaven, and I will speak;
And let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
2 Let my proverbial saying be awaited as the rain,
And let my words come down
As raindrops on the wild grass,
And as snowfall on the sown grass.
3 For I invoke the Lord’s name:
Ascribe greatness to our God.
4 He is God, His works are true;
And all His ways are judgment,
A faithful God and without injustice;
Righteous and holy is the Lord.
5 “They sinned; the blameworthy children are not His,
A generation twisted and perverse.
6 Is this how you repay the Lord,
O foolish and unwise people?
Is He not your Father, who acquired you?
Has He not made and created you?
7 “Remember the days of old,
Consider the years of many generations.
Ask your father, and he will tell you;
Your elders, and they will tell you:
8 When the Most High divided the nations,
When He scattered the sons of Adam,
He set the boundaries of the nations
By the number of God’s angels.
9 For the Lord’s portion became the people of Jacob;
The allotment of His inheritance is Israel.
10 “He provided for him in the desert,
In thirst of heat in a waterless place.
He encircled him; He instructed him;
He guarded him carefully as the apple of His eye.
11 As an eagle covers its nest,
Yearns after its young,
Spreading out its wings, taking them up,
Carrying them on its back,
12 So the Lord alone led them,
And there was no foreign god with them.
13 “He raised them on the strength of the land;
He fed them on the produce of the fields;
He suckled them on honey from the rock
And oil from the solid rock,
14 Butter of oxen and milk of sheep,
With fat of lambs and goats,
Of sons of bulls and goats,
With the choicest wheat;
And you drank wine, the blood of grapes.
15 “So Jacob ate and was filled, and the beloved kicked;
He grew fat, he grew thick, he is obese.
Then he forsook God who made him
And stood back from God his Savior.
16 They provoked Me to wrath against foreign gods;
With their abominations they embittered Me.
17 They sacrificed to demons, and not to God,
To gods they did not know;
New ones, recent gods arrived,
Which their fathers did not know.
18 You abandoned the God who begot you,
And forgot the God who nourished you.
19 “So the Lord saw it, and was jealous;
And He was provoked to anger by His sons and daughters.
20 Then He said, ‘I will turn My face from them,
And I will make known what their end will be;
For they are a perverse generation,
Sons in whom is no faith.
21 They provoked Me to jealousy by what is not God;
They moved Me to anger by their idols;
But I will provoke them to jealousy by those who are not a nation;
I will move them to anger by a foolish nation.
22 For a fire is kindled in My anger,
And shall burn to the lowest Hades;
It shall consume the land with its produce
And set on fire the foundations of the mountains.
23 ‘I will gather evils on them;
I will spend My arrows on them.
24 They shall be wasted with hunger,
Devoured by birds and incurable disease;
I will also send against them the teeth of wild animals
With the anger of things crawling on the earth.
25 The sword shall make them childless outside,
And fear from the inner chambers,
For the young man and virgin,
The nursing child with the elder of gray hairs.
26 I said, “I will scatter them;
I will make their memory cease from among men,”
27 But for the wrath of the enemy, lest they live long,
Lest their adversary make a joint attack,
Lest they should say, “Our hand is high;
And it is not the Lord who did all this.” ’
28 “For they are a nation void of counsel,
Nor is there understanding in them.
29 They were not wise to understand these things;
Let them be concerned for the coming time.
30 How could one chase a thousand
And two put ten thousand to flight
Unless God had sold them,
And the Lord delivered them up?
31 For our God is not like their gods,
But our enemies are foolish.
32 For their vineyard is of the vineyard of Sodom,
And their vine is of Gomorrah;
Their grapes are grapes of gall;
Their clusters are bitter.
33 Their wine is the wrath of serpents,
And the incurable wrath of asps.
34 ‘Behold, is this not laid up in store with Me,
Sealed up among My treasures?
35 I shall repay on the day of vengeance;
In time, when their foot shall slip;
For the day of their calamity is at hand,
And is waiting, ready for them.’
36 “For the Lord will judge His people,
And have compassion on His servants;
For He sees them disabled
And left in distress and weakened.
37 The Lord said,
‘Where are their gods in which they trusted?
38 Who ate the fat of their sacrifices,
And drank the wine of their drink offerings?
Let them rise and help you
And be your defender.
39 ‘Now see, I, even I, am He,
And there is no God besides Me;
I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
Nor is there any who can deliver from My hands.
40 For I raise My hand to heaven,
And I swear by My right hand, and say,
“As I live forever,
41 for I whet My sword like lightning;
And My hand takes hold on judgment.
I will render vengeance on My enemies,
And repay those who hate Me.
42 I will make My arrows drunk from blood;
And My sword shall devour flesh
From the blood of the slain and the captives,
From the heads of the leaders of the enemy.” ’
43 “Rejoice, O Heavens, together with Him,
And worship Him, all the sons of God;
Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people;
And let all the angels of God be strong with Him;
For He will avenge the blood of His sons
And render vengeance to His adversaries;
And the Lord will purify His people’s land.”
Moses’ Last Instructions
44 So Moses wrote this ode on that day and taught it to the children of Israel. Then Moses came with Joshua the son of Nun and spoke all the words of this law in the hearing of the people. 45 Now Moses finished speaking to all Israel; 46 and he said to them, “Take heed in your heart to all these words I testify among you today, which you shall command your sons to be careful to do—all the words of this law. 47 For it is not an empty word for you, because it is your life; and because of this word you shall prolong your days in the land which you are crossing over the Jordan to inherit.”
48 Then the Lord spoke to Moses on that day, saying, 49 “Go up this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo in the land of Moab, across from Jericho; view the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel as a possession; 50 and die on the mountain you ascend and be added to your people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was added to his people; 51 because you disobeyed My word among the children of Israel during the Water of Contention at Kadesh in the Desert of Sin, and because you did not sanctify Me in the midst of the children of Israel. 52 Yet you shall see the land at a distance, though you shall not go there.”
Psalm 64
1 For the End; a psalm by David; an ode; sung by Jeremiah and Ezekiel regarding the situation of the sojourners, when they were about to depart.
2 It is fitting to sing a hymn to You in Zion, O God,
And a vow shall be rendered to You in Jerusalem.
3 Hear my prayer;
To You all flesh shall come.
4 The words of lawless men overpowered us,
And You will show mercy to our ungodliness.
5 Blessed is he whom You choose and help;
He shall dwell in Your courts.
We shall be filled with the good things of Your house;
Holy is Your temple, wondrous in righteousness.
6 Hear us, O God our savior,
The hope of all the ends of earth
And of those far off at sea,
7 He who prepares mountains in His strength,
Who is girded with power,
8 Who troubles the depth of the sea,
The sounds of its waves.
The nations shall be troubled,
9 And those who inhabit the ends of the earth
Shall be afraid because of Your signs;
You shall gladden the outgoings of morning and evening.
10 You visited the earth and watered it;
You enriched it abundantly;
The river of God is filled with waters;
You prepared their food, for thus is Your preparation thereof.
11 Water its furrows; multiply its fruits;
With its raindrops the earth will be gladdened when it produces fruits.
12 You will bless the crown of the year with Your goodness,
And Your fields will be filled with fatness;
13 The desert fruits will be made fat,
And the hills will be girded with rejoicing.
14 The rams of the sheep are clothed with wool,
And the valleys shall abound in wheat;
They will shout and truly sing hymns.
Proverbs 13:6–10
6 Righteousness guards the simple,
But sin makes the ungodly worthless.
7 There are those with nothing who make themselves rich,
And there are those, though very rich, who humble themselves.
8 The ransom of a man’s soul is his own wealth,
But the poor man does not withstand a threat.
9 Light is with the righteous continually,
But the light of the ungodly is extinguished.
10 Deceitful souls are led astray in sins,
But the righteous have compassion and are merciful.
Mark 13:1–23
1 Then as He went out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, “Teacher, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!”
2 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone shall be left upon another, that shall not be thrown down.”
The Signs of the Times and the End of the Age
(Matt. 24:3–14; Luke 21:7–19)
3 Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked Him privately,
4 “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign when all these things will be fulfilled?”
5 And Jesus, answering them, began to say: “Take heed that no one deceives you.
6 “For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ and will deceive many.
7 “But when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be troubled; for such things must happen, but the end is not yet.
8 “For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines and troubles. These are the beginnings of sorrows.
9 “But watch out for yourselves, for they will deliver you up to councils, and you will be beaten in the synagogues. You will be brought before rulers and kings for My sake, for a testimony to them.
10 “And the gospel must first be preached to all the nations.
11 “But when they arrest you and deliver you up, do not worry beforehand, or premeditate what you will speak. But whatever is given you in that hour, speak that; for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.
12 “Now brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death.
13 “And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
The Great Tribulation
(Matt. 24:15–28; Luke 21:20–24)
14 “So when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not” (let the reader understand), “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
15 “Let him who is on the housetop not go down into the house, nor enter to take anything out of his house.
16 “And let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes.
17 “But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!
18 “And pray that your flight may not be in winter.
19 “For in those days there will be tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the creation which God created until this time, nor ever shall be.
20 “And unless the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake, whom He chose, He shortened the days.
21 “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or, ‘Look, He is there!’ do not believe it.
22 “For false christs and false prophets will rise and show signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.
23 “But take heed; see, I have told you all things beforehand.