Isaiah 44-47
1 Yet hear now, O Jacob My servant, and Israel, whom I chose. 2 Thus says the Lord God who made you, and formed you from the womb: “You will yet be helped; fear not, Jacob My servant, and Israel, My beloved, whom I chose. 3 For I will give water to the thirsty who walk in a waterless place. I will put My Spirit upon your seed and My blessings upon your children. 4 They will spring up like grass in the midst of the water and like willows by the flowing water. 5 One will say, ‘I am God’s,’ and will call himself by the name of Jacob. Another will write, ‘I am God’s,’ and call himself by the name of Israel.”
6 Thus says God, the King of Israel who delivers him, the God of hosts: “I am the first and the last; besides Me there is no God. 7 Who is just as I am? Then let him stand, let him call and prepare for Me that from which I made man forever, and let them declare to you the things that are coming before they come. 8 Do not hide yourselves. Have you not paid attention from the beginning, and have I not declared it to you? You are My witnesses, if there is a God besides Me? Indeed there was none. 9 All who form and carve gods are useless, and they desire things which shall not profit them; but they will be ashamed. 10 They all create a god and carve unprofitable things. 11 All by whom they were made are withered, and let all the deaf among men be gathered together. Let them stand together, and be ashamed and dishonored together. 12 For the craftsman sharpens his iron tool, and fashions the idol with his axe, and pierces it with the awl. He works it with the strength of his arm, and will hunger and grow weak, and will not drink water. 13 The craftsman selects his wood and stretches out his rule, and fits it with glue. He makes it like the form of a man and according to the bloom of youth, to set it up in the house. 14 The wood he cut from the forest which the Lord planted, and the rain made it grow, 15 so as to be for men to burn and to take some of it to warm himself. They kindle it, and bake bread for themselves; but he works into gods what is left and worships them. 16 They burn half of it in the fire, and with the other half they bake bread for themselves. They roast meat on it, eat and are satisfied. He even warms himself and says, ‘I am comfortable, because I am warm, and have seen the fire.’ 17 And the rest of it he makes into a carved god, and worships it and prays to it, and says, ‘Deliver me, for you are my god.’ 18 They do not know how to discern because they shut their eyes, so as not to see with their eyes or understand with their heart. 19 No one considered in his heart, neither pondered in his soul, nor knew in his discernment, that he burned half of it in the fire, baked bread on its coals, roasted meat and ate, and then made the rest of it an abomination; and they worship it. 20 Know this: their heart is ashes; they go astray, and no one can deliver his soul. See, you will not say, ‘There is a lie in my right hand.’
21 “Remember these things, O Jacob and Israel, for you are My servant; I formed you to be My servant; therefore, you, O Israel, do not forget Me. 22 For behold, I blotted out your lawlessness like a cloud and your sins like darkness. Return to Me, and I will redeem you. 23 Be glad, O heavens, for the Lord had mercy on Israel. Sound the trumpet, you foundations of the earth; shout with gladness, you mountains and hills and every tree on them. For God redeemed Jacob, and Israel will be glorified.”
24 Thus says the Lord, who redeems you and forms you from the womb: “I am the Lord, who accomplishes all things, who alone stretched out the heavens and established the earth. 25 Who else will scatter abroad the sign of ventriloquists and the divinations from their heart, turning their shrewd men backward and making their counsel foolishness? 26 Who else establishes the word of His servant, proving the counsel of His messengers to be true? Who else says to Jerusalem, ‘You shall be inhabited,’ and to the cities of Judah, ‘You shall be built, and the desert places shall spring forth’? 27 Who else says to the deep, ‘You shall be dried up, and I will dry up your rivers’? 28 Who else tells Cyrus to be wise, and do all My will, and says to Jerusalem, ‘You will be built, and I shall lay the foundation of My holy house’?”
1 Thus says the Lord God to Cyrus, My anointed, whose right hand I hold that nations might be obedient before him, and I will break the strength of kings: I will open doors before him, and the cities will not be closed. 2 “I will go before you and level mountains; I will break in pieces the gates of bronze and shatter the bars of iron. 3 I will give you the treasures of darkness, and I shall open unseen secret things to you, so you may know I, the Lord God, who call you by your name, am the God of Israel. 4 For Jacob My servant’s sake, and Israel My elect, I will call you by your name; I will accept you, though you have not known Me. 5 For I am the Lord God. There is no God besides Me, and you have not known Me. 6 I will call you by name and accept you, so those who come from the east and the west may know there is none besides Me. I am the Lord God, and there is no other. 7 I am He who prepared light and made darkness, who makes peace and creates troublesome things. I am the Lord God who does all these things. 8 Let heaven above be glad, and let the clouds sprinkle righteousness. Let the earth bring forth mercy and righteousness together. I am the Lord who created you.
9 “As the clay of a potter, what better thing have I created? Will the one plowing plow all day? Shall the clay say to the potter who forms it, ‘What are you making, for you neither work nor have hands?’ 10 As though one should say to his father, ‘What will you beget?’ Or to his mother, ‘What will you bring forth?’ ” 11 Thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, who made the things that are to come: “Ask Me concerning My sons and daughters; and command Me concerning the works of My hands. 12 I made the earth and mankind upon it. With My hand I established heaven and commanded all the stars. 13 I raised him up to be a king with righteousness, and all his ways are right. He shall build My city and return the captivity of My people, not with ransoms or gifts,” says the Lord of hosts.
14 Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Egypt labored for you, and the merchandise of the Ethiopians and of the Sabeans, men of stature, shall pass over to you. They shall be your servants and follow behind you, bound with handcuffs. They shall bow down and make supplication to you, because God is with you; and they shall say, ‘There is no God besides You. 15 For You are God, the God of Israel, the Savior, yet we knew it not.’ 16 All who oppose him shall be ashamed and disgraced and shall walk in shame. Be restored to Me, O coastlands. 17 Israel is saved by the Lord with an everlasting salvation. They will not be ashamed or disgraced forever.”
18 For thus says the Lord, who made heaven—this is the God who formed the earth and made it. He established it, and did not make it in vain, but formed it to be inhabited—“I Am, and there is no other. 19 I have not spoken in secret, nor in a dark place of the earth. I did not say to the seed of Jacob, ‘Seek Me in vain.’ I Am, I am the Lord who speaks righteousness and declares the truth. 20 Assemble yourselves and come. Take counsel together, you who are saved from among the nations. Those who set up the wood of their carved image have no knowledge, and pray to gods who do not save. 21 If they will declare, let them draw near, so as to know together who caused these things to be heard from the beginning. At that time it was told you, ‘I am God, and there is no other besides Me; there is no righteous God and Savior in addition to Me.’ 22 Return to Me, and you shall be saved, you who are from the ends of the earth. For I am God, and there is no other. 23 I swore by Myself: righteousness will truly proceed from my mouth; My words shall not be turned away, that to Me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess to God, 24 saying, ‘Righteousness and glory shall come to Him, and all who separate themselves from Him shall be put to shame.’ 25 All the seed of the children of Israel shall be made righteous by the Lord, and glorified in God.”
1 Bel bowed down; Dagon is crushed; their carved stones are for the wild animals and cattle. Take them bound as a burden to the weary, 2 to the hungry, the exhausted and those who have no strength together, who shall not be able to save themselves from war, but who themselves are led away as captives.
3 “Listen to Me, O house of Jacob and all the remnant of Israel, both those taken from the womb and those instructed from childhood, 4 even to your old age: I Am, and even to your gray hairs, I Am. I bear you; I made you and will forgive you. I will take you up and save you. 5 To whom will you liken Me? Look what you contrived, you who went astray. 6 Those who contribute gold from a purse and silver on a scale, and count them out by weight, and who hire a goldsmith, they make things with their hands, and bowing down, they worship them. 7 They bear it on their shoulders and go; and if they set it somewhere, it remains there and never moves. Though one cries out to it, yet it cannot answer, nor save him from his troubles. 8 Remember these things and groan. Repent, you who go astray; return in your heart. 9 Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other besides Me, 10 declaring beforehand the latter events before they come to pass and are accomplished together. I say, ‘All My counsel shall stand, and I will do whatever I will to do, 11 calling a bird from the east and from a land afar off.’ For what I purpose to do, I speak and bring it about, and create and do it. Thus I brought him and proposed his way. 12 Listen to Me, you stubborn-hearted who are far from righteousness. 13 I bring My righteousness near, and My salvation shall not delay. I give salvation in Zion and to Israel for glory.
1 “Come down and sit on the ground, O virgin daughter of Babylon; enter the darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans, for you shall be prosperous no more, so as to be called comfortable and luxurious. 2 Take a millstone and grind meal. Remove your veil, show your gray hair, uncover the shins, and pass through the rivers. 3 Your shame will be uncovered, and your disgrace will be seen. I will take your standard of living from you, and no longer deliver people to you. 4 He who delivers you has spoken; the Lord of hosts is His name, the Holy One of Israel. 5 Sit down, you who are pierced to the heart; enter into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans; for you shall no longer be called the strength of a kingdom. 6 I was provoked at My people; you profaned My inheritance; I gave them into your hand. You showed them no mercy; you laid your yoke very heavy on the elderly. 7 You said, ‘I shall be a princess forever,’ but you did not understand these things in your heart, nor remember the latter end. 8 Therefore hear this now, you who are given to pleasures, who sit in confidence, who says in her heart, ‘I am, and there is no other; I shall not sit as a widow, nor shall I know bereavement.’ 9 But now these two things shall come upon you in a moment, in one day: widowhood and the loss of children. They shall come upon you in a moment because of your sorcery, the great abundance of your enchanters, 10 and your hope of evil. For you said, ‘I am, and there is no other.’ Know that your understanding of these things and your fornication will be your shame, for you said in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no other.’ 11 Therefore destruction shall come upon you, and you shall not know the pit into which you will fall. Trouble shall come upon you, and you will be unable to be clear of it. Destruction shall come upon you suddenly, but you will not know it. 12 Stand now with your enchantments and the multitude of your sorceries which you learned from your youth, if you will be able to profit from this. 13 You are wearied in your counsels. Let the astrologers, the stargazers, and the monthly prognosticators stand up and save you from what shall come upon you. 14 Behold, all these shall be burned like sticks in a fire, and they shall not deliver their soul from the flame. For you have coals of fire to sit on, and these shall be your help. 15 You grew weary in your traffic from youth, and each man led himself astray, but there shall be no salvation for you.
Psalm 105:16–31
16 They also angered Moses in the camp,
And Aaron the holy one of the Lord;
17 The earth was opened and swallowed Dathan,
And buried the assembly of Abiram;
18 A fire kindled in their assembly;
The flame burned up the sinners.
19 They made a calf in Horeb,
And bowed down and worshiped the graven image;
20 Thus they changed their glory
Into the likeness of a calf that eats grass.
21 They forgot the God who saved them,
Who did great things in Egypt,
22 And marvelous things in the land of Ham,
Fearful things at the Red Sea.
23 And He said He would destroy them
Had not Moses His chosen one
Stood among them in the destruction before Him,
To turn away His wrath so as not to destroy them.
24 Then they despised the desired land;
They did not believe His word,
25 But murmured in their tents;
They did not listen to the Lord’s voice.
26 So He raised His hand against them,
To overthrow them in the desert;
27 And to overthrow their seed among the nations,
And to scatter them among the countries.
28 They were consecrated to Baal-Peor,
And ate sacrifices of the dead;
29 So they provoked Him with their ways of living,
And destruction multiplied among them.
30 Then Phinehas stood among them and made atonement,
And the destruction ceased;
31 And it was reckoned as righteousness to him
From generation to generation forever.
Proverbs 23:6–12
6 Do not dine with an envious man,
Neither desire his foods;
7 For as someone who may swallow a hair,
So he eats and drinks.
8 Neither invite him in, nor eat your morsel with him;
For he will vomit it forth and maltreat your good words.
9 Speak nothing into the ears of a man without discernment,
Lest he treat your wise words with contempt.
10 Do not remove the eternal landmarks,
And do not enter the possession of orphans.
11 For the Lord who redeems them is mighty,
And He will judge their cause with you.
12 Give your heart to instruction,
And prepare your ears for words of perception.
Hebrews 3
1 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus,
2 who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house.
3 For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house.
4 For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God.
5 And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward,
6 but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.
Be Faithful
(Ps. 95:7–11)
7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:
“Today, if you will hear His voice,
8 Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
In the day of trial in the wilderness,
9 Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me,
And saw My works forty years.
10 Therefore I was angry with that generation,
And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,
And they have not known My ways.’
11 So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”
12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God;
13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end,
15 while it is said:
“Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
Failure of the Wilderness Wanderers
16 For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses?
17 Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness?
18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey?
19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.