The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Thursday September 20, 2018 (NIV)

¹⁰ “Now I will rise up,”^(A) says the Lord.
“Now I will lift myself up.
Now I will be exalted.
¹¹ You will conceive chaff;^(B)
you will give birth to stubble.
Your breath is fire that will consume you.
¹² The peoples will be burned to ashes,
like thorns cut down and burned in a fire.
¹³ You who are far off, hear what I have done;
you who are near,^(C) know my strength.”
¹⁴ The sinners in Zion are afraid;
trembling seizes the ungodly:
“Who among us can dwell with a consuming fire?^(D)
Who among us can dwell with ever-burning flames?”
¹⁵ The one who lives righteously
and speaks rightly,^(E)
who refuses profit from extortion,
whose hand never takes a bribe,
who stops his ears from listening to murderous plots
and shuts his eyes against evil schemes^(F)—
¹⁶ he will dwell on the heights;
his refuge will be the rocky fortresses,
his food provided, his water assured.
¹⁷ Your eyes will see the King in his beauty;^(G)
you will see a vast land.^(H)
18 Your mind will meditate on the past terror:
“Where is the accountant?^[a]
Where is the tribute collector?^[b]
Where is the one who spied out our defenses?” ^[c]
19 You will no longer see the barbarians,
a people whose speech is difficult to comprehend—
who stammer in a language that is not understood.^(I)
20 Look at Zion, the city of our festival times.
Your eyes will see Jerusalem,
a peaceful pasture,^(J) a tent that does not wander;
its tent pegs will not be pulled up
nor will any of its cords be loosened.^(K)
21 For the majestic one, our Lord, will be there,^(L)
a place of rivers and broad streams
where ships that are rowed will not go,
and majestic vessels will not pass.^(M)
22 For the Lord is our Judge,
the Lord is our Lawgiver,^(N)
the Lord is our King.
He will save us.^(O)
23 Your ropes are slack;
they cannot hold the base of the mast
or spread out the flag.
Then abundant spoil will be divided,
the lame will plunder it,
²⁴ and none there will say, “I am sick.”
The people who dwell there
will be forgiven^(P) their iniquity.^(Q)

34 You nations, come here and listen;
you peoples, pay attention!^(R)
Let the earth and all that fills it hear,
the world and all that comes from it.^(S)
2 The Lord is angry with all the nations,
furious with all their armies.^(T)
He will set them apart for destruction,^(U)
giving them over to slaughter.
³ Their slain will be thrown out,
and the stench of their corpses will rise;^(V)
the mountains will flow^[d] with their blood.^(W)
4 All^[e] the stars in the sky^(X) will dissolve.
The sky will roll up like a scroll,^(Y)
and its stars will all wither
as leaves wither on the vine,
and foliage on the fig tree.^(Z)

⁵ When my sword has drunk its fill^[f](AA) in the heavens,
it will then come down on Edom^(AB)
and on the people I have set apart for destruction.
⁶ The Lord’s sword is covered with blood.
It drips with fat,
with the blood of lambs and goats,
with the fat of the kidneys of rams.^(AC)
For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah,^(AD)
a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
⁷ The wild oxen will be struck^[g] down with them,
and young bulls with the mighty bulls.
Their land will be soaked with^[h] blood,
and their soil will be saturated with fat.
⁸ For the Lord has a day of vengeance,^(AE)
a time of paying back Edom
for its hostility against Zion.
⁹ Edom’s streams will be turned into pitch,
her soil into sulfur;^(AF)
her land will become burning pitch.
¹⁰ It will never go out—day or night.
Its smoke will go up forever.^(AG)
It will be desolate, from generation to generation;
no one will pass through it forever and ever.^(AH)
11 Eagle owls^[i] and herons^[j] will possess it,
and long-eared owls and ravens will dwell there.^(AI)
The Lord will stretch out a measuring line
and a plumb line over her
for her destruction and chaos.^(AJ)
12 No nobles will be left to proclaim a king,
and all her princes will come to nothing.
¹³ Her palaces will be overgrown with thorns;
her fortified cities, with thistles and briers.^(AK)
She will become a dwelling for jackals,
an abode^[k] for ostriches.^(AL)
14 The desert creatures will meet hyenas,
and one wild goat will call to another.
Indeed, the night birds will stay there
and will find a resting place.
¹⁵ Sand partridges^[l] will make their nests there;
they will lay and hatch their eggs
and will gather their broods under their shadows.
Indeed, the birds of prey will gather there,
each with its mate.^(AM)
16 Search and read the scroll of the Lord:^(AN)
Not one of them will be missing,
none will be lacking its mate,
because he has ordered it by my^[m] mouth,
and he will gather them by his Spirit.
¹⁷ He has cast the lot for them;
his hand allotted their portion with a measuring line.
They will possess it forever;^(AO)
they will dwell in it from generation to generation.

35 The wilderness and the dry land will be glad;
the desert will rejoice and blossom like a wildflower.^[n](AP)
2 It will blossom abundantly
and will also rejoice with joy and singing.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,
the splendor of Carmel and Sharon.^(AQ)
They will see the glory of the Lord,^(AR)
the splendor of our God.^(AS)
3 Strengthen the weak hands,
steady the shaking knees!^(AT)
4 Say to the cowardly:
“Be strong; do not fear!
Here is your God; vengeance is coming.^(AU)
God’s retribution is coming; he will save you.”^(AV)
5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped.^(AW)
6 Then the lame will leap like a deer,^(AX)
and the tongue of the mute will sing for joy,^(AY)
for water will gush in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert;^(AZ)
7 the parched ground will become a pool,
and the thirsty land springs.^(BA)
In the haunt of jackals,^(BB) in their lairs,
there will be grass, reeds, and papyrus.
⁸ A road will be there and a way;^(BC)
it will be called the Holy Way.^(BD)
The unclean will not travel on it,^(BE)
but it will be for the one who walks the path.^(BF)
Fools will not wander on it.
⁹ There will be no lion there,
and no vicious beast will go up on it;
they will not be found there.
But the redeemed will walk on it,
¹⁰ and the redeemed of the Lord will return^(BG)
and come to Zion with singing,
crowned with unending joy.
Joy and gladness will overtake them,
and sorrow and sighing will flee.^(BH)

¹ God, hear my voice when I am in anguish.^(A)
Protect my life from the terror of the enemy.^(B)
2 Hide me from the scheming of wicked people,^(C)
from the mob of evildoers,^(D)
3 who sharpen their tongues like swords
and aim bitter words like arrows,^(E)
4 shooting from concealed places at the blameless.
They shoot at him suddenly and are not afraid.^(F)
5 They adopt^[a] an evil plan;
they talk about hiding traps and say,
“Who will see them?” ^[b](G)
6 They devise crimes and say,
“We have perfected a secret plan.”^(H)
The inner man and the heart are mysterious.

²³ Buy—and do not sell—truth,
wisdom, instruction, and understanding.^(A)