The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Monday September 16, 2019 (NIV)

22 Here is a message about the Valley of Vision:
What is the reason
that all of you go up to the rooftops?
² The noisy city is full of raucous sounds;
the town is filled with revelry.
Your slain were not cut down by the sword;
they did not die in battle.
³ All your leaders ran away together—
they fled to a distant place;
all your refugees were captured together—
they were captured without a single arrow being shot.
⁴ So I say:
“Don’t look at me!
I am weeping bitterly.
Don’t try to console me
concerning the destruction of my defenseless people.”
⁵ For the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies,
has planned a day of panic, defeat, and confusion.
In the Valley of Vision people shout
and cry out to the hill.
⁶ The Elamites picked up the quiver,
and came with chariots and horsemen;
the men of Kir prepared the shield.
⁷ Your very best valleys were full of chariots;
horsemen confidently took their positions at the gate.
⁸ They removed the defenses of Judah.
At that time you looked
for the weapons in the House of the Forest.
⁹ You saw the many breaks
in the walls of the City of David;
you stored up water in the lower pool.
¹⁰ You counted the houses in Jerusalem,
and demolished houses so you could have material to reinforce the wall.
¹¹ You made a reservoir between the two walls
for the water of the old pool—
but you did not trust in the one who made it;
you did not depend on the one who formed it long ago!
¹² At that time the sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, called for weeping and mourning,
for shaved heads and sackcloth.
¹³ But look, there is outright celebration!
You say, “Kill the ox and slaughter the sheep,
eat meat and drink wine.
Eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”

23 Here is a message about Tyre:
Wail, you large ships,
for the port is too devastated to enter!
From the land of Cyprus this news is announced to them.
² Lament, you residents of the coast,
you merchants of Sidon who travel over the sea,
whose agents sail over ³ the deep waters!
Grain from the Shihor region,
crops grown near the Nile she receives;
she is the trade center of the nations.
⁴ Be ashamed, O Sidon,
for the sea says this, O fortress of the sea:
“I have not gone into labor
or given birth;
I have not raised young men
or brought up young women.”
⁵ When the news reaches Egypt,
they will be shaken by what has happened to Tyre.
⁶ Travel to Tarshish!
Wail, you residents of the coast!
⁷ Is this really your boisterous city
whose origins are in the distant past,
and whose feet led her to a distant land to reside?
⁸ Who planned this for royal Tyre,
whose merchants are princes,
whose traders are the dignitaries of the earth?
⁹ The Lord who commands armies planned it—
to dishonor the pride that comes from all her beauty,
to humiliate all the dignitaries of the earth.
¹⁰ Daughter Tarshish, travel back to your land, as one crosses the Nile;
there is no longer any marketplace in Tyre.
¹¹ The Lord stretched out his hand over the sea,
he shook kingdoms;
he gave the order
to destroy Canaan’s fortresses.
¹² He said,
“You will no longer celebrate,
oppressed virgin daughter Sidon!
Get up, travel to Cyprus,
but you will find no relief there.”
¹³ Look at the land of the Chaldeans,
these people who have lost their identity!
The Assyrians have made it a home for wild animals.
They erected their siege towers,
demolished its fortresses,
and turned it into a heap of ruins.
¹⁴ Wail, you large ships,
for your fortress is destroyed!

24 Look, the Lord is ready to devastate the earth
and leave it in ruins;
he will mar its surface
and scatter its inhabitants.
² Everyone will suffer—the priest as well as the people,
the master as well as the servant,
the elegant lady as well as the female attendant,
the seller as well as the buyer,
the borrower as well as the lender,
the creditor as well as the debtor.
³ The earth will be completely devastated
and thoroughly ransacked.
For the Lord has decreed this judgment.
⁴ The earth dries up and withers,
the world shrivels up and withers;
the prominent people of the earth fade away.
⁵ The earth is defiled by its inhabitants,
for they have violated laws,
disregarded the regulation,
and broken the permanent treaty.
⁶ So a treaty curse devours the earth;
its inhabitants pay for their guilt.
This is why the inhabitants of the earth disappear,
and are reduced to just a handful of people.
⁷ The new wine dries up,
the vines shrivel up,
all those who like to celebrate groan.
⁸ The happy sound of the tambourines stops,
the revelry of those who celebrate comes to a halt,
the happy sound of the harp ceases.
⁹ They no longer sing and drink wine;
the beer tastes bitter to those who drink it.
¹⁰ The ruined town is shattered;
all of the houses are shut up tight.
¹¹ They howl in the streets because of what happened to the wine;
all joy turns to sorrow;
celebrations disappear from the earth.
¹² The city is left in ruins;
the gate is reduced to rubble.
¹³ This is what will happen throughout the earth,
among the nations.
It will be like when they beat an olive tree,
and just a few olives are left at the end of the harvest.
¹⁴ They lift their voices and shout joyfully;
they praise the majesty of the Lord in the west.
¹⁵ So in the east extol the Lord,
along the seacoasts extol the fame of the Lord God of Israel.
¹⁶ From the ends of the earth we hear songs—
the Just One is majestic.
But I say, “I’m wasting away! I’m wasting away! I’m doomed!
Deceivers deceive, deceivers thoroughly deceive!”
¹⁷ Terror, pit, and snare
are ready to overtake you inhabitants of the earth!
¹⁸ The one who runs away from the sound of the terror
will fall into the pit;
the one who climbs out of the pit,
will be trapped by the snare.
For the floodgates of the heavens are opened up
and the foundations of the earth shake.
¹⁹ The earth is broken in pieces,
the earth is ripped to shreds,
the earth shakes violently.
²⁰ The earth will stagger around like a drunk;
it will sway back and forth like a hut in a windstorm.
Its sin will weigh it down,
and it will fall and never get up again.

²¹ At that time the Lord will punish
the heavenly forces in the heavens
and the earthly kings on the earth.
²² They will be imprisoned in a pit,
locked up in a prison,
and after staying there for a long time, they will be punished.
²³ The full moon will be covered up,
the bright sun will be darkened;
for the Lord who commands armies will rule
on Mount Zion in Jerusalem
in the presence of his assembly, in majestic splendor.

¹ O God, you have rejected us.
You suddenly turned on us in your anger.
Please restore us!
² You made the earth quake; you split it open.
Repair its breaches, for it is ready to fall.
³ You have made your people experience hard times;
you have made us drink intoxicating wine.
⁴ You have given your loyal followers a rallying flag,
so that they might seek safety from the bow. (Selah)
⁵ Deliver by your power and answer me,
so that the ones you love may be safe.
⁶ God has spoken in his sanctuary:
“I will triumph! I will parcel out Shechem;
the Valley of Succoth I will measure off.
⁷ Gilead belongs to me,
as does Manasseh!
Ephraim is my helmet,
Judah my royal scepter.
⁸ Moab is my washbasin.
I will make Edom serve me.
I will shout in triumph over Philistia.”
⁹ Who will lead me into the fortified city?
Who will bring me to Edom?
¹⁰ Have you not rejected us, O God?
O God, you do not go into battle with our armies.
¹¹ Give us help against the enemy,
for any help men might offer is futile.
¹² By God’s power we will conquer;
he will trample down our enemies.

¹⁵ My child, if your heart is wise,
then my heart also will be glad;
¹⁶ my soul will rejoice
when your lips speak what is right.