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September 17, 2021

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Friday September 17, 2021 (NIV)

Isaiah 25:1-28:13

God Will Swallow Up Death Forever

25 O Lord, ^(A)you are my God;
^(B)I will exalt you; I will praise your name,
for you have done wonderful things,
^(C)plans formed of old, faithful and sure.
²For you have made the city ^(D)a heap,
the fortified city a ruin;
the foreigners' palace is a city no more;
it will never be rebuilt.
³^(E)Therefore strong peoples will glorify you;
cities of ruthless nations will fear you.
⁴^(F)For you have been a stronghold to the poor,
a stronghold to the needy in his distress,
^(G)a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat;
^(H)for the breath of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall,
⁵^(I)like heat in a dry place.
You subdue the noise of the foreigners;
as heat by the shade of a cloud,
so the song of the ruthless is put down.

⁶^(J)On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,
^(K)of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.
⁷And he will swallow up ^(L)on this mountain
the covering that is cast over all peoples,
^(M)the veil that is spread over all nations.
⁸^(N)He will swallow up death forever;
and ^(O)the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,
and ^(P)the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,
^(Q)for the Lord has spoken.
⁹It will be said on that day,
“Behold, this is our God; ^(R)we have waited for him, that he might save us.
This is the Lord; we have waited for him;
^(S)let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”
¹⁰For the hand of the Lord will rest ^(T)on this mountain,
and ^(U)Moab shall be trampled down in his place,
as straw is trampled down in a dunghill.^[a]
¹¹^(V)And he will spread out his hands in the midst of it
as a swimmer spreads his hands out to swim,
but the Lord ^(W)will lay low his pompous pride together with the skill^[b] of his hands.
¹²And the high fortifications of his walls he will bring down,
lay low, and cast to the ground, to the dust.

You Keep Him in Perfect Peace

26 In that day ^(X)this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

“We have a strong city;
he sets up ^(Y)salvation
as walls and bulwarks.
²^(Z)Open the gates,
that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in.
³^(AA)You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.
⁴Trust in the Lord forever,
for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.
⁵^(AB)For he has humbled
the inhabitants of the height,
the lofty city.
He lays it low, lays it low to the ground,
casts it to the dust.
⁶The foot tramples it,
the feet of ^(AC)the poor,
the steps of ^(AD)the needy.”

⁷The path of the righteous is level;
^(AE)you make level the way of the righteous.
⁸In the path of your judgments,
O Lord, we wait for you;
^(AF)your name and ^(AG)remembrance
are the desire of our soul.
⁹My soul yearns for you in the night;
my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.
^(AH)For when your judgments are in the earth,
the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
¹⁰^(AI)If favor is shown to the wicked,
he does not learn righteousness;
in the land of uprightness he deals corruptly
and does not see the majesty of the Lord.
¹¹O Lord, ^(AJ)your hand is lifted up,
but ^(AK)they do not see it.
Let them see your zeal for your people, and be ashamed.
Let ^(AL)the fire for your adversaries consume them.
¹²O Lord, you will ordain ^(AM)peace for us,
for you have indeed done for us all our works.
¹³O Lord our God,
^(AN)other lords besides you have ruled over us,
^(AO)but your name alone we bring to remembrance.
¹⁴They are dead, they will not live;
they are shades, they will not arise;
to that end you have visited them with destruction
and wiped out all remembrance of them.
¹⁵^(AP)But you have increased the nation, O Lord,
you have increased the nation; you are glorified;
^(AQ)you have enlarged all the borders of the land.

¹⁶O Lord, ^(AR)in distress they sought you;
they poured out a whispered prayer
when your discipline was upon them.
¹⁷^(AS)Like a pregnant woman
who writhes and cries out in her pangs
when she is near to giving birth,
so were we because of you, O Lord;
¹⁸^(AT)we were pregnant, we writhed,
but we have given birth to wind.
We have accomplished no deliverance in the earth,
and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen.
¹⁹^(AU)Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise.
You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy!
For ^(AV)your dew is a dew of light,
and the earth will give birth to the dead.

²⁰Come, my people, enter your chambers,
and shut your doors behind you;
hide yourselves ^(AW)for a little while
until the fury has passed by.
²¹^(AX)For behold, the Lord is coming out from his place
to punish the inhabitants of ^(AY)the earth for their iniquity,
and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it,
and will no more cover its slain.

The Redemption of Israel

27 In that day the Lord with his hard and great and strong ^(AZ)sword will punish ^(BA)Leviathan the fleeing serpent, ^(BB)Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay ^(BC)the dragon that is in the sea.

²In that day,
^(BD)“A pleasant vineyard,^[c] ^(BE)sing of it!
³I, the Lord, am its keeper;
every moment I water it.
Lest anyone punish it,
I keep it night and day;
⁴I have no wrath.
^(BF)Would that I had thorns and briers to battle!
I would march against them,
I would burn them up together.
⁵Or let them lay hold of my protection,
let them make peace with me,
let them make peace with me.”

⁶^(BG)In days to come^[d] Jacob shall take root,
Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots
and fill the whole world with fruit.

⁷^(BH)Has he struck them ^(BI)as he struck those who struck them?
Or have they been slain ^(BJ)as their slayers were slain?
⁸^(BK)Measure by measure,^[e] by exile you contended with them;
^(BL)he removed them with his fierce breath^[f] in the day of the east wind.
⁹Therefore by this ^(BM)the guilt of Jacob will be atoned for,
and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin:^[g]
^(BN)when he makes all the stones of the altars
like chalkstones crushed to pieces,
no ^(BO)Asherim or incense altars will remain standing.
¹⁰^(BP)For the fortified city is solitary,
a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness;
there the calf grazes;
there it lies down and strips its branches.
¹¹When its boughs are dry, they are broken;
women come and make a fire of them.
^(BQ)For this is a people without discernment;
therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them;
he who formed them will show them no favor.

¹²In that day ^(BR)from the river Euphrates^[h] to the Brook of Egypt the Lord will thresh out the grain, and you will be gleaned one by one, O people of Israel. ¹³And in that day ^(BS)a great trumpet will be blown, ^(BT)and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt ^(BU)will come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

Judgment on Ephraim and Jerusalem

28 Ah, the proud crown of ^(BV)the drunkards of Ephraim,
and the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
which is on the head of the rich valley of those overcome with wine!
²Behold, the Lord has ^(BW)one who is mighty and strong;
like a storm of hail, a destroying tempest,
like ^(BX)a storm of mighty, overflowing waters,
he casts down to the earth with his hand.
³^(BY)The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim
will be trodden underfoot;
⁴^(BZ)and the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
which is on the head of the rich valley,
will be like ^(CA)a first-ripe fig^[i] before the summer:
when someone sees it, he swallows it
as soon as it is in his hand.

⁵^(CB)In that day the Lord of hosts will be a crown of glory,^[j]
and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people,
⁶and ^(CC)a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment,
and ^(CD)strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.

⁷^(CE)These also reel with wine
and ^(CF)stagger with strong drink;
the priest and ^(CG)the prophet reel with strong drink,
they are swallowed by^[k] wine,
they stagger with strong drink,
they reel in vision,
they stumble in giving judgment.
⁸For all tables are full of filthy vomit,
with no space left.

⁹^(CH)“To whom will he teach knowledge,
and to whom will he explain the message?
Those who are weaned from the milk,
those taken from the breast?
¹⁰For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
line upon line, line upon line,
here a little, there a little.”

¹¹^(CI)For by people of strange lips
and with a foreign tongue
the Lord will speak to this people,
¹²to whom he has said,
^(CJ)“This is rest;
give rest to the weary;
and this is repose”;
yet they would not hear.
¹³And the word of the Lord will be to them
precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
line upon line, line upon line,
here a little, there a little,
^(CK)that they may go, and fall backward,
and be broken, and snared, and taken.

Footnotes:

Isaiah 25:10 The Hebrew words for dunghill and for the Moabite town Madmen (Jeremiah 48:2) sound alike
Isaiah 25:11 Or in spite of the skill
Isaiah 27:2 Many Hebrew manuscripts A vineyard of wine
Isaiah 27:6 Hebrew In those to come
Isaiah 27:8 Or By driving her away; the meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain
Isaiah 27:8 Or wind
Isaiah 27:9 Septuagint and this is the blessing when I take away his sin
Isaiah 27:12 Hebrew from the River
Isaiah 28:4 Or fruit
Isaiah 28:5 The Hebrew words for glory and hosts sound alike
Isaiah 28:7 Or confused by

Cross references:

Isaiah 25:1 : Ex. 15:2
Isaiah 25:1 : [Ps. 107:32]
Isaiah 25:1 : [2 Kgs. 19:25]
Isaiah 25:2 : [ch. 17:1; Jer. 51:37]
Isaiah 25:3 : [ch. 18:7]
Isaiah 25:4 : Nah. 1:7
Isaiah 25:4 : ch. 4:6
Isaiah 25:4 : [2 Chr. 32:18]
Isaiah 25:5 : [ch. 32:2]
Isaiah 25:6 : ch. 2:2, 3; 11:9; 24:23
Isaiah 25:6 : [Ps. 63:5]
Isaiah 25:7 : [See ver. 6 above]; ch. 2:2, 3; 11:9; 24:23
Isaiah 25:7 : [2 Cor. 3:15]
Isaiah 25:8 : Cited 1 Cor. 15:54; [Hos. 13:14]
Isaiah 25:8 : Rev. 7:17; [ch. 30:19]
Isaiah 25:8 : [ch. 37:4]
Isaiah 25:8 : See ch. 1:20
Isaiah 25:9 : ch. 26:8; [Gen. 49:18; Ps. 27:14]
Isaiah 25:9 : Ps. 9:14
Isaiah 25:10 : [See ver. 6 above]; ch. 2:2, 3; 11:9; 24:23
Isaiah 25:10 : See ch. 15:1
Isaiah 25:11 : [ch. 16:12]
Isaiah 25:11 : [ch. 16:14]
Isaiah 26:1 : [ch. 27:2]
Isaiah 26:1 : [ch. 60:18]
Isaiah 26:2 : Ps. 118:19, 20
Isaiah 26:3 : [ch. 30:15]
Isaiah 26:5 : ch. 25:12
Isaiah 26:6 : [ch. 25:4]
Isaiah 26:6 : [ch. 25:4]
Isaiah 26:7 : 1 Sam. 2:9; Ps. 37:23
Isaiah 26:8 : Ex. 3:15
Isaiah 26:8 : Ex. 3:15
Isaiah 26:9 : ver. 16; [2 Chr. 33:12]
Isaiah 26:10 : See Ps. 73:3-11
Isaiah 26:11 : [Mic. 5:9]
Isaiah 26:11 : [ch. 5:12]
Isaiah 26:11 : Ps. 21:9; [ch. 33:14]
Isaiah 26:12 : ch. 9:7; Mic. 5:5
Isaiah 26:13 : [ch. 2:8; 2 Kgs. 16:3, 4]
Isaiah 26:13 : [ch. 2:20; Ps. 20:7]; See 2 Kgs. 18:4-6
Isaiah 26:15 : ch. 9:3
Isaiah 26:15 : [ch. 54:2, 3]
Isaiah 26:16 : Hos. 5:15; See ch. 37:1-4
Isaiah 26:17 : See ch. 13:8
Isaiah 26:18 : [See ver. 17 above]; See ch. 13:8
Isaiah 26:19 : [Ezek. 37:12; Dan. 12:2; Hos. 13:14]
Isaiah 26:19 : [Hos. 14:5]
Isaiah 26:20 : ch. 10:25
Isaiah 26:21 : Mic. 1:3
Isaiah 26:21 : [ch. 24:5]
Isaiah 27:1 : [Jer. 47:6]
Isaiah 27:1 : Ps. 74:14
Isaiah 27:1 : Ps. 74:14
Isaiah 27:1 : ch. 51:9; Ezek. 29:3
Isaiah 27:2 : ch. 5:7
Isaiah 27:2 : [ch. 26:1]
Isaiah 27:4 : [ch. 10:17]
Isaiah 27:6 : ch. 37:31; Hos. 14:5, 6
Isaiah 27:7 : Hos. 6:1, 2
Isaiah 27:7 : See ch. 37:36-38
Isaiah 27:7 : ch. 37:18, 19
Isaiah 27:8 : [Jer. 10:24]
Isaiah 27:8 : [Jer. 18:17]
Isaiah 27:9 : [ch. 22:14]
Isaiah 27:9 : [2 Kgs. 18:4]
Isaiah 27:9 : See Deut. 16:21
Isaiah 27:10 : ch. 17:9; 32:14, 19; [Hos. 8:14; Mic. 5:11]
Isaiah 27:11 : Deut. 32:28; See ch. 30:16-18
Isaiah 27:12 : See Gen. 15:18
Isaiah 27:13 : Lev. 25:9; [Matt. 24:31; Rev. 11:15]
Isaiah 27:13 : ch. 11:11, 16; Mic. 7:12
Isaiah 27:13 : [ch. 2:2]
Isaiah 28:1 : [Hos. 7:5]
Isaiah 28:2 : [ch. 8:7]
Isaiah 28:2 : ver. 15, 18
Isaiah 28:3 : ver. 1
Isaiah 28:4 : [Amos 8:1, 2]
Isaiah 28:4 : Hos. 9:10; Mic. 7:1
Isaiah 28:5 : ch. 2:11
Isaiah 28:6 : [1 Kgs. 3:28]
Isaiah 28:6 : [ch. 38:6]
Isaiah 28:7 : [ch. 3:12]
Isaiah 28:7 : Hos. 4:11
Isaiah 28:7 : ch. 9:15; 56:10, 12
Isaiah 28:9 : Jer. 6:10
Isaiah 28:11 : Cited 1 Cor. 14:21; See ch. 5:26-29
Isaiah 28:12 : ch. 30:15; [Matt. 11:28, 29]
Isaiah 28:13 : ch. 8:15

English Standard Version (ESV)

Galatians 3:10-22

The Righteous Shall Live by Faith

¹⁰For all who rely on works of the law are ^(A)under a curse; for it is written, ^(B)“Cursed be everyone who does not ^(C)abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” ¹¹Now it is evident that ^(D)no one is justified before God by the law, for ^(E)“The righteous shall live by faith.”^[a] ¹²But the law is not of faith, rather ^(F)“The one who does them shall live by them.” ¹³Christ ^(G)redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ^(H)“Cursed is everyone who is hanged ^(I)on a tree”— ¹⁴so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might ^(J)come to the Gentiles, so that ^(K)we might receive ^(L)the promised Spirit^[b] through faith.

The Law and the Promise

¹⁵^(M)To give a human example, brothers:^[c] ^(N)even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. ¹⁶Now ^(O)the promises were made ^(P)to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, ^(Q)“And to your offspring,” who is Christ. ¹⁷This is what I mean: the law, which came ^(R)430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as ^(S)to make the promise void. ¹⁸For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but ^(T)God gave it to Abraham by a promise.

¹⁹Why then the law? ^(U)It was added because of transgressions, ^(V)until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was ^(W)put in place through angels ^(X)by an intermediary. ²⁰Now ^(Y)an intermediary implies more than one, but ^(Z)God is one.

²¹Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For ^(AA)if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. ²²But the Scripture ^(AB)imprisoned everything under sin, so that ^(AC)the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given ^(AD)to those who believe.

Footnotes:

Galatians 3:11 Or The one who by faith is righteous will live
Galatians 3:14 Greek receive the promise of the Spirit
Galatians 3:15 Or brothers and sisters

Cross references:

English Standard Version (ESV)

Psalm 61

Lead Me to the Rock

To the choirmaster: with ^(A)stringed instruments. Of David.

61 Hear my cry, O God,
^(B)listen to my prayer;
²from the end of the earth I call to you
when my heart is ^(C)faint.
Lead me to ^(D)the rock
that is higher than I,
³for you have been ^(E)my refuge,
a strong ^(F)tower against the enemy.

⁴Let me ^(G)dwell in your tent forever!
Let me take refuge under ^(H)the shelter of your wings! Selah
⁵For you, O God, have heard my vows;
you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.

⁶^(I)Prolong ^(J)the life of the king;
may his years endure to all generations!
⁷May he be enthroned forever before God;
appoint ^(K)steadfast love and faithfulness to watch over him!

⁸So will I ever sing praises to your name,
as I ^(L)perform my vows day after day.

Cross references:

English Standard Version (ESV)

Proverbs 23:17-18

¹⁷Let not your heart ^(A)envy sinners,
but continue in ^(B)the fear of the Lord all the day.
¹⁸Surely ^(C)there is a future,
and your ^(D)hope will not be cut off.

Cross references:

English Standard Version (ESV)

September 16, 2021

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Thursday September 16, 2021 (NIV)

Isaiah 22-24

An Oracle Concerning Jerusalem

22 The ^(A)oracle concerning ^(B)the valley of vision.

What do you mean that you have gone up,
all of you, to the housetops,
²you who are full of shoutings,
tumultuous city, ^(C)exultant town?
Your slain are ^(D)not slain with the sword
or dead in battle.
³^(E)All your leaders have fled together;
without the bow they were captured.
All of you who were found were captured,
though they had fled far away.
⁴Therefore I said:
“Look away from me;
^(F)let me weep bitter tears;
do not labor to comfort me
concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.”

⁵^(G)For the Lord God of hosts has ^(H)a day
of tumult and ^(I)trampling and ^(J)confusion
in ^(K)the valley of vision,
a battering down of walls
and a shouting to the mountains.
⁶And ^(L)Elam bore the quiver
with chariots and horsemen,
and ^(M)Kir uncovered the shield.
⁷Your choicest valleys were full of chariots,
and the horsemen took their stand at the gates.
⁸He has taken away ^(N)the covering of Judah.

In that day you looked to ^(O)the weapons of the House of the Forest, ⁹and you saw that ^(P)the breaches of the city of David were many. ^(Q)You collected the waters of the lower pool, ¹⁰and you counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall. ¹¹^(R)You made a reservoir between ^(S)the two walls for the water of ^(T)the old pool. But ^(U)you did not look to him who did it, or see him who planned it long ago.

¹²In that day ^(V)the Lord God of hosts
called for weeping and mourning,
for ^(W)baldness and ^(X)wearing sackcloth;
¹³and behold, joy and gladness,
killing oxen and slaughtering sheep,
eating flesh and drinking wine.
^(Y)“Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die.”
¹⁴The Lord of hosts ^(Z)has revealed himself in my ears:
“Surely ^(AA)this iniquity will not be atoned for you ^(AB)until you die,”
says the Lord God of hosts.

¹⁵Thus says the Lord God of hosts, “Come, go to this steward, to ^(AC)Shebna, who is over the household, and say to him: ¹⁶What have you to do here, and whom have you here, ^(AD)that you have cut out here a tomb for yourself, you ^(AE)who cut out a tomb on the height and carve a dwelling for yourself in the rock? ¹⁷Behold, the Lord will hurl you away violently, O you strong man. ^(AF)He will seize firm hold on you ¹⁸and whirl you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a wide land. There you shall die, and there shall be ^(AG)your glorious chariots, you shame of your master's house. ¹⁹^(AH)I will thrust you from your office, and you will be pulled down from your station. ²⁰In that day I will call my servant ^(AI)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, ²¹and ^(AJ)I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your sash on him, and will commit your authority to his hand. And he shall be ^(AK)a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. ²²And I will place ^(AL)on his shoulder ^(AM)the key of the house of David. ^(AN)He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. ²³And I will fasten him ^(AO)like a peg in a secure place, and he will become ^(AP)a throne of honor to his father's house. ²⁴And they will hang on him the whole honor of his father's house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons. ²⁵In that day, declares the Lord of hosts, ^(AQ)the peg that was fastened in a secure place will give way, and it will be cut down and fall, and the load that was on it will be cut off, for the Lord has spoken.”

An Oracle Concerning Tyre and Sidon

23 The ^(AR)oracle concerning ^(AS)Tyre.

Wail, O ^(AT)ships of Tarshish,
for Tyre is laid waste, ^(AU)without house or harbor!
From ^(AV)the land of Cyprus^[a]
it is revealed to them.
²Be still, O inhabitants of the coast;
the merchants of ^(AW)Sidon, who cross the sea, have filled you.
³And on many waters
your revenue was the grain of Shihor,
the harvest of the Nile;
you were ^(AX)the merchant of the nations.
⁴Be ashamed, O ^(AY)Sidon, for the sea has spoken,
the stronghold of the sea, saying:
“I have neither labored nor given birth,
I have neither reared young men
nor brought up young women.”
⁵When the report comes to Egypt,
they will be in anguish^[b] over the report about Tyre.
⁶^(AZ)Cross over to Tarshish;
wail, O inhabitants of the coast!
⁷Is this your exultant city
^(BA)whose origin is from days of old,
whose feet carried her
to settle far away?
⁸Who has purposed this
against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,
whose merchants were princes,
whose traders were the honored of the earth?
⁹The Lord of hosts has purposed it,
^(BB)to defile the pompous pride of all glory,^[c]
to dishonor all the honored of the earth.
¹⁰Cross over your land like the Nile,
O daughter of Tarshish;
there is no restraint anymore.
¹¹^(BC)He has stretched out his hand over the sea;
he has shaken the kingdoms;
the Lord has given command concerning Canaan
to destroy its strongholds.
¹²And he said:
“You will no more exult,
O oppressed virgin daughter of ^(BD)Sidon;
arise, ^(BE)cross over to ^(BF)Cyprus,
even there you will have no rest.”

¹³Behold the land of ^(BG)the Chaldeans! This is the people that was not;^[d] Assyria destined it for wild beasts. They erected ^(BH)their siege towers, they stripped her palaces bare, they made her a ruin.

¹⁴^(BI)Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
for your stronghold is laid waste.

¹⁵In that day Tyre will be forgotten for ^(BJ)seventy years, like the days^[e] of one king. At the end of ^(BK)seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:

¹⁶“Take a harp;
go about the city,
O forgotten prostitute!
Make sweet melody;
sing many songs,
that you may be remembered.”

¹⁷At the end of ^(BL)seventy years, the Lord will visit Tyre, and she will return to her wages and ^(BM)will prostitute herself with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. ¹⁸Her merchandise and her wages will be holy to the Lord. It will not be stored or hoarded, but her merchandise will supply abundant food and fine clothing for those who dwell before the Lord.

Judgment on the Whole Earth

24 Behold, ^(BN)the Lord will empty the earth^[f] and make it desolate,
and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.
²^(BO)And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest;
as with the slave, so with his master;
as with the maid, so with her mistress;
^(BP)as with the buyer, so with the seller;
as with the lender, so with the borrower;
^(BQ)as with the creditor, so with the debtor.
³^(BR)The earth shall be utterly empty and utterly plundered;
^(BS)for the Lord has spoken this word.

⁴^(BT)The earth mourns and withers;
the world languishes and withers;
the highest people of the earth languish.
⁵The earth lies ^(BU)defiled
under its inhabitants;
for ^(BV)they have transgressed the laws,
violated the statutes,
broken the everlasting covenant.
⁶Therefore ^(BW)a curse devours the earth,
and its inhabitants ^(BX)suffer for their guilt;
therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched,
and few men are left.
⁷^(BY)The wine mourns,
the vine languishes,
all the merry-hearted sigh.
⁸^(BZ)The mirth of the tambourines is stilled,
the noise of the jubilant has ceased,
the mirth of the lyre is stilled.
⁹No more do they drink wine ^(CA)with singing;
strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
¹⁰^(CB)The wasted city is broken down;
^(CC)every house is shut up so that none can enter.
¹¹^(CD)There is an outcry in the streets for lack of wine;
^(CE)all joy has grown dark;
the gladness of the earth is banished.
¹²Desolation is left in the city;
the gates are battered into ruins.
¹³For thus it shall be in the midst of the earth
among the nations,
^(CF)as when an olive tree is beaten,
as at the gleaning when the grape harvest is done.

¹⁴They lift up their voices, they sing for joy;
over the majesty of the Lord they shout from the west.^[g]
¹⁵^(CG)Therefore in the east^[h] give glory to the Lord;
in the coastlands of the sea, give glory to the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
¹⁶^(CH)From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise,
of glory to ^(CI)the Righteous One.
But I say, “I waste away,
I waste away. Woe is me!
For ^(CJ)the traitors have betrayed,
with betrayal the traitors have betrayed.”

¹⁷^(CK)Terror and the pit and the snare^[i]
are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth!
¹⁸^(CL)He who flees at the sound of the terror
shall fall into the pit,
and he who climbs out of the pit
shall be caught in the snare.
For ^(CM)the windows of heaven are opened,
and ^(CN)the foundations of the earth tremble.
¹⁹The earth is utterly broken,
the earth is split apart,
the earth is violently shaken.
²⁰The earth ^(CO)staggers like a drunken man;
it sways like a hut;
^(CP)its transgression lies heavy upon it,
and it falls, and will not rise again.

²¹On that day the Lord will punish
the host of heaven, in heaven,
and ^(CQ)the kings of the earth, on the earth.
²²^(CR)They will be gathered together
as prisoners in a pit;
they will be shut up in a prison,
and after many days ^(CS)they will be punished.
²³^(CT)Then the moon will be confounded
and the sun ashamed,
for ^(CU)the Lord of hosts reigns
on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
and his glory will be before his elders.

Footnotes:

Isaiah 23:1 Hebrew Kittim; also verse 12
Isaiah 23:5 Hebrew they will have labor pains
Isaiah 23:9 The Hebrew words for glory and hosts sound alike
Isaiah 23:13 Or that has become nothing
Isaiah 23:15 Or lifetime
Isaiah 24:1 Or land; also throughout this chapter
Isaiah 24:14 Hebrew from the sea
Isaiah 24:15 Hebrew in the realm of light, or with the fires
Isaiah 24:17 The Hebrew words for terror, pit, and snare sound alike

Cross references:

English Standard Version (ESV)

Galatians 2:17-3:9

¹⁷But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found ^(A)to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! ¹⁸For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. ¹⁹For through the law I ^(B)died to the law, so that I might ^(C)live to God. ²⁰I have been ^(D)crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives ^(E)in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, ^(F)who loved me and ^(G)gave himself for me. ²¹I do not nullify the grace of God, for ^(H)if righteousness^[a] were through the law, ^(I)then Christ died for no purpose.

By Faith, or by Works of the Law?

3 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? ^(J)It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly ^(K)portrayed as crucified. ²Let me ask you only this: ^(L)Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by ^(M)hearing with faith? ³Are you so foolish? ^(N)Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by^[b] the flesh? ⁴^(O)Did you suffer^[c] so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? ⁵Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and ^(P)works miracles among you do so ^(Q)by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— ⁶just as ^(R)Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?

⁷Know then that it is ^(S)those of faith who are ^(T)the sons of Abraham. ⁸And the Scripture, foreseeing that ^(U)God would justify^[d] the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ^(V)“In you shall all the nations be blessed.” ⁹So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

Footnotes:

Galatians 2:21 Or justification
Galatians 3:3 Or now ending with
Galatians 3:4 Or experience
Galatians 3:8 Or count righteous; also verses 11, 24

Cross references:

English Standard Version (ESV)

Psalm 60

He Will Tread Down Our Foes

To the choirmaster: according to ^(A)Shushan Eduth. A ^(B)Miktam^[a] of David; ^(C)for instruction; when he ^(D)strove with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah, and when Joab on his return struck down twelve thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt.

60 O God, ^(E)you have rejected us, ^(F)broken our defenses;
you have been angry; ^(G)oh, restore us.
²You have made the land to quake; you have torn it open;
^(H)repair its breaches, for it totters.
³^(I)You have made your people see hard things;
^(J)you have given us ^(K)wine to drink that made us stagger.

⁴You have set up ^(L)a banner for those who fear you,
that they may flee to it ^(M)from the bow.^[b] Selah
⁵^(N)That your ^(O)beloved ones may be delivered,
give salvation by your right hand and answer us!

⁶God has spoken ^(P)in his holiness:^[c]
“With exultation ^(Q)I will divide up ^(R)Shechem
and portion out the Vale of ^(S)Succoth.
⁷^(T)Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine;
^(U)Ephraim is ^(V)my helmet;
Judah is my ^(W)scepter.
⁸^(X)Moab is my washbasin;
upon Edom I ^(Y)cast my shoe;
over ^(Z)Philistia I shout in triumph.”^[d]

⁹Who will bring me to the fortified city?
^(AA)Who will lead me to Edom?
¹⁰Have you not ^(AB)rejected us, O God?
You ^(AC)do not go forth, O God, with our armies.
¹¹Oh, grant us help against the foe,
for ^(AD)vain is the salvation of man!
¹²With God we shall ^(AE)do valiantly;
it is he who will ^(AF)tread down our foes.

Footnotes:

Psalm 60:1 Probably musical or liturgical terms
Psalm 60:4 Or that it may be displayed because of truth
Psalm 60:6 Or sanctuary
Psalm 60:8 Revocalization (compare Psalm 108:10); Masoretic Text over me, O Philistia, shout in triumph

Cross references:

Psalm 60:1 : Ps. 80, title
Psalm 60:1 : See Ps. 16, title
Psalm 60:1 : Deut. 31:19
Psalm 60:1 : [2 Sam. 8:3, 13, 14; 10:16; 1 Chr. 18:3, 12]
Psalm 60:1 : ver. 10; See Ps. 44:9
Psalm 60:1 : [2 Sam. 5:20]
Psalm 60:1 : See Ps. 80:3
Psalm 60:2 : [2 Chr. 7:14]
Psalm 60:3 : Ps. 71:20
Psalm 60:3 : Job 21:20
Psalm 60:3 : Isa. 51:17, 22
Psalm 60:4 : Isa. 5:26; 11:12; 13:2; [Ps. 20:5]
Psalm 60:4 : Prov. 22:21
Psalm 60:5 : For ver. 5-12, see Ps. 108:6-13
Psalm 60:5 : Deut. 33:12; Jer. 11:15
Psalm 60:6 : Ps. 89:35; Amos 4:2
Psalm 60:6 : [Josh. 1:6]
Psalm 60:6 : Gen. 12:6; 33:18; Josh. 17:7
Psalm 60:6 : Gen. 33:17; Josh. 13:27
Psalm 60:7 : Josh. 13:31
Psalm 60:7 : Deut. 33:17
Psalm 60:7 : Ps. 140:7
Psalm 60:7 : Gen. 49:10
Psalm 60:8 : [2 Sam. 8:2]
Psalm 60:8 : [Matt. 3:11]
Psalm 60:8 : [2 Sam. 8:1]
Psalm 60:9 : [2 Sam. 8:14]
Psalm 60:10 : ver. 1
Psalm 60:10 : See Ps. 44:9
Psalm 60:11 : [Ps. 146:3]
Psalm 60:12 : Ps. 108:13; 118:15, 16; Num. 24:18
Psalm 60:12 : Ps. 44:5; Isa. 63:3

English Standard Version (ESV)

Proverbs 23:15-16

¹⁵^(A)My son, if your heart is wise,
my heart too will be glad.
¹⁶My ^(B)inmost being^[a] will exult
when your lips speak ^(C)what is right.

Footnotes:

Proverbs 23:16 Hebrew My kidneys

Cross references:

English Standard Version (ESV)

September 15, 2021

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Wednesday September 15, 2021 (NIV)

Isaiah 19-21

An Oracle Concerning Egypt

19 An ^(A)oracle concerning ^(B)Egypt.

Behold, the Lord ^(C)is riding on a swift cloud
and comes to Egypt;
and ^(D)the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence,
and the heart of the Egyptians will ^(E)melt within them.
²And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians,
^(F)and they will fight, each against another
and each against his neighbor,
city against city, kingdom against kingdom;
³and the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out,
and I will confound^[a] their ^(G)counsel;
and they will inquire of the idols and the sorcerers,
and ^(H)the mediums and the necromancers;
⁴and I will give over the Egyptians
into the hand of ^(I)a hard master,
and a fierce king will rule over them,
declares the Lord God of hosts.

⁵And the waters of the sea will be dried up,
and the river will be dry and parched,
⁶and its canals will become foul,
and the branches of Egypt's Nile will diminish and dry up,
reeds and rushes will rot away.
⁷There will be bare places by the Nile,
on the brink of the Nile,
and all that is sown by the Nile will be parched,
will be driven away, and will be no more.
⁸The ^(J)fishermen will mourn and lament,
all who cast a hook in the Nile;
and they will languish
who spread nets on the water.
⁹The workers in ^(K)combed flax will be in despair,
and the weavers of white cotton.
¹⁰Those who are the ^(L)pillars of the land will be crushed,
and all who ^(M)work for pay will be grieved.

¹¹The princes of ^(N)Zoan are utterly foolish;
the wisest counselors of Pharaoh give stupid counsel.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
“I am a son of the wise,
a son of ancient kings”?
¹²Where then are your ^(O)wise men?
Let them tell you
that they might know what the Lord of hosts has purposed against Egypt.
¹³The princes of ^(P)Zoan have become fools,
and the princes of ^(Q)Memphis are deluded;
those who are the ^(R)cornerstones of her tribes
have made Egypt stagger.
¹⁴The Lord has mingled within her ^(S)a spirit of confusion,
and they will make Egypt stagger in all its deeds,
^(T)as a drunken man staggers in his vomit.
¹⁵And there will be nothing for Egypt
that ^(U)head or tail, palm branch or reed, may do.

Egypt, Assyria, Israel Blessed

¹⁶In that day the Egyptians will be ^(V)like women, and ^(W)tremble with fear before the hand that the Lord of hosts shakes over them. ¹⁷And the land of Judah will become a terror to the Egyptians. Everyone to whom it is mentioned will fear because of the purpose that the Lord of hosts has purposed against them.

¹⁸^(X)In that day there will be ^(Y)five cities in the land of Egypt that ^(Z)speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord of hosts. One of these will be called the City of Destruction.^[b]

¹⁹In that day there will be an ^(AA)altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a ^(AB)pillar to the Lord at its border. ²⁰^(AC)It will be a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry to the Lord because of oppressors, ^(AD)he will send them a savior and defender, and deliver them. ²¹^(AE)And the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day ^(AF)and worship with sacrifice and offering, and they will make vows to the Lord and perform them. ²²^(AG)And the Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing, and they will return to the Lord, and he will listen to their pleas for mercy and heal them.

²³^(AH)In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, ^(AI)and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.

²⁴In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, ^(AJ)a blessing in the midst of the earth, ²⁵whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt ^(AK)my people, and Assyria ^(AL)the work of my hands, and ^(AM)Israel my inheritance.”

A Sign Against Egypt and Cush

20 In the year that ^(AN)the commander in chief, who was sent by Sargon the king of Assyria, came to ^(AO)Ashdod and fought against it and captured it— ²at that time the Lord spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go, and loose the sackcloth from your waist and take off your sandals from your feet,” and he did so, walking ^(AP)naked and barefoot.

³Then the Lord said, “As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years ^(AQ)as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Cush,^[c] ⁴so shall the ^(AR)king of Assyria lead away the Egyptian captives and the Cushite exiles, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, the nakedness of Egypt. ⁵^(AS)Then they shall be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and of Egypt their boast. ⁶And the inhabitants of ^(AT)this coastland will say in that day, ‘Behold, this is what has happened to those in whom we hoped and ^(AU)to whom we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria! And we, how shall we escape?’”

Fallen, Fallen Is Babylon

21 The ^(AV)oracle concerning the wilderness of ^(AW)the sea.

^(AX)As whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on,
it comes from the wilderness,
from a terrible land.
²A stern vision is told to me;
^(AY)the traitor betrays,
and the destroyer destroys.
Go up, O ^(AZ)Elam;
lay siege, O ^(BA)Media;
all the ^(BB)sighing she has caused
I bring to an end.
³Therefore my loins are filled with anguish;
^(BC)pangs have seized me,
like the pangs of a woman in labor;
I am bowed down so that I cannot hear;
I am dismayed so that I cannot see.
⁴My heart staggers; horror has appalled me;
^(BD)the twilight I longed for
has been turned for me into trembling.
⁵^(BE)They prepare the table,
they spread the rugs,^[d]
they eat, they drink.
Arise, O princes;
^(BF)oil the shield!
⁶For thus the Lord said to me:
“Go, set a watchman;
let him announce what he sees.
⁷When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs,
riders on donkeys, riders on camels,
let him listen diligently,
very diligently.”
⁸Then he who saw cried out:^[e]
^(BG)“Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord,
continually by day,
and at my post I am stationed
whole nights.
⁹And behold, here come riders,
horsemen in pairs!”
^(BH)And he answered,
^(BI)“Fallen, fallen is Babylon;
^(BJ)and all the carved images of her gods
he has shattered to the ground.”
¹⁰O ^(BK)my threshed and winnowed one,
what I have heard from the Lord of hosts,
the God of Israel, I announce to you.

¹¹The ^(BL)oracle concerning ^(BM)Dumah.

One is calling to me from ^(BN)Seir,
“Watchman, what time of the night?
Watchman, what time of the night?”
¹²The watchman says:
“Morning comes, and also ^(BO)the night.
If you will inquire, ^(BP)inquire;
come back again.”

¹³The ^(BQ)oracle concerning ^(BR)Arabia.

In the thickets in ^(BS)Arabia you will lodge,
O ^(BT)caravans of ^(BU)Dedanites.
¹⁴To the thirsty bring water;
meet the fugitive with bread,
O inhabitants of the land of ^(BV)Tema.
¹⁵For they have fled from the swords,
from the drawn sword,
from the bent bow,
and from the press of battle.

¹⁶For thus the Lord said to me, “Within a year, ^(BW)according to the years of a hired worker, all the glory of ^(BX)Kedar will come to an end. ¹⁷And the remainder of the archers of the mighty men of the sons of ^(BY)Kedar will be few, ^(BZ)for the Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.”

Footnotes:

Isaiah 19:3 Or I will swallow up
Isaiah 19:18 Dead Sea Scroll and some other manuscripts City of the Sun
Isaiah 20:3 Probably Nubia
Isaiah 21:5 Or they set the watchman
Isaiah 21:8 Dead Sea Scroll, Syriac; Masoretic Text Then a lion cried out, or Then he cried out like a lion

Cross references:

English Standard Version (ESV)

Galatians 2:1-16

Paul Accepted by the Apostles

2 Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. ²I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those ^(A)who seemed influential) the gospel that ^(B)I proclaim among the Gentiles, ^(C)in order to make sure I was not running or had not ^(D)run in vain. ³But even Titus, who was with me, ^(E)was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. ⁴^(F)Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who ^(G)slipped in to spy out ^(H)our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, ^(I)so that they might bring us into slavery— ⁵to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that ^(J)the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. ⁶And from those ^(K)who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; ^(L)God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential ^(M)added nothing to me. ⁷On the contrary, when they saw that I had been ^(N)entrusted with ^(O)the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised ⁸(for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), ⁹and when James and Cephas and John, ^(P)who seemed to be ^(Q)pillars, perceived the ^(R)grace that was given to me, they ^(S)gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. ¹⁰Only, they asked us to remember the poor, ^(T)the very thing I was eager to do.

Paul Opposes Peter

¹¹But ^(U)when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him ^(V)to his face, because he stood condemned. ¹²For before certain men came from James, ^(W)he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing ^(X)the circumcision party.^[a] ¹³And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. ¹⁴But when I saw that their ^(Y)conduct was not in step with ^(Z)the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas ^(AA)before them all, “If you, though a Jew, ^(AB)live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”

Justified by Faith

¹⁵We ourselves are Jews by birth and not ^(AC)Gentile sinners; ¹⁶yet we know that ^(AD)a person is not justified^[b] by works of the law ^(AE)but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, ^(AF)because by works of the law no one will be justified.

Footnotes:

Galatians 2:12 Or fearing those of the circumcision
Galatians 2:16 Or counted righteous (three times in verse 16); also verse 17

Cross references:

English Standard Version (ESV)

Psalm 59

Deliver Me from My Enemies

To the choirmaster: according to ^(A)Do Not Destroy. A ^(B)Miktam^[a] of David, ^(C)when Saul sent men to watch his house in order to kill him.

59 ^(D)Deliver me from my enemies, O my God;
^(E)protect me from those who ^(F)rise up against me;
²deliver me from ^(G)those who work evil,
and save me from ^(H)bloodthirsty men.

³For behold, they ^(I)lie in wait for my life;
fierce men ^(J)stir up strife against me.
^(K)For no transgression or sin of mine, O Lord,
⁴for no fault of mine, they run and make ready.
^(L)Awake, come to meet me, and see!
⁵You, ^(M)Lord God of hosts, are God of Israel.
Rouse yourself to punish all the nations;
spare none of those who treacherously plot evil. Selah

⁶Each evening they ^(N)come back,
howling like dogs
and prowling about the city.
⁷There they are, ^(O)bellowing with their mouths
with ^(P)swords in their lips—
for ^(Q)“Who,” they think,^[b] “will hear us?”

⁸But you, O Lord, ^(R)laugh at them;
you hold all the nations in derision.
⁹O my Strength, I will watch for you,
for you, O God, are ^(S)my fortress.
¹⁰^(T)My God in his steadfast love^[c] ^(U)will meet me;
God will let me ^(V)look in triumph on my enemies.

¹¹Kill them not, lest my people forget;
make them totter^[d] by your power and ^(W)bring them down,
O Lord, our ^(X)shield!
¹²For ^(Y)the sin of their mouths, the words of their lips,
let them be trapped in their pride.
For the cursing and lies that they utter,
¹³^(Z)consume them in wrath;
consume them till they are no more,
that they may ^(AA)know that God rules over Jacob
to ^(AB)the ends of the earth. Selah

¹⁴^(AC)Each evening they come back,
howling like dogs
and prowling about the city.
¹⁵They ^(AD)wander about for food
and growl if they do not get their fill.

¹⁶But I will sing of your strength;
I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.
For you have been to me ^(AE)a fortress
and ^(AF)a refuge in ^(AG)the day of my distress.
¹⁷O my Strength, I will sing praises to you,
for you, O God, ^(AH)are my fortress,
^(AI)the God who shows me steadfast love.

Footnotes:

Psalm 59:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term
Psalm 59:7 Hebrew lacks they think
Psalm 59:10 Or The God who shows me steadfast love
Psalm 59:11 Or wander

Cross references:

Psalm 59:1 : Ps. 57, title
Psalm 59:1 : Ps. 16, title
Psalm 59:1 : [1 Sam. 19:11]
Psalm 59:1 : Ps. 143:9; [Ps. 18:48]
Psalm 59:1 : See Ps. 20:1
Psalm 59:1 : See Ps. 17:7
Psalm 59:2 : Ps. 94:4
Psalm 59:2 : Ps. 5:6
Psalm 59:3 : Ps. 10:9
Psalm 59:3 : See Ps. 56:6
Psalm 59:3 : 1 Sam. 24:11; [Ps. 7:3; 69:4]
Psalm 59:4 : See Ps. 35:23
Psalm 59:5 : Ps. 80:4; 84:8
Psalm 59:6 : [Ps. 22:16]
Psalm 59:7 : Prov. 15:2, 28; [Ps. 94:4]
Psalm 59:7 : See Ps. 57:4
Psalm 59:7 : See Job 22:13
Psalm 59:8 : See Ps. 2:4
Psalm 59:9 : ver. 16, 17; See Ps. 9:9
Psalm 59:10 : ver. 17
Psalm 59:10 : Ps. 21:3
Psalm 59:10 : See Ps. 54:7
Psalm 59:11 : See Ps. 55:23
Psalm 59:11 : See Ps. 3:3
Psalm 59:12 : See Prov. 12:13
Psalm 59:13 : [Ps. 7:9]
Psalm 59:13 : Ps. 83:18
Psalm 59:13 : Ps. 22:27
Psalm 59:14 : [Ps. 22:16]
Psalm 59:15 : Ps. 109:10; Job 15:23
Psalm 59:16 : ver. 9
Psalm 59:16 : 2 Sam. 22:3
Psalm 59:16 : Ps. 18:6
Psalm 59:17 : [See ver. 16 above]; ver. 9
Psalm 59:17 : ver. 10

English Standard Version (ESV)

Proverbs 23:13-14

¹³Do not withhold ^(A)discipline from a child;
^(B)if you strike him with a rod, he will not die.
¹⁴If you strike him with the rod,
you will ^(C)save his soul from Sheol.

Cross references:

English Standard Version (ESV)

September 14, 2021

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Tuesday September 14, 2021 (NIV)

Isaiah 15-18

An Oracle Concerning Moab

15 An ^(A)oracle concerning ^(B)Moab.

Because ^(C)Ar of Moab is laid waste in a night,
Moab is undone;
because ^(D)Kir of Moab is laid waste in a night,
Moab is undone.
²He has gone up to the temple,^[a] and to ^(E)Dibon,
to the high places^[b] to weep;
over ^(F)Nebo and over ^(G)Medeba
Moab ^(H)wails.
On every head is ^(I)baldness;
every beard is shorn;
³in the streets they wear sackcloth;
on the housetops and in the squares
everyone wails and melts in tears.
⁴^(J)Heshbon and ^(K)Elealeh cry out;
their voice is heard as far as ^(L)Jahaz;
therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud;
his soul trembles.
⁵My heart cries out for Moab;
her fugitives flee to Zoar,
to ^(M)Eglath-shelishiyah.
For at the ^(N)ascent of Luhith
they go up weeping;
on the road to ^(O)Horonaim
they raise a cry of destruction;
⁶the waters of ^(P)Nimrim
are a desolation;
the grass is withered, the vegetation fails,
the greenery is no more.
⁷^(Q)Therefore the abundance they have gained
and what they have laid up
they carry away
over the Brook of the Willows.
⁸For a cry has gone
around the land of Moab;
her wailing reaches to Eglaim;
her wailing reaches to Beer-elim.
⁹For the waters of ^(R)Dibon^[c] are full of blood;
for I will bring upon Dibon even more,
^(S)a lion for those of Moab who escape,
for the remnant of the land.
16 ^(T)Send the lamb to the ruler of the land,
from ^(U)Sela, by way of the desert,
to the mount of the daughter of Zion.
²Like fleeing birds,
like a scattered nest,
so are the daughters of Moab
at ^(V)the fords of the Arnon.

³“Give counsel;
grant justice;
^(W)make your shade like night
at the height of noon;
shelter the outcasts;
do not reveal the fugitive;
⁴let ^(X)the outcasts of Moab
sojourn among you;
be a shelter to them^[d]
from the destroyer.
When the oppressor is no more,
and destruction has ceased,
and he who tramples underfoot has vanished from the land,
⁵^(Y)then a throne will be established in steadfast love,
and on it will sit in faithfulness
in the tent of David
one who judges and seeks justice
and is swift to do righteousness.”

⁶^(Z)We have heard of the pride of Moab—
how proud he is!—
^(AA)of his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence;
in his idle boasting he is not right.
⁷Therefore let Moab wail for Moab,
^(AB)let everyone wail.
Mourn, utterly stricken,
for the ^(AC)raisin cakes of ^(AD)Kir-hareseth.

⁸For the fields of Heshbon languish,
and ^(AE)the vine of Sibmah;
the lords of the nations
have struck down its branches,
which reached to Jazer
and strayed to the desert;
its shoots spread abroad
and passed over the sea.
⁹Therefore ^(AF)I weep with ^(AG)the weeping of Jazer
for the vine of Sibmah;
I drench you with my tears,
O Heshbon and Elealeh;
for over ^(AH)your summer fruit and your harvest
the shout has ceased.
¹⁰^(AI)And joy and gladness are taken away from ^(AJ)the fruitful field,
and in the vineyards no ^(AK)songs are sung,
no cheers are raised;
no ^(AL)treader treads out wine ^(AM)in the presses;
I have put an end to the shouting.
¹¹Therefore ^(AN)my inner parts moan like a lyre for Moab,
and my inmost self for Kir-hareseth.

¹²And when Moab presents himself, when ^(AO)he wearies himself on ^(AP)the high place, when he comes to his sanctuary to pray, he will not prevail.

¹³This is the word that the Lord spoke concerning Moab ^(AQ)in the past. ¹⁴But now the Lord has spoken, saying, “In three years, ^(AR)like the years of a hired worker, the glory of Moab will be brought into contempt, in spite of all his great multitude, and those who remain will be ^(AS)very few and feeble.”

An Oracle Concerning Damascus

17 An ^(AT)oracle concerning ^(AU)Damascus.

Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city
and will become a heap of ruins.
²The cities of ^(AV)Aroer are deserted;
they will be for flocks,
which will lie down, and ^(AW)none will make them afraid.
³The fortress will disappear from ^(AX)Ephraim,
and the kingdom from ^(AY)Damascus;
and the remnant of Syria will be
like ^(AZ)the glory of the children of Israel,
declares the Lord of hosts.

⁴And in that day ^(BA)the glory of Jacob will be brought low,
and ^(BB)the fat of his flesh will grow lean.
⁵And it shall be ^(BC)as when the reaper gathers standing grain
and his arm harvests the ears,
and as when one gleans the ears of grain
in ^(BD)the Valley of Rephaim.
⁶^(BE)Gleanings will be left in it,
as when an olive tree is beaten—
two or three berries
in the top of the highest bough,
four or five
on the branches of a fruit tree,
declares the Lord God of Israel.

⁷^(BF)In that day man will look to his Maker, and his eyes will look on the Holy One of Israel. ⁸^(BG)He will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, and he will not look on what his own fingers have made, either the ^(BH)Asherim or the altars of incense.

⁹^(BI)In that day their strong cities will be like the deserted places of the wooded heights and the hilltops, which they deserted because of the children of Israel, and there will be desolation.

¹⁰For ^(BJ)you have forgotten the God of your salvation
and have not remembered the ^(BK)Rock of your refuge;
therefore, though you plant pleasant plants
and sow the vine-branch of a stranger,
¹¹though you make them grow^[e] on the day that you plant them,
and make them blossom in the morning that you sow,
yet the harvest will flee away^[f]
in a day of grief and incurable pain.

¹²Ah, ^(BL)the thunder of many peoples;
they thunder like the thundering of the sea!
Ah, the roar of nations;
they roar like the roaring of mighty waters!
¹³^(BM)The nations roar like the roaring of many waters,
^(BN)but he will rebuke them, and they will flee far away,
chased ^(BO)like chaff on the mountains before the wind
and ^(BP)whirling dust before the storm.
¹⁴^(BQ)At evening time, behold, terror!
Before morning, they are no more!
This is the portion of those who loot us,
and the lot of those who plunder us.

An Oracle Concerning Cush

18 Ah, land of ^(BR)whirring wings
that is beyond the rivers of ^(BS)Cush,^[g]
²which ^(BT)sends ambassadors by the sea,
in vessels of papyrus on the waters!
Go, you swift messengers,
to a nation ^(BU)tall and smooth,
to a people feared near and far,
a nation ^(BV)mighty and conquering,
whose land the rivers divide.

³All you inhabitants of the world,
you who dwell on the earth,
when ^(BW)a signal is raised on the mountains, look!
When a trumpet is blown, hear!
⁴For thus the Lord said to me:
“I will quietly look ^(BX)from my dwelling
like clear heat in sunshine,
like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”
⁵^(BY)For before the harvest, when the blossom is over,
and the flower becomes a ripening grape,
he cuts off the shoots with pruning hooks,
and the spreading branches he lops off and clears away.
⁶^(BZ)They shall all of them be left
to the birds of prey of the mountains
and to the beasts of the earth.
And the birds of prey will summer on them,
and all the beasts of the earth will winter on them.

⁷^(CA)At that time tribute will be brought to the Lord of hosts

from a people ^(CB)tall and smooth,
from a people feared near and far,
a nation mighty and conquering,
whose land the rivers divide,

to ^(CC)Mount Zion, the place of the ^(CD)name of the Lord of hosts.

Footnotes:

Isaiah 15:2 Hebrew the house
Isaiah 15:2 Or temple, even Dibon to the high places
Isaiah 15:9 Dead Sea Scroll, Vulgate (compare Syriac); Masoretic Text Dimon; twice in this verse
Isaiah 16:4 Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Syriac; Masoretic Text let my outcasts sojourn among you; as for Moab, be a shelter to them
Isaiah 17:11 Or though you carefully fence them
Isaiah 17:11 Or will be a heap
Isaiah 18:1 Probably Nubia

Cross references:

Isaiah 15:1 : [See ch. 14:28 above]; See ch. 13:1
Isaiah 15:1 : See Jer. 48; Ezek. 25:8-11; Amos 2:1-3; Zeph. 2:8, 9
Isaiah 15:1 : Num. 21:15, 28
Isaiah 15:1 : [ch. 16:7, 11]
Isaiah 15:2 : Num. 21:30
Isaiah 15:2 : Deut. 34:1
Isaiah 15:2 : Num. 21:30
Isaiah 15:2 : ch. 13:6
Isaiah 15:2 : See ch. 3:24
Isaiah 15:4 : Num. 32:37
Isaiah 15:4 : Num. 32:37
Isaiah 15:4 : Jer. 48:34
Isaiah 15:5 : [See ver. 4 above]; Jer. 48:34
Isaiah 15:5 : Jer. 48:5
Isaiah 15:5 : Jer. 48:5
Isaiah 15:6 : [Num. 32:36]
Isaiah 15:7 : Jer. 48:36
Isaiah 15:9 : [ver. 2]
Isaiah 15:9 : [2 Kgs. 17:25; Jer. 50:17]
Isaiah 16:1 : 2 Kgs. 3:4
Isaiah 16:1 : ch. 42:11; 2 Kgs. 14:7
Isaiah 16:2 : Judg. 11:18
Isaiah 16:3 : [1 Kgs. 18:4]
Isaiah 16:4 : 1 Sam. 22:3
Isaiah 16:5 : ch. 32:1, 2; Dan. 7:14, 27; Mic. 4:7; Luke 1:33
Isaiah 16:6 : Jer. 48:29; Zeph. 2:10
Isaiah 16:6 : Judg. 3:14; 2 Kgs. 13:20; [2 Chr. 20:1]
Isaiah 16:7 : ch. 15:3
Isaiah 16:7 : 2 Sam. 6:19; [ver. 9]
Isaiah 16:7 : 2 Kgs. 3:25; [ch. 15:1]
Isaiah 16:8 : Jer. 48:32
Isaiah 16:9 : [ch. 15:5]
Isaiah 16:9 : [See ver. 8 above]; Jer. 48:32
Isaiah 16:9 : [ver. 7]
Isaiah 16:10 : Jer. 48:33
Isaiah 16:10 : [ch. 9:3]
Isaiah 16:10 : [Judg. 9:27]
Isaiah 16:10 : ch. 63:3; Jer. 25:30
Isaiah 16:10 : ch. 5:2
Isaiah 16:11 : ch. 15:5; Jer. 48:36
Isaiah 16:12 : [1 Kgs. 18:29]
Isaiah 16:12 : ch. 15:2; [Num. 22:41; 23:14, 28]
Isaiah 16:13 : See Amos 2:1-3
Isaiah 16:14 : ch. 21:16
Isaiah 16:14 : [ch. 10:22]
Isaiah 17:1 : See ch. 13:1
Isaiah 17:1 : ch. 7:8; Zech. 9:1; See Jer. 49:23-27; Amos 1:3-5
Isaiah 17:2 : Deut. 2:36; Josh. 13:25
Isaiah 17:2 : Mic. 4:4
Isaiah 17:3 : ch. 7:16; 8:4
Isaiah 17:3 : ch. 7:16; 8:4
Isaiah 17:3 : [1 Sam. 4:21]
Isaiah 17:4 : [See ver. 3 above]; [1 Sam. 4:21]
Isaiah 17:4 : ch. 10:16
Isaiah 17:5 : [ch. 24:1]
Isaiah 17:5 : See 2 Sam. 5:18
Isaiah 17:6 : ch. 24:13
Isaiah 17:7 : [Hos. 8:14]
Isaiah 17:8 : ch. 27:9; Mic. 5:13, 14
Isaiah 17:8 : Ex. 34:13; See Deut. 16:21
Isaiah 17:9 : [ch. 27:10]
Isaiah 17:10 : Ps. 106:21
Isaiah 17:10 : ch. 26:4; [Deut. 32:4, 18, 31]
Isaiah 17:12 : See ch. 22:5-7
Isaiah 17:13 : [ch. 33:3]
Isaiah 17:13 : Ps. 9:5; [Joel 3:2]
Isaiah 17:13 : See Ps. 1:4
Isaiah 17:13 : Ps. 83:13
Isaiah 17:14 : [Ps. 30:5]
Isaiah 18:1 : [ch. 8:8; 17:12]
Isaiah 18:1 : 2 Kgs. 19:9
Isaiah 18:2 : ch. 30:4
Isaiah 18:2 : ver. 7
Isaiah 18:2 : [2 Sam. 8:2]
Isaiah 18:3 : See ch. 5:26
Isaiah 18:4 : Ps. 11:4
Isaiah 18:5 : [Ezek. 31:3, 12, 13]
Isaiah 18:6 : [See ver. 5 above]; [Ezek. 31:3, 12, 13]
Isaiah 18:7 : Ps. 68:31
Isaiah 18:7 : ver. 2
Isaiah 18:7 : [ch. 25:10]
Isaiah 18:7 : 2 Sam. 7:13

English Standard Version (ESV)

Galatians 1

Greeting

1 Paul, an ^(A)apostle—^(B)not from men nor through man, but ^(C)through Jesus Christ and God the Father, ^(D)who raised him from the dead— ²and all ^(E)the brothers^[a] who are with me,

To ^(F)the churches of Galatia:

³^(G)Grace to you and peace ^(H)from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴^(I)who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present ^(J)evil age, according to the will of ^(K)our God and Father, ⁵to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

No Other Gospel

⁶I am astonished that you are ^(L)so quickly deserting ^(M)him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to ^(N)a different gospel— ⁷^(O)not that there is another one, but ^(P)there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. ⁸But even if we or ^(Q)an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, ^(R)let him be accursed. ⁹As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, ^(S)let him be accursed.

¹⁰For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying ^(T)to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a ^(U)servant^[b] of Christ.

Paul Called by God

¹¹For ^(V)I would have you know, brothers, that ^(W)the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel.^[c] ¹²^(X)For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it ^(Y)through a revelation of Jesus Christ. ¹³For you have heard of ^(Z)my former life in Judaism, how ^(AA)I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. ¹⁴And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely ^(AB)zealous was I for ^(AC)the traditions of my fathers. ¹⁵But when he ^(AD)who had set me apart ^(AE)before I was born,^[d] and who ^(AF)called me by his grace, ¹⁶was pleased to reveal his Son to^[e] me, in order ^(AG)that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone;^[f] ¹⁷nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.

¹⁸Then ^(AH)after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. ¹⁹But I saw none of the other apostles except James ^(AI)the Lord's brother. ²⁰(In what I am writing to you, ^(AJ)before God, I do not lie!) ²¹^(AK)Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. ²²And I was still unknown in person to ^(AL)the churches of Judea that are in Christ. ²³They only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” ²⁴And they glorified God because of me.

Footnotes:

Galatians 1:2 Or brothers and sisters. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, the plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) may refer either to brothers or to brothers and sisters; also verse 11
Galatians 1:10 For the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface
Galatians 1:11 Greek not according to man
Galatians 1:15 Greek set me apart from my mother's womb
Galatians 1:16 Greek in
Galatians 1:16 Greek with flesh and blood

Cross references:

English Standard Version (ESV)

Psalm 58

God Who Judges the Earth

To the choirmaster: according to ^(A)Do Not Destroy. A ^(B)Miktam^[a] of David.

58 Do you indeed decree what is right, you gods?^[b]
Do you judge the children of man uprightly?
²No, in your hearts you devise wrongs;
your hands ^(C)deal out violence on earth.

³The wicked are ^(D)estranged from the womb;
they go astray from birth, speaking lies.
⁴^(E)They have venom like the venom of a serpent,
like the deaf adder that stops its ear,
⁵so that it ^(F)does not hear the voice of charmers
or of the cunning enchanter.

⁶O God, ^(G)break the teeth in their mouths;
tear out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord!
⁷Let them ^(H)vanish like water that runs away;
when he ^(I)aims his arrows, let them be blunted.
⁸Let them be like the snail ^(J)that dissolves into slime,
like ^(K)the stillborn child who never sees the sun.
⁹Sooner than your pots can feel the heat of ^(L)thorns,
whether green or ablaze, may he ^(M)sweep them away!^[c]

¹⁰^(N)The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance;
he will ^(O)bathe his feet in the blood of the wicked.
¹¹Mankind will say, “Surely there is ^(P)a reward for the righteous;
surely there is a God who ^(Q)judges on earth.”

Footnotes:

Psalm 58:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term
Psalm 58:1 Or you mighty lords (by revocalization; Hebrew in silence)
Psalm 58:9 The meaning of the Hebrew verse is uncertain

English Standard Version (ESV)

Proverbs 23:12

¹²Apply your heart to instruction
and your ear to words of knowledge.

English Standard Version (ESV)

September 13, 2021

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Monday September 13, 2021 (NIV)

Isaiah 12-14

The Lord Is My Strength and My Song

12 You^[a] will say ^(A)in that day:
“I will give thanks to you, O Lord,
for though you were angry with me,
^(B)your anger turned away,
that you might comfort me.

²“Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid;
for ^(C)the Lord God^[b] is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation.”

³^(D)With joy you^[c] will draw water from the wells of salvation. ⁴^(E)And you will say in that day:

^(F)“Give thanks to the Lord,
call upon his name,
^(G)make known his deeds among the peoples,
proclaim ^(H)that his name is exalted.

⁵^(I)“Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously;
let this be made known^[d] in all the earth.
⁶Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
for great ^(J)in your^[e] midst is ^(K)the Holy One of Israel.”

The Judgment of Babylon

13 The oracle concerning ^(L)Babylon which ^(M)Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.

²On a bare hill ^(N)raise a signal;
cry aloud to them;
wave the hand for ^(O)them to enter
the gates of the nobles.
³I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,
and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger,
my proudly exulting ones.^[f]

⁴The sound ^(P)of a tumult is on the mountains
as of a great multitude!
The sound of an uproar of kingdoms,
of nations gathering together!
^(Q)The Lord of hosts is mustering
a host for battle.
⁵^(R)They come from a distant land,
from the end of the heavens,
the Lord and the weapons of his indignation,
to destroy the whole land.^[g]

⁶^(S)Wail, for ^(T)the day of the Lord is near;
as destruction from the Almighty^[h] it will come!
⁷Therefore all hands will be feeble,
and every human heart ^(U)will melt.
⁸They will be dismayed:
^(V)pangs and agony will seize them;
^(W)they will be in anguish like a woman in labor.
They will look aghast at one another;
their faces will be aflame.

⁹Behold, ^(X)the day of the Lord comes,
cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,
to make the land a desolation
and ^(Y)to destroy its sinners from it.
¹⁰^(Z)For the stars of the heavens and their constellations
will not give their light;
^(AA)the sun will be dark at its rising,
and the moon will not shed its light.
¹¹I will punish ^(AB)the world for its evil,
and the wicked for their iniquity;
I will ^(AC)put an end to the pomp of the arrogant,
^(AD)and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.
¹²I will make ^(AE)people more rare than fine gold,
and mankind than the ^(AF)gold of Ophir.
¹³Therefore ^(AG)I will make the heavens tremble,
and the earth will be shaken out of its place,
at the wrath of the Lord of hosts
in the day of his fierce anger.
¹⁴And like a hunted gazelle,
or like sheep with none to gather them,
^(AH)each will turn to his own people,
and each will flee to his own land.
¹⁵Whoever is found will be thrust through,
and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.
¹⁶^(AI)Their infants will be dashed in pieces
before their eyes;
their houses will be plundered
and their wives ravished.

¹⁷Behold, ^(AJ)I am stirring up the Medes against them,
who have no regard for silver
and do not delight in gold.
¹⁸^(AK)Their bows will slaughter^[i] the young men;
they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;
their eyes will not pity children.
¹⁹And Babylon, ^(AL)the glory of kingdoms,
the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans,
will be ^(AM)like Sodom and Gomorrah
when God overthrew them.
²⁰^(AN)It will never be inhabited
or lived in for all generations;
no ^(AO)Arab will pitch his tent there;
no ^(AP)shepherds will make their flocks lie down there.
²¹But ^(AQ)wild animals will lie down there,
and their houses will be full of howling creatures;
there ^(AR)ostriches^[j] will dwell,
and there wild goats will dance.
²²Hyenas^[k] will cry in its towers,
and ^(AS)jackals in ^(AT)the pleasant palaces;
its time is close at hand
and its days will not be prolonged.

The Restoration of Jacob

14 ^(AU)For the Lord will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and ^(AV)will set them in their own land, and ^(AW)sojourners will join them and will attach themselves to the house of Jacob. ²And ^(AX)the peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them in the Lord's land ^(AY)as male and female slaves.^[l] ^(AZ)They will take captive those who were their captors, ^(BA)and rule over those who oppressed them.

Israel's Remnant Taunts Babylon

³When the Lord has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve, ⁴you will take up this ^(BB)taunt against the king of Babylon:

“How the oppressor has ceased,
^(BC)the insolent fury^[m] ceased!
⁵The Lord has broken the ^(BD)staff of the wicked,
the ^(BE)scepter of rulers,
⁶^(BF)that struck the peoples in wrath
with unceasing blows,
that ruled the nations in anger
with unrelenting persecution.
⁷The whole earth is at rest and quiet;
^(BG)they break forth into singing.
⁸^(BH)^(BI)The cypresses rejoice at you,
^(BJ)the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
‘Since you were laid low,
no woodcutter comes up against us.’
⁹Sheol beneath is stirred up
to meet you when you come;
it rouses the shades to greet you,
all who were leaders of the earth;
it raises from their thrones
all who were kings of the nations.
¹⁰^(BK)All of them will answer
and say to you:
‘You too have become as weak as we!
You have become like us!’
¹¹Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,
the sound of your harps;
maggots are laid as a bed beneath you,
and worms are your covers.

¹²“How ^(BL)you are fallen from heaven,
O Day Star, ^(BM)son of Dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
you who laid the nations low!
¹³You said in your heart,
^(BN)‘I will ascend to heaven;
above the stars of God
^(BO)I will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
in the far reaches of the north;^[n]
¹⁴I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’
¹⁵^(BP)But you are brought down to Sheol,
to the far reaches of the pit.
¹⁶Those who see you will stare at you
and ponder over you:
‘Is this ^(BQ)the man who made the earth tremble,
who shook kingdoms,
¹⁷who made the world like a desert
and overthrew its cities,
^(BR)who did not let his prisoners go home?’
¹⁸All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
each in his own tomb;^[o]
¹⁹but you are cast out, away from your grave,
like a loathed branch,
^(BS)clothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword,
who go down to the stones of the pit,
like a dead body trampled underfoot.
²⁰You will not be joined with them in burial,
because you have destroyed your land,
you have slain your people.

“May ^(BT)the offspring of evildoers
nevermore be named!
²¹Prepare slaughter for his sons
^(BU)because of the guilt of their fathers,
lest they rise and possess the earth,
and fill the face of the world with cities.”

²²“I will rise up against them,” declares the Lord of hosts, “and will cut off from Babylon name and ^(BV)remnant, ^(BW)descendants and posterity,” declares the Lord. ²³“And I will make it a possession of the ^(BX)hedgehog,^[p] and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” declares the Lord of hosts.

An Oracle Concerning Assyria

²⁴The Lord of hosts has sworn:
^(BY)“As I have planned,
so shall it be,
and as I have purposed,
so shall it stand,
²⁵that ^(BZ)I will break the Assyrian in my land,
and on my mountains trample him underfoot;
and ^(CA)his yoke shall depart from them,
and ^(CB)his burden from their shoulder.”

²⁶This is the purpose that is purposed
concerning the whole earth,
and this is ^(CC)the hand that is stretched out
over all the nations.
²⁷^(CD)For the Lord of hosts has purposed,
and who will annul it?
^(CE)His hand is stretched out,
and who will turn it back?

An Oracle Concerning Philistia

²⁸In the year that ^(CF)King Ahaz died came this ^(CG)oracle:

²⁹Rejoice not, ^(CH)O Philistia, all of you,
that ^(CI)the rod that struck you is broken,
for from the serpent's root will come forth an adder,
and its fruit will be a ^(CJ)flying fiery serpent.
³⁰And the firstborn of ^(CK)the poor will graze,
and ^(CL)the needy lie down in safety;
but I will kill your root with famine,
and your remnant it will slay.
³¹^(CM)Wail, O ^(CN)gate; cry out, O city;
melt in fear, ^(CO)O Philistia, all of you!
^(CP)For smoke comes out of the north,
and there is no straggler in his ranks.

³²What will one answer the messengers of the nation?
^(CQ)“The Lord has founded Zion,
and in her the afflicted of his people find refuge.”

Footnotes:

Isaiah 12:1 The Hebrew for you is singular in verse 1
Isaiah 12:2 Hebrew for Yah, the Lord
Isaiah 12:3 The Hebrew for you is plural in verses 3, 4
Isaiah 12:5 Or this is made known
Isaiah 12:6 The Hebrew for your in verse 6 is singular, referring to the inhabitant of Zion
Isaiah 13:3 Or those who exult in my majesty
Isaiah 13:5 Or earth; also verse 9
Isaiah 13:6 The Hebrew words for destruction and almighty sound alike
Isaiah 13:18 Hebrew dash in pieces
Isaiah 13:21 Or owls
Isaiah 13:22 Or foxes
Isaiah 14:2 Or servants
Isaiah 14:4 Dead Sea Scroll (compare Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate); the meaning of the word in the Masoretic Text is uncertain
Isaiah 14:13 Or in the remote parts of Zaphon
Isaiah 14:18 Hebrew house
Isaiah 14:23 Possibly porcupine, or owl

Cross references:

English Standard Version (ESV)

2 Corinthians 13

Final Warnings

13 ^(A)This is the third time I am coming to you. Every charge must be established ^(B)by the evidence of two or three witnesses. ²^(C)I warned ^(D)those who sinned before and all the others, and I warn them now while absent, as I did when present on my second visit, that ^(E)if I come again I will not spare them— ³since you seek proof that Christ ^(F)is speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but ^(G)is powerful among you. ⁴For ^(H)he was crucified in weakness, but ^(I)lives by the power of God. For ^(J)we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you ^(K)we will live with him by the power of God.

⁵Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. ^(L)Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that ^(M)Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! ⁶I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. ⁷But we pray to God that you may not do wrong—not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. ⁸For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. ⁹For we are glad when ^(N)we are weak and you are strong. Your ^(O)restoration is what we pray for. ¹⁰For this reason I write these things while I am away from you, that when I come ^(P)I may not have to be ^(Q)severe in my use of ^(R)the authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.

Final Greetings

¹¹Finally, brothers,^[a] rejoice. ^(S)Aim for restoration, comfort one another,^[b] ^(T)agree with one another, ^(U)live in peace; and the God of love and ^(V)peace will be with you. ¹²^(W)Greet one another with a holy kiss. ¹³^(X)All the saints greet you.

¹⁴^(Y)The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and ^(Z)the love of God and ^(AA)the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Footnotes:

2 Corinthians 13:11 Or brothers and sisters
2 Corinthians 13:11 Or listen to my appeal

Cross references:

English Standard Version (ESV)

Psalm 57

Let Your Glory Be over All the Earth

To the choirmaster: according to ^(A)Do Not Destroy. A ^(B)Miktam^[a] of David, when he fled from Saul, in ^(C)the cave.

57 ^(D)Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me,
for in you my soul ^(E)takes refuge;
in ^(F)the shadow of your wings I will take refuge,
^(G)till the storms of destruction pass by.
²I cry out to God Most High,
to God who ^(H)fulfills his purpose for me.
³^(I)He will send from heaven and save me;
he will put to shame ^(J)him who tramples on me. Selah
^(K)God will send out ^(L)his steadfast love and his faithfulness!

⁴My soul is in the midst of ^(M)lions;
I lie down amid fiery beasts—
the children of man, whose ^(N)teeth are spears and arrows,
whose ^(O)tongues are sharp swords.

⁵^(P)Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!
Let your glory be over all the earth!

⁶They set ^(Q)a net for my steps;
my soul was ^(R)bowed down.
They ^(S)dug a pit in my way,
but they have fallen into it themselves. Selah
⁷^(T)My heart is ^(U)steadfast, O God,
my heart is steadfast!
I will sing and make melody!
⁸^(V)Awake, ^(W)my glory!^[b]
Awake, ^(X)O harp and lyre!
I will awake the dawn!
⁹I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples;
I will sing praises to you among the nations.
¹⁰For your ^(Y)steadfast love is great to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the clouds.

¹¹^(Z)Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!
Let your glory be over all the earth!

Footnotes:

Psalm 57:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term
Psalm 57:8 Or my whole being

Cross references:

English Standard Version (ESV)

Proverbs 23:9-11

⁹Do not speak in the hearing of a fool,
for he will despise the good sense of your words.
¹⁰^(A)Do not move an ancient landmark
or enter the fields of the fatherless,
¹¹for their ^(B)Redeemer is strong;
he will ^(C)plead their cause against you.

Cross references:

English Standard Version (ESV)

September 12, 2021

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Sunday September 12, 2021 (NIV)

Isaiah 10-11

10 Woe to those who ^(A)decree iniquitous decrees,
and the writers who ^(B)keep writing oppression,
²to turn aside the needy from justice
and ^(C)to rob the poor of my people of their right,
that widows may be their spoil,
and that they may make the fatherless their prey!
³What will you do on ^(D)the day of punishment,
in the ruin that will come ^(E)from afar?
To whom will you flee for help,
and where will you leave your wealth?
⁴Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners
or fall among the slain.
^(F)For all this his anger has not turned away,
and his hand is stretched out still.

Judgment on Arrogant Assyria

⁵Woe to Assyria, ^(G)the rod of my anger;
the staff in their hands is my fury!
⁶Against a ^(H)godless nation I send him,
and against the people of my wrath I command him,
to take ^(I)spoil and seize plunder,
and to ^(J)tread them down like the mire of the streets.
⁷But he ^(K)does not so intend,
and his heart does not so think;
but it is in his heart to destroy,
and to cut off nations not a few;
⁸for he says:
^(L)“Are not my commanders all kings?
⁹^(M)Is not ^(N)Calno like ^(O)Carchemish?
Is not ^(P)Hamath like ^(Q)Arpad?
^(R)Is not ^(S)Samaria like Damascus?
¹⁰As my hand has reached to ^(T)the kingdoms of the idols,
whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
¹¹shall I not do to Jerusalem and ^(U)her idols
^(V)as I have done to Samaria and her images?”

¹²^(W)When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, ^(X)he^[a] will punish the speech^[b] of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes. ¹³^(Y)For he says:

“By the strength of my hand I have done it,
and by my wisdom, for I have understanding;
I remove the boundaries of peoples,
and plunder their treasures;
like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones.
¹⁴My hand has found like a nest
the wealth of the peoples;
and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken,
so I have gathered all the earth;
and there was none that moved a wing
or opened the mouth or chirped.”

¹⁵Shall ^(Z)the axe boast over him who hews with it,
or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?
As if a rod should wield him who lifts it,
or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!
¹⁶Therefore the Lord God of hosts
will send wasting sickness among his ^(AA)stout warriors,
and under his glory ^(AB)a burning will be kindled,
like the burning of fire.
¹⁷^(AC)The light of Israel will become a fire,
and ^(AD)his Holy One a flame,
and ^(AE)it will burn and devour
his thorns and briers ^(AF)in one day.
¹⁸The glory of ^(AG)his forest and of his ^(AH)fruitful land
the Lord will destroy, both soul and body,
and it will be as when a sick man wastes away.
¹⁹The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few
that a child can write them down.

The Remnant of Israel Will Return

²⁰^(AI)In that day ^(AJ)the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more ^(AK)lean on him who struck them, but ^(AL)will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. ²¹A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, ^(AM)to the mighty God. ²²^(AN)For though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, ^(AO)only a remnant of them will return. ^(AP)Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. ²³For the Lord God of hosts will make a full end, as decreed, in the midst of all the earth.

²⁴Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: “O my people, ^(AQ)who dwell in Zion, ^(AR)be not afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with the rod and lift up their staff against you as ^(AS)the Egyptians did. ²⁵For ^(AT)in a very little while my fury will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction. ²⁶And ^(AU)the Lord of hosts will wield against them a whip, as when he struck ^(AV)Midian ^(AW)at the rock of Oreb. And his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it ^(AX)as he did in Egypt. ²⁷And in that day ^(AY)his burden will depart from your shoulder, and ^(AZ)his yoke from your neck; and the yoke will be broken because of the fat.”^[c]

²⁸He has come to Aiath;
he has passed through ^(BA)Migron;
at Michmash he stores ^(BB)his baggage;
²⁹they have crossed over ^(BC)the pass;
at ^(BD)Geba they lodge for the night;
^(BE)Ramah trembles;
^(BF)Gibeah of Saul has fled.
³⁰Cry aloud, O daughter of ^(BG)Gallim!
Give attention, O Laishah!
O poor ^(BH)Anathoth!
³¹Madmenah is in flight;
the inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety.
³²This very day he will halt at ^(BI)Nob;
he will shake his fist
at the mount of ^(BJ)the daughter of Zion,
the hill of Jerusalem.

³³Behold, the Lord God of hosts
^(BK)will lop ^(BL)the boughs with terrifying power;
the great in height will be hewn down,
and the lofty will be brought low.
³⁴He will cut down ^(BM)the thickets of the forest with an axe,
and ^(BN)Lebanon will fall by the Majestic One.

The Righteous Reign of the Branch

11 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of ^(BO)Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
²And ^(BP)the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
³And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
^(BQ)He shall not judge by ^(BR)what his eyes see,
or decide disputes by ^(BS)what his ears hear,
⁴but ^(BT)with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall ^(BU)strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and ^(BV)with the breath of his lips ^(BW)he shall kill the wicked.
⁵Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
and ^(BX)faithfulness the belt of his loins.

⁶^(BY)The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
and a little child shall lead them.
⁷The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
⁸The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.
⁹^(BZ)They shall not hurt or destroy
in all ^(CA)my holy mountain;
^(CB)for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.

¹⁰In that day ^(CC)the root of ^(CD)Jesse, who shall stand as ^(CE)a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.

¹¹^(CF)In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, ^(CG)from Assyria, ^(CH)from Egypt, from ^(CI)Pathros, from ^(CJ)Cush,^[d] from ^(CK)Elam, from ^(CL)Shinar, from ^(CM)Hamath, and from ^(CN)the coastlands of the sea.

¹²He will raise ^(CO)a signal for the nations
and will assemble ^(CP)the banished of Israel,
and gather the dispersed of Judah
from the four corners of the earth.
¹³^(CQ)The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart,
and those who harass Judah shall be cut off;
Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah,
and Judah shall not harass Ephraim.
¹⁴^(CR)But they shall swoop down on the shoulder of the Philistines in the west,
and together they shall plunder ^(CS)the people of the east.
They shall put out their hand ^(CT)against ^(CU)Edom and ^(CV)Moab,
and ^(CW)the Ammonites shall obey them.
¹⁵And the Lord will utterly destroy^[e]
^(CX)the tongue of the Sea of Egypt,
and will wave his hand over ^(CY)the River^[f]
with his scorching breath,^[g]
and strike it into seven channels,
and he will lead people across in sandals.
¹⁶And there will be ^(CZ)a highway from Assyria
for the remnant that remains of his people,
^(DA)as there was for Israel
when they came up from the land of Egypt.

Footnotes:

Isaiah 10:12 Hebrew I
Isaiah 10:12 Hebrew fruit
Isaiah 10:27 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
Isaiah 11:11 Probably Nubia
Isaiah 11:15 Hebrew devote to destruction
Isaiah 11:15 That is, the Euphrates
Isaiah 11:15 Or wind

Cross references:

English Standard Version (ESV)

2 Corinthians 12:11-21

Concern for the Corinthian Church

¹¹^(A)I have been a fool! You forced me to it, for I ought to have been commended by you. For I was ^(B)not at all inferior to these super-apostles, ^(C)even though I am nothing. ¹²^(D)The signs of a true apostle were performed among you ^(E)with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works. ¹³For in what were you less favored than the rest of the churches, except that ^(F)I myself did not burden you? Forgive me this wrong!

¹⁴Here ^(G)for the third time I am ready to come to you. And I will not be a burden, for ^(H)I seek not what is yours but you. For ^(I)children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but ^(J)parents for their children. ¹⁵^(K)I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If ^(L)I love you more, am I to be loved less? ¹⁶But granting that ^(M)I myself did not burden you, I was crafty, you say, and got the better of you by deceit. ¹⁷Did I take advantage of you ^(N)through any of those whom I sent to you? ¹⁸^(O)I urged Titus to go, and sent ^(P)the brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not act in the same spirit? Did we not take the same steps?

¹⁹Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? It is ^(Q)in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ, and ^(R)all for your upbuilding, beloved. ²⁰For I fear that perhaps ^(S)when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. ²¹I fear that when I come again my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those ^(T)who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, ^(U)sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced.

Cross references:

English Standard Version (ESV)

Psalm 56

In God I Trust

To the choirmaster: according to The Dove on Far-off Terebinths. A ^(A)Miktam^[a] of David, when the ^(B)Philistines seized him in Gath.

56 ^(C)Be gracious to me, O God, for man ^(D)tramples on me;
all day long an attacker oppresses me;
²my enemies trample on me all day long,
for many attack me proudly.
³When I am afraid,
I ^(E)put my trust in you.
⁴In God, whose word I praise,
in God I trust; ^(F)I shall not be afraid.
What can flesh do to me?

⁵All day long they injure my cause;^[b]
all their thoughts are against me for evil.
⁶They ^(G)stir up strife, they ^(H)lurk;
they ^(I)watch my steps,
as they have waited for my life.
⁷For their crime will they escape?
^(J)In wrath ^(K)cast down the peoples, O God!

⁸You have kept count of my tossings;^[c]
^(L)put my tears in your bottle.
^(M)Are they not in your book?
⁹Then my enemies will turn back
^(N)in the day when I call.
This I know, that^[d] ^(O)God is for me.
¹⁰In God, whose word I praise,
in the Lord, whose word I praise,
¹¹in God I trust; ^(P)I shall not be afraid.
What can man do to me?

¹²I must perform my ^(Q)vows to you, O God;
I will ^(R)render thank offerings to you.
¹³^(S)For you have delivered my soul from death,
yes, my feet from falling,
^(T)that I may walk before God
^(U)in the light of life.

Footnotes:

Psalm 56:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term
Psalm 56:5 Or they twist my words
Psalm 56:8 Or wanderings
Psalm 56:9 Or because

English Standard Version (ESV)

Proverbs 23:6-8

⁶^(A)Do not eat the bread of a man who is ^(B)stingy;^[a]
^(C)do not desire his delicacies,
⁷for he is like one who is inwardly calculating.^[b]
“Eat and drink!” he says to you,
but his ^(D)heart is not with you.
⁸You will vomit up the morsels that you have eaten,
and waste your pleasant words.

Footnotes:

Proverbs 23:6 Hebrew whose eye is evil
Proverbs 23:7 Or for as he calculates in his soul, so is he

Cross references:

English Standard Version (ESV)

September 11, 2021

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Saturday September 11, 2021 (NIV)

Isaiah 8-9

8 The Eternal told me to take a large tablet and write—“Swift the Spoils of War and Speedy Comes the Attacker”— ²and to get believable witnesses, both the priest Uriah and Zechariah (Jeberechiah’s son), to watch me do it. ³I approached the prophetess—a woman who, like me, speaks for God—and she became pregnant and had a son, whom the Eternal said I should name Maher-shalal-hash-baz (Swift-the-Spoils-of-War-and-Speedy-Comes-the-Attacker); ⁴because before he is old enough to say “My father” or “My mother” the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carted off to become the property of their enemy, the king of Assyria.

Prophets like Isaiah not only speak their messages, but they sometimes act them out. Isaiah is a master of both prophetic speech and prophetic acts. It is common for God to ask prophets to expose important aspects of their families’ lives to demonstrate a message He wants to convey. Perhaps it is because the prophet speaks for God and Israel is God’s family. In this case, God tells Isaiah to embed His message into the name of his child. And what is that message? “Ahaz, the two countries currently threatening you will soon be conquered by a greater power—Assyria. It will attack quickly, defeat soundly, and carry off the spoils of war from Damascus and Samaria. So there is no need to fear them; instead, trust in your God.”

⁵The Eternal One explained to me,

⁶Eternal One: This disaster will happen because this people have rejected the stream of Shiloah
that flows gently to Zion.
Instead they rejoice over Rezin and Remaliah’s son.
⁷Just watch—the Lord will overwhelm them
with great waves of the Euphrates River.
Like a river, Assyrian might and glory will bear down on them;
it will rise over its banks as unstoppable as a raging flood.
⁸This Mesopotamian power will pour into Judah, rise and pass through,
wreaking near-fatal havoc.
And its reach will extend over all your land.

God, be with us.

⁹Go ahead, make your alliances, you peoples, yet you’ll be crushed.
Listen closely, even if you’re far away:
Get ready for battle—get ready to be battered;
get ready for battle—get ready to be shattered.
¹⁰Go ahead, devise your plans, but they will fail;
your proclamations won’t matter because God is with us.

No one wants to believe that God would use foreign power to wreak destruction on other lands and peoples. Yet, as God is holy, so God’s place must be holy. He simply cannot dwell where holiness is not. He cannot make a larger-than-life Zion out of an earthly Jerusalem, unless that place (and its people, of course) are right. At best, these people seem to think that paying lip service to God is enough; at worst, they don’t even care about God. A simple explanation is the people must be clean and holy. And this condition of rightness, holiness, and cleanliness is a product of how they are—in relation not only to God, but also to each other and the very land itself; these things are inseparable. The consequences of their failure to ensure the holiness of this sacred place by being right with God, land, and others are dire indeed. God must cleanse His people and place because He determines to be represented within and by them. So, better days will come again, and His covenant people will be set right and be happy and prosperous again.

¹¹See, this is what the Eternal told me. God leaned in close—His strong hand on me—to keep me from following these people.

¹²Eternal One: Don’t call for an alliance, like all the rest of this people do.
Don’t fear what they fear, or dread what they dread.
¹³After all, only the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, should terrify you.
Only God is holy. Only God should leave you trembling.
¹⁴Look what I’m going to do in Zion:
The Eternal will be for you a sacred place,
But for both houses of Israel I’ll also be a stone that blocks their way
and a rock that trips them up;
For those who live in Jerusalem, I’ll be a trap and a snare.
¹⁵Many will stumble over them. They will trip and be broken;
they’ll succumb to capture and be grabbed up.

God who provides a place of safety and security for those who trust in Him is the same God who puts obstacles in the way of those who disregard Him.

¹⁶Now take care to keep this message as it is.

Seal up this teaching
and hand it over to my disciples.

¹⁷As for me, I will wait for the Eternal, even though He feels absent, even though He has hidden His face from the family of Jacob. I will put all hope in Him. ¹⁸You see, I and my children whom the Eternal One gave to me, we personify the promise. We are signs of what God intends and will do in Israel, what amazing things the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies has in mind, the One who is indeed present in Zion, this heaven on earth.

¹⁹People might tell you to ask the fortune-tellers, consult the babbling astrologers, conjure the dead to tell the living what’s to come, but shouldn’t they ask their God? ²⁰Go to God’s teaching and His testimony to guide your thoughts and behavior! If any response disagrees with the word of God, then it’s muddling and wrong and not the least bit illuminating. ²¹It leaves the people bedraggled and desperate, drifting here and there. In their hunger, the people are bound to be infuriated and curse their king and God. They’ll look up to the heavens ²²and down to the earth, yet see nothing but trouble, gloom, anguish, and darkness. They will be driven out into the darkness.

When God’s people haven’t seen a hint of light or hope of day, God will do something new.

9 But there will be no more gloom for those who knew such hardship. In times past, God humbled the land of Zebulun and Naphtali; later, He will restore the honor and glory to the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee, home of the nations.

²The people who had been living in darkness
have seen a great light.
The light of life has shined on those who dwelt
in the shadowy darkness of death.
³And You, God, will make it happen. You bolstered the nation,
making it great again. You have saturated it with joy.
Everyone in it is full of delight in Your presence,
like the joy they experience at the harvest,
like the thrill of dividing up the spoils of war.
⁴For as You did back in the day when Midian oppressed us,
You will shatter the yoke that burdens them,
You will lift the load that weighs them down,
You will break the rod of their oppressor.
⁵It’s true. All the fabric of war will go up in flames:
the troops’ heavy boots that stamped us down and their blood-soaked garb
Will all be burned beyond recognition or use.
There will be a new time, a fresh start.
⁶Hope of all hopes, dream of our dreams,
a child is born, sweet-breathed; a son is given to us: a living gift.
And even now, with tiny features and dewy hair, He is great.
The power of leadership, and the weight of authority, will rest on His shoulders.
His name? His name we’ll know in many ways—
He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Dear Father everlasting, ever-present never-failing,
Master of Wholeness, Prince of Peace.
⁷His leadership will bring such prosperity as you’ve never seen before—
sustainable peace for all time.
This child: God’s promise to David—a throne forever, among us,
to restore sound leadership that cannot be perverted or shaken.
He will ensure justice without fail and absolute equity. Always.
The intense passion of the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies,
will carry this to completion.

⁸The Lord has dispatched a word against Jacob;
it will come down hard on Israel.
⁹All the people of Ephraim and the citizens of its capital Samaria will know.
In their pride and arrogance they say:
¹⁰“Hey! The walls have collapsed, but this gives us a chance to rebuild
better than it was before with the best stones instead of brick.
The invaders may have chopped down the sycamores,
but we will plant cedars in their place.”
¹¹But the Eternal stirs up Rezin’s enemies to move against Israel
and arouses all their foes to join them.
¹²They come, these enemies, from both sides (Syrians on the east and Philistines on the west)
and consume Israel, swallowing it whole.
Still, God’s anger smolders.
His hand is raised; there’s more to come.

¹³But the people don’t return to God after all His punishment.
They don’t change their ways and right their paths
To seek the Eternal, the Commander of heavenly armies.
¹⁴Therefore, He will take them to task.
In a single day He’ll cut off from Israel the head and the tail;
He’ll cut down the noble palm and lowly reed.
¹⁵The head are those charged with leadership—political and religious—
who used their power in the worst possible ways;
And the tail are the prophets who slur their lies.
¹⁶These misguided leaders have misled this people;
and those who follow have become swallowed up in their deceit.
^17-18Even now the Lord takes no joy in a single one, not even the young.
Mercy has run out for even those without power—the widows and orphans.
For every single person is at fault and behaves badly.
No one thinks or acts as God would have them do.
Every mouth utters foolishness like a wildfire, out of control;
wickedness rages, leveling and clearing briars and thorns;
Forests and thickets burn, leaving the whole a smoking heap.
Still, God’s anger smolders. His hand is raised; there’s more to come.
¹⁹The Eternal, the Commander of heavenly armies,
sets our world on fire in His fury.
The rotten people become kindling for the fire,
turning against one another until no one is spared.
²⁰They slice off what’s on the right and are still hungry;
they eat what’s on the left and still aren’t satisfied.
And in their voracity, they consume their own.

Ravenous in their greed, no one is spared—not brothers or sisters, not allies or kin.

²¹Manasseh and Ephraim devour each other
and turn their covetous eye south, toward Judah.
Still, God’s anger smolders. His hand is raised; there’s more to come.

The Voice (VOICE)

2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Sincerity is a difficult thing to judge. The commitment that people have to a cause can only be determined over time. One test might be: do they persevere through hardships and challenges? In this regard, Paul is without equal. If the cause of Jesus were a fleeting interest or a halfhearted pursuit, then he would have given up after his first beating. But Paul’s compassion for those who did not know the beauty of the gospel was stubborn and unyielding. This persecutor-turned-emissary always had his critics. But who could call him insincere?

Paul is speaking of himself in verses 2-5 in an odd, third-person way. He writes cryptically for a purpose: to distract from the fact that, at least for the moment, he is boasting of something other than weakness. In heavenly journeys, Paul has seen amazing sights and heard amazing sounds—sights and sounds no human can or should ever speak of.

But God adds something to keep Paul from being carried away by such ecstasies: He gives His emissary “a thorn in the flesh.” Perhaps it is a chronic physical or emotional illness he suffers. Perhaps it is the steady stream of opponents who follow Paul wherever he goes. In God’s wisdom, Paul doesn’t say because his listeners would likely fixate on whatever problem he has in unhealthy ways. That’s what humans do. Still Paul believes that God sent this unwelcome messenger, so he pleads with God three times to remove it. Why just three times? Why doesn’t he bombard heaven daily with his pleas? Well, it may be because he knows Jesus prayed three times in the garden for the cup of suffering to be removed. Ultimately Jesus surrendered to the will of the Father, and Paul does too: “Grace is enough, Paul. Grace is enough.”

12 Boasting like this is necessary, but it’s unbecoming and probably unavailing. Since you won’t hear me any other way, let me tell you about visions and revelations I received of the Lord.

²Fourteen years ago, there was this man I knew—a believer in the Anointed who was caught up to the third heaven. (Whether this was an in- or out-of-body experience I don’t know; only God knows.) ^3-4This man was caught up into paradise (let me say it again, whether this was an in- or out-of-body experience I don’t know; only God knows), and he heard inexpressible words—words a mortal man is forbidden to utter. ⁵I could brag about such a man; but as for me, I have nothing to brag about outside my own shortcomings. ⁶So if I want to boast, I won’t do so as a fool because I will be speaking the truth. But I will stop there, since I don’t want to be credited with anything except exactly what people see and hear from me. ⁷To keep me grounded and stop me from becoming too high and mighty due to the extraordinary character of these revelations, I was given a thorn in the flesh—a nagging nuisance of Satan, a messenger to plague me! ⁸I begged the Lord three times to liberate me from its anguish; ⁹and finally He said to me, “My grace is enough to cover and sustain you. My power is made perfect in weakness.” So ask me about my thorn, inquire about my weaknesses, and I will gladly go on and on—I would rather stake my claim in these and have the power of the Anointed One at home within me. ¹⁰I am at peace and even take pleasure in any weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and afflictions for the sake of the Anointed because when I am at my weakest, He makes me strong.

The Voice (VOICE)

Psalm 55

For the worship leader. A contemplative song^[a] of David accompanied by strings.

¹Hear me, O God.
Tune Your ear to my plea,
and do not turn Your face from my prayer.
²Give me Your attention.
Answer these sighs of sorrow;
my troubles have made me restless—I groan from anxiety
³All because of my enemy! Because his voice speaks against me,
his wickedness torments me!
He casts down misfortune upon me;
his anger flares; his grudges grow against me.

⁴My heart seizes within my chest; I am in anguish!
I am terrified my life could end on any breath.
⁵I shiver and shudder in fear;
I can’t stop because this horror is just too much.
⁶I said, “If only my arms were wings like the dove’s!
I would fly away from here and find rest—
⁷Yes, I would venture far
and weave a nest in the wilderness.

[pause]^[b]

⁸“I would rush to take refuge
away from the violent storm and pounding winds.”

⁹Throw them off, O Lord. Confuse their speech, and frustrate their plans,
for violence and contention are building within the city.
I can see it with my own eyes.
¹⁰They plot day and night, scurrying the city walls like rats,
trouble and evil lurking everywhere.
¹¹In the heart of the city, destruction awaits.
Oppression and lies swarm the streets,
and they will not take leave; no, they will not go.

¹²If it were just an enemy sneering at me,
I could take it.
If it were just someone who has always hated me, treating me like dirt,
I’d simply hide away.
¹³But it is you! A man like me,
my old friend, my companion.
¹⁴We enjoyed sweet conversation,
walking together in the house of God among the pressing crowds.
¹⁵Let death sneak up on them,
swallow them alive into the pit of death.
Why? Because evil stirs in their homes; evil is all around them.
¹⁶But I, I shall call upon God,
and by His word, the Eternal shall save me.
¹⁷Evening, morning, and noon I will plead;
I will grumble and moan before Him
until He hears my voice.
¹⁸And He will rescue my soul, untouched,
plucked safely from the battle,
despite the many who are warring against me.
¹⁹God, enthroned from ancient times through eternity,
will hear my prayers and strike them down.

[pause]

For they have refused change;
they supply their every need and have no fear of God.

²⁰My friend has become a foe, breaking faith, tearing down peace.
He’s betrayed our covenant.
²¹Oh, how his pleasant voice is smoother than butter,
while his heart is enchanted by war.
Oh, how his words are smoother than oil,
and yet each is a sword drawn in his hand.

²²Cast your troubles upon the Eternal;
His care is unceasing!
He will not allow
His righteous to be shaken.

²³But You, O God, You will drive them
into the lowest^[c] pit—
Violent, lying people
won’t live beyond their middle years.
But I place my trust in You.

Footnotes:

55:title Hebrew, maskil
55:7 Literally, selah, likely a musical direction from a Hebrew root meaning “to lift up”
55:23 Greek manuscripts read, “pit of destruction.” The idea is the grave or place of death.

The Voice (VOICE)

Proverbs 23:4-5

⁴Do not overwork yourself just to become wealthy;
have enough sense to know when to quit.
⁵As soon as you become fixed on riches, they vanish.
For suddenly they sprout wings
and become like a soaring eagle flying high in the sky.

The Voice (VOICE)

September 10, 2021

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Friday September 10, 2021 (NIV)

Isaiah 6-7

6 In the same year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a grand throne way up high with a flowing cape that filled the whole temple. ²Bright flaming creatures waited on Him. Each had six wings: two covering its face, two covering its feet, and two for flying. ³Like some fiery choir, they would call back and forth continually.

Flaming Creatures: Holy, holy, holy is the Eternal, the Commander of heavenly armies!
The earth is filled with His glorious presence!

⁴They were so loud that the doorframes shook, and the holy house kept filling with smoke.

⁵Isaiah: I am in so much trouble! I’m ruined!
I’m just a human being—fallible and stammering.
My lips are encrusted with filth;
and I live among people just like me.
But here I am, and I’ve seen with my very own eyes
none other than the King, the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies.

⁶Then one of the flaming creatures flew to me holding a red-hot ember which it had taken from God’s table, the temple altar, with a pair of tongs. ⁷The creature held it to my lips.

Flaming Creature: Look! With the touch of this burning ember on your lips,
your guilt is turned away;
All your faults and wrongdoings are forgiven.

⁸Then I heard the Lord’s voice.

Eternal One: Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us?

Isaiah: Here I am! Send me.

Eternal One: ⁹Go to this people and say,
“Keep listening, but do not comprehend;
Keep looking, but do not understand.”^[a]

¹⁰Make their hearts hard, their ears deaf, and their eyes blind.
Otherwise, they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears,
Understand with their hearts, and then turn and be healed.^[b]

¹¹Isaiah: How long, Lord?

Eternal One: Until cities are in ruins, the houses sit empty,
and the land has become a wasteland.

¹²You see, the Eternal has determined to move the people far away;
place after place will be completely abandoned.
¹³And even if just a tenth survive, it will be burned again;
imagine a terebinth or an oak; once it is cut down, the stump remains.
The holy seed remains in the stump.

The stump remains: a testament to what the people used to be, a promise of what is to come.

7 When Ahaz (Uzziah’s grandson, Jotham’s son) was king here in the Southern Kingdom of Judah, a coalition of two other kings—Pekah (Remaliah’s son) from the Northern Kingdom (also called Israel and Ephraim) and Rezin from Aram (which is Syria)—determined to attack our capital Jerusalem. But they failed to take it. ²This is what happened: When our royal house (descended from David) heard that Aram was in league with Ephraim against us, the king was terrified. The news shook the hearts of the people like trees in the wind. ³So the Eternal told Isaiah to get involved.

Eternal One: Catch up with Ahaz at the end of the stream that comes out of the upper pool—you know, the one at the highway where they wash and bleach cloth. And bring your son who’s named Shear-jashub (which means “Returning Remnant”). ^4-6Tell Ahaz, “Keep your wits about you. Stay calm. Don’t panic just because those two angry northerners, Rezin of Aram and Pekah (Remaliah’s son), threaten you and say: ‘Let’s march against Judah, terrorize the people, overthrow it, and set up Tabeel’s son as our puppet king.’”

God promised that David’s dynasty would continue forever. Since Ahaz is of David’s line, he should be confident before the threat. But he needs the support of God’s prophet.

⁷Here is what the Eternal Lord has to say.

Eternal One: It’s not going to work;
what they determine is not going to happen.
^8-9The head of Aram is Damascus, and its head is King Rezin;
Ephraim’s head is Samaria, and its king is Remaliah’s son.
Ephraim will fall apart as a nation and as a people within 65 years.
Now then, if you don’t hold firm, if you don’t believe, you will not remain firm.

¹⁰The Eternal One also said this to our king, Ahaz:

Eternal One (to Ahaz): ¹¹Ask for proof, a sign from the Eternal your God. Go ahead, ask anything, anything at all; it can be high as heaven or as deep as the place of the dead.

Ahaz: ¹²No way. I wouldn’t dare to ask, to test the Eternal One.

Isaiah: ¹³Listen then. You are none other than the house of David, the one who inherited God’s promise of permanent kingship for David’s descendants. Is it so easy to be a bore to people that you would exhaust God’s patience too? ¹⁴Suit yourself. The Lord will give you a proof-sign anyway: See, a young maiden^[c] will conceive. She will give birth to a son and name Him Immanuel, that is, “God with us.”^[d] ¹⁵There will indeed be something Godlike about Him. He’ll be eating curds and honey when he knows to choose what is right and good and refuse what is not. ¹⁶But before the boy has the wisdom to refuse evil and choose good the territory of the two kings you now dread will be abandoned.

¹⁷But it’s not all rosy for you, either. The Eternal will bring against you, against this population, this blessed kingdom, such trouble as hasn’t been seen since the 10 northern tribes, led by Ephraim, seceded from Judah—trouble in the form of the Assyrian king. ¹⁸At that time, the Eternal will summon the Egyptian flies and the stinging pests of Assyria, calling them ¹⁹to settle into every crack and crevice of the country, every place high and low—mountains, fields, deserts, and cities—every thornbush and watering hole. ²⁰In that day, the Lord will hire the Assyrian king from beyond the Euphrates River to shave every part of you, humbling you like slaves. ²¹Each person will hang onto only what he or she absolutely needs—a heifer and two sheep—in order to survive. ²²But some will survive because those who are left will eat curds and honey, for their animals will produce plenty of milk. ²³They will no longer live off the land because wherever there had been flourishing vineyards with 1,000 vines, worth 1,000 pieces of silver, they will produce nothing but briars and thorns. ²⁴No one will venture into this wasteland of briars and thorns without bow and arrow. ²⁵No one will dare to cultivate the hills that once were tilled for fear of what is out there; only the hardiest animals—cattle and sheep—are released to graze the ragged slopes.

Footnotes:

6:9 Luke 8:10
6:9–10 Matthew 13:14–15; Mark 4:12; John 12:40; Acts 28:26–27
7:14 Greek manuscripts read, “virgin.”
7:14 Matthew 1:23

The Voice (VOICE)

2 Corinthians 11:16-33

¹⁶So as I said before, please don’t mark me a fool; but if you must, then please accept me even as that and give me a little more room to boast. ¹⁷What I am saying now is not in character with our Lord but is the bragging of a self-assured fool. ¹⁸Just as other fools brag according to their worldly accomplishments, so I, too, will have to boast; ¹⁹meanwhile, you—so wise, so tolerant—gladly bear this kind of foolishness. ²⁰How easily you tolerate becoming another’s slave, having them consume you, letting them rob you blind, or allowing them to edge their way past you or slap you in the face. ²¹Embarrassingly I admit that next to them we must look very weak!

But in whatever way they dare to boast—remember, I’m speaking in character as a fool—I dare to boast even more! ²²Are they Hebrews, God’s chosen? So am I. Are they true Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. ²³Are they servants to the Anointed One, the Liberating King? I am even more so! (I can’t believe how foolish I sound.) I have worked harder for God’s kingdom, taken more beatings, been dragged in and out of prisons, and have been eye-to-eye with death. ²⁴Five times I have withstood thirty-nine lashes from Jewish authorities, ²⁵three times I was battered with rods, once I was almost stoned to death, three times I was shipwrecked, and I spent one day and night adrift on the sea. ²⁶I have been on many journeys and faced the most extreme circumstances: perilous rivers, violent thieves, and threats by my own people and by the Gentile outsiders alike. I have faced dangers in the city, in the wilderness, and at sea; and danger from spies among our brothers and sisters. ²⁷I have survived toil and hardships, sleepless nights, hunger and thirst without a crumb in sight, bare to the cold. ²⁸As if these external trials weren’t enough, there is the daily stress I feel and anxiety I carry for all the churches under my care. ²⁹Who is weak without this arousing my empathy? Who gets hurt and offended without this inciting my burning anger?

³⁰So as you can see, if I have to boast, I will, but only in my own weaknesses. ³¹The God and Father of our Lord Jesus, He who is worthy of eternal blessing, can confirm that I am telling you the truth. ³²Once, in Damascus, the governor under King Aretas had his people in the city looking for me in order to arrest me. ³³But I crouched in a basket and was lowered out of a window in the city wall, and I narrowly escaped his tight grip.

The Voice (VOICE)

Psalm 54

For the worship leader. A contemplative song^[a] of David when his friends, the Ziphites, betrayed him to Saul. Accompanied by strings.

This is a lament reflecting the time when David was betrayed to Saul (1 Samuel 23:6–29). It expresses hope that God will save by His name. The name refers to the covenant name given to Moses at Mount Sinai (Exodus 3). We have translated it “the Eternal One.” For the ancients the name of God has power precisely because it embodies the presence of God. To call upon the name was to call upon God to remember His covenant promises and be present in power in order to rescue His people.

¹Liberate me, O God, by the authority of Your name.
Vindicate me through Your legendary power.
²Hear my prayer, O God;
let the words of my mouth reach Your sympathetic ear.

³The truth is, these strangers are rallying against me;
cold-blooded men seek to slay me;
they have no respect for You.

[pause]^[b]

⁴But see now! God comes to rescue me;
the Lord is my valiant supporter.
⁵He will repay my enemies for the harm they have done; they are doomed!
According to Your faithful promises, silence them.

⁶I will sacrifice to You willingly;
I will lift Your name by shouts of thanksgiving, O Eternal One, for Your name is good.
⁷God has pulled me out from every one of the troubles that encompass me,
and I have seen what it means to stand over my enemies in triumph.

Footnotes:

54:title Hebrew, maskil
54:3 Literally, selah, likely a musical direction from a Hebrew root meaning “to lift up”

The Voice (VOICE)

Proverbs 23:1-3

23 When sitting down to eat with a ruler,
take a moment to think about who you are with and what you are doing.
²If you are the type who eats too much too fast,
do whatever is necessary to curb your enthusiasm for food.
³Also, do not eye the ruler’s delicacies,
for the food may not be what it seems.

The Voice (VOICE)

September 9, 2021

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Thursday September 9, 2021 (NIV)

Isaiah 3-5

3 See here! The Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies,
will take away the supply of bread and water—
the whole supply—from Jerusalem and Judah.
²He will take away their heroes and warriors,
judges and prophets, fortune-tellers and elders,
³He will take away their military officers and high-ranking officials,
advisers and skilled workers, and experts with charms and amulets.
⁴In the chaos of their absence, I will make mere kids rule.
Even infants will govern them,
⁵Leaving people to take advantage of each other,
making their lives miserable.
Youngsters will terrorize the elderly,
and the most despicable will bully the upstanding.
⁶Desperate people will grab anyone who seems the least bit ordinary.

People: You managed to hold on to your coat, so you must be our leader;
this heap of rubble will be under your command!

⁷Chosen Leader: I will not play the nurse for your wounds.
Do not elect me to lead the people—I can barely feed and clothe my own.

⁸O how this precious city, this Jerusalem, has gone wrong,
and Judah is in shambles.
For all they say and do is an affront to the Eternal,
resisting His glorious presence.
⁹The look on their faces tells the true story;
they flaunt their sins like Sodom.
They don’t even try to hide them—how terrible it will be for them,
for they will pay for their self-serving carelessness.
¹⁰Tell those who have done right in the eyes of God
that all will be well for them,
For they will be rightly rewarded.
¹¹But whoever persists in wrongdoing will rue the day—
everything will go wrong for him—
Whatever he’s done will come back to him.
¹²Oh, how I ache for my people! They are oppressed by children,
ruled by women, naïve and inexperienced.
O my people, your leaders are misleading you,
guiding you down the path to disaster.

¹³But now the Eternal is taking the bench; He’s ready to judge;
He rises to lay out the people’s case.
¹⁴The Eternal will bring charges
against those in positions of authority over His people.

Eternal One: You are charged with devouring everything in the vineyard,
and leaving nothing for the needy.
You’ve ransacked the poor to fill your houses.
¹⁵How dare you! How dare you crush My people,
and grind the faces of the poor into the ground!

This is what the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies has to say.

¹⁶Eternal One: Because the daughters of Zion are so proud,
so preoccupied with themselves—strutting and flirting,
Skipping and dancing, winking and giggling for attention—
¹⁷I will shame them with unsightly scabs on their heads,
these daughters who should be the pride of Zion, God’s precious place.
I will make them feel naked
when I uncover their foreheads and make them bald.

Under God’s judgment they will lose all the things they have that make others notice, desire, or envy them.

^18-23When the time comes, the Lord will simply take away the jewelry for their ankles, heads, noses, arms, ears, wrists, and fingers; these chains and gems, baubles and bangles, sashes and veils, perfume bottles and lucky charms, festive clothes and undergarments, purses and mirrors—everything that consumed their attention to get attention.

²⁴Then instead of a lovely scent—they’ll smell of decay;
instead of leather belts—they’ll don a rope;
Instead of a cut and style—they’ll have bald heads;
instead of silky-soft fabric—they’ll put on scratchy burlap sacks;
Instead of beauty—they’ll be branded with shame.
²⁵Jerusalem, your fathers and sons will be slaughtered,
your valiant protectors killed in battle,
²⁶And your gates will cry out in grief.
The city will sit in a heap on the ground, desolate and empty.

4 On that day, seven women will beg the same man:

Women: Please, take away our shame. We will support ourselves—eat our own bread, make our own clothes—just let us be called by your name.

The prophet warns of a time when only a few of God’s people will be left. The shredded fabric of families will leave the most vulnerable exposed and desperate. Women, who in this ancient Israelite society depend on relationships to men for social and financial security, will resort to doing whatever they can to survive beyond the deaths of their fathers, brothers, and husbands. Although the framework of their culture will seem to have crumbled, the story will move forward as the God of Israel remembers His own. There will always be a remnant of those who follow the Lord. Utter despair gives way to hope.

²Then, oh then, a tiny shoot cultivated and nurtured by the Eternal will emerge new and green, promising beauty and glory. Everything that comes from the earth will offer itself, lovely and magnificent, to those who escaped Israel’s demise. ³Those who survived in precious Zion, all who remain in that special city, Jerusalem, will be called holy. They are destined to be alive, these remaining few, in Jerusalem. ⁴Then the Lord will wash away the filth that clung to the daughters of Zion and clean up the blood that stained Jerusalem’s streets with a spirit of justice and the breath of fire. ⁵And the Eternal will create wonders over the whole of Mount Zion and those who gather there—cloud and smoke to dim the day, bright shining fire to light the night, all billowing over Zion’s glory like a satin canopy. ⁶And it will be a resting place, protected from the heat of the day, a place of shelter and retreat amid storms and rain.

This prophecy echoes stories of the great exodus, when God led Israel out of slavery in Egypt and guided them safely through the barren, rocky crags of the Sinai Peninsula. God was their comfort and sustainer, an ever-present guide and protection. The ancients spoke of traveling beneath the cool shade of a cloud by day and a pillar of warm, bright fire by night. Now the prophet sees ahead to a day when God will provide His people rest and comfort—a new exodus—in His chosen place, Zion.

5 Let me now sing for my dear friend,
a love song about his vineyard.
My friend, whom I dearly love,
had a vineyard on a fertile hill.
²He labored to prepare the ground, tilling the soil and digging out rocks,
and then he planted it with the best plants he could find.
In its midst, he built a watchtower over it
and cut out a winepress in the hill nearby;
Then he waited, hoping it would be bountiful.
But the vineyard produced only wild, bitter grapes.

³Eternal One: That’s it. Enough. Now, you who live in My special city, Jerusalem,
you people of this choice country, Judah,
Who’s in the right—Me or My vineyard?
⁴What else could I possibly have done to make it flourish?
Why, when I had every reason to expect great beauty and bushels of grapes,
Did it yield only wild, bitter fruit?

⁵I’ll tell you what I’m going to do,
what I’ve determined to do to My vineyard:
I’m going to take away its protective fence
and let the deer, raccoons, and rabbits devour it.
I’ll break down its wall,
let the vines be eaten and trampled.
⁶I will set it up for destruction—
do no pruning, no tilling—
And it will be overrun with nasty briars and thornbushes.
I will even order the clouds not to water it.

⁷See here, the vineyard of the Eternal, the Commander of heavenly armies,
is the house of Israel, His special people.
And the shoots and buds He nursed so lovingly along
are the people of this choice country, Judah.
He expected a paragon of justice and righteousness—
but everywhere injustice runs bloodred in the streets, and cries echo in the city!
⁸Oh, how bad for those who hoard property and wealth,
buying up houses and fields, right and left,
Until there is no place left for anyone else;
you will find yourselves very alone in the midst of this great land!
⁹I was there when the Eternal, the Commander of heavenly armies, told us what to expect.

Eternal One: Make no mistake about it: many houses will be abandoned.
Grand, beautiful houses with all the luxury will echo empty.
¹⁰Huge investments in 10-acre vineyards
will yield tiny dividends, mere gallons of wine.
Prime property planted with plenty of seed
will grow a nearly worthless amount of grain.

¹¹Oh, I can’t help but groan for people who rise and drink
without stopping from early morning to late evening
Until their passions and emotions burn within them.
¹²They entertain themselves with lyres and harps,
tambourines and flutes, and plenty of wine at their feasts.
But they don’t think for a minute about all the Eternal has done.
They don’t stop to consider the work of His hands.

¹³Eternal One: Make no mistake: My people are headed for exile
because they never took note;
Even the most honorable among them will endure hunger
while the majority will be parched with thirst.

¹⁴Make no mistake: the force of death is insatiable.
The great gaping grave is opened wide
To swallow whole Jerusalem’s opulence and pageantry—
her noble citizens and her common folk, all the raucous revelry.
¹⁵Human beings will be cut down to size, one after another.
Those who walk around with their noses in the air will be humiliated.
¹⁶By contrast, the Eternal, the Commander of heavenly armies,
will be high and mighty because He judges fairly.
The holy God will be shown to be so because He does what is right.
¹⁷At that time, Jerusalem will become a pasture where lambs graze,
and foreigners will eat in the ruins where the wealthy once dined.

¹⁸O how terrible for those who drag their guilt around,
worthlessness and wrongdoing in tow—
¹⁹They sneer, “Well, where is He? Let Him be quick about it!
Let’s see this business of the Holy One of Israel;
Let’s see what He has in store so we can know what it is.”
²⁰O how terrible for those who confuse good with evil,
right with wrong, light with dark, sweet with bitter.
²¹O how terrible for those who think they’re so wise,
who consider themselves so clever.
²²O how terrible for those heroes who can outdrink anyone,
those champions who take pride in mixing drinks,
²³Those judges who set the guilty free in exchange for “a little something,”
all the while denying the innocent what they deserve!
²⁴Therefore, as fire eats up the stubble and dry grass is engulfed by flames,
so it will be for everything they count on for the future—
Their roots will rot, their flowers will wither and fly away like dust,
for they refused to accept the law of the Eternal, the Commander of heavenly armies;
They derided and disparaged the word of the Holy One of Israel.

²⁵It’s no wonder the Eternal burns with anger at His people.
He has raised His hand against them and crushed them,
So that the whole earth rang with the blow, and you couldn’t move
without stumbling over their corpses lying like trash in the street.
Despite all this, He’s still very angry;
His hand is still raised; He’s not done yet.
²⁶He will signal to distant nations,
and whistle for their armies: unleash the dogs of war.
At breakneck speed they come,
a war machine like no other—
²⁷Never tired, never weak;
no one needs to rest or sleep.
Not a belt needs tightening,
not a sandal strap needs fixing.
²⁸Their arrows have been sharpened;
their bows have been bent, ready for action.
Their horses’ hooves spark like flint;
their chariots’ wheels spin like whirlwinds.
²⁹Their roaring is deafening, like a lion, like a pack of roaring lions.
When they attack, they growl and pounce on their prey,
Carrying them away; no chance of a rescue.
³⁰On that day, they will roar over this people like a roaring, angry sea,
and the land will go sorrowfully dark, the light eclipsed by the clouds of war.

The Voice (VOICE)

2 Corinthians 11:1-15

Paul’s tone changes. Some believe chapters 10–13 may be from his second letter “covered with tears” (2:4). His rebuke and strong warning are meant to lead the Corinthians lovingly to repentance.

11 Please endure a little foolishness on my part; you have come so far with me already. ²To be completely honest, I am extremely jealous for you; but it’s the same kind of jealousy God has for you. You see, like an attentive father, I have pledged your hand in marriage and promised to present you as a pure virgin to the One who would be your husband, the Anointed One. ³But now I’m afraid that as that serpent tricked Eve with his wiles, so your hearts and minds will be tricked and you will stray from the single-minded love and pure devotion to Him. ⁴So then, if someone comes along and presents you with a Jesus different from the one we told you about, or if you receive a spirit different from the one gifted through our Lord Jesus, or even if you hear a gospel different from the one you heard through us; then you’re ready to go with it.

⁵I consider myself in league with the so-called great emissaries; I lack nothing. ⁶Even if I’m not the greatest speaker, I make up for it by what I know of God and have proved it time and again to you. ⁷Was it a sin to humble myself and serve you so that you might be lifted up? Did I wrong you somehow by instructing you in the good news of God without charge? ⁸In a sense, I robbed other churches by accepting their support just so I could serve you. ⁹If any need arose while I was with you, I didn’t trouble anyone. When the brothers and sisters arrived from Macedonia, they covered all my needs so that I didn’t become a burden to any of you; and I plan on keeping it that way. ¹⁰For I tell you, as the truth of the Anointed One lives in me, I will continue to boast about this all throughout Achaia. ¹¹Why am I doing this? It’s not because I don’t love you—God knows I do— ^12-13but I will continue doing what I am doing to cut off any opportunity—clearly some are looking for one—for these false emissaries, these low-down, untrustworthy preachers, these posers who act as emissaries of the Anointed, to claim that they work under the same terms that we do. ¹⁴No wonder they are so good at it. Satan himself poses as a messenger of heavenly light, ¹⁵so why should we expect less from his servants—plodding over the earth, pretending to be ministers of righteousness—but in the end, they’ll get what’s coming to them.

The Voice (VOICE)

Psalm 53

For the worship leader. A contemplative song^[a] of David. A song for the dance.^[b]

¹The foolish are convinced deep down that there is no God.
Their souls are polluted, and they commit gross injustice.
Not one of them does good.

²From heaven the one True God examines the earth
to see if any understand the big picture,
if any seek to know the True God.

³All have turned back to their wicked ways; they’ve become totally perverse.
Not one of them does good,
not even one.

⁴Do the wicked relish their ignorance,
the wicked ones who consume My people as if they were bread
and fail to call upon the True God?

⁵They trembled with great fear,
though they’d never been afraid before,
Because the True God ravaged the bones of those who rose against you.
You humiliated them because the True God spat them out.

⁶Oh, that the liberation of Israel would come out of Zion!
When the True God reclaims His people,
let Jacob celebrate; let Israel rejoice.

Footnotes:

53:title Hebrew, maskil
53:title Hebrew, mahalath, meaning is uncertain.

The Voice (VOICE)

Proverbs 22:28-29

²⁸Do not steal property from your neighbors by moving the boundary markers
your ancestors established.
²⁹And as for those who are skilled in their work,
they will be recognized and invited to serve kings
rather than regular folk.

The Voice (VOICE)

September 8, 2021

The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Wednesday September 8, 2021 (NIV)

Isaiah 1-2

1 This is the vision that Isaiah (son of Amoz) saw and what he prophesied about Judah and Jerusalem during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah in Judah:

In the time of Isaiah, prophets are known to be astute observers of their particular times and places. They speak what they understand to be God’s words to the people about how their thoughts and actions, especially their actions, relate to God’s expectations for them. When the people fall short of such expectations, prophets tell them what God thinks and what the consequences might be.

²Listen and take note,
from the farthest reaches to the nearest!
Listen up heaven and earth,
for the Eternal One has spoken.
He is not happy with the children He raised.

Eternal One: Despite all I’ve done,
My children have rebelled against Me.
³Oxen know their owners;
even donkeys know where their master feeds them,
But Israel is ignorant.
My very own, they ignore Me.

⁴Truly this is a wicked nation,
a people fat with wrongdoing,
Like a litter of miscreants,
a pack of wilding adolescents.
They’ve rejected the Eternal,
despised the Holy One of Israel;
they’ve turned their backs on Him.

^5-6Why do you insist on taking a beating?
Why do you persist in such reckless rebellion?
Your bodies already suffer head to toe—
your heads ache and hearts flutter;
Your skin is covered with bruises,
swollen with welts, and gaping with wounds,
with no tending, no healing, no soothing.
⁷Your country is a waste.
Your cities are dead, sooty rubble.
Your farms and fields are consumed,
everything you worked for destroyed
by foreign armies as you look on—helplessly.

⁸Zion, our portion of heaven on earth, is no longer protected;
Jerusalem stands like a watchman’s shelter in a vineyard,
Like a hut in a melon field,
like a city assaulted and besieged.

⁹Except for the fraction of us who hang on
by the grace of the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies,
We’d be destroyed and deserted
like Sodom and Gomorrah, utterly done in.^[a]

¹⁰Listen to the word of the Eternal One,
you rulers of Sodom!
Attend to God’s instructions,
citizens of Gomorrah!

¹¹Eternal One: What do I care for all of your slaughter-gifts?
I have had enough of your burnt offerings.
I’m not interested in any more ram meat or fat from your well-fed cattle.
The blood of bulls, lambs, or goats does not please Me.
¹²When you come into My presence,
who told you to trample down the courtyard of My temple bringing all of this?
¹³Just stop giving Me worthless offerings;
your incense reeks and offends Me!
Your feasts and fasts, your new moons and Sabbaths—
I cannot stand any more of your wicked gatherings.
¹⁴Likewise, I deplore your holidays,
those calendar days marked specially for Me;
They weigh Me down.
I am sick and tired of them!
¹⁵When you summon Me with your hands in the air, I will ignore you.
Even when you pray your whole litany, I won’t be listening
Because your hands are full of blood and violence.
¹⁶Wash yourselves, clean up your lives;
remove every speck of evil in what you do before Me.
Put an end to all your evil.
¹⁷Learn to do good;
commit yourselves to seeking justice.
Make right for the world’s most vulnerable—
the oppressed, the orphaned, the widow.

¹⁸Come on now, let’s walk and talk; let’s work this out.
Your wrongdoings are bloodred,
But they can turn as white as snow.
Your sins are red like crimson,
But they can be made clean again like new wool.
¹⁹If you pay attention now and change your ways,
you can eat good things from a healthy earth.
²⁰But if you refuse to listen and stubbornly persist,
then, by violence and war, you will be the one devoured.

These things were spoken by the very mouth of the Eternal.

²¹O that city, once so loyal, has become a prostitute.
Where there had been perfect justice, equity and compassion,
Now there are murderers.
²²All that once made your community shine like silver is now tarnished,
your best drink watered down like a cheapskate’s wine.
²³Your leaders are liars, running around with thieves,
wheedling for bribes—greedy for “contributions.”
They don’t defend the needy and pay no attention to the weak.

²⁴Consequently, the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, the Mighty One of Israel,
will not keep quiet.

Eternal One: Oh yes, I will get relief from my enemies
and settle the score with My foes!
²⁵I will take action against you, My sinful children,
burning off whatever is worthless, purging whatever is impure.
²⁶I will bring back legislators who have integrity,
people like your founding fathers—principled decision-makers.
Then your city will be called honorable and just,
a model of ethics, trustworthy, and strong.

²⁷In that way, this place Zion will pass the test:
the city restored by justice, her citizens delivered by repentance.
²⁸But those who arrogantly persist in doing wrong will be crushed.
Whoever abandons the Eternal will be done in.
²⁹You will be ashamed because you found pleasure in idols and oaks;
you will suffer disgrace because you bowed before images in gardens.
³⁰Like a tree that withers, like a garden without rain,
you will fall apart, fade, and dry up.
³¹And those who seem strong among you will become dry straw,
their work the spark that sets it all ablaze,
Burning everything to the ground
and there won’t be anyone around to stop it.

2 This is what Isaiah (son of Amoz) prophesied about Judah and its capital Jerusalem:

²There will come a time in the last days
when the mountain where the Eternal’s house stands
Will become the highest, most magnificent—
grander than any of the mountains around it.
And all the nations of the world will run there,
wanting to see it, feel it, fully experience it.
³Many people of all languages, colors, and creeds will come.

People: Come! Let’s go to the Eternal’s mountain,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
So that we might learn from Him how best to be,
to go along in life as He would have us go.

After all, the law will pour out from Zion,
the word of the Eternal, from Jerusalem.
⁴God will decide what’s fair among nations
and settle disputes among all sorts of people.
Meanwhile, they will hammer their swords into sickles,
reshape their spears into pruning hooks.
One nation will not attack another.
They will not practice war anymore.

Isaiah sees an amazing picture of the future, a future which only God can create. In that vision, Jerusalem and the temple of the only God will sit on the highest mountain at the center of the world. In that day, all the nations of the world will stream to the holy city and seek God’s guidance and instruction. God will sit as King and Judge, dispensing real justice—not some man-made counterfeit—not only in international but also local matters. Perhaps, most amazingly for a world weary of war, this will be a time when war is a thing of the past and its lethal instruments are turned into tools for life and peace.

⁵O house of Jacob—people of the promise—come, come walk with me
by the light of the Eternal.
⁶See, You have abandoned Your people,^[b]
the house of Jacob!
For they have taken on attitudes and postures of other cultures,
imitating anyone and anything that crosses their path
Practicing divination like the Philistines,
making deals with outsiders.
⁷Their land is full of silver and gold,
rich with mind-boggling wealth.
Their countryside is full of warhorses;
there are more chariots than you can count.
⁸Their land is full of worthless idols.
They worship their own creations;
They bow down to what they have made, bought, and sold.
⁹But now the people will be humbled, reminded of their simplicity and limits—
don’t just absolve them!
¹⁰Get into the caves, hide in the dust,
in the face of the Eternal’s terrifying Self,
in the face of His dread and enormous majesty.
¹¹The bubble of human pride will be burst;
the arrogant will be pulled down from their pedestals.
Then, finally, the Eternal, no one and nothing else,
will be the center of attention, lifted up in high esteem.
¹²The Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, has identified a time for assault
against the arrogant and proud, against all who think they’re so indomitable.
They will be humbled.
¹³Against all the high and lofty:
against the cedars of Lebanon
and the oaks of Bashan,
¹⁴Against the tallest mountains
and the highest hills,
¹⁵Against every watchtower
and every defended border,
¹⁶Against all the trading ships of Tarshish,
against all the luxury vessels.
¹⁷On that day, humankind’s false pride will be shattered and pulled down.^[c]
Then the Eternal, no one and nothing else, will be the center of attention,
Lifted up in high esteem.
¹⁸As for all the idols, they will vanish.
¹⁹People will hide themselves away in rocky caves and dusty holes in the ground
in the face of the Eternal’s terrifying Self,
In the face of His dread and enormous majesty,
when He comes forth to overwhelm the earth.
²⁰When that day arrives, people will leave behind
the idols they made to worship—even those made of silver and gold,
The things they felt were so important—
to the moles and the bats.
²¹They hide themselves away in rocky caves and clefts,
in the face of the Eternal’s terrifying Self,
In the face of His dread and enormous majesty,
when He comes forth to overwhelm the earth.
²²Stop believing in human beings as so amazing, so capable!
We are short-lived, only a breath from death and worth as much.
What makes us think we’re so special?

Footnotes:

1:9 Romans 9:29
2:6 Greek manuscripts read, “it applies to His people.”
2:17 Meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.

The Voice (VOICE)

2 Corinthians 10

10 I, Paul, appeal to you in the same gentle and loving spirit of the Anointed—yes, I who am humble when I’m face-to-face with you but audacious to you in these letters when I’m away (I know what they say). ²If it were up to me, I’d rather not have to be so bold when I’m with you, especially with the kind of forceful confidence I can work up when I confront those who have accused us of walking in a worldly way. ³For though we walk in the world, we do not fight according to this world’s rules of warfare. ⁴The weapons of the war we’re fighting are not of this world but are powered by God and effective at tearing down the strongholds erected against His truth. ⁵We are demolishing arguments and ideas, every high-and-mighty philosophy that pits itself against the knowledge of the one true God. We are taking prisoners of every thought, every emotion, and subduing them into obedience to the Anointed One. ⁶As soon as you choose obedience, we stand ready to punish every act of disobedience.

⁷Look at what is going on right in front of you. If anyone is convinced that he belongs to the Anointed, then he should think again; even if he belongs to Him, so do we. ⁸I’m not embarrassed, even if it seems to others I have gone overboard in speaking about the power the Lord has given us to edify and encourage you and not to destroy anyone who strays. ⁹I don’t want it to seem as if I’m simply trying to scare you with my letters; they are not hollow. ¹⁰For some people are saying, “Paul’s letters sound authoritative and strong, but in person he just doesn’t measure up—even his speeches don’t deliver.” ¹¹They need to understand this: whatever we say through our letters when we are away, that is exactly what we will do when we are looking you in the eye.

¹²For we would never dare to compare ourselves with people who have based their worth on self-commendation. They check themselves against and compare themselves with one another. It just shows that they don’t have any sense! ¹³So we will carefully limit our boasting to the extent only of what God has done in and through us, a reach that extends as far as you. ¹⁴For it wasn’t as if we were overreaching into someone else’s territory by reaching out to you. Weren’t we the first ones to bring you the good news of the Anointed One? ¹⁵We carefully put limits on our boasting and avoid taking credit for what others do. But we do hope to see your faith grow so that we can watch our mission really expand all the way to the limits God has set for us. ¹⁶The plan includes taking the good news to people and lands beyond you. We’ve no interest in or intention of staking claim to other people’s accomplishments in their arenas. As the Scripture says, ¹⁷“The one who boasts must boast in the Lord.”^[a] ¹⁸Now let’s be clear: it’s not the one who commends himself who is approved; it’s the one whom the Lord commends.

Footnotes:

10:17 Jeremiah 9:24

The Voice (VOICE)

Psalm 52

For the worship leader. A contemplative song^[a] of David when the Edomite Doeg told Saul that David had received help from Ahimelech.

Psalm 52 recalls the callous way Doeg and Saul put to death the 85 priests of Nob (1 Samuel 22:6–19). The psalm ends with a memorable image: the one who keeps faith with God is like a lush olive tree cared for in His garden. While those who do not trust in Him are snatched up and torn away, those who do right will flourish under His care.

¹Why do you boast of all the trouble you stir up, O mighty one,
when the constant, unfailing love of God is what truly lasts?
²Have you listened to yourself?
Your tongue is like a sharp razor,
full of lies that slash and tear right to the soul.
³You’ve fallen in love with evil and have no interest in what He calls good.
You prefer your own lies to speaking what is true.

[pause]^[b]

⁴You love words that destroy people, don’t you,
lying tongue?

⁵You won’t be smiling
when the True God brings His justice and destroys you forever.
He will come into your home, snatch you away,
and pull you from the land of the living.

[pause]

⁶Those who are just will see what happens to you and be afraid.
And some of them will laugh and say,
⁷“Hey, look! Over there is the one who didn’t take
shelter in the True God;
Instead, he trusted in his great wealth
and got what he wanted by destroying others!”

⁸But my life is abundant—like a lush olive tree
cared for at the house of the one True God.
I put my trust in His kind love
forever and ever; it will never fail.
⁹Because of all You have done,
I will humble myself and thank You forever.
With Your faithful people at my side,
I will put my hope in Your good reputation.

Footnotes:

52:title Hebrew, maskil
52:3 Literally, selah, likely a musical direction from a Hebrew root meaning “to lift up”

The Voice (VOICE)

Proverbs 22:26-27

²⁶Do not be a person to guarantee someone else’s loan
or put up collateral for the debts of an acquaintance;
²⁷For if you do and you can’t repay,
won’t you risk having your bed ripped out from under you?

The Voice (VOICE)

Isaiah 25:1-28:13

God Will Swallow Up Death Forever

You Keep Him in Perfect Peace

The Redemption of Israel

Judgment on Ephraim and Jerusalem

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Galatians 3:10-22

The Righteous Shall Live by Faith

The Law and the Promise

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Psalm 61

Lead Me to the Rock

To the choirmaster: with (A)stringed instruments. Of David.

Cross references:

Proverbs 23:17-18

Cross references:

Isaiah 22-24

An Oracle Concerning Jerusalem

An Oracle Concerning Tyre and Sidon

Judgment on the Whole Earth

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Galatians 2:17-3:9

By Faith, or by Works of the Law?

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Psalm 60

He Will Tread Down Our Foes

To the choirmaster: according to (A)Shushan Eduth. A (B)Miktam[a] of David; (C)for instruction; when he (D)strove with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah, and when Joab on his return struck down twelve thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt.

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Proverbs 23:15-16

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Isaiah 19-21

An Oracle Concerning Egypt

Egypt, Assyria, Israel Blessed

A Sign Against Egypt and Cush

Fallen, Fallen Is Babylon

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Galatians 2:1-16

Paul Accepted by the Apostles

Paul Opposes Peter

Justified by Faith

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Psalm 59

Deliver Me from My Enemies

To the choirmaster: according to (A)Do Not Destroy. A (B)Miktam[a] of David, (C)when Saul sent men to watch his house in order to kill him.

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Proverbs 23:13-14

Cross references:

Isaiah 15-18

An Oracle Concerning Moab

An Oracle Concerning Damascus

An Oracle Concerning Cush

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Galatians 1

Greeting

No Other Gospel

Paul Called by God

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Psalm 58

God Who Judges the Earth

To the choirmaster: according to (A)Do Not Destroy. A (B)Miktam[a] of David.

Footnotes:

Cross references:

Proverbs 23:12

Isaiah 12-14

The Lord Is My Strength and My Song

The Judgment of Babylon

The Restoration of Jacob

Israel's Remnant Taunts Babylon

An Oracle Concerning Assyria

To the choirmaster: with ^(A)stringed instruments. Of David.

To the choirmaster: according to ^(A)Shushan Eduth. A ^(B)Miktam^[a] of David; ^(C)for instruction; when he ^(D)strove with Aram-naharaim and with Aram-zobah, and when Joab on his return struck down twelve thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt.

To the choirmaster: according to ^(A)Do Not Destroy. A ^(B)Miktam^[a] of David, ^(C)when Saul sent men to watch his house in order to kill him.

To the choirmaster: according to ^(A)Do Not Destroy. A ^(B)Miktam^[a] of David.

To the choirmaster: according to ^(A)Do Not Destroy. A ^(B)Miktam^[a] of David, when he fled from Saul, in ^(C)the cave.

To the choirmaster: according to The Dove on Far-off Terebinths. A ^(A)Miktam^[a] of David, when the ^(B)Philistines seized him in Gath.

For the worship leader. A contemplative song^[a] of David accompanied by strings.

For the worship leader. A contemplative song^[a] of David when his friends, the Ziphites, betrayed him to Saul. Accompanied by strings.

For the worship leader. A contemplative song^[a] of David. A song for the dance.^[b]