The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Wednesday September 13, 2023 (NIV)

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.”

^(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.
⁶ Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
for great ^(J)in your^[e] midst is ^(K)the Holy One of Israel.”

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

⁴ The 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!
⁷ Therefore all hands will be feeble,
and every human heart ^(U)will melt.
⁸ They 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.

⁹ Behold, ^(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.
¹¹ I 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.
¹² I will make ^(AE)people more rare than fine gold,
and mankind than the ^(AF)gold of Ophir.
¹³ Therefore ^(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.
¹⁴ And 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.
¹⁵ Whoever 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.

¹⁷ Behold, ^(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.
¹⁹ And 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.
²¹ But ^(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.
²² Hyenas^[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.

“How the oppressor has ceased,
^(BC)the insolent fury^[m] ceased!
⁵ The 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.
⁷ The 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.’
⁹ Sheol 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!’
¹¹ Your 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!
¹³ You 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]
14 I 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.
¹⁶ Those who see you will stare at you
and ponder over you:
‘Is this ^(BQ)the man who made the earth tremble,
who shook kingdoms,
¹⁷ who made the world like a desert
and overthrew its cities,
^(BR)who did not let his prisoners go home?’
¹⁸ All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
each in his own tomb;^[o]
19 but 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.
²⁰ You 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!
²¹ Prepare 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.”

²⁶ This 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?

²⁹ Rejoice 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.
³⁰ And 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.

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

⁴ My 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!

⁶ They 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!
⁹ I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples;
I will sing praises to you among the nations.
¹⁰ For 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!