Aug 4 - Isaiah 26-28
Isaiah
1In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; God makes salvation its walls and ramparts.2Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, the nation that keeps faith.3You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.4Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock eternal.5He humbles those who dwell on high, he lays the lofty city low; he levels it to the ground and casts it down to the dust.6Feet trample it down- the feet of the oppressed, the footsteps of the poor.7The path of the righteous is level; O upright One, you make the way of the righteous smooth.8Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts.9My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you. When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness.10Though grace is shown to the wicked, they do not learn righteousness; even in a land of uprightness they go on doing evil and regard not the majesty of the LORD.11O LORD, your hand is lifted high, but they do not see it. Let them see your zeal for your people and be put to shame; let the fire reserved for your enemies consume them.12LORD, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us.13O LORD, our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us, but your name alone do we honor.14They are now dead, they live no more; those departed spirits do not rise. You punished them and brought them to ruin; you wiped out all memory of them.15You have enlarged the nation, O LORD; you have enlarged the nation. You have gained glory for yourself; you have extended all the borders of the land.16LORD, they came to you in their distress; when you disciplined them, they could barely whisper a prayer.17As a woman with child and about to give birth writhes and cries out in her pain, so were we in your presence, O LORD.18We were with child, we writhed in pain, but we gave birth to wind. We have not brought salvation to the earth; we have not given birth to people of the world.19But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You who dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead.20Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut the doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until his wrath has passed by.21See, the LORD is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will disclose the blood shed upon her; she will conceal her slain no longer.
1In that day, the LORD will punish with his sword, his fierce, great and powerful sword, Leviathan the gliding serpent, Leviathan the coiling serpent; he will slay the monster of the sea.2In that day- "Sing about a fruitful vineyard:3I, the LORD, watch over it; I water it continually. I guard it day and night so that no one may harm it.4I am not angry. If only there were briers and thorns confronting me! I would march against them in battle; I would set them all on fire.5Or else let them come to me for refuge; let them make peace with me, yes, let them make peace with me."6In days to come Jacob will take root, Israel will bud and blossom and fill all the world with fruit.7Has the LORD struck her as he struck down those who struck her? Has she been killed as those were killed who killed her?8By warfare and exile you contend with her- with his fierce blast he drives her out, as on a day the east wind blows.9By this, then, will Jacob's guilt be atoned for, and this will be the full fruitage of the removal of his sin: When he makes all the altar stones to be like chalk stones crushed to pieces, no Asherah poles or incense altars will be left standing.10The fortified city stands desolate, an abandoned settlement, forsaken like the desert; there the calves graze, there they lie down; they strip its branches bare.11When its twigs are dry, they are broken off and women come and make fires with them. For this is a people without understanding; so their Maker has no compassion on them, and their Creator shows them no favor.12In that day the LORD will thresh from the flowing Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt, and you, O Israelites, will be gathered up one by one.13And in that day a great trumpet will sound. Those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled in Egypt will come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.
1Woe to that wreath, the pride of Ephraim's drunkards, to the fading flower, his glorious beauty, set on the head of a fertile valley- to that city, the pride of those laid low by wine!2See, the Lord has one who is powerful and strong. Like a hailstorm and a destructive wind, like a driving rain and a flooding downpour, he will throw it forcefully to the ground.3That wreath, the pride of Ephraim's drunkards, will be trampled underfoot.4That fading flower, his glorious beauty, set on the head of a fertile valley, will be like a fig ripe before harvest- as soon as someone sees it and takes it in his hand, he swallows it.5In that day the LORD Almighty will be a glorious crown, a beautiful wreath for the remnant of his people.6He will be a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, a source of strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.7And these also stagger from wine and reel from beer: Priests and prophets stagger from beer and are befuddled with wine; they reel from beer, they stagger when seeing visions, they stumble when rendering decisions.8All the tables are covered with vomit and there is not a spot without filth.9"Who is it he is trying to teach? To whom is he explaining his message? To children weaned from their milk, to those just taken from the breast?10For it is: Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there."11Very well then, with foreign lips and strange tongues God will speak to this people,12to whom he said, "This is the resting place, let the weary rest"; and, "This is the place of repose"- but they would not listen.13So then, the word of the LORD to them will become: Do and do, do and do, rule on rule, rule on rule; a little here, a little there- so that they will go and fall backward, be injured and snared and captured.14Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem.15You boast, "We have entered into a covenant with death, with the grave we have made an agreement. When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by, it cannot touch us, for we have made a lie our refuge and falsehood our hiding place."16So this is what the Sovereign LORD says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed.17I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line; hail will sweep away your refuge, the lie, and water will overflow your hiding place.18Your covenant with death will be annulled; your agreement with the grave will not stand. When the overwhelming scourge sweeps by, you will be beaten down by it.19As often as it comes it will carry you away; morning after morning, by day and by night, it will sweep through." The understanding of this message will bring sheer terror.20The bed is too short to stretch out on, the blanket too narrow to wrap around you.21The LORD will rise up as he did at Mount Perazim, he will rouse himself as in the Valley of Gibeon- to do his work, his strange work, and perform his task, his alien task.22Now stop your mocking, or your chains will become heavier; the Lord, the LORD Almighty, has told me of the destruction decreed against the whole land.23Listen and hear my voice; pay attention and hear what I say.24When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually? Does he keep on breaking up and harrowing the soil?25When he has leveled the surface, does he not sow caraway and scatter cummin? Does he not plant wheat in its place, barley in its plot, and spelt in its field?26His God instructs him and teaches him the right way.27Caraway is not threshed with a sledge, nor is a cartwheel rolled over cummin; caraway is beaten out with a rod, and cummin with a stick.28Grain must be ground to make bread; so one does not go on threshing it forever. Though he drives the wheels of his threshing cart over it, his horses do not grind it.29All this also comes from the LORD Almighty, wonderful in counsel and magnificent in wisdom.