October 28, 2016

Nearer than... by Gary Rose



I can't explain why I have come to like these "Little Church Mouse" pictures, but I do. This one reminds me of something that Max T. Neel used to say: "God is nearer than hands or feet and closer than breathing". Now, I can quote Max (who was a gospel preacher for many decades), but I find it hard to convey the enthusiasm with which he said this. As I reflect upon the picture, I think of how it is the starting point of genuine belief. For, when one begins to realize that he is not the center of the universe and begins to seek after God he will find HIM.
And then I thought of Paul at Athens...
Acts, Chapter 17 (World English Bible)
    Act 17:16, Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw the city full of idols.
    Act 17:17, So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who met him.
    Act 17:18, Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also* were conversing with him. Some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be advocating foreign deities,” because he preached Jesus and the resurrection.
    Act 17:19, They took hold of him, and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is, which is spoken by you?
    Act 17:20, For you bring certain strange things to our ears. We want to know therefore what these things mean.”
    Act 17:21, Now all the Athenians and the strangers living there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing.
    Act 17:22, Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus, and said, “You men of Athens, I perceive that you are very religious in all things.
    Act 17:23, For as I passed along, and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ What therefore you worship in ignorance, this I announce to you.
    Act 17:24, The God who made the world and all things in it, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands,
    Act 17:25, neither is he served by men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he himself gives to all life and breath, and all things.
    Act 17:26, He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons, and the boundaries of their dwellings,
    Act 17:27, that they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
    Act 17:28, ‘For in him we live, and move, and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also his offspring.’
(emp. added, GDR)
    Act 17:29, Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold, or silver, or stone, engraved by art and design of man.
    Act 17:30, The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked. But now he commands that all people everywhere should repent,
    Act 17:31, because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.”
    Act 17:32, Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked; but others said, “We want to hear you again concerning this.”
When a person realizes that he did NOT create himself, then he may in fact look for THE CREATOR- and he will find HIM (if he will really look) 17:27f. above. The picture all speaks to those seeking God when they realize they need HIM- when they are down and need help. The thing is: GOD IS ALWAYS THERE- "nearer than hands or feet or closer than breathing"

Bible Reading October 28, 29, 30 by Gary Rose

Bible Reading October 28, 29, 30 (WEB)

Oct. 28
Isaiah 5-8

Isa 5:1 Let me sing for my well beloved a song of my beloved about his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill.
Isa 5:2 He dug it up, gathered out its stones, planted it with the choicest vine, built a tower in its midst, and also cut out a winepress therein. He looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.
Isa 5:3 "Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard.
Isa 5:4 What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Why, when I looked for it to yield grapes, did it yield wild grapes?
Isa 5:5 Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away its hedge, and it will be eaten up. I will break down its wall of it, and it will be trampled down.
Isa 5:6 I will lay it a wasteland. It won't be pruned nor hoed, but it will grow briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it."
Isa 5:7 For the vineyard of Yahweh of Armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress.
Isa 5:8 Woe to those who join house to house, who lay field to field, until there is no room, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land!
Isa 5:9 In my ears, Yahweh of Armies says: "Surely many houses will be desolate, even great and beautiful, unoccupied.
Isa 5:10 For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield an ephah."
Isa 5:11 Woe to those who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; who stay late into the night, until wine inflames them!
Isa 5:12 The harp, lyre, tambourine, and flute, with wine, are at their feasts; but they don't regard the work of Yahweh, neither have they considered the operation of his hands.
Isa 5:13 Therefore my people go into captivity for lack of knowledge. Their honorable men are famished, and their multitudes are parched with thirst.
Isa 5:14 Therefore Sheol has enlarged its desire, and opened its mouth without measure; and their glory, their multitude, their pomp, and he who rejoices among them, descend into it.
Isa 5:15 So man is brought low, mankind is humbled, and the eyes of the arrogant ones are humbled;
Isa 5:16 but Yahweh of Armies is exalted in justice, and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness.
Isa 5:17 Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture, and strangers will eat the ruins of the rich.
Isa 5:18 Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and wickedness as with cart rope;
Isa 5:19 Who say, "Let him make speed, let him hasten his work, that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, that we may know it!"
Isa 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Isa 5:21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
Isa 5:22 Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine, and champions at mixing strong drink;
Isa 5:23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice for the innocent!
Isa 5:24 Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust; because they have rejected the law of Yahweh of Armies, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
Isa 5:25 Therefore Yahweh's anger burns against his people, and he has stretched out his hand against them, and has struck them. The mountains tremble, and their dead bodies are as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is still stretched out.
Isa 5:26 He will lift up a banner to the nations from far, and he will whistle for them from the end of the earth. Behold, they will come speedily and swiftly.
Isa 5:27 None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the belt of their waist be untied, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:
Isa 5:28 whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent. Their horses' hoofs will be like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind.
Isa 5:29 Their roaring will be like a lioness. They will roar like young lions. Yes, they shall roar, and seize their prey and carry it off, and there will be no one to deliver.
Isa 5:30 They will roar against them in that day like the roaring of the sea. If one looks to the land behold, darkness and distress. The light is darkened in its clouds.

Isa 6:1 In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple.
Isa 6:2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With two he covered his face. With two he covered his feet. With two he flew.
Isa 6:3 One called to another, and said, "Holy, holy, holy, is Yahweh of Armies! The whole earth is full of his glory!"
Isa 6:4 The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.
Isa 6:5 Then I said, "Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of Armies!"
Isa 6:6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar.
Isa 6:7 He touched my mouth with it, and said, "Behold, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin forgiven."
Isa 6:8 I heard the Lord's voice, saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here I am. Send me!"
Isa 6:9 He said, "Go, and tell this people, 'You hear indeed, but don't understand; and you see indeed, but don't perceive.'
Isa 6:10 Make the heart of this people fat. Make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and turn again, and be healed."
Isa 6:11 Then I said, "Lord, how long?" He answered, "Until cities are waste without inhabitant, and houses without man, and the land becomes utterly waste,
Isa 6:12 And Yahweh has removed men far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.
Isa 6:13 If there is a tenth left in it, that also will in turn be consumed: as a terebinth, and as an oak, whose stock remains when they are felled; so the holy seed is its stock."

Isa 7:1 It happened in the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, that Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it.
Isa 7:2 It was told the house of David, saying, "Syria is allied with Ephraim." His heart trembled, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the forest tremble with the wind.
Isa 7:3 Then Yahweh said to Isaiah, "Go out now to meet Ahaz, you, and Shearjashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway of the fuller's field.
Isa 7:4 Tell him, 'Be careful, and keep calm. Don't be afraid, neither let your heart be faint because of these two tails of smoking firebrands, for the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria, and of the son of Remaliah.
Isa 7:5 Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah, have plotted evil against you, saying,
Isa 7:6 "Let's go up against Judah, and tear it apart, and let's divide it among ourselves, and set up a king in its midst, even the son of Tabeel."
Isa 7:7 This is what the Lord Yahweh says: "It shall not stand, neither shall it happen."
Isa 7:8 For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin; and within sixty-five years Ephraim shall be broken in pieces, so that it shall not be a people;
Isa 7:9 and the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah's son. If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established.' "
Isa 7:10 Yahweh spoke again to Ahaz, saying,
Isa 7:11 "Ask a sign of Yahweh your God; ask it either in the depth, or in the height above."
Isa 7:12 But Ahaz said, "I will not ask, neither will I tempt Yahweh."
Isa 7:13 He said, "Listen now, house of David: Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God also?
Isa 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
Isa 7:15 He shall eat butter and honey when he knows to refuse the evil, and choose the good.
Isa 7:16 For before the child knows to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land whose two kings you abhor shall be forsaken.
Isa 7:17 Yahweh will bring on you, on your people, and on your father's house, days that have not come, from the day that Ephraim departed from Judah; even the king of Assyria.
Isa 7:18 It will happen in that day that Yahweh will whistle for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria.
Isa 7:19 They shall come, and shall all rest in the desolate valleys, in the clefts of the rocks, on all thorn hedges, and on all pastures.
Isa 7:20 In that day the Lord will shave with a razor that is hired in the parts beyond the River, even with the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of the feet; and it shall also consume the beard.
Isa 7:21 It shall happen in that day that a man shall keep alive a young cow, and two sheep;
Isa 7:22 and it shall happen, that because of the abundance of milk which they shall give he shall eat butter: for everyone will eat butter and honey that is left in the midst of the land.
Isa 7:23 It will happen in that day that every place where there were a thousand vines at a thousand silver shekels, shall be for briers and thorns.
Isa 7:24 People will go there with arrows and with bow, because all the land will be briers and thorns.
Isa 7:25 All the hills that were cultivated with the hoe, you shall not come there for fear of briers and thorns; but it shall be for the sending forth of oxen, and for the treading of sheep."

Isa 8:1 Yahweh said to me, "Take a large tablet, and write on it with a man's pen, 'For Maher Shalal Hash Baz;'
Isa 8:2 and I will take for myself faithful witnesses to testify: Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah."
Isa 8:3 I went to the prophetess, and she conceived, and bore a son. Then said Yahweh to me, "Call his name 'Maher Shalal Hash Baz.'
Isa 8:4 For before the child knows how to say, 'My father,' and, 'My mother,' the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away by the king of Assyria."
Isa 8:5 Yahweh spoke to me yet again, saying,
Isa 8:6 "Because this people have refused the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah's son;
Isa 8:7 now therefore, behold, the Lord brings upon them the mighty flood waters of the River: the king of Assyria and all his glory. It will come up over all its channels, and go over all its banks.
Isa 8:8 It will sweep onward into Judah. It will overflow and pass through; it will reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of its wings will fill the breadth of your land, Immanuel.
Isa 8:9 Make an uproar, you peoples, and be broken in pieces! Listen, all you from far countries: dress for battle, and be shattered! Dress for battle, and be shattered!
Isa 8:10 Take counsel together, and it will be brought to nothing; speak the word, and it will not stand: for God is with us."
Isa 8:11 For Yahweh spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying,
Isa 8:12 "Don't say, 'A conspiracy!' concerning all about which this people say, 'A conspiracy!' neither fear their threats, nor be terrorized.
Isa 8:13 Yahweh of Armies is who you must regard as holy. He is the one you must fear. He is the one you must dread.
Isa 8:14 He will be a sanctuary, but for both houses of Israel, he will be a trap and a snare for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Isa 8:15 Many will stumble over it, fall, be broken, be snared, and be captured."
Isa 8:16 Wrap up the testimony. Seal the law among my disciples.
Isa 8:17 I will wait for Yahweh, who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.
Isa 8:18 Behold, I and the children whom Yahweh has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from Yahweh of Armies, who dwells in Mount Zion.
Isa 8:19 When they tell you, "Consult with those who have familiar spirits and with the wizards, who chirp and who mutter:" shouldn't a people consult with their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?
Isa 8:20 Turn to the law and to the testimony! If they don't speak according to this word, surely there is no morning for them.
Isa 8:21 They will pass through it, sore distressed and hungry; and it will happen that when they are hungry, they will worry, and curse by their king and by their God. They will turn their faces upward,
Isa 8:22 and look to the earth, and see distress, darkness, and the gloom of anguish. They will be driven into thick darkness.


Oct. 29
Isaiah 9-12

Isa 9:1 But there shall be no more gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time, he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali; but in the latter time he has made it glorious, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
Isa 9:2 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who lived in the land of the shadow of death, on them the light has shined.
Isa 9:3 You have multiplied the nation. You have increased their joy. They rejoice before you according to the joy in harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
Isa 9:4 For the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as in the day of Midian.
Isa 9:5 For all the armor of the armed man in the noisy battle, and the garments rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire.
Isa 9:6 For to us a child is born. To us a son is given; and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isa 9:7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, on the throne of David, and on his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from that time on, even forever. The zeal of Yahweh of Armies will perform this.
Isa 9:8 The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it falls on Israel.
Isa 9:9 All the people will know, including Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, who say in pride and in arrogance of heart,
Isa 9:10 "The bricks have fallen, but we will build with cut stone. The sycamore fig trees have been cut down, but we will put cedars in their place."
Isa 9:11 Therefore Yahweh will set up on high against him the adversaries of Rezin, and will stir up his enemies,
Isa 9:12 The Syrians in front, and the Philistines behind; and they will devour Israel with open mouth. For all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
Isa 9:13 Yet the people have not turned to him who struck them, neither have they sought Yahweh of Armies.
Isa 9:14 Therefore Yahweh will cut off from Israel head and tail, palm branch and reed, in one day.
Isa 9:15 The elder and the honorable man is the head, and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail.
Isa 9:16 For those who lead this people lead them astray; and those who are led by them are destroyed.
Isa 9:17 Therefore the Lord will not rejoice over their young men, neither will he have compassion on their fatherless and widows; for everyone is profane and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
Isa 9:18 For wickedness burns like a fire. It devours the briers and thorns; yes, it kindles in the thickets of the forest, and they roll upward in a column of smoke.
Isa 9:19 Through the wrath of Yahweh of Armies, the land is burnt up; and the people are the fuel for the fire. No one spares his brother.
Isa 9:20 One will devour on the right hand, and be hungry; and he will eat on the left hand, and they will not be satisfied. Everyone will eat the flesh of his own arm:
Isa 9:21 Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh; and they together shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.

Isa 10:1 Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers who write oppressive decrees;
Isa 10:2 to deprive the needy from justice, and to rob the poor among my people of their rights, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may make the fatherless their prey!
Isa 10:3 What will you do in the day of visitation, and in the desolation which will come from afar? To whom will you flee for help? Where will you leave your wealth?
Isa 10:4 They will only bow down under the prisoners, and will fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
Isa 10:5 Alas Assyrian, the rod of my anger, the staff in whose hand is my indignation!
Isa 10:6 I will send him against a profane nation, and against the people who anger me will I give him a command to take the spoil and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
Isa 10:7 However he doesn't mean so, neither does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and to cut off not a few nations.
Isa 10:8 For he says, "Aren't all of my princes kings?
Isa 10:9 Isn't Calno like Carchemish? Isn't Hamath like Arpad? Isn't Samaria like Damascus?"
Isa 10:10 As my hand has found the kingdoms of the idols, whose engraved images exceeded those of Jerusalem and of Samaria;
Isa 10:11 shall I not, as I have done to Samaria and her idols, so do to Jerusalem and her idols?
Isa 10:12 Therefore it will happen that, when the Lord has performed his whole work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the willful proud heart of the king of Assyria, and the insolence of his haughty looks.
Isa 10:13 For he has said, "By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom; for I have understanding: and I have removed the boundaries of the peoples, and have robbed their treasures. Like a valiant man I have brought down their rulers.
Isa 10:14 My hand has found the riches of the peoples like a nest, and like one gathers eggs that are abandoned, have I gathered all the earth. There was no one who moved their wing, or that opened their mouth, or chirped."
Isa 10:15 Should an axe brag against him who chops with it? Should a saw exalt itself above him who saws with it? As if a rod should lift those who lift it up, or as if a staff should lift up someone who is not wood.
Isa 10:16 Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, will send among his fat ones leanness; and under his glory a burning will be kindled like the burning of fire.
Isa 10:17 The light of Israel will be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame; and it will burn and devour his thorns and his briers in one day.
Isa 10:18 He will consume the glory of his forest, and of his fruitful field, both soul and body. It will be as when a standard bearer faints.
Isa 10:19 The remnant of the trees of his forest shall be few, so that a child could write their number.
Isa 10:20 It will come to pass in that day that the remnant of Israel, and those who have escaped from the house of Jacob will no more again lean on him who struck them, but shall lean on Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.
Isa 10:21 A remnant will return, even the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.
Isa 10:22 For though your people, Israel, are like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. A destruction is determined, overflowing with righteousness.
Isa 10:23 For the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, will make a full end, and that determined, in the midst of all the earth.
Isa 10:24 Therefore the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, says "My people who dwell in Zion, don't be afraid of the Assyrian, though he strike you with the rod, and lift up his staff against you, as Egypt did.
Isa 10:25 For yet a very little while, and the indignation against you will be accomplished, and my anger will be directed to his destruction."
Isa 10:26 Yahweh of Armies will stir up a scourge against him, as in the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb. His rod will be over the sea, and he will lift it up like he did against Egypt.
Isa 10:27 It will happen in that day, that his burden will depart from off your shoulder, and his yoke from off your neck, and the yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing oil.
Isa 10:28 He has come to Aiath. He has passed through Migron. At Michmash he stores his baggage.
Isa 10:29 They have gone over the pass. They have taken up their lodging at Geba. Ramah trembles. Gibeah of Saul has fled.
Isa 10:30 Cry aloud with your voice, daughter of Gallim! Listen, Laishah! You poor Anathoth!
Isa 10:31 Madmenah is a fugitive. The inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety.
Isa 10:32 This very day he will halt at Nob. He shakes his hand at the mountain of the daughter of Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.
Isa 10:33 Behold, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, will lop the boughs with terror. The tall will be cut down, and the lofty will be brought low.
Isa 10:34 He will cut down the thickets of the forest with iron, and Lebanon will fall by the Mighty One.

Isa 11:1 A shoot will come out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots will bear fruit.
Isa 11:2 The Spirit of Yahweh will rest on him: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Yahweh.
Isa 11:3 His delight will be in the fear of Yahweh. He will not judge by the sight of his eyes, neither decide by the hearing of his ears;
Isa 11:4 but with righteousness he will judge the poor, and decide with equity for the humble of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked.
Isa 11:5 Righteousness will be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his waist.
Isa 11:6 The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat; The calf, the young lion, and the fattened calf together; and a little child will lead them.
Isa 11:7 The cow and the bear will graze. Their young ones will lie down together. The lion will eat straw like the ox.
Isa 11:8 The nursing child will play near a cobra's hole, and the weaned child will put his hand on the viper's den.
Isa 11:9 They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea.
Isa 11:10 It will happen in that day that the nations will seek the root of Jesse, who stands as a banner of the peoples; and his resting place will be glorious.
Isa 11:11 It will happen in that day that the Lord will set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
Isa 11:12 He will set up a banner for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
Isa 11:13 The envy also of Ephraim will depart, and those who persecute Judah will be cut off. Ephraim won't envy Judah, and Judah won't persecute Ephraim.
Isa 11:14 They will fly down on the shoulders of the Philistines on the west. Together they will plunder the children of the east. They will extend their power over Edom and Moab, and the children of Ammon will obey them.
Isa 11:15 Yahweh will utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his scorching wind he will wave his hand over the River, and will split it into seven streams, and cause men to march over in sandals.
Isa 11:16 There will be a highway for the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, like there was for Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.

Isa 12:1 In that day you will say, "I will give thanks to you, Yahweh; for though you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you comfort me.
Isa 12:2 Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust, and will not be afraid; for Yah, Yahweh, is my strength and song; and he has become my salvation."
Isa 12:3 Therefore with joy you will draw water out of the wells of salvation.
Isa 12:4 In that day you will say, "Give thanks to Yahweh! Call on his name. Declare his doings among the peoples. Proclaim that his name is exalted!
Isa 12:5 Sing to Yahweh, for he has done excellent things! Let this be known in all the earth!
Isa 12:6 Cry aloud and shout, you inhabitant of Zion; for the Holy One of Israel is great in the midst of you!"


Oct. 30
Isaiah 13-16

Isa 13:1 The burden of Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw:
Isa 13:2 Set up a banner on the bare mountain! Lift up your voice to them! Wave your hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.
Isa 13:3 I have commanded my consecrated ones; yes, I have called my mighty men for my anger, even my proudly exulting ones.
Isa 13:4 The noise of a multitude is in the mountains, as of a great people; the noise of an uproar of the kingdoms of the nations gathered together! Yahweh of Armies is mustering the army for the battle.
Isa 13:5 They come from a far country, from the uttermost part of heaven, even Yahweh, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land.
Isa 13:6 Wail; for the day of Yahweh is at hand! It will come as destruction from the Almighty.
Isa 13:7 Therefore all hands will be feeble, and everyone's heart will melt.
Isa 13:8 They will be dismayed. Pangs and sorrows will seize them. They will be in pain like a woman in labor. They will look in amazement one at another. Their faces will be faces of flame.
Isa 13:9 Behold, the day of Yahweh comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger; to make the land a desolation, and to destroy its sinners out of it.
Isa 13:10 For the stars of the sky and its constellations will not give their light. The sun will be darkened in its going forth, and the moon will not cause its light to shine.
Isa 13:11 I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity. I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease, and will humble the haughtiness of the terrible.
Isa 13:12 I will make people more rare than fine gold, even a person than the pure gold of Ophir.
Isa 13:13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place in the wrath of Yahweh of Armies, and in the day of his fierce anger.
Isa 13:14 It will happen that like a a hunted gazelle, and like sheep that no one gathers, they will each turn to their own people, and will each flee to their own land.
Isa 13:15 Everyone who is found will be thrust through. Everyone who is captured will fall by the sword.
Isa 13:16 Their infants also will be dashed in pieces before their eyes. Their houses will be ransacked, and their wives raped.
Isa 13:17 Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who will not value silver, and as for gold, they will not delight in it.
Isa 13:18 Their bows will dash the young men in pieces; and they shall have no pity on the fruit of the womb. Their eyes will not spare children.
Isa 13:19 Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans' pride, will be like when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
Isa 13:20 It will never be inhabited, neither will it be lived in from generation to generation. The Arabian will not pitch a tent there, neither will shepherds make their flocks lie down there.
Isa 13:21 But wild animals of the desert will lie there, and their houses will be full of jackals. Ostriches will dwell there, and wild goats will frolic there.
Isa 13:22 Wolves will cry in their castles, and jackals in the pleasant palaces. Her time is near to come, and her days will not be prolonged.

Isa 14:1 For Yahweh will have compassion on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land. The foreigner will join himself with them, and they will unite with the house of Jacob.
Isa 14:2 The peoples will take them, and bring them to their place. The house of Israel will possess them in Yahweh's land for servants and for handmaids. They will take as captives those whose captives they were; and they shall rule over their oppressors.
Isa 14:3 It will happen in the day that Yahweh will give you rest from your sorrow, from your trouble, and from the hard service in which you were made to serve,
Isa 14:4 that you will take up this parable against the king of Babylon, and say, "How the oppressor has ceased! The golden city has ceased!"
Isa 14:5 Yahweh has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers,
Isa 14:6 who struck the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke, who ruled the nations in anger, with a persecution that none restrained.
Isa 14:7 The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet. They break out song.
Isa 14:8 Yes, the fir trees rejoice with you, with the cedars of Lebanon, saying, "Since you are humbled, no lumberjack has come up against us."
Isa 14:9 Sheol from beneath has moved for you to meet you at your coming. It stirs up the dead for you, even all the rulers of the earth. It has raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.
Isa 14:10 They all will answer and ask you, "Have you also become as weak as we are? Have you become like us?"
Isa 14:11 Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, with the sound of your stringed instruments. Maggots are spread out under you, and worms cover you.
Isa 14:12 How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, who laid the nations low!
Isa 14:13 You said in your heart, "I will ascend into heaven! I will exalt my throne above the stars of God! I will sit on the mountain of assembly, in the far north!
Isa 14:14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds! I will make myself like the Most High!"
Isa 14:15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the pit.
Isa 14:16 Those who see you will stare at you. They will ponder you, saying, "Is this the man who made the earth to tremble, who shook kingdoms;
Isa 14:17 who made the world like a wilderness, and overthrew its cities; who didn't release his prisoners to their home?"
Isa 14:18 All the kings of the nations, sleep in glory, everyone in his own house.
Isa 14:19 But you are cast away from your tomb like an abominable branch, clothed with the slain, who are thrust through with the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit; like a dead body trodden under foot.
Isa 14:20 You will not join them in burial, because you have destroyed your land. You have killed your people. The seed of evildoers will not be named forever.
Isa 14:21 Prepare for slaughter of his children because of the iniquity of their fathers, that they not rise up and possess the earth, and fill the surface of the world with cities.
Isa 14:22 "I will rise up against them," says Yahweh of Armies, "and cut off from Babylon name and remnant, and son and son's son," says Yahweh.
Isa 14:23 "I will also make it a possession for the porcupine, and pools of water. I will sweep it with the broom of destruction," says Yahweh of Armies.
Isa 14:24 Yahweh of Armies has sworn, saying, "Surely, as I have thought, so shall it happen; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:
Isa 14:25 that I will break the Assyrian in my land, and tread him under foot on my mountains. Then his yoke will leave them, and his burden leave their shoulders.
Isa 14:26 This is the plan that is determined for the whole earth. This is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations.
Isa 14:27 For Yahweh of Armies has planned, and who can stop it? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?"
Isa 14:28 This burden was in the year that king Ahaz died.
Isa 14:29 Don't rejoice, O Philistia, all of you, because the rod that struck you is broken; for out of the serpent's root an adder will emerge, and his fruit will be a fiery flying serpent.
Isa 14:30 The firstborn of the poor will eat, and the needy will lie down in safety; and I will kill your root with famine, and your remnant will be killed.
Isa 14:31 Howl, gate! Cry, city! You are melted away, Philistia, all of you; for smoke comes out of the north, and there is no straggler in his ranks.
Isa 14:32 What will they answer the messengers of the nation? That Yahweh has founded Zion, and in her the afflicted of his people will take refuge.

Isa 15:1 The burden of Moab: for in a night, Ar of Moab is laid waste, and brought to nothing; for in a night Kir of Moab is laid waste, and brought to nothing.
Isa 15:2 They have gone up to Bayith, and to Dibon, to the high places, to weep. Moab wails over Nebo and over Medeba. Baldness is on all of their heads. Every beard is cut off.
Isa 15:3 In their streets, they dress themselves in sackcloth. In their streets and on their housetops, everyone wails, weeping abundantly.
Isa 15:4 Heshbon cries out with Elealeh. Their voice is heard even to Jahaz. Therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud. Their souls tremble within them.
Isa 15:5 My heart cries out for Moab! Her nobles flee to Zoar, to Eglath Shelishiyah; for they go up by the ascent of Luhith with weeping; for in the way of Horonaim, they raise up a cry of destruction.
Isa 15:6 For the waters of Nimrim will be desolate; for the grass has withered away, the tender grass fails, there is no green thing.
Isa 15:7 Therefore they will carry away the abundance they have gotten, and that which they have stored up, over the brook of the willows.
Isa 15:8 For the cry has gone around the borders of Moab; its wailing to Eglaim, and its wailing to Beer Elim.
Isa 15:9 For the waters of Dimon are full of blood; for I will bring yet more on Dimon, a lion on those of Moab who escape, and on the remnant of the land.

Isa 16:1 Send the lambs for the ruler of the land from Selah to the wilderness, to the mountain of the daughter of Zion.
Isa 16:2 For it will be that as wandering birds, as a scattered nest, so will the daughters of Moab be at the fords of the Arnon.
Isa 16:3 Give counsel! Execute justice! Make your shade like the night in the midst of the noonday! Hide the outcasts! Don't betray the fugitive!
Isa 16:4 Let my outcasts dwell with you! As for Moab, be a hiding place for him from the face of the destroyer. For the extortioner is brought to nothing. Destruction ceases. The oppressors are consumed out of the land.
Isa 16:5 A throne will be established in loving kindness. One will sit on it in truth, in the tent of David, judging, seeking justice, and swift to do righteousness.
Isa 16:6 We have heard of the pride of Moab, that he is very proud; even of his arrogance, his pride, and his wrath. His boastings are nothing.
Isa 16:7 Therefore Moab will wail for Moab. Everyone will wail. You will mourn for the raisin cakes of Kir Hareseth, utterly stricken.
Isa 16:8 For the fields of Heshbon languish with the vine of Sibmah. The lords of the nations have broken down its choice branches, which reached even to Jazer, which wandered into the wilderness. Its shoots were spread abroad. They passed over the sea.
Isa 16:9 Therefore I will weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah. I will water you with my tears, Heshbon, and Elealeh: for on your summer fruits and on your harvest the battle shout has fallen.
Isa 16:10 Gladness is taken away, and joy out of the fruitful field; and in the vineyards there will be no singing, neither joyful noise. Nobody will tread out wine in the presses. I have made the shouting stop.
Isa 16:11 Therefore my heart sounds like a harp for Moab, and my inward parts for Kir Heres.
Isa 16:12 It will happen that when Moab presents himself, when he wearies himself on the high place, and comes to his sanctuary to pray, that he will not prevail.
Isa 16:13 This is the word that Yahweh spoke concerning Moab in time past.
Isa 16:14 But now Yahweh has spoken, saying, "Within three years, as a worker bound by contract would count them, the glory of Moab shall be brought into contempt, with all his great multitude; and the remnant will be very small and feeble." 
Oct. 28
1 Thessalonians 5

1Th 5:1 But concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need that anything be written to you.
1Th 5:2 For you yourselves know well that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night.
1Th 5:3 For when they are saying, "Peace and safety," then sudden destruction will come on them, like birth pains on a pregnant woman; and they will in no way escape.
1Th 5:4 But you, brothers, aren't in darkness, that the day should overtake you like a thief.
1Th 5:5 You are all children of light, and children of the day. We don't belong to the night, nor to darkness,
1Th 5:6 so then let's not sleep, as the rest do, but let's watch and be sober.
1Th 5:7 For those who sleep, sleep in the night, and those who are drunk are drunk in the night.
1Th 5:8 But let us, since we belong to the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and, for a helmet, the hope of salvation.
1Th 5:9 For God didn't appoint us to wrath, but to the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
1Th 5:10 who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
1Th 5:11 Therefore exhort one another, and build each other up, even as you also do.
1Th 5:12 But we beg you, brothers, to know those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you,
1Th 5:13 and to respect and honor them in love for their work's sake. Be at peace among yourselves.
1Th 5:14 We exhort you, brothers, admonish the disorderly, encourage the fainthearted, support the weak, be patient toward all.
1Th 5:15 See that no one returns evil for evil to anyone, but always follow after that which is good, for one another, and for all.
1Th 5:16 Rejoice always.
1Th 5:17 Pray without ceasing.
1Th 5:18 In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus toward you.
1Th 5:19 Don't quench the Spirit.
1Th 5:20 Don't despise prophesies.
1Th 5:21 Test all things, and hold firmly that which is good.
1Th 5:22 Abstain from every form of evil.
1Th 5:23 May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1Th 5:24 He who calls you is faithful, who will also do it.
1Th 5:25 Brothers, pray for us.
1Th 5:26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.
1Th 5:27 I solemnly command you by the Lord that this letter be read to all the holy brothers.
1Th 5:28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.



Oct. 29
2 Thessalonians 1

2Th 1:1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the assembly of the Thessalonians in God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ:
2Th 1:2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
2Th 1:3 We are bound to always give thanks to God for you, brothers, even as it is appropriate, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of each and every one of you towards one another abounds;
2Th 1:4 so that we ourselves boast about you in the assemblies of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and in the afflictions which you endure.
2Th 1:5 This is an obvious sign of the righteous judgment of God, to the end that you may be counted worthy of the Kingdom of God, for which you also suffer.
2Th 1:6 Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay affliction to those who afflict you,
2Th 1:7 and to give relief to you who are afflicted with us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire,
2Th 1:8 giving vengeance to those who don't know God, and to those who don't obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus,
2Th 1:9 who will pay the penalty: eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might,
2Th 1:10 when he comes to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired among all those who have believed (because our testimony to you was believed) in that day.
2Th 1:11 To this end we also pray always for you, that our God may count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire of goodness and work of faith, with power;
2Th 1:12 that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Oct. 30
2 Thessalonians 2

2Th 2:1 Now, brothers, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together to him, we ask you
2Th 2:2 not to be quickly shaken in your mind, nor yet be troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by letter as from us, saying that the day of Christ had come.
2Th 2:3 Let no one deceive you in any way. For it will not be, unless the departure comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of destruction,
2Th 2:4 he who opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or that is worshiped; so that he sits as God in the temple of God, setting himself up as God.
2Th 2:5 Don't you remember that, when I was still with you, I told you these things?
2Th 2:6 Now you know what is restraining him, to the end that he may be revealed in his own season.
2Th 2:7 For the mystery of lawlessness already works. Only there is one who restrains now, until he is taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8 Then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will kill with the breath of his mouth, and destroy by the manifestation of his coming;
2Th 2:9 even he whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
2Th 2:10 and with all deception of wickedness for those who are being lost, because they didn't receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
2Th 2:11 Because of this, God sends them a working of error, that they should believe a lie;
2Th 2:12 that they all might be judged who didn't believe the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
2Th 2:13 But we are bound to always give thanks to God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief in the truth;
2Th 2:14 to which he called you through our Good News, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2Th 2:15 So then, brothers, stand firm, and hold the traditions which you were taught by us, whether by word, or by letter.
2Th 2:16 Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace,
2Th 2:17 comfort your hearts and establish you in every good work and word.