Through My Bible Yr 1 – December 20

Through My Bible – December 20

Bible reading based on Isaiah 14:24-16:14 (NIV84)

See series: Through My Bible

A Prophecy Against Assyria

²⁴ The LORD Almighty has sworn,
“Surely, as I have planned, so it will be,
and as I have purposed, so it will stand.

²⁵ I will crush the Assyrian in my land;
on my mountains I will trample him down.
His yoke will be taken from my people,
and his burden removed from their shoulders.”

²⁶ This is the plan determined for the whole world;
this is the hand stretched out over all nations.

²⁷ For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him?
His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?

A Prophecy Against the Philistines

²⁸This oracle came in the year King Ahaz died:

²⁹ Do not rejoice, all you Philistines,
that the rod that struck you is broken;
from the root of that snake will spring up a viper,
its fruit will be a darting, venomous serpent.

³⁰ The poorest of the poor will find pasture,
and the needy will lie down in safety.
But your root I will destroy by famine;
it will slay your survivors.

³¹ Wail, O gate! Howl, O city!
Melt away, all you Philistines!
A cloud of smoke comes from the north,
and there is not a straggler in its ranks.

³² What answer shall be given
to the envoys of that nation?
“The LORD has established Zion,
and in her his afflicted people will find refuge.”

Isaiah 15

A Prophecy Against Moab

¹ An oracle concerning Moab:
Ar in Moab is ruined,
destroyed in a night!
Kir in Moab is ruined,
destroyed in a night!

² Dibon goes up to its temple,
to its high places to weep;
Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba.
Every head is shaved
and every beard cut off.

³ In the streets they wear sackcloth;
on the roofs and in the public squares
they all wail,
prostrate with weeping.

⁴ Heshbon and Elealeh cry out,
their voices are heard all the way to Jahaz.
Therefore the armed men of Moab cry out,
and their hearts are faint.

⁵ My heart cries out over Moab;
her fugitives flee as far as Zoar,
as far as Eglath Shelishiyah.
They go up the way to Luhith,
weeping as they go;
on the road to Horonaim
they lament their destruction.

⁶ The waters of Nimrim are dried up
and the grass is withered;
the vegetation is gone
and nothing green is left.

⁷ So the wealth they have acquired and stored up
they carry away over the Ravine of the Poplars.

⁸ Their outcry echoes along the border of Moab;
their wailing reaches as far as Eglaim,
their lamentation as far as Beer Elim.

⁹ Dimon’s ^[a] waters are full of blood,
but I will bring still more upon Dimon ^[b]—
a lion upon the fugitives of Moab
and upon those who remain in the land.

Isaiah 16

¹ Send lambs as tribute
to the ruler of the land,
from Sela, across the desert,
to the mount of the Daughter of Zion.

² Like fluttering birds
pushed from the nest,
so are the women of Moab
at the fords of the Arnon.

³ “Give us counsel,
render a decision.
Make your shadow like night—
at high noon.
Hide the fugitives,
do not betray the refugees.

⁴ Let the Moabite fugitives stay with you;
be their shelter from the destroyer.”
The oppressor will come to an end,
and destruction will cease;
the aggressor will vanish from the land.

⁵ In love a throne will be established;
in faithfulness a man will sit on it—
one from the house ^[c] of David—
one who in judging seeks justice
and speeds the cause of righteousness.

⁶ We have heard of Moab’s pride—
her overweening pride and conceit,
her pride and her insolence—
but her boasts are empty.

⁷ Therefore the Moabites wail,
they wail together for Moab.
Lament and grieve
for the men ^[d]of Kir Hareseth.

⁸ The fields of Heshbon wither,
the vines of Sibmah also.
The rulers of the nations
have trampled down the choicest vines,
which once reached Jazer
and spread toward the desert.
Their shoots spread out
and went as far as the sea.

⁹ So I weep, as Jazer weeps,
for the vines of Sibmah.
O Heshbon, O Elealeh,
I drench you with tears!
The shouts of joy over your ripened fruit
and over your harvests have been stilled.

¹⁰ Joy and gladness are taken away from the orchards;
no one sings or shouts in the vineyards;
no one treads out wine at the presses,
for I have put an end to the shouting.

¹¹ My heart laments for Moab like a harp,
my inmost being for Kir Hareseth.

¹² When Moab appears at her high place,
she only wears herself out;
when she goes to her shrine to pray,
it is to no avail.

¹³ This is the word the LORD has already spoken concerning Moab. ¹⁴ But now the LORD says: “Within three years, as a servant bound by contract would count them, Moab’s splendor and all her many people will be despised, and her survivors will be very few and feeble.”