The heavens declare his righteousness. All the peoples have seen his glory. Psalm 97:6

Jeremiah 47-48

Jeremiah 47

The Judgment on the Philistines

¹ The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh struck Gaza. ² The Lord says,

“Waters are rising up from the north,
and becoming an overflowing stream,
overflowing the land and all that is in it,
the city and those who dwell in it.
The men will cry,
and all the inhabitants of the land will wail.
³ At the sound of stamping hooves of his strong horses,
at the rushing of his chariots,
at the rumbling of his wheels,
the fathers will not look back for their children
from their lack of courage.

⁴ For the day is coming, to destroy all the Philistines,
to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper who remains.
For the Lord will destroy the Philistines,
the remnant of the isle of Caphtor.
⁵ Baldness has come to Gaza.
Ashkelon is brought to nothing,
the remnant of their valley.
How long will you cut yourself?

⁶ ‘O sword of the Lord,
how long will it be before you are at rest?
Put yourself back into your sheath,
rest, and be still.’

⁷ How can it be at rest,
since the Lord has given it a command?
Against Ashkelon, and against the seashore,
there has he appointed it.”

Jeremiah 48

The Judgment on Moab

¹ Of Moab. the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, says,

“Woe to Nebo!
For it is laid waste.
Kiriathaim is shamed.
It is captured.
Misgab is put to shame
and broken down.
² The praise of Moab is no more.
In Heshbon they have devised destruction against her.
‘Come! Let us cut her off from being a nation.’
You also, Madmen, will be brought to silence.
The sword will pursue you.
³ The sound of a cry from Horonaim,
desolation and great destruction!
⁴ Moab is destroyed.
Her little ones have caused a cry to be heard.

⁵ In their the ascent of Luhith
they go up with continual weeping.
And in their descent of Horonaim
their cry of distress is heard.
⁶ Flee! Save your lives!
Be like the juniper bush in the wilderness.

⁷ Because you have trusted in your works and in your treasures,
you also will be taken captive.
Chemosh will go out into captivity,
his priests and his leaders together.

⁸ The destroyer will come on every city,
and no city will escape.
The valley will also perish,
and the plain will be destroyed,
as the Lord has spoken.

⁹ Give wings to Moab,
that she may fly and escape.
For her cities will become a desolation,
without anyone to dwell in them.

¹⁰ Cursed is he who is negligent
in doing the work of the Lord,
and cursed is he who refrains
from executing judgement.

¹¹ Moab has been at ease from his youth,
like wine settled on its dregs
and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel,
nor has he gone into captivity.
Therefore his taste remains the same
and his aroma is not changed.

¹² Therefore, the days are coming, says the Lord,
when I will send to him those who will pour him out.
They will pour him out,
empty his vessels,
and break their containers in pieces.
¹³ Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh,
as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, their confidence.

¹⁴ How do you say, ‘We are mighty men,
and valiant men of war’?
¹⁵ Moab is laid waste,
and they have gone up into his cities,
and his chosen young men have gone down to the slaughter,
says the King, whose name is the Lord of Hosts.

¹⁶ The calamity of Moab is near,
and his affliction is imminent.
¹⁷ All you who are around him, mourn him,
and all you who know his name, say,
‘How the mighty staff is broken,
the beautiful rod!’

¹⁸ You daughter who dwells in Dibon,
come down from your glory
and sit in thirst,
for the destroyer of Moab has come up against you.
He has destroyed your strongholds.

¹⁹ Inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way and watch.
Ask him who flees and her who escapes say,
‘What has been done?’
²⁰ Moab has been put to shame,
for it is broken down.
Wail and cry!
Tell it by the Arnon, that Moab is laid waste.

²¹ Judgment has come on the plain country,
on Holon, on Jahzah, on Mephaath,
²² on Dibon, on Nebo, on Beth Diblathaim,
²³ on Kiriathaim, on Beth Gamul, on Beth Meon,
²⁴ on Kerioth, on Bozrah,
and on all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near.
²⁵ The horn of Moab is cut off,
and his arm is broken,” says the Lord.

²⁶ “Make him drunken,
for he exalted himself against the Lord.
Moab will wallow in his vomit,
and he also will be an object of scorn.
²⁷ For was Israel not an object of scorn to you?
Was he found among thieves?
For as often as you speak of him,
you shake your head.
²⁸ You inhabitants of Moab,
leave the cities and dwell among the rocks.
Be like the dove
that makes her nest over the mouth of the abyss.

²⁹ We have heard of the pride of Moab.
He is very proud in his loftiness:
his pride, his arrogance, and the arrogance of his heart.
³⁰ I know his wrath,” says the Lord, “that it is futile.
His boasting has accomplished nothing.
³¹ Therefore I will wail for Moab.
Yes, I will cry out for all of Moab.
They will mourn for the men of Kir Heres.
³² With more than the weeping of Jazer
I will weep for you, vine of Sibmah.
Your branches passed over the sea.
They reached to the sea of Jazer.
The destroyer has fallen on your summer fruits
and on your vintage.
³³ Gladness and joy are gone from the fruitful field
and from the land of Moab.
I have caused wine to cease from the wine presses.
No one will tread with joyful shouting.
The shouting is not joyful shouting.

³⁴ From the cry of Heshbon to Elealeh,
to Jahaz they have uttered their voice,
from Zoar to Horonaim, to Eglath Shelishiyah,
for the waters of Nimrim will also become desolate.
³⁵ Moreover, in Moab, says the Lord,
“I will put a stop to the one who offers sacrifices in the high place
and the one who burns incense to his gods.
³⁶ Therefore my heart cries for Moab like mourners’ pipes,
and my heart moans like pipes for the men of Kir Heres.
Therefore the abundance that he has gotten has perished.
³⁷ For every head is shaved bare,
and every beard clipped.
There are cuttings on all their hands
and sackcloth on their waists.

³⁸ On all the housetops of Moab,
and in its streets, there is lamenting everywhere,
for I have broken Moab like a vessel
in which no one delights,” says the Lord.
³⁹ “How broken down it is!
How they wail!
How Moab has turned his back in shame!
Moab has become an object of scorn
and horror to all who are around him.”

⁴⁰ For the Lord says:

“He will fly like an eagle,
and will spread out his wings against Moab.
⁴¹ Kerioth is taken,
and the strongholds are seized.
On that day, the heart of Moab’s mighty warriors
will be like the heart of a woman in labor.

⁴² Moab will be destroyed from being a people,
because he has magnified himself against the Lord.
⁴³ Terror, the pit, and the snare are on you,
inhabitant of Moab,” says the Lord.

⁴⁴ “He who flees from the terror will fall into the pit,
and he who gets up out of the pit will be taken in the snare.
For I will bring on him, on Moab,
the year of their visitation,” says the Lord.

⁴⁵ “Those who fled stand without strength under the shadow of Heshbon,
for a fire has gone out from Heshbon,
and a flame from the midst of Sihon,
and has devoured every corner of Moab,
and the crown of the head of the tumultuous boasters.
⁴⁶ Woe to you, O Moab!
The people of Chemosh are undone,
for your sons and your daughters have been taken captive.

⁴⁷ Yet I will reverse the captivity of Moab in the latter days,” says the Lord.

Thus ends the judgment on Moab.

Titus 1

Paul’s Greeting to Titus

¹ Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s chosen ones and the knowledge of the truth which leads to godliness, ² in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began. ³ In his own time he revealed his word in the message with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior.

⁴ To Titus, my true child in our common faith:

Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior.

Appointment of Elders on Crete

⁵ I left you in Crete for this reason, that you would set in order the things that were lacking and appoint elders in every city, as I directed you. ⁶ The elder must be one who is blameless, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, who are not accused of loose or unruly behavior. ⁷ For the overseer must be blameless, as God’s steward, not self-pleasing, not easily angered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for dishonest gain, ⁸ but given to hospitality, a lover of good, sober minded, fair, holy, self-controlled, ⁹ holding to the faithful word which is according to the teaching, that he may be able to exhort through sound doctrine and to convict those who contradict him.

Correcting False Teachers

¹⁰ For there are also many unruly men, vain talkers and deceivers, especially among the Jewish believers promoting circumcision. ¹¹ Their mouths must be stopped, these men who overthrow whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain. ¹² One of them, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, and idle gluttons.”

¹³ This testimony is true. For this reason, reprove them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, ¹⁴ not paying attention to Jewish fables and commandments of men who turn away from the truth. ¹⁵ To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. ¹⁶ They profess that they know God, but by their deeds they deny him, being abominable, disobedient, and unfit for any good work.

Psalm 97-98

Psalm 97

Let the Multitude of Islands Be Glad!

¹ The Lord reigns!
Let the earth rejoice!
Let the multitude of islands be glad!
² Clouds and darkness are around him.
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
³ A fire goes before him
and burns up his adversaries on every side.
⁴ His lightning lights up the world.
The earth sees and trembles.
⁵ The mountains melt like wax at the presence of God,
at the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.

⁶ The heavens declare his righteousness.
All the people have seen his glory.
⁷ Let all those who serve engraved images be put to shame,
who boast in their idols.
Worship him, all you gods!

⁸ Zion heard and was glad.
The daughters of Judah rejoiced
because of your judgments, O Lord.
⁹ For you, O Lord, are most high above all the earth.
You are exalted far above all gods.
¹⁰ You who love the Lord, hate evil!
He preserves the souls of his saints.
He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.
¹¹ Light is sown for the righteous
and gladness for the upright in heart.
¹² Be glad in the Lord, you righteous ones!
Give thanks to his holy Name.

Psalm 98

Sing to the Lord a New Song!

A Psalm.

¹ Sing to the Lord a new song,
for he has done marvelous things!
His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.
² The Lord has made known his salvation.
He has openly shown his righteousness in the sight of the nations.
³ He has remembered his loving kindness
and his faithfulness toward the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

⁴ Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
Burst out and sing for joy, yes, sing praises!
⁵ Sing praises to the Lord with the harp,
with the harp and the voice of melody.
⁶ With trumpets and the sound of the ram’s horn,
make a joyful noise before the King, our Lord.

⁷ Let the sea roar with its fullness,
the world, and those who dwell in it.
⁸ Let the rivers clap their hands.
Let the mountains sing for joy together.
⁹ Let them sing before the Lord,
for he is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness,
and the peoples with equity.

Proverbs 26:13-16

¹³ The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road!
A fierce lion is roaming the streets!”
¹⁴ As the door turns on its hinges,
so does the sluggard on his bed.
¹⁵ The sluggard buries his hand in the dish.
He is too lazy to bring it back to his mouth.
¹⁶ The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes
than seven men who answer with discretion.

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