The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “Through you all the nations will be blessed.” So then, those who have faith are blessed along with the faithful Abraham. Galatians 3:8-9

Isaiah 22-24

Isaiah 22

The Valley of Vision

1 The burden against the valley of vision.

What ails you now,
that you have all gone up to the housetops?
2 You that are full of shouting,
a tumultuous city, a town of revelry.
Your slain are not slain with the sword,
nor are they dead in battle.

3 All your rulers fled away together.
They were bound by the archers.
All who were found by you were bound together.
They fled far away.
4 Therefore I said, “Look away from me. I will weep bitterly.
Do not labor to comfort me
for the destruction of the daughter of my people.

5 For it is a day of confusion and of treading down,
and of perplexity, from the Lord, God of Hosts, in the valley of vision,
a breaking down of the walls and a crying to the mountains.”
6 Elam carried his quiver with chariots of men and horsemen;
and Kir uncovered the shield.
7 Your choicest valleys were full of chariots,
and the horsemen set themselves in array at the gate.
8 He took away the covering of Judah,
and you looked in that day to the armor in the House of the Forest.

9 You saw that there were breaches of the City of David, that they were many, and you collected the waters of the lower pool. 10 You counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall. 11 You also made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to him who had done this, nor did you have respect for him who planned it long ago.

12 On that day, the Lord God of Hosts
called for weeping, for mourning,
for shaving of heads and for dressing in sackcloth.
13 But instead there was joy and gladness,
killing cattle and sheep,
eating meat and drinking wine,
“Let’s eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die.”

14 The Lord of Hosts revealed himself in my ears,
“Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven of you until you die,”
says the Lord God of Hosts.

A Message for Shebna

15 The Lord God of Hosts says, “Go, get yourself to this treasurer, to Shebna, who is over the house and say, 16 ‘What are you doing here? Who has you here, that you have dug out a tomb here?’ Cutting himself out a tomb on high, chiseling a habitation for himself in the rock!”

17 The Lord will overcome you and hurl you away violently. Yes, he will grasp you firmly. 18 He will surely wind you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a large country. There you will die, and there the chariots of your glory will be, a shame to the house of your lord. 19 I will remove you from your office. You will be pulled down from your station.

20 It will happen on that day that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, 21 and I will clothe him with your robe and strengthen him with your belt. I will commit your government into his hand, and he will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. 22 I will lay the key of the House of David on his shoulder. He will open, and no one will shut. He will shut, and no one will open. 23 I will fasten him like a nail in a sure place. He will be as a throne of glory to his father’s house.

24 They will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the pitchers.

25 “On that day,” says the Lord of Hosts, “The nail that was fastened in a secure place will give way. It will be cut down and fall. The burden that was on it will be cut off, for the Lord has spoken it.”

Isaiah 23

The Fall of Tyre

1 The burden against Tyre.

Wail, you ships of Tarshish!
For Tyre is laid waste,
without house, without harbor.
From the land of Cyprus it is revealed to them.
2 Mourn, you inhabitants of the coast,
you whom the merchants of Sidon that pass over the sea, have replenished.
3 On great waters,
the seed of the Shihor,
the harvest of the Nile was her revenue.
She was the market of nations.
4 Be ashamed, Sidon,
for the sea has spoken,
the stronghold of the sea, saying,
“I have not labored, nor given birth,
nor have I nourished young men,
nor brought up virgins.”
5 When the report comes to Egypt,
they will be in anguish at the report of Tyre.

6 Pass over to Tarshish!
Wail, you inhabitants of the coast!
7 Is this your joyous city,
whose antiquity is of ancient days,
whose feet carried her far away to travel?

8 Who has planned this against Tyre,
the giver of crowns,
whose merchants are princes,
whose traders are the honorable of the earth?
9 The Lord of Hosts has planned it,
to stain the pride of all glory,
to bring into contempt all the honorable of the earth.

10 Pass through your land like the Nile, daughter of Tarshish.
There is no restraint any more.
11 He has stretched out his hand over the sea.
He has shaken the kingdoms.
The Lord has ordered the destruction of Canaan’s strongholds.
12 He said, “You shall rejoice no more,
you oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon.
Arise, pass over to Cyprus.
There you will have no rest.”

13 Look at the land of the Chaldeans.
This people no longer exists.
The Assyrians founded it for those who dwell in the wilderness.
They set up their towers. They overthrew its palaces.
They made it a ruin.

14 Wail, you ships of Tarshish,
for your stronghold is laid waste!

15 It will come to pass in that day that Tyre will be forgotten for 70 years, according to the lifespan of a king. At the end of 70 years it will be to Tyre like in the song of the prostitute.

16 Take a harp.
Go about the city,
you prostitute that has been forgotten.
Make sweet melody.
Sing many songs,
that you may be remembered.

17 It will happen at the end of 70 years, that the Lord will visit Tyre. She will return to her wages, and will play the prostitute with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth. 18 Yet her merchandise and her wages will be set apart to the Lord. It will not be treasured or stored up, for her profits will be for those who dwell before the Lord, to eat sufficiently and for durable clothing.

Isaiah 24

God’s Judgment on the Earth

1 The Lord is stripping the earth,
leaving it desolate,
turning it upside down,
and scattering its inhabitants.
2 And it will be,
as with the people, so with the priest,
as with the servant, so with his master,
as with the maid, so with her mistress,
as with the buyer, so with the seller,
as with the creditor, so with the debtor,
as with the collector of interest, so with the giver of interest.

3 The earth will be utterly emptied and utterly laid waste,
for the Lord has spoken this word.
4 The earth mourns and fades away.
The world languishes and fades away.
The lofty people of the earth languish.
5 The earth also is polluted under its inhabitants,
because they have transgressed the laws,
violated the statutes, and broken the everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore the curse has devoured the earth,
and those who dwell therein are found guilty.
Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned,
and few men are left.

7 The new wine mourns. The vine languishes.
All the merry-hearted sigh.
8 The joyful sound of tambourines ceases.
The sound of those who rejoice ends.
The joy of the harp ceases.
9 They will not drink wine with a song.
Strong drink will be bitter to those who drink it.

10 The confused city is broken down.
Every house is shut up,
that no man may come in.
11 There is a crying in the streets
because of the wine. All joy is darkened.
The joy of the land is gone.
12 The city is left in desolation,
and the gate is struck with destruction.
13 For it will be so within the earth among the peoples,
as the shaking of an olive tree,
as the gleanings when the vintage is done.

14 These shall lift up their voice.
They will shout for the majesty of God.
They cry aloud from the sea.
15 Therefore glorify the Lord in the east,
the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, in the islands of the sea!
16 From the uttermost part of the earth we have heard songs.
Glory to the righteous!

But I said, “I pine away! I pine away! Woe is me!”
The treacherous have dealt treacherously.
Yes, the treacherous have dealt very treacherously.
17 Fear, the pit, and the snare, are on you who inhabit the earth.
18 It will happen that he who flees from the sound of fear
will fall into the pit,
and he who comes up out of the midst of the pit
will be taken in the snare,
for the windows on high are opened,
and the foundations of the earth tremble.

19 The earth is utterly broken.
The earth is torn apart.
The earth is shaken violently.
20 The earth will stagger like a drunken man
and will sway back and forth like a hammock.
Its disobedience will be heavy on it,
and it will fall and not rise again.

21 It will happen in that day
that the Lord will punish the host of heaven, in heaven,
and the kings of the earth, on the earth.
22 They will be gathered together,
as prisoners are gathered in the pit,
and will be shut up in the prison,
and after many days they will be visited.
23 Then the moon will be confounded,
and the sun ashamed, for the Lord of Hosts
will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
and glory will be before his elders.

Galatians 2:11-3:9

Galatians 2

Paul Confronts Peter

11 But when Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly wrong. 12 For Peter had been eating with the Gentiles before certain people came from James. But when they came, he drew back and separated himself, fearing those who were pro-circumcision. 13 And the rest of the Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was carried away in their hypocrisy.

14 But when I saw that they did not walk uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel, I said to Peter before all of them, “If you, being a Jew, live as the Gentiles do, and not as the Jews do, why do you compel the Gentiles to live as the Jews do?”

15 We, who are Jews by nature, and not Gentile sinners, 16 know that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. So we believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law, because no flesh will be justified by the works of the law.

17 But if we, while seeking to be justified by Christ, were also found to be sinners, is Christ therefore a servant of sin? Certainly not! 18 For if I rebuild the things which I tore down, I prove myself a law-breaker. 19 For through the law, I died to the law, that I might live to God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me. 21 I do not reject the grace of God. For if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died for nothing!”

Galatians 3

Faith and Belief

1 Foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you not to obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly portrayed among you as crucified? 2 I just want to learn this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by hearing of faith?

3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now completed in the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so many things in vain, if it is indeed in vain? 5 He, therefore, who supplies the Spirit to you and does miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law or by hearing with faith?

6 Just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness,” a 7 know therefore that those who are of faith are children of Abraham. 8 The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “Through you all the nations will be blessed.” b 9 So then, those who have faith are blessed along with the faithful Abraham.

a Genesis 15:6
b Genesis 12:3

Psalm 60

With God, We Will Gain Victory

For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “The Lily of the Covenant.” A teaching poem by David, when he fought with Aram Naharaim and with Aram Zobah, and Joab returned, and killed 12,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt.

1 God, you have rejected us.
You have broken us down.
You have been angry.
Restore us, again.
2 You have made the land tremble.
You have torn it.
Mend its fractures,
for it quakes.
3 You have shown your people hard things.
You have made us drink the wine that makes us stagger.
4 You have given a banner to those who fear you,
that it may be displayed because of the truth.

Selah.

5 So that your beloved may be delivered,
save with your right hand, and answer us.
6 God has spoken from his sanctuary:
“I will triumph.
I will divide Shechem,
and measure out the valley of Succoth.
7 Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine.
Ephraim also is the defense of my head.
Judah is my scepter.
8 Moab is my wash basin.
I will throw my sandal on Edom.
I shout in triumph over Philistia.”

9 Who will bring me into the strong city?
Who has led me to Edom?
10 Have you not rejected us, God?
Do you not go out with our armies, God?
11 Give us help against the adversary,
for the help of man is worthless.
12 Through God we will do valiantly,
for it is he who will tread down our adversaries.

Proverbs 23:15-16

15 My son, if your heart is wise,
then my heart will be glad, yes mine.
16 Yes, my heart will rejoice
when your lips speak what is right.

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