Luke 22:1-13; Hebrews 4:1-11; Proverbs 21:1-16; Isaiah 14; Isaiah 15; Isaiah 16

Luke 22:1-13

1 Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called the Passover.

2 And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to put him to death, for they feared the people.

3 Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve.

4 He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them.

5 And they were glad, and agreed to give him money.

6 So he consented and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of a crowd.

7 Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed.

8 So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it."

9 They said to him, "Where will you have us prepare it?"

10 He said to them, "Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters

11 and tell the master of the house, 'The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?'

12 And he will show you a large upper room furnished; prepare it there."

13 And they went and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

Hebrews 4:1-11

1 Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.

2 For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.

3 For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, "As I swore in my wrath, 'They shall not enter my rest,'"although his works were finished from the foundation of the world.

4 For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: "And God rested on the seventh day from all his works."

5 And again in this passage he said, "They shall not enter my rest."

6 Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience,

7 again he appoints a certain day, "Today," saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts."

8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on.

9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God,

10 for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

Proverbs 21:1-16

1 The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD; he turns it wherever he will.

2 Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the heart.

3 To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.

4 Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, are sin.

5 The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to poverty.

6 The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor and a snare of death.

7 The violence of the wicked will sweep them away, because they refuse to do what is just.

8 The way of the guilty is crooked, but the conduct of the pure is upright.

9 It is better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife.

10 The soul of the wicked desires evil; his neighbor finds no mercy in his eyes.

11 When a scoffer is punished, the simple becomes wise; when a wise man is instructed, he gains knowledge.

12 The Righteous One observes the house of the wicked; he throws the wicked down to ruin.

13 Whoever closes his ear to the cry of the poor will himself call out and not be answered.

14 A gift in secret averts anger, and a concealed bribe, strong wrath.

15 When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers.

16 One who wanders from the way of good sense will rest in the assembly of the dead.

Isaiah 14

1 For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and will set them in their own land, and sojourners will join them and will attach themselves to the house of Jacob.

2 And the peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them in the LORD's land as male and female slaves. They will take captive those who were their captors, and rule over those who oppressed them.

3 When the LORD has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve,

4 you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon: "How the oppressor has ceased, the insolent fury ceased!

5 The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of rulers,

6 that struck the peoples in wrath with unceasing blows, that ruled the nations in anger with unrelenting persecution.

7 The whole earth is at rest and quiet; they break forth into singing.

8 The cypresses rejoice at you, the cedars of Lebanon, saying, 'Since you were laid low, no woodcutter comes up against us.'

9 Sheol beneath is stirred up to meet you when you come; it rouses the shades to greet you, all who were leaders of the earth; it raises from their thrones all who were kings of the nations.

10 All of them will answer and say to you: 'You too have become as weak as we! You have become like us!'

11 Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, the sound of your harps; maggots are laid as a bed beneath you, and worms are your covers.

12 "How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low!

13 You said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north;

14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.'

15 But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit.

16 Those who see you will stare at you and ponder over you: 'Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms,

17 who made the world like a desert and overthrew its cities, who did not let his prisoners go home?'

18 All the kings of the nations lie in glory, each in his own tomb;

19 but you are cast out, away from your grave, like a loathed branch, clothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit, like a dead body trampled underfoot.

20 You will not be joined with them in burial, because you have destroyed your land, you have slain your people."May the offspring of evildoers nevermore be named!

21 Prepare slaughter for his sons because of the guilt of their fathers, lest they rise and possess the earth, and fill the face of the world with cities."

22 "I will rise up against them," declares the LORD of hosts, "and will cut off from Babylon name and remnant, descendants and posterity," declares the LORD.

23 "And I will make it a possession of the hedgehog, and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction," declares the LORD of hosts.

24 The LORD of hosts has sworn: "As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand,

25 that I will break the Assyrian in my land, and on my mountains trample him underfoot; and his yoke shall depart from them, and his burden from their shoulder."

26 This is the purpose that is purposed concerning the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out over all the nations.

27 For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?

28 In the year that King Ahaz died came this oracle:

29 Rejoice not, O Philistia, all of you, that the rod that struck you is broken, for from the serpent's root will come forth an adder, and its fruit will be a flying fiery serpent.

30 And the firstborn of the poor will graze, and the needy lie down in safety; but I will kill your root with famine, and your remnant it will slay.

31 Wail, O gate; cry out, O city; melt in fear, O Philistia, all of you! For smoke comes out of the north, and there is no straggler in his ranks.

32 What will one answer the messengers of the nation? "The LORD has founded Zion, and in her the afflicted of his people find refuge."

Isaiah 15

1 An oracle concerning Moab. Because Ar of Moab is laid waste in a night, Moab is undone; because Kir of Moab is laid waste in a night, Moab is undone.

2 He has gone up to the temple, and to Dibon, to the high places to weep; over Nebo and over Medeba Moab wails. On every head is baldness; every beard is shorn;

3 in the streets they wear sackcloth; on the housetops and in the squares everyone wails and melts in tears.

4 Heshbon and Elealeh cry out; their voice is heard as far as Jahaz; therefore the armed men of Moab cry aloud; his soul trembles.

5 My heart cries out for Moab; her fugitives flee to Zoar, to Eglath-shelishiyah. For at the ascent of Luhith they go up weeping; on the road to Horonaim they raise a cry of destruction;

6 the waters of Nimrim are a desolation; the grass is withered, the vegetation fails, the greenery is no more.

7 Therefore the abundance they have gained and what they have laid up they carry away over the Brook of the Willows.

8 For a cry has gone around the land of Moab; her wailing reaches to Eglaim; her wailing reaches to Beer-elim.

9 For the waters of Dibon are full of blood; for I will bring upon Dibon even more, a lion for those of Moab who escape, for the remnant of the land.

Isaiah 16

1 Send the lamb to the ruler of the land, from Sela, by way of the desert, to the mount of the daughter of Zion.

2 Like fleeing birds, like a scattered nest, so are the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon.

3 "Give counsel; grant justice; make your shade like night at the height of noon; shelter the outcasts; do not reveal the fugitive;

4 let the outcasts of Moab sojourn among you; be a shelter to them from the destroyer. When the oppressor is no more, and destruction has ceased, and he who tramples underfoot has vanished from the land,

5 then a throne will be established in steadfast love, and on it will sit in faithfulness in the tent of David one who judges and seeks justice and is swift to do righteousness."

6 We have heard of the pride of Moab-- how proud he is!-- of his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence; in his idle boasting he is not right.

7 Therefore let Moab wail for Moab, let everyone wail. Mourn, utterly stricken, for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth.

8 For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah; the lords of the nations have struck down its branches, which reached to Jazer and strayed to the desert; its shoots spread abroad and passed over the sea.

9 Therefore I weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah; I drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh; for over your summer fruit and your harvest the shout has ceased.

10 And joy and gladness are taken away from the fruitful field, and in the vineyards no songs are sung, no cheers are raised; no treader treads out wine in the presses; I have put an end to the shouting.

11 Therefore my inner parts moan like a lyre for Moab, and my inmost self for Kir-hareseth.

12 And when Moab presents himself, when he wearies himself on the high place, when he comes to his sanctuary to pray, he will not prevail.

13 This is the word that the LORD spoke concerning Moab in the past.

14 But now the LORD has spoken, saying, "In three years, like the years of a hired worker, the glory of Moab will be brought into contempt, in spite of all his great multitude, and those who remain will be very few and feeble."