Isaiah 30; Isaiah 31; Philippians 4

1 Doom to you, rebellious children, says the LORD, who make a plan, which is not mine; who weave a plot, but not by my spirit, piling up sin on sin;

2 setting out to go down to Egypt without consulting me, taking refuge in Pharaoh's refuge and hiding in Egypt's shadow.

3 Pharaoh's refuge will become your shame, hiding in Egypt's shadow your disgrace.

4 Though their officials are in Zoan, and their messengers reach Hanes,

5 all will become shamed because of a people who can't assist them. They are no help; they are no profit; rather, shame and disgrace.

6 An oracle about the beasts in the arid southern plain. Through a land of distress and danger, lioness and roaring lion, viper and flying serpent, they will carry their wealth on donkeys' shoulders and their treasures on camels' humps to a people who won't profit,

7 for Egypt's help is utterly worthless. Therefore, I call her Rahab Who Sits Still.

8 Now go, write it before them on a tablet, inscribe it on a scroll, so in the future it will endure as a witness.

9 These are rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the LORD's teaching,

10 who say to the seers, "Don't foresee," and to the visionaries, "Don't report truthful visions; tell us flattering things; envision deceptions;

11 get out of the way; step off the path; let's have no more ‘holy one of Israel.'"

12 Therefore, the holy one of Israel says: Because you reject this word and trust in oppression and cunning and rely on them,

13 your sin will be like a crack in a high wall; it bulges, about to fall: suddenly, in an instant, it breaks!

14 Its breaking is like the breaking of a storage jar that is totally shattered. No piece from among its fragments will be large enough to take fire from a hearth, or to dip water from a cistern.

15 Therefore, the LORD God, the holy one of Israel, says: In return and rest you will be saved; quietness and trust will be your strength— but you refused.

16 You said, "No! We'll flee on horses"— therefore, you will indeed flee— "and we'll ride off; on swift steeds we will ride"— therefore, your pursuers will be swift.

17 One thousand will flee at the threat of one, and at the threat of five you will flee, until you are left like a flagstaff on a mountaintop, like a flag on a hill.

18 Nonetheless, the LORD is waiting to be merciful to you, and will rise up to show you compassion. The LORD is a God of justice; happy are all who wait for him.

19 People in Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no longer. God will certainly be merciful to you. Hearing the sound of your outcry, God will answer you.

20 Though the Lord gives you the bread of distress and the water of oppression, your teacher will no longer hide, but you will see your teacher.

21 If you stray to the right or the left, you will hear a word that comes from behind you: "This is the way; walk in it."

22 You will defile your silver-plated idols and your gold-covered priestly vest, and you will scatter them like menstrual rags. "Get out," you will say to them.

23 God will provide rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the food the ground produces will be rich and abundant. On that day, your cattle will graze in large pastures.

24 The oxen and donkeys that are working the ground will eat tasty feed spread for them with shovel and fork.

25 On every lofty mountain, and on every high hill, streams will run with water on the day of the great massacre, when the towers fall.

26 The light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter—like the light of seven days—on the day that the LORD bandages the people's brokenness and heals the wounds inflicted by his blows.

27 Look there! The LORD is coming from far away; his anger blazing, his smoke-cloud thick. His lips are full of fury; his tongue is like a devouring fire.

28 His breath is like a raging river that reaches up to the neck, to shake the nations with a sieve of destruction, and to put a misleading rein on the people's jaws.

29 There will be singing for you as on the night that people celebrate a festival. The heart will be joyful as it is when one goes with a flute to the LORD's mountain, to the rock of Israel.

30 The LORD will unleash his majestic voice and display his crushing arm in furious anger, with a flame of consuming fire, in stormy rain and hail.

31 The LORD's voice will terrify Assyria; with a rod he will smite it.

32 And every crack that is made in the foundation wall, which the LORD will bring down upon him, will be accompanied by timbrels and lyres. The LORD will raise his arm and fight against Assyria in battle.

33 His place for burning was arranged long ago; it is indeed made ready for a king. God has made its wood pile wide and deep, fire and wood in abundance. The breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, ignites it.

1 Doom to those going down to Egypt for help! They rely on horses, trust in chariots because they are many, and on riders because they are very strong. But they don't look to the holy one of Israel; they don't seek the LORD.

2 But God also knows how to bring disaster; he has not taken back his words. God will rise up against the house of evildoers and against the help of those who do wrong.

3 Egypt is human and not divine; their horses are flesh and not spirit. The LORD will extend his hand; the helper will stumble, those helped will fall, and they will all die together.

4 The LORD has said to me: When the lion growls, the young lion, over its prey, though a band of shepherds is summoned against it, isn't scared off by their noise or frightened by their roar. So the LORD of heavenly forces will go down to fight on Mount Zion and on her hill.

5 Like birds flying aloft, so the LORD of heavenly forces will shield Jerusalem: shielding and saving, sparing and rescuing.

6 People of Israel, return to the one whom you have deeply betrayed!

7 On that day, you will each reject the idols of silver and the idols of gold, which you have sinfully made for yourselves.

8 Assyria will fall, but not by a human sword— a sword not made by humans will devour them. They will flee before the sword; their young men will become forced laborers.

9 In horror they will flee from their stronghold; their officers will be terrified at the signal, says the LORD, whose fire is in Zion and whose oven is in Jerusalem.

1 Therefore, my brothers and sisters whom I love and miss, who are my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord. Loved ones,

2 I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to come to an agreement in the Lord.

3 Yes, and I'm also asking you, loyal friend, to help these women who have struggled together with me in the ministry of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my coworkers whose names are in the scroll of life.

4 Be glad in the Lord always! Again I say, be glad!

5 Let your gentleness show in your treatment of all people. The Lord is near.

6 Don't be anxious about anything; rather, bring up all of your requests to God in your prayers and petitions, along with giving thanks.

7 Then the peace of God that exceeds all understanding will keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus.

8 From now on, brothers and sisters, if anything is excellent and if anything is admirable, focus your thoughts on these things: all that is true, all that is holy, all that is just, all that is pure, all that is lovely, and all that is worthy of praise.

9 Practice these things: whatever you learned, received, heard, or saw in us. The God of peace will be with you.

10 I was very glad in the Lord because now at last you have shown concern for me again. (Of course you were always concerned but had no way to show it.)

11 I'm not saying this because I need anything, for I have learned how to be content in any circumstance.

12 I know the experience of being in need and of having more than enough; I have learned the secret to being content in any and every circumstance, whether full or hungry or whether having plenty or being poor.

13 I can endure all these things through the power of the one who gives me strength.

14 Still, you have done well to share my distress.

15 You Philippians know from the time of my first mission work in Macedonia how no church shared in supporting my ministry except you.

16 You sent contributions repeatedly to take care of my needs even while I was in Thessalonica.

17 I'm not hoping for a gift, but I am hoping for a profit that accumulates in your account.

18 I now have plenty and it is more than enough. I am full to overflowing because I received the gifts that you sent from Epaphroditus. Those gifts give off a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice that pleases God.

19 My God will meet your every need out of his riches in the glory that is found in Christ Jesus.

20 Let glory be given to God our Father forever and always. Amen.

21 Greet all God's people in Christ Jesus. The brothers and sisters with me send you their greeting.

22 All God's people here, especially those in Caesar's household, send you their greeting.

23 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirits.