1 Thessalonians 2:1-16; Isaiah 14; Isaiah 15; Isaiah 16; Psalms 113

1 Thessalonians 2:1-16

1 For you yourselves know, brothers, that our visit with you was not without result.

2 On the contrary, after we had previously suffered and been outrageously treated in Philippi, as you know, we were emboldened by our God to speak the gospel of God to you in spite of great opposition.

3 For our exhortation didn't come from error or impurity or an intent to deceive.

4 Instead, just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please men, but rather God, who examines our hearts.

5 For we never used flattering speech, as you know, or had greedy motives-God is our witness-

6 and we didn't seek glory from people, either from you or from others.

7 Although we could have been a burden as Christ's apostles, instead we were gentle among you, as a nursing mother nurtures her own children.

8 We cared so much for you that we were pleased to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us.

9 For you remember our labor and hardship, brothers. Working night and day so that we would not burden any of you, we preached God's gospel to you.

10 You are witnesses, and so is God, of how devoutly, righteously, and blamelessly we conducted ourselves with you believers.

11 As you know, like a father with his own children,

12 we encouraged, comforted, and implored each one of you to walk worthy of God, who calls you into His own kingdom and glory.

13 Also, this is why we constantly thank God, because when you received the message about God that you heard from us, you welcomed it not as a human message, but as it truly is, the message of God, which also works effectively in you believers.

14 For you, brothers, became imitators of God's churches in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, since you have also suffered the same things from people of your own country, just as they did from the Jews.

15 They killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and persecuted us; they displease God, and are hostile to everyone,

16 hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. As a result, they are always adding to the number of their sins, and wrath has overtaken them completely.

Isaiah 14

1 For the Lord will have compassion on Jacob and will choose Israel again. He will settle them on their own land. The foreigner will join them and be united with the house of Jacob.

2 The nations will escort Israel and bring it to its homeland. Then the house of Israel will possess them as male and female slaves in the Lord's land. They will make captives of their captors and will rule over their oppressors.

3 When the Lord gives you rest from your pain, torment, and the hard labor you were forced to do,

4 you will sing this song [of contempt] about the king of Babylon and say: How the oppressor has quieted down, and how the raging has become quiet!

5 The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers.

6 It struck the peoples in anger with unceasing blows. It subdued the nations in rage with relentless persecution.

7 All the earth is calm and at rest; people shout with a ringing cry.

8 Even the cypresses and the cedars of Lebanon rejoice over you: "Since you have been laid low, no woodcutter has come against us."

9 Sheol below is eager to greet your coming. He stirs up the spirits of the departed for you- all the rulers of the earth. He makes all the kings of the nations rise from their thrones.

10 They all respond to you, saying: "You too have become as weak as we are; you have become like us!

11 Your splendor has been brought down to Sheol, [along with] the music of your harps. Maggots are spread out under you, and worms cover you."

12 Shining morning star, how you have fallen from the heavens! You destroyer of nations, you have been cut down to the ground.

13 You said to yourself: "I will ascend to the heavens; I will set up my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of the [gods'] assembly, in the remotest parts of the North.

14 I will ascend above the highest clouds; I will make myself like the Most High."

15 But you will be brought down to Sheol into the deepest regions of the Pit.

16 Those who see you will stare at you; they will look closely at you: "Is this the man who caused the earth to tremble, who shook the kingdoms,

17 who turned the world into a wilderness, who trampled its cities and would not release the prisoners to return home?"

18 All the kings of the nations lie in splendor, each in his own tomb.

19 But you are thrown out without a grave, like a worthless branch, covered by those slain with the sword and dumped into a rocky pit like a trampled corpse.

20 You will not join them in burial, because you destroyed your land and slaughtered your own people. The offspring of evildoers will never be remembered.

21 Prepare a place of slaughter for his sons, because of the iniquity of their fathers. They never rise up to possess a land or fill the surface of the earth with cities.

22 "I will rise up against them"-the declaration of the Lord of Hosts-"and I will cut off from Babylon her reputation, remnant, offspring, and posterity"-the Lord's declaration.

23 "I will make her a swampland and a region for wild animals, and I will sweep her away with a broom of destruction." [This is]*The bracketed text has been added for clarity. the declaration of the Lord of Hosts.

24 The Lord of Hosts has sworn: As I have planned, so it will be; as I have purposed it, so it will happen.

25 I will break Assyria in My land; I will tread him down on My mountain. Then his yoke will be taken from them, and his burden will be removed from their shoulders.

26 This is the plan prepared for the whole earth, and this is the hand stretched out against all the nations.

27 The Lord of Hosts Himself has planned it; therefore, who can stand in its way? It is His hand that is outstretched, so who can turn it back?

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

29 Don't rejoice, all of you [in] Philistia, because the rod of the one who struck you is broken. For a viper will come out of the root of a snake, and from its egg comes a flying serpent.

30 Then the firstborn of the poor will be well fed, and the impoverished will lie down in safety, but I will kill your root with hunger, and your remnant will be slain.

31 Wail, you gates! Cry out, city! Tremble with fear, all Philistia! For a cloud of dust is coming from the north, and there is no one missing from [the invader's] ranks.

32 What answer will be given to the messengers from that nation? The Lord has founded Zion, and His afflicted people find refuge in her.

Isaiah 15

1 An oracle against Moab: Ar in Moab is devastated, destroyed in a night. Kir in Moab is devastated, destroyed in a night.

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

3 In its streets they wear sackcloth; on its rooftops and in its public squares everyone wails, falling down and weeping.

4 Heshbon and Elealeh cry out; their voices are heard as far away as Jahaz. Therefore the soldiers of Moab cry out, and they tremble.

5 My heart cries out over Moab, whose fugitives [flee] as far as Zoar, to Eglath-shelishiyah; they go up the slope of Luhith weeping; they raise a cry of destruction on the road to Horonaim.

6 The waters of Nimrim are desolate; the grass is withered, the foliage is gone, and the vegetation has vanished.

7 So they carry their wealth and belongings over the Wadi of the Willows.

8 For their cry echoes throughout the territory of Moab. Their wailing reaches Eglaim; their wailing reaches Beer-elim.

9 The waters of Dibon are full of blood, but I will bring on Dibon even more [than this]- a lion for those who escape from Moab, and for the survivors in the land.

Isaiah 16

1 Send lambs to the ruler of the land, from Sela in the desert to the mountain of Daughter Zion.

2 Like a bird fleeing, forced from the nest, the daughters of Moab will be at the fords of the Arnon.

3 Give us counsel and make a decision. [Shelter us] at noonday with shade that is as dark as night. Hide the refugee; do not betray the one who flees.

4 Let my refugees stay with you; be a refuge for Moab from the aggressor. When the oppressor has gone, destruction has ended, and marauders have vanished from the land.

5 Then in the tent of David a throne will be established by faithful love. A judge who seeks what is right and is quick to execute justice will sit on the throne forever.

6 We have heard of Moab's pride- how very proud he is- his haughtiness, his pride, his arrogance, and his empty boasting.

7 Therefore let Moab wail; let every one of them wail for Moab. Mourn, you who are completely devastated, for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth.

8 For Heshbon's terraced vineyards and the grapevines of Sibmah have withered. The rulers of the nations have trampled its choice vines that reached as far as Jazer and spread to the desert. Their shoots spread out and reached the Dead Sea.

9 So I join with Jazer to weep for the vines of Sibmah; I drench Heshbon and Elealeh with my tears. Triumphant shouts have fallen silent over your summer [fruit] and your harvest.

10 Joy and rejoicing have been removed from the orchard; no one is singing or shouting for joy in the vineyards. No one tramples grapes in the winepresses. I have put an end to the shouting.

11 Therefore I moan like [the sound of] a lyre for Moab, [as does] my innermost being for Kir-heres.

12 When Moab appears on the high place, when he tires himself out and comes to his sanctuary to pray, it will do him no good.

13 This is the message that the Lord previously announced about Moab.

14 And now the Lord says, "In three years, as a hired worker counts years, Moab's splendor will become an object of contempt, in spite of a very large population. And those who are left will be few and weak."

Psalms 113

1 Hallelujah! Give praise, servants of the Lord; praise the name of the Lord.

2 Let the name of the Lord be praised both now and forever.

3 From the rising of the sun to its setting, let the name of the Lord be praised.

4 The Lord is exalted above all the nations, His glory above the heavens.

5 Who is like the Lord our God- the One enthroned on high,

6 who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth?

7 He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the garbage pile

8 in order to seat them with nobles- with the nobles of His people.

9 He gives the childless woman a household, [making her] the joyful mother of children. Hallelujah!