1 Thessalonians 4; Isaiah 20; Isaiah 21; Isaiah 22; Psalms 115

1 Thessalonians 4

1 Finally then, brothers, we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus, that as you have received from us how you must walk and please God-as you are doing-do so even more.

2 For you know what commands we gave you through the Lord Jesus.

3 For this is God's will, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality,

4 so that each of you knows how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor,

5 not with lustful desires, like the Gentiles who don't know God.

6 This means one must not transgress against and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger of all these offenses, as we also previously told and warned you.

7 For God has not called us to impurity, but to sanctification.

8 Therefore, the person who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who also gives you His Holy Spirit.

9 About brotherly love: you don't need me to write you because you yourselves are taught by God to love one another.

10 In fact, you are doing this toward all the brothers in the entire region of Macedonia. But we encourage you, brothers, to do so even more,

11 to seek to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you,

12 so that you may walk properly in the presence of outsiders and not be dependent on anyone.

13 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.

14 Since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus.

15 For we say this to you by a revelation from the Lord: We who are still alive at the Lord's coming will certainly have no advantage over those who have fallen asleep.

16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel's voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

17 Then we who are still alive will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will always be with the Lord.

18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Isaiah 20

1 In the year that the commander-in-chief, sent by Sargon king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and attacked and captured it-

2 during that time the Lord had spoken through Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, "Go, take off your sackcloth and remove the sandals from your feet," and he did so, going naked and barefoot-

3 the Lord said, "As My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot three years as a sign and omen against Egypt and Cush,

4 so the king of Assyria will lead the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old alike, naked and barefoot, with bared buttocks, to Egypt's shame.

5 Those who made Cush their hope and Egypt their boast will be dismayed and ashamed.

6 And the inhabitants of this coastland will say on that day: Look, this is what has happened to those we relied on and fled to for help to rescue [us] from the king of Assyria! Now, how will we escape?"

Isaiah 21

1 An oracle against the desert by the sea: Like storms that pass over the Negev, it comes from the desert, from the land of terror.

2 A troubling vision is declared to me: "The treacherous one acts treacherously, and the destroyer destroys. Advance, Elam! Lay siege, you Medes! I will put an end to all her groaning."

3 Therefore I am filled with anguish. Pain grips me, like the pain of a woman in labor. I am too perplexed to hear, too dismayed to see.

4 My heart staggers; horror terrifies me. He has turned my last glimmer of hope into sheer terror.

5 Prepare a table, and spread out a carpet! Eat and drink! Rise up, you princes, and oil the shields!

6 For the Lord has said to me, "Go, post a lookout; let him report what he sees.

7 When he sees riders- pairs of horsemen, riders on donkeys, riders on camels- pay close attention."

8 Then the lookout reported, "Lord, I stand on the watchtower all day, and I stay at my post all night.

9 Look, riders come- horsemen in pairs." And he answered, saying, "Babylon has fallen, has fallen. All the idols of her gods have been shattered on the ground."

10 My downtrodden and threshed people, I have declared to you what I have heard from the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel.

11 An oracle against Dumah: One calls to me from Seir, "Watchman, what is [left] of the night? Watchman, what is [left] of the night?"

12 The watchman said, "Morning has come, and also night. If you want to ask, ask! Come back again."

13 An oracle against Arabia: You will camp for the night in the scrublands of the desert, you caravans of Dedanites.

14 Bring water for the thirsty. The inhabitants of the land of Tema meet the refugees with food.

15 For they have fled from swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, from the stress of battle.

16 For the Lord said this to me: "Within one year, as a hired worker counts years, all the glory of Kedar will be gone.

17 The remaining Kedarite archers will be few in number." For the Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.

Isaiah 22

1 An oracle against the Valley of Vision: What's the matter with you? Why have all of you gone up to the rooftops?

2 The noisy city, the jubilant town, is filled with revelry. Your dead did not die by the sword; they were not killed in battle.

3 All your rulers have fled together, captured without a bow. All your fugitives were captured together; they had fled far away.

4 Therefore I said, "Look away from me! Let me weep bitterly! Do not try to comfort me about the destruction of my dear people."

5 For the Lord God of Hosts had a day of tumult, trampling, and bewilderment in the Valley of Vision- people shouting and crying to the mountains;

6 Elam took up a quiver with chariots and horsemen, and Kir uncovered the shield.

7 Your best valleys were full of chariots, and horsemen were positioned at the gates.

8 He removed the defenses of Judah. On that day you looked to the weapons in the House of the Forest.

9 You saw that there were many breaches in [the walls of] the city of David. You collected water from the lower pool.

10 You counted the houses of Jerusalem so that you could tear them down to fortify the wall.

11 You made a reservoir between the walls for the waters of the ancient pool, but you did not look to the One who made it, or consider the One who created it long ago.

12 On that day the Lord God of Hosts called for weeping, for wailing, for shaven heads, and for the wearing of sackcloth.

13 But look: joy and gladness, butchering of cattle, slaughtering of sheep, eating of meat, and drinking of wine- "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!"

14 The Lord of Hosts has revealed [this] in my hearing: "This sin of yours will never be wiped out." The Lord God of Hosts has spoken.

15 The Lord God of Hosts said: "Go to Shebna, that steward who is in charge of the palace, [and say to him:]

16 What are you doing here? Who authorized you to carve out a tomb for yourself here, carving your tomb on the height and cutting a crypt for yourself out of rock?

17 Look, young man! The Lord is about to shake you violently. He will take hold of you,

18 wind you up into a ball, and sling you into a wide land. There you will die, and there your glorious chariots will be-a disgrace to the house of your lord.

19 I will remove you from your office; you will be ousted from your position.

20 "On that day I will call for my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah.

21 I will clothe him with your robe and tie your sash around him. I will put your authority into his hand, and he will be like a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the House of Judah.

22 I will place the key of the House of David on his shoulder; what he opens, no one can close; what he closes, no one can open.

23 I will drive him, like a peg, into a firm place. He will be a throne of honor for his father's house.

24 They will hang on him the whole burden of his father's house: the descendants and the offshoots-all the small vessels, from bowls to every kind of jar.

25 On that day"-the declaration of the Lord of Hosts-"the peg that was driven into a firm place will give way, be cut off, and fall, and the load on it will be destroyed." Indeed, the Lord has spoken.

Psalms 115

1 Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to Your name give glory because of Your faithful love, because of Your truth.

2 Why should the nations say, "Where is their God?"

3 Our God is in heaven and does whatever He pleases.

4 Their idols are silver and gold, made by human hands.

5 They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see.

6 They have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but cannot smell.

7 They have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but cannot walk. They cannot make a sound with their throats.

8 Those who make them are just like them, as are all who trust in them.

9 Israel, trust in the Lord! He is their help and shield.

10 House of Aaron, trust in the Lord! He is their help and shield.

11 You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord! He is their help and shield.

12 The Lord remembers us and will bless [us]. He will bless the house of Israel; He will bless the house of Aaron;

13 He will bless those who fear the Lord- small and great alike.

14 May the Lord add to [your numbers], both yours and your children's.

15 May you be blessed by the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

16 The heavens are the Lord's, but the earth He has given to the human race.

17 It is not the dead who praise the Lord, nor any of those descending into the silence [of death].

18 But we will praise the Lord, both now and forever. Hallelujah!