Isaiah 22 - 23 - Legacy Standard Bible

Isaiah 22 - 23

An Oracle Concerning the Valley of Vision

The oracle concerning the valley of vision.

What is the matter with you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops?

You who were full of noise,

You roaring city, you exultant town;

Your slain were not slain with the sword,

Nor did they die in battle.

All your rulers have fled together,

And have been captured without the bow;

All of you who were found were captured together,

Though they had fled far away.

Therefore I say, “Turn your gaze away from me,

Let me weep bitterly,

Do not insist on comforting me concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.”

For Lord Yahweh of hosts has a day of confusion, oppression, and panic

In the valley of vision,

A breaking down of walls

And a crying to the mountain.

Now Elam took up the quiver

With the chariots, infantry, and horsemen;

And Kir uncovered the shield.

Then your choicest valleys were full of chariots,

And the horsemen took up fixed positions at the gate.

And He revealed the defense of Judah.

In that day you looked to the weapons of the house of the forest,

And you saw that the breaches

In the wall of the city of David were many;

And you collected the waters of the lower pool.

Then you counted the houses of Jerusalem

And tore down houses to fortify the wall.

And you made a reservoir between the two walls

For the waters of the old pool.

But you did not look to Him who made it,

Nor did you see Him who formed it long ago.

Therefore in that day Lord Yahweh of hosts called you to weeping, to wailing,

To shaving the head, and to wearing sackcloth.

Instead, behold, there is joy and gladness,

Killing of cattle and slaughtering of sheep,

Eating of meat and drinking of wine:

“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we may die.”

But Yahweh of hosts revealed Himself in my ears,

“Surely this iniquity shall not be atoned for you

Until you die,” says Lord Yahweh of hosts.

15 Thus says Lord Yahweh of hosts,

“Come, go to this steward,

To Shebna, who is in charge of the royal household,

‘What right do you have here,

And whom do you have here,

That you have hewn a tomb for yourself here,

You who hew a tomb on the height,

You who carve a dwelling place for yourself in the cliff?

Behold, Yahweh is about to hurl you headlong, O man.

And He is about to grasp you firmly

And He will surely roll you tightly like a ball,

To be cast into a vast country;

There you will die,

And there your glorious chariots will be,

You disgrace of your master’s house.’

I will push you out of your office,

And I will pull you down from your station.

Then it will be in that day,

That I will summon My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah,

And I will clothe him with your tunic

And tie your sash securely about him.

I will give your authority into his hand,

And he will become a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.

Then I will set the key of the house of David on his shoulder,

When he opens no one will shut,

When he shuts no one will open.

I will drive him like a peg in a firm place,

And he will become a throne of glory to his father’s house.

24 So they will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house, offspring and issue, all the least of vessels, from bowls to all the jars. 25 In that day,” declares Yahweh of hosts, “the peg driven in a firm place will give way; it will even break off and fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut off, for Yahweh has spoken.”

An Oracle Concerning Tyre

The oracle concerning Tyre.

Wail, O ships of Tarshish,

For Tyre is destroyed, without house or harbor;

It is revealed to them from the land of Cyprus.

Be silent, you inhabitants of the coastland,

You merchants of Sidon;

Your messengers crossed the sea

And were on many waters.

The grain of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile was her revenue;

And she was the nations’ gain.

Be ashamed, O Sidon;

For the sea speaks, the strong defense of the sea, saying,

“I have neither travailed nor given birth;

I have neither brought up choice men nor reared virgins.”

When the report reaches Egypt,

They will be in travail at the report of Tyre.

Pass over to Tarshish;

Wail, O inhabitants of the coastland.

Is this your exultant city,

Whose origin is from days of old,

Whose feet used to lead her to sojourn in distant places?

Who has counseled this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns,

Whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the honored of the earth?

Yahweh of hosts has counseled it, to defile the pride of all beauty,

To make contemptuous all the honored of the earth.

Overflow your land like the Nile, O daughter of Tarshish;

There is no more restraint.

He has stretched His hand out over the sea;

He has made the kingdoms tremble;

Yahweh has given a command concerning Canaan to demolish its strong defenses.

So He said, “You shall exult no more, O crushed virgin daughter of Sidon.

Arise, pass over to Cyprus; even there you will find no rest.”

13 Behold, the land of the Chaldeans—this is the people which was not; Assyria established it for desert creatures—they erected their siege towers, they stripped its palaces, they made it a ruin. 14

Wail, O ships of Tarshish,

For your strong defense is destroyed.

15 Now it will be in that day, that Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years like the days of one king. At the end of seventy years it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the harlot: 16

Take your harp, walk about the city,

O forgotten harlot;

Pluck the strings skillfully, sing many songs,

That you may be remembered.

17 And it will be at the end of seventy years that Yahweh will visit Tyre. Then she will go back to her harlot’s wages and will play the harlot with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. 18 And her gain and her harlot’s wages will be set apart to Yahweh; it will not be treasured up or hoarded, but her gain will become sufficient food and choice attire for those who inhabit the presence of Yahweh.

Luke 13

Repent or Perish

Now at that same time there were some present who were reporting to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you think that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered these things? 3 I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4 Or do you think that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse offenders than all the men who live in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree

6 And He was telling this parable: “A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came seeking fruit on it and did not find any. 7 And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Behold, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?’ 8 And he answered and said to him, ‘Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in manure, 9 and if it bears fruit next year, fine, but if not, cut it down.’”

A Woman Healed on the Sabbath

10 And He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 And behold, there was a woman who for eighteen years had a sickness caused by a spirit, and she was bent double, and could not straighten up at all. 12 But when Jesus saw her, He called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your sickness.” 13 And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made erect again and began glorifying God. 14 But the synagogue official, indignant because Jesus healed on the Sabbath, answered and was saying to the crowd, “There are six days in which work should be done; so come during them and get healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” 15 But the Lord answered him and said, “You hypocrites, does not each of you on the Sabbath release his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead it away to water it? 16 And this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound for—behold—eighteen years, should she not have been released from this bond on the Sabbath day?” 17 And as He said this, all His opponents were being put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things being done by Him.

The Parables of the Mustard Seed and the Leaven

18 Therefore, He was saying, “What is the kingdom of God like, and to what shall I compare it? 19 It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and threw into his own garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches.” 20 And again He said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? 21 It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three sata of flour until it was all leavened.”

The Narrow Door

22 And He was passing through from one city and village to another, teaching, and proceeding on His way to Jerusalem. 23 And someone said to Him, “Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?” And He said to them, 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up to us!’ then He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from.’ 26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’ 27 And He will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from; depart from Me, all you workers of unrighteousness.’ 28 In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being cast out. 29 And they will come from east and west and from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God. 30 And behold, some are last who will be first and some are first who will be last.”

Lament over Jerusalem

31 Just at that time some Pharisees approached, saying to Him, “Leave and go from here, for Herod wants to kill You.” 32 And He said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish.’ 33 Nevertheless I must journey on today and tomorrow and the next day, for it is not possible that a prophet would perish outside of Jerusalem. 34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you did not want it! 35 Behold, your house is left to you desolate, and I say to you, you will not see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’”

Psalm 48

The City of Our God

A Song. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.

Great is Yahweh, and greatly to be praised,

In the city of our God, His holy mountain.

Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth,

Is Mount Zion in the far north,

The city of the great King.

God, in her palaces,

Has made Himself known as a stronghold.

For, behold, the kings assembled themselves,

They passed by together.

They saw it, then they were astonished;

They were dismayed, they fled in alarm.

Panic seized them there,

Anguish, as of a woman in childbirth.

With the east wind

You break the ships of Tarshish.

As we have heard, so have we seen

In the city of Yahweh of hosts, in the city of our God;

God will establish her forever. Selah.

We have thought on Your lovingkindness, O God,

In the midst of Your temple.

As is Your name, O God,

So is Your praise to the ends of the earth;

Your right hand is full of righteousness.

Let Mount Zion be glad,

Let the daughters of Judah rejoice

Because of Your judgments.

Walk about Zion and go around her;

Count her towers;

Consider her ramparts;

Go through her palaces,

That you may recount it to the next generation.

For this is God,

Our God forever and ever;

He will guide us over death.