Ezekiel 15 - 16, 1 Thessalonians 1 - 3, Psalm 144

Is Jerusalem Useful for Anything?

15Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, how is the wood of the ^avine better than any wood of a branch which is among the trees of the forest? ³“Can wood be taken from it to make ¹anything, or can men take a peg from it on which to hang any vessel? ⁴“¹If it has been put into the ^afire for fuel, and the fire has consumed both of its ends, and its middle part has been charred, is it then useful for ²anything? ⁵“Behold, while it is intact, it is not made into ¹anything. How much less, when the fire has consumed it and it is charred, can it still be made into ²anything! ⁶“Therefore, thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘As the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so have I given up the inhabitants of Jerusalem; ⁷and I will ^agive My face to be against them. Though they have ^bcome out of the fire, yet the fire will consume them. Then you will know that I am Yahweh, when I set My face against them. ⁸‘Thus I will give over the land to desolation because they have ^aacted unfaithfully,’” declares Lord Yahweh.

Jerusalem Plays the Harlot

16Then the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, ^amake known to Jerusalem her abominations ³and say, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh to Jerusalem, “Your origin and your birth are from the land of the Canaanite; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. ⁴“As for your birth, ^aon the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing; you were not rubbed with salt or even wrapped in cloths. ⁵“No eye had pity on you to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you. Rather you were thrown out into the ¹^,^aopen field, for your soul was abhorred on the day you were born.

⁶“Then I passed by you and saw you squirming in your blood. So I said to you while you were in your blood, ‘Live!’ Indeed I said to you while you were in your blood, ‘Live!’ ⁷“I ^amade you ¹numerous like plants of the field. Then you grew up, became tall, and came into the age for fine ornaments; your breasts were formed, and your hair had grown. Yet you were naked and bare.

⁸“Then I passed by you and saw you, and behold, ¹you were at the time for love; so I ^aspread My skirt over you and covered your nakedness. I also ^bswore to you and ^centered into a covenant with you so that you ^dbecame Mine,” declares Lord Yahweh. ⁹“Then I washed you with water, rinsed your blood off from you, and ^aanointed you with oil. ¹⁰“I also clothed you with ^aembroidered cloth and put sandals of porpoise skin on your feet; and I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk. ¹¹“I also adorned you with ornaments and put ^abracelets on your hands and a ^bnecklace around your neck. ¹²“I also put a ^aring in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a ^bsplendid crown on your head. ¹³“Thus you were adorned with ^agold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil; so you were exceedingly beautiful and advanced to ^broyalty. ¹⁴“Then your ^aname went forth among the nations on account of your beauty, for it was ^bperfect because of My majesty which I set on you,” declares Lord Yahweh.

¹⁵“But you ^atrusted in your beauty and ^bplayed the harlot because of your name, and you poured out your harlotries on every passer-by ¹who might be willing. ¹⁶“You took some of your clothes, made for yourself high places of various colors, and played the harlot on them, ¹which should never come about nor happen. ¹⁷“You also took your splendid ¹^,^ajewelry made of My gold and of My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself male images that you might play the harlot with them. ¹⁸“Then you took your embroidered cloth and covered them and gave My oil and My incense before them. ¹⁹“Also ^aMy bread which I gave you, fine flour, oil, and honey with which I had you eat, you gave before them for a soothing aroma; so it happened,” declares Lord Yahweh. ²⁰“Moreover, you took your sons and daughters, whom you had borne to ^aMe, and ^bsacrificed them to ¹idols to be devoured. Were your harlotries so small a matter? ²¹“You slaughtered ^aMy children and gave them up to ¹idols by ^bcausing them to pass through the fire. ²²“Besides all your abominations and harlotries you did not remember the days of ^ayour youth, when you were naked and bare—you were squirming in your blood!

²³“Now it happened after all your evil—‘Woe, woe to you!’ declares Lord Yahweh— ²⁴that you built yourself a ^ashrine and made yourself a ^bhigh place in every square. ²⁵“You built yourself a high place at the head of ^aevery street and made your beauty abominable, and you spread your legs to every passer-by to multiply your harlotry. ²⁶“You also played the harlot with the Egyptians, your ¹lustful neighbors, and you multiplied your harlotry to ^aprovoke Me to anger. ²⁷“Behold now, I have stretched out My hand against you and cut off your rations. And I gave you up to the desire of those who hate you, the ^adaughters of the Philistines, who are ashamed of your lewd way. ²⁸“Moreover, you played the harlot with the ^aAssyrians because you were not satisfied; you played the harlot with them and still were not satisfied. ²⁹“You also multiplied your harlotry with the land of merchants, Chaldea, yet even with this you were not satisfied.”’”

³⁰“How ^alanguishing is your heart,” declares Lord Yahweh, “while you do all these things, the actions of a ¹^,^bbold-faced harlot. ³¹“When you built your shrine at the head of every way and made your high place in every square, in ^adisdaining your earnings, you were not like a harlot. ³²“You adulteress wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband! ³³“¹Men give gifts to all harlots, but you ^agive your gifts to all your lovers to bribe them to come to you from all around for your harlotries. ³⁴“Thus you are the opposite of those women in your harlotries, in that no one plays the harlot ¹as you do, because you give away your earnings and no earnings are given to you; thus you are the opposite.”

³⁵Therefore, O harlot, hear the word of Yahweh. ³⁶Thus says Lord Yahweh, “Because your lewdness was poured out and your nakedness uncovered through your harlotries with your lovers and with all your abominable ^aidols, and because of the blood of your sons which you gave to ¹idols, ³⁷therefore, behold, I will ^agather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, even all those whom you loved and all those whom you ^bhated. So I will gather them against you from all around and ^cuncover your nakedness to them that they may see all your nakedness. ³⁸“Thus I will ^ajudge you like women who commit adultery or shed blood are judged; and I will bring on you the blood of ^bwrath and jealousy. ³⁹“I will also give you into ¹the hands of your lovers, and they will pull down your shrines, tear down your high places, ^astrip you of your clothing, take away your ²splendid jewelry, and will leave you naked and bare. ⁴⁰“They will bring up an ^aassembly against you, and they will stone you and cut you to pieces with their swords. ⁴¹“They will ^aburn your houses with fire and execute judgments on you in the sight of many women. Then I will ^bmake you cease from playing the harlot, and you will also no longer give ¹your earnings to your lovers. ⁴²“So I ^awill ¹cause My wrath against you to be at rest, and My jealousy will depart from you, and I will be quiet, and I will ^bnot be provoked anymore. ⁴³“Because you have ^anot remembered the days of your youth but ¹have ^benraged Me by all these things, behold, I in turn will ^cbring your way down on your own head,” declares Lord Yahweh, “so that you will not commit this lewdness on top of all your other abominations.

⁴⁴“Behold, everyone who quotes ^aproverbs will quote this proverb concerning you, saying, ‘¹Like mother, ²like daughter.’ ⁴⁵“You are the daughter of your mother, who loathed her husband and children. You are also the ^asister of your sisters, who ^bloathed their husbands and children. Your mother was a Hittite and your father an Amorite. ⁴⁶“Now your ^aolder sister is Samaria, who lives ¹north of you with her ²daughters; and your younger sister, who lives ³south of you, is ^bSodom with her daughters. ⁴⁷“Yet you have not merely walked in their ways or done according to their abominations; but, as if that were ^atoo little, you acted ^bmore corruptly in all your ways than they. ⁴⁸“As I live,” declares Lord Yahweh, “Sodom your sister and her daughters have ^anot done as you and your daughters have done. ⁴⁹“Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had ^alofty pride, ^babundant food, and ^cquiet ease, but she did not strengthen the hand of the ^dafflicted and needy. ⁵⁰“Then they were haughty and committed ^aabominations before Me. So I ^bremoved them ¹when I saw it. ⁵¹“Furthermore, Samaria did not commit half of your sins, for you have multiplied your abominations more than they. Thus you have made your sisters appear ^arighteous by all your abominations which you have done. ⁵²“Also bear your dishonor in that you have ¹made judgment favorable for your sisters. Because of your sins in which you acted ^amore abominably than they, they are more in the right than you. Yes, be also ashamed and bear your dishonor, in that you made your sisters appear righteous.

⁵³“Nevertheless, I will ¹return their captivity, the captivity of Sodom and her daughters, the captivity of Samaria and her daughters, and ²along with them ³your own captivity, ⁵⁴in order that you may bear your dishonor and feel ^adishonor for all that you have done when you become ^ba comfort to them. ⁵⁵“Your sisters, Sodom with her daughters and Samaria with her daughters, ¹will return to their former state, and you with your daughters will also return to your former state. ⁵⁶“As the name of your sister Sodom was not heard in your mouth in your day of lofty pride, ⁵⁷before your ^awickedness was uncovered, ¹so now you have become the ^breproach of the daughters of ²Edom and of all who are around her, of the daughters of the Philistines—those all around you who despise you. ⁵⁸“You have ^aborne the penalty of your lewdness and abominations,” declares Yahweh. ⁵⁹For thus says Lord Yahweh, “I will also do with you as you have done, you who have ^adespised the oath by breaking the covenant.

Yahweh’s Everlasting Covenant

⁶⁰“Nevertheless, I Myself will remember My covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an ^aeverlasting covenant with you. ⁶¹“Then you will ^aremember your ways and feel dishonor when you receive your sisters, both your older and your younger; and I will give them to you as daughters, but not because of your covenant. ⁶²“Thus I will ^aestablish My covenant with you, and you shall ^bknow that I am Yahweh, ⁶³so that you may ^aremember and be ashamed and ^bnever open your mouth anymore because of your dishonor, when I have ^catoned for you for all that you have done,” declares Lord Yahweh.

Thanksgiving

1^aPaul and ^bSilvanus and ^cTimothy, To the ^dchurch of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: ^eGrace to you and peace.

²^aWe give thanks to God always for all of you, ^bmaking mention of you in our prayers; ³remembering without ceasing your ^awork of faith and labor of ^blove and ¹^,^csteadfastness of hope ²in our Lord Jesus Christ before ^dour God and Father, ⁴knowing, ^abrothers beloved by God, ^byour election, ⁵for our ^agospel did not come to you in word only, but also ^bin power and in the Holy Spirit and with ^cfull assurance; just as you know ^dwhat kind of men we ¹proved to be among you for your sake. ⁶You also became ^aimitators of us and of the Lord, ^bhaving received ^cthe word in much affliction with the ^djoy of the Holy Spirit, ⁷so that you became a model to all the believers in ^aMacedonia and in ^bAchaia. ⁸For ^athe word of the Lord has ^bsounded forth from you, not only in ^cMacedonia and ^dAchaia, but also ^ein every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything. ⁹For they themselves report about us what kind of an ^aentrance we had ¹with you, and how you ^bturned to God ^cfrom ²idols to serve ³^,^da living and true God, ¹⁰and to ^await for His Son from ¹heaven, whom He ^braised from the dead, Jesus, who ^crescues us from ^dthe wrath to come.

Entrusted with the Gospel

2For you yourselves know, brothers, that our ^aentrance to you ^bwas not in vain, ²but after we had already suffered and been ^amistreated in ^bPhilippi, as you know, we had the boldness in our God ^cto speak to you the ^dgospel of God amid much ^estruggle. ³For our ^aexhortation does not come from ^berror or ^cimpurity or ¹by way of ^ddeceit; ⁴^abut just as we have been approved by God to be ^bentrusted with the gospel, so we speak, ^cnot as pleasing men, but God who ¹^,^dexamines our hearts. ⁵For we never came with a flattering word, as you know, nor with ^aa pretext for greed—^bGod is witness— ⁶nor ^aseeking glory from men, either from you or from others, even though as ^bapostles of Christ we ¹could have been a burden to you. ⁷But we ¹proved to be ²^,^agentle ³among you, ^bas a nursing mother ⁴tenderly cares for her own children. ⁸In this way, having fond affection for you, we were pleased to ^aimpart to you not only the ^bgospel of God but also our own ¹lives, because you had become beloved to us.

⁹For you remember, brothers, our ^alabor and hardship, how ^bworking night and day so as not to be a ^cburden to any of you, we proclaimed to you the ^dgospel of God. ¹⁰You are witnesses, and so is ^aGod, of ^bhow devoutly and righteously and blamelessly we ¹behaved toward you ²believers; ¹¹just as you know how we were ^aexhorting and encouraging and ^bbearing witness to each one of you as ^ca father would his own children, ¹²so that you would ^awalk in a manner worthy of the God who ^bcalls you into His own kingdom and ^cglory.

¹³And for this reason we also ^athank God without ceasing that when you received the ^bword of God which you heard from us, you accepted it ^cnot as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, ^dwhich also is at work in you who believe. ¹⁴For you, brothers, became ^aimitators of ^bthe churches of God in Christ Jesus that are ^cin Judea, for ^dyou also suffered the same things at the hands of your own countrymen, ^eeven as they did from the Jews, ¹⁵^awho both killed the Lord Jesus and ^bthe prophets, and ¹drove us out, and do not please God, and are hostile to all men, ¹⁶^ahindering us from speaking to the Gentiles ^bso that they may be saved; with the result that they always ^cfill up the measure of their sins. But ^dwrath has come upon them ¹to the utmost.

¹⁷But we, brothers, having been taken away from you for a ¹short while—^ain face but not in heart—were all the more eager with great desire ^bto see your face. ¹⁸¹For ^awe wanted to come to you—I, Paul, ²^,^bmore than once—and yet ^cSatan ^dhindered us. ¹⁹For who is our hope or ^ajoy or crown of boasting? Is it not even you, before our Lord Jesus at His ¹^,^bcoming? ²⁰For you are ^aour glory and joy.

Timothy’s Good Report

3Therefore ^awhen we could endure it no longer, we were pleased to be left behind at ^bAthens alone, ²and we sent ^aTimothy, our brother and God’s fellow worker in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith, ³so that no one would be shaken by these afflictions, for you yourselves know that ^awe have been destined for this. ⁴For indeed when we were with you, we kept telling you in advance that we were going to suffer affliction, ^ajust as it happened and as you know. ⁵For this reason, ^awhen I could endure it no longer, I also ^bsent to know about your faith, lest somehow ^cthe tempter has tempted you, and ^dour labor be in vain.

⁶But now that ^aTimothy has come to us from you, and has brought us good news of ^byour faith and love, and that you always ^cremember us kindly, longing to see us just as we also long to see you, ⁷for this reason, brothers, in all our distress and affliction we were comforted about you through your faith; ⁸for now we really live, if you ^astand firm in the Lord. ⁹For ^awhat thanks can we render to God for you in return for all the joy with which we rejoice before our God because of you, ¹⁰as we ^anight and day keep praying most earnestly that we may ^bsee your face, and may ^ccomplete what is lacking in your faith?

¹¹^aNow may ^bour God and Father ^cHimself and Jesus our Lord ^ddirect our way to you, ¹²and may the Lord cause you to increase and ^aabound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you, ¹³so that He may ^astrengthen your hearts ^bblameless in holiness, before ^cour God and Father, at the ¹^,^dcoming of our Lord Jesus ^ewith all His ²saints.

Blessed Be Yahweh, My Rock

144

Of David.

Blessed be Yahweh, ^amy rock,Who ^btrains my hands for war,My fingers for battle;²My lovingkindness and ^amy fortress,My ^bstronghold and my deliverer,My ^cshield and He in whom I take refuge,Who ^dsubdues ¹my people under me.³O Yahweh, ^awhat is man, that You know him?Or the son of man, that You think of him?⁴^aMan is like a breath;His ^bdays are like a passing shadow.⁵O Yahweh, ^abow Your heavens, and ^bcome down;^cTouch the mountains, that they may smoke.⁶Flash forth ^alightning and scatter them;Send out Your ^barrows and confuse them.⁷Send forth Your hand ^afrom on high;Set me free and ^bdeliver me out of many waters,Out of the hand of ^cforeigners⁸Whose mouth ^aspeaks worthlessness,And whose ^bright hand is a right hand of lying.⁹O God, I will sing a ^anew song to You;Upon a ^bharp of ten strings I will sing praises to You,¹⁰Who ^agives salvation to kings,Who ^bsets David His servant free from the evil sword.¹¹Set me free and deliver me out of the hand of the sons of a ^aforeigner,Whose mouth ^bspeaks worthlessnessAnd whose ^cright hand is a right hand of lying.¹²That our sons would be as ^agrown-up plants in their youth,And our daughters as ^bcorner pillars ¹fashioned as for a palace;¹³That our ^agranaries would be full, furnishing every kind of produce,And our flocks would bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our fields outside;¹⁴That our ^acattle would ¹bearWithout ²^,^bmishap and without ³^,^closs,And without ^doutcry in our streets!¹⁵How blessed are the people for whom this is so;How ^ablessed are the people for whom God is Yahweh!