Ezekiel 7 - 8, Philippians 1 - 2, Psalm 140

The Pitiless Wrath of Yahweh

7Moreover, the word of Yahweh came to me saying, ²“Now as for you, son of man, thus says Lord Yahweh to the land of Israel, ‘An ^aend! The end is coming on the four corners of the earth. ³‘Now the end is upon you, and I will send My anger against you; I will judge you according to your ways and put all your abominations upon you. ⁴‘For My eye will have no pity on you, nor will I spare you, but I will ^aput your ways upon you, and your abominations will be among you; then you will ^bknow that I am Yahweh!’

⁵“Thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘A ^acalamitous evil, a unique calamitous evil, behold, it is coming! ⁶‘An end has come; the end has come! It has ^aawakened against you; behold, it is coming! ⁷‘Your doom has come to you, O inhabitant of the land. The ^atime has come; the ^bday is near—confusion rather than joyful shouting on the mountains. ⁸‘Now it is near when I will ^apour out My wrath on you and spend My anger against you and ^bjudge you according to your ways and put on you all your abominations. ⁹‘My eye will show no pity, nor will I spare. I will give to you according to your ways, while your abominations are among you; then you will know that I, Yahweh, do the striking.

¹⁰‘Behold, the day! Behold, it is coming! Your doom has gone forth; the ^arod has blossomed; arrogance has budded. ¹¹‘Violence ¹has grown into a rod of ^awickedness. None of them shall remain, none of their multitude, none of their ^bmoaning, nor anything eminent among them. ¹²‘The ^atime has come; the day has arrived. Let not the ^bbuyer be glad nor the seller mourn; for ^cwrath is against all their multitude. ¹³‘Indeed, the seller will not ^areturn to himself ¹what he sold as long as ²they both live; for the vision regarding all their multitude will not return empty, nor will any of them strengthen his life by his iniquity.

¹⁴‘They have ^ablown the trumpet and made everything ready, but no one is going to the battle, for My wrath is against all ¹their multitude. ¹⁵‘The ^asword is outside, and the plague and the famine are inside. He who is in the field will die by the sword; famine and the plague will also devour those in the city. ¹⁶‘Even when their survivors ^aescape, they will be on the mountains like ^bdoves of the valleys, all of them ^cmoaning, each over his own iniquity. ¹⁷‘All ^ahands will hang limp, and all knees will ¹become like water. ¹⁸‘They will ^agird themselves with sackcloth, and ^bhorror will cover them; and shame will be on all faces and ^cbaldness on all their heads. ¹⁹‘They will ^athrow their silver into the streets, and their gold will become an impure thing; their ^bsilver and their gold will not be able to deliver them in the day of the fury of Yahweh. They cannot satisfy their soul, nor can they fill their stomachs, for their iniquity has become an occasion of stumbling.

The Temple Profaned

²⁰‘They ¹transformed the beauty of His ornaments into pride, and ^athey made the images of their abominations and their detestable things with it; therefore I will make it an impure thing to them. ²¹‘I will give it into the hands of the ^aforeigners as plunder and to the wicked of the earth as spoil, and they will profane it. ²²‘I will also turn My ^aface from them, and they will profane My secret place; then robbers will enter and profane it.

²³‘^aMake the chain, for the land is full of ^bjudgments that promote bloodshed, and the city is ^cfull of violence. ²⁴‘Therefore, I will bring the most evil of the ^anations, and they will possess their houses. I will also make the ^bpride of the strong ones cease, and their ^choly places will be profaned. ²⁵‘Anguish has come, and they will seek ^apeace, but there will be none. ²⁶‘^aDisaster will come upon disaster, and ^breport will be added to report; then they will seek a ^cvision from a prophet, but the ^dlaw will be lost from the priest and ^ecounsel from the elders. ²⁷‘The king will mourn, the prince will be ^aclothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land will be dismayed. According to their way I will deal with them, and by their judgments I will judge them. And they will know that I am Yahweh.’”

Visions of Abominations in the Sanctuary

8Now it happened in the sixth year, on the fifth day of the sixth month, as I was sitting in my house with the elders of Judah sitting before me, that the hand of Lord Yahweh fell on me there. ²Then I looked, and behold, a likeness as the appearance of ¹one on fire; from His loins and downward there was the ^aappearance of fire, and from His loins and upward the appearance of brightness, like ^bthe gleam of ²glowing metal. ³He sent forth the form of a hand and took me by a lock of my head; and the ^aSpirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the ¹north gate of the inner court, where the seat of the figure of jealousy, which ^bprovokes to jealousy, was located. ⁴And behold, the ^aglory of the God of Israel was there, like the appearance which I saw in the plain.

⁵Then He said to me, “Son of man, ^araise your eyes now toward the north.” So I raised my eyes toward the north, and behold, to the north of the altar gate was this ^bfigure of jealousy at the entrance. ⁶And He said to me, “Son of man, are you seeing what they are doing, the great ^aabominations which the house of Israel is doing here, so that I would be far from My sanctuary? But yet you will see still greater abominations.”

⁷Then He brought me to the entrance of the court, and when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall. ⁸He said to me, “Son of man, now ^adig through the wall.” So I dug through the wall, and behold, an entrance. ⁹And He said to me, “Go in and see the evil abominations that they are doing here.” ¹⁰So I entered and looked, and behold, every form of creeping things and beasts and detestable things, with all the idols of the house of Israel, were carved on the wall all around. ¹¹Standing in front of them were ^aseventy ^belders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them, each man with his ^ccenser in his hand and the fragrance of the cloud of incense rising. ¹²Then He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each man in the room of his carved images? For they say, ‘^aYahweh does not see us; Yahweh has ^bforsaken the land.’” ¹³And He said to me, “Yet you will see still greater abominations which they are doing.”

¹⁴Then He brought me to the entrance of the ^agate of the house of Yahweh which was toward the north; and behold, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz. ¹⁵He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? Yet you will see still greater abominations than these.”

¹⁶Then He brought me into the inner court of the house of Yahweh. And behold, at the entrance to the temple of Yahweh, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their ^abacks to the temple of Yahweh and their faces toward the east; and ^bthey were ¹prostrating themselves eastward toward the sun. ¹⁷He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to do the abominations which they have done here, that they have ^afilled the land with violence and ^bprovoked Me to anger still more? For behold, they are sending forth the twig to their nose. ¹⁸“Therefore, I also will do this in wrath: My eye will have no pity, nor will I spare; and ^athey will cry in My ears with a loud voice, yet I will not listen to them.”

Thanksgiving

1^aPaul and ^bTimothy, ^cslaves of ^dChrist Jesus, To ^eall the ¹^,^fsaints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the overseers and deacons: ²^aGrace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

³^aI thank my God in all my remembrance of you, ⁴always offering prayer with joy in ^amy every prayer for you all, ⁵because of your ¹^,^afellowship in the ^bgospel ^cfrom the first day until now. ⁶For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until ^athe day of Christ Jesus. ⁷¹For ^ait is only right for me to think this way about you all, because I ^bhave you in my heart, since both in my ^cchains and in the ^ddefense and confirmation of the ^egospel, you all are fellow partakers with me in this grace. ⁸For ^aGod is my witness, how I long for you all with the ¹affection of ^bChrist Jesus. ⁹And this I pray, that ^ayour love may abound still more and more in ^bfull knowledge and all discernment, ¹⁰so that you may ¹^,^aapprove the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and without fault ²until ^bthe day of Christ, ¹¹having been filled with the ^afruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

The Progress of the Gospel

¹²Now I want you to know, brothers, that my circumstances ^ahave turned out for the greater progress of the ^bgospel, ¹³so that my ^achains in Christ have become well known throughout the whole ¹praetorian guard and to ^beveryone else, ¹⁴and that most of the ¹brothers, having become confident in the Lord because of my ^achains, have ^bfar more courage to speak the word of God without fear. ¹⁵^aSome, to be sure, are preaching Christ even ¹from envy and strife, but some also ²from good will; ¹⁶the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the ^agospel; ¹⁷the former proclaim Christ ^aout of selfish ambition ¹rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me affliction in my ^bchains. ¹⁸What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice, ¹⁹for I know that ^athis will turn out for my salvation ^bthrough your ¹prayers and the provision of ^cthe Spirit of Jesus Christ, ²⁰according to my ^aearnest expectation and ^bhope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with ^call boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be ^dmagnified in my body, ^ewhether by life or by death.

To Live Is Christ

²¹For to me, ^ato live is Christ and to die is gain. ²²¹But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean ^afruitful labor for me; and I do not know what I will choose. ²³But I am hard-pressed ¹between the two, having the ^adesire to depart and ^bbe with Christ, for that is very much better, ²⁴yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. ²⁵^aAnd convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy ¹in the faith, ²⁶so that your reason for ^aboasting may abound in Christ Jesus in me, through my coming to you again.

²⁷Only ¹live your lives in a manner ^aworthy of the ^bgospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I will hear about your circumstances, that you are ^cstanding firm in ^done spirit, with one ²mind ^econtending together for the faith of the gospel, ²⁸in no way alarmed by your opponents—which is a ^asign of destruction for them, but of salvation for you, and that too, from God. ²⁹For to you ^ait has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to ^bsuffer for His sake, ³⁰having the same ^astruggle which ^byou saw in me, and now hear to be in me.

Christ’s Humility and Exaltation

2Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any ^afellowship of the Spirit, if any ¹^,^baffection and compassion, ²^afulfill my joy, that ^byou think the same way, by maintaining the same love, being united in spirit, thinking on one purpose, ³doing nothing ¹from ²^,^aselfish ambition or ^bvain glory, but with humility of mind ^cregarding one another as more important than yourselves, ⁴^anot merely looking out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. ⁵^aHave this way of thinking ¹in yourselves which was also in ^bChrist Jesus, ⁶who, although ^aexisting in the ^bform of God, ^cdid not regard equality with God a thing ¹to be grasped, ⁷but ¹^,^aemptied Himself, by taking the form of a ^bslave, by ^cbeing made in the likeness of men. ⁸Being found in appearance as a man, ^aHe humbled Himself by becoming ^bobedient to the point of death, even ^cdeath ¹on a cross. ⁹^aTherefore, God also ^bhighly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him ^cthe name which is above every name, ¹⁰so that at the name of Jesus ^aevery knee will bow, of ^bthose who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹and that ^aevery tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is ¹^,^bLord, to the glory of God the Father.

¹²So then, my beloved, ^ajust as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your ^bsalvation with ^cfear and trembling; ¹³for it is ^aGod who is at work in you, both to will and to work ^bfor His good pleasure.

¹⁴Do all things without ^agrumbling or disputing, ¹⁵so that you will be ^ablameless and innocent, ^bchildren of God without blemish in the midst of a ^ccrooked and perverse generation, among whom you ^dshine as ¹lights in the world, ¹⁶holding ¹fast the word of life, so that in ^athe day of Christ I will have reason to boast because I did not ^brun in vain nor ^clabor in vain. ¹⁷But even if I am being ^apoured out as a drink offering upon ^bthe sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. ¹⁸And you also, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.

Timothy and Epaphroditus Sent

¹⁹But I hope in the Lord Jesus to ^asend ^bTimothy to you shortly, so that I also may be in good spirits when I learn of your circumstances. ²⁰For I have no one else ^aof kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned about your circumstances. ²¹For they all ^aseek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus. ²²But you know ^aof his proven worth, that ^bhe served with me in the furtherance of the gospel ^clike a child serving his father. ²³^aTherefore I hope to send him immediately, as soon as I ¹evaluate my own circumstances, ²⁴and ^aI am confident in the Lord that I myself also will be coming shortly. ²⁵But I regarded it necessary to send to you ^aEpaphroditus, my brother and ^bfellow worker and ^cfellow soldier, who is also your ¹^,^dmessenger and ^eminister to my need; ²⁶because he was longing ¹for you all and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick. ²⁷For indeed he was sick to the point of death, but God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow. ²⁸Therefore I have sent him all the more eagerly so that when you see him again you may rejoice and I may be less concerned. ²⁹^aReceive him then in the Lord with all joy, and ^bhold men like him in high regard ³⁰because he came close to death ¹^,^afor the work of Christ, risking his life to ^bfulfill ²what was lacking in your service to me.

Rescue Me, O Yahweh, from Evil Men

140

For the choir director. A Psalm of David.

^aRescue me, O Yahweh, from evil men;Guard me from ^bviolent men²Who ^athink up evil things in their hearts;They ^bcontinually stir up wars.³They ^asharpen their tongues as a serpent;^bPoison of an asp is under their lips. ¹ Selah.⁴^aKeep me, O Yahweh, from the hands of the wicked;^bGuard me from violent menWho ¹give thought to ²^,^ctrip up my steps.⁵The proud have ^ahidden a trap for me, and cords;They have spread a ^bnet by the ¹wayside;They have set ^csnares for me. Selah.⁶I ^asaid to Yahweh, “You are my God;^bGive ear, O Yahweh, to the ^cvoice of my supplications.⁷“O Yahweh, O Lord, ^athe strength of my salvation,You have ^bcovered my head in the day of ¹battle.⁸“Do not grant, O Yahweh, the ^adesires of the wicked;Do not promote ^bhis evil ¹scheme, that they not be exalted. Selah.⁹“As for the head of those who surround me,May the ^atrouble from their lips cover them.¹⁰“May ^aburning coals be shaken out upon them;May He ^bcause them to fall into the fire,Into ¹bottomless pits from which they ^ccan never rise.¹¹“May a ¹slanderer not be established in the earth;^aMay evil hunt the violent man ²speedily.”¹²I know that Yahweh will ^amaintain the cause for the afflictedAnd ^bjudgment for the needy.¹³Surely the ^arighteous will give thanks to Your name;The ^bupright will abide in Your presence.