Isaiah 33: 6 And He will be the stability of your times,
A wealth of salvation, wisdom and knowledge;
The fear of the LORD is his treasure.
The Lord will be the stability of our times, too, as well as a wealth of salvation, wisdom and knowledge. He continues to be that source for us today, but the fear of the Lord is where it all starts. That fear, or, awe, is so highly regarded as to be referred to as a treasure. Our goal should be to keep holding the Lord in such a position of respect or awe, so as not to allow our awe to diminish, and thus to more effectively gain as much of the knowledge He has for us as we can.
Isaiah 31
Help Not in Egypt but in God
Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help
And rely on horses,
And trust in chariots because they are many
And in horsemen because they are very strong,
But they do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek the LORD!
Yet He also is wise and will bring disaster
And does not retract His words,
But will arise against the house of evildoers
And against the help of the workers of iniquity.
Now the Egyptians are men and not God,
And their horses are flesh and not spirit;
So the LORD will stretch out His hand,
And he who helps will stumble
And he who is helped will fall,
And all of them will come to an end together.
For thus says the LORD to me,
"As the lion or the young lion growls over his prey,
Against which a band of shepherds is called out,
And he will not be terrified at their voice nor disturbed at their noise,
So will the LORD of hosts come down to wage war on Mount Zion and on its hill."
Like flying birds so the LORD of hosts will protect Jerusalem.
He will protect and deliver it;
He will pass over and rescue it.
Return to Him from whom you have deeply defected, O sons of Israel. For in that day every man will cast away his silver idols and his gold idols, which your sinful hands have made for you as a sin.
And the Assyrian will fall by a sword not of man,
And a sword not of man will devour him.
So he will not escape the sword,
And his young men will become forced laborers.
"His rock will pass away because of panic,
And his princes will be terrified at the standard,"
Declares the LORD, whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.
Isaiah 32
The Glorious Future
Behold, a king will reign righteously
And princes will rule justly.
Each will be like a refuge from the wind
And a shelter from the storm,
Like streams of water in a dry country,
Like the shade of a huge rock in a parched land.
Then the eyes of those who see will not be blinded,
And the ears of those who hear will listen.
The mind of the hasty will discern the truth,
And the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak clearly.
No longer will the fool be called noble,
Or the rogue be spoken of as generous.
For a fool speaks nonsense,
And his heart inclines toward wickedness:
To practice ungodliness and to speak error against the LORD,
To keep the hungry person unsatisfied
And to withhold drink from the thirsty.
As for a rogue, his weapons are evil;
He devises wicked schemes
To destroy the afflicted with slander,
Even though the needy one speaks what is right.
But the noble man devises noble plans;
And by noble plans he stands.
Rise up, you women who are at ease,
And hear my voice;
Give ear to my word,
You complacent daughters.
Within a year and a few days
You will be troubled, O complacent daughters;
For the vintage is ended,
And the fruit gathering will not come.
Tremble, you women who are at ease;
Be troubled, you complacent daughters;
Strip, undress and put sackcloth on your waist,
Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields, for the fruitful vine,
For the land of my people in which thorns and briars shall come up;
Yea, for all the joyful houses and for the jubilant city.
Because the palace has been abandoned, the populated city forsaken.
Hill and watch-tower have become caves forever,
A delight for wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks;
Until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high,
And the wilderness becomes a fertile field,
And the fertile field is considered as a forest.
Then justice will dwell in the wilderness
And righteousness will abide in the fertile field.
And the work of righteousness will be peace,
And the service of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever.
Then my people will live in a peaceful habitation,
And in secure dwellings and in undisturbed resting places;
And it will hail when the forest comes down,
And the city will be utterly laid low.
How blessed will you be, you who sow beside all waters,
Who let out freely the ox and the donkey.
Isaiah 33
The Judgment of God
Woe to you, O destroyer,
While you were not destroyed;
And he who is treacherous, while others did not deal treacherously with him.
As soon as you finish destroying, you will be destroyed;
As soon as you cease to deal treacherously, others will deal treacherously with you.
O LORD, be gracious to us; we have waited for You.
Be their strength every morning,
Our salvation also in the time of distress.
At the sound of the tumult peoples flee;
At the lifting up of Yourself nations disperse.
Your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers;
As locusts rushing about men rush about on it.
The LORD is exalted, for He dwells on high;
He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.
And He will be the stability of your times,
A wealth of salvation, wisdom and knowledge;
The fear of the LORD is his treasure.
Behold, their brave men cry in the streets,
The ambassadors of peace weep bitterly.
The highways are desolate, the traveler has ceased,
He has broken the covenant, he has despised the cities,
He has no regard for man.
The land mourns and pines away,
Lebanon is shamed and withers;
Sharon is like a desert plain,
And Bashan and Carmel lose their foliage.
"Now I will arise," says the LORD,
"Now I will be exalted, now I will be lifted up.
"You have conceived chaff, you will give birth to stubble;
My breath will consume you like a fire.
"The peoples will be burned to lime,
Like cut thorns which are burned in the fire.
"You who are far away, hear what I have done;
And you who are near, acknowledge My might."
Sinners in Zion are terrified;
Trembling has seized the godless.
"Who among us can live with the consuming fire?
Who among us can live with continual burning?"
He who walks righteously and speaks with sincerity,
He who rejects unjust gain
And shakes his hands so that they hold no bribe;
He who stops his ears from hearing about bloodshed
And shuts his eyes from looking upon evil;
He will dwell on the heights,
His refuge will be the impregnable rock;
His bread will be given him,
His water will be sure.
Your eyes will see the King in His beauty;
They will behold a far-distant land.
Your heart will meditate on terror:
"Where is he who counts?
Where is he who weighs?
Where is he who counts the towers?"
You will no longer see a fierce people,
A people of unintelligible speech which no one comprehends,
Of a stammering tongue which no one understands.
Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts;
Your eyes will see Jerusalem, an undisturbed habitation,
A tent which will not be folded;
Its stakes will never be pulled up,
Nor any of its cords be torn apart.
But there the majestic One, the LORD, will be for us
A place of rivers and wide canals
On which no boat with oars will go,
And on which no mighty ship will pass—
For the LORD is our judge,
The LORD is our lawgiver,
The LORD is our king;
He will save us—
Your tackle hangs slack;
It cannot hold the base of its mast firmly,
Nor spread out the sail.
Then the prey of an abundant spoil will be divided;
The lame will take the plunder.
And no resident will say, "I am sick";
The people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Psalm 106
Israel's Rebelliousness and the LORD'S Deliverances.
Praise the LORD!
Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
Who can speak of the mighty deeds of the LORD,
Or can show forth all His praise?
How blessed are those who keep justice,
Who practice righteousness at all times!
Remember me, O LORD, in Your favor toward Your people;
Visit me with Your salvation,
That I may see the prosperity of Your chosen ones,
That I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation,
That I may glory with Your inheritance.
We have sinned like our fathers,
We have committed iniquity, we have behaved wickedly.
Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders;
They did not remember Your abundant kindnesses,
But rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea.
Nevertheless He saved them for the sake of His name,
That He might make His power known.
Thus He rebuked the Red Sea and it dried up,
And He led them through the deeps, as through the wilderness.
So He saved them from the hand of the one who hated them,
And redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
No comments:
Post a Comment