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Isaiah 34-36 (Listen)

Judgment on the Nations

34:1 Draw near, O nations, to hear,
  and give attention, O peoples!
Let the earth hear, and all that fills it;
  the world, and all that comes from it.
For the Lord is enraged against all the nations,
  and furious against all their host;
  he has devoted them to destruction, [1] has given them over for slaughter.
Their slain shall be cast out,
  and the stench of their corpses shall rise;
  the mountains shall flow with their blood.
All the host of heaven shall rot away,
  and the skies roll up like a scroll.
All their host shall fall,
  as leaves fall from the vine,
  like leaves falling from the fig tree.

For my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens;
  behold, it descends for judgment upon Edom,
  upon the people I have devoted to destruction.
The Lord has a sword; it is sated with blood;
  it is gorged with fat,
  with the blood of lambs and goats,
  with the fat of the kidneys of rams.
For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah,
  a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
Wild oxen shall fall with them,
  and young steers with the mighty bulls.
Their land shall drink its fill of blood,
  and their soil shall be gorged with fat.

For the Lord has a day of vengeance,
  a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
And the streams of Edom [2] shall be turned into pitch,
  and her soil into sulfur;
  her land shall become burning pitch.
Night and day it shall not be quenched;
  its smoke shall go up forever.
From generation to generation it shall lie waste;
  none shall pass through it forever and ever.
But the hawk and the porcupine [3] shall possess it,
  the owl and the raven shall dwell in it.
He shall stretch the line of confusion [4] over it,
  and the plumb line of emptiness.
Its nobles—there is no one there to call it a kingdom,
  and all its princes shall be nothing.

Thorns shall grow over its strongholds,
  nettles and thistles in its fortresses.
It shall be the haunt of jackals,
  an abode for ostriches. [5]
And wild animals shall meet with hyenas;
  the wild goat shall cry to his fellow;
indeed, there the night bird [6] settles
  and finds for herself a resting place.

There the owl nests and lays
  and hatches and gathers her young in her shadow;
indeed, there the hawks are gathered,
  each one with her mate.
Seek and read from the book of the Lord:
  Not one of these shall be missing;
  none shall be without her mate.
For the mouth of the Lord has commanded,
  and his Spirit has gathered them.
He has cast the lot for them;
  his hand has portioned it out to them with the line;
they shall possess it forever;
  from generation to generation they shall dwell in it.

The Ransomed Shall Return

35:1 The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad;
  the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus;
it shall blossom abundantly
  and rejoice with joy and singing.
The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
  the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.
They shall see the glory of the Lord,
  the majesty of our God.

Strengthen the weak hands,
  and make firm the feeble knees.
Say to those who have an anxious heart,
  “Be strong; fear not!
Behold, your God
  will come with vengeance,
with the recompense of God.
  He will come and save you.”

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
  and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
then shall the lame man leap like a deer,
  and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
For waters break forth in the wilderness,
  and streams in the desert;
the burning sand shall become a pool,
  and the thirsty ground springs of water;
in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down,
  the grass shall become reeds and rushes.

And a highway shall be there,
  and it shall be called the Way of Holiness;
the unclean shall not pass over it.
  It shall belong to those who walk on the way;
  even if they are fools, they shall not go astray. [7]
No lion shall be there,
  nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;
they shall not be found there,
  but the redeemed shall walk there.
And the ransomed of the Lord shall return
  and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
  they shall obtain gladness and joy,
  and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Sennacherib Invades Judah

36:1 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. And the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh [8] from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem, with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer's Field. And there came out to him Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.

And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me? Behold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. But if you say to me, “We trust in the Lord our God,” is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar”? Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master's servants, when you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? Moreover, is it without the Lord that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The Lord said to me, Go up against this land and destroy it.’”

Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” But the Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”

Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord by saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us. This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” Do not listen to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of Assyria: Make your peace with me [9] and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you by saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”

But they were silent and answered him not a word, for the king's command was, “Do not answer him.” Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.

Philippians 2 (Listen)

Christ's Example of Humility

2:1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, [10] who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, [11] being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Lights in the World

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. Even if I am to be poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.

Timothy and Epaphroditus

I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. For I have no one like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. But you know Timothy's [12] proven worth, how as a son [13] with a father he has served with me in the gospel. I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me, and I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also.

I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need, for he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill. Indeed he was ill, near to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. I am the more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious. So receive him in the Lord with all joy, and honor such men, for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was lacking in your service to me.

Footnotes

[1] 34:2 That is, set apart (devoted) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction); also verse 5
[2] 34:9 Hebrew her streams
[3] 34:11 The identity of the animals rendered hawk and porcupine is uncertain
[4] 34:11 Hebrew formlessness
[5] 34:13 Or owls
[6] 34:14 Identity uncertain
[7] 35:8 Or if they are fools, they shall not wander in it
[8] 36:2 Rabshakeh is the title of a high-ranking Assyrian military officer
[9] 36:16 Hebrew Make a blessing with me
[10] 2:5 Or which was also in Christ Jesus
[11] 2:7 Greek bondservant
[12] 2:22 Greek his
[13] 2:22 Greek child