Through the Bible – Day 274

Bible text(s)

Isaiah 15

Moab will be punished

1This is a message about Moab:

The towns of Ar and Kir

were destroyed in a night.

Moab is left in ruins!

2Everyone in Dibon has gone up

to the temple and the shrines

to cry and weep.

All of Moab is crying.

Heads and beards are shaved

because of what happened

at Nebo and Medeba.

3In the towns and at home,

everyone wears sackcloth

and cries loud and long.

4From Heshbon and Elealeh,

weeping is heard in Jahaz;

Moab's warriors scream

while trembling with fear.

Pity Moab

5I pity Moab!

Its people are running to Zoar

and to Eglath-Shelishiyah.

They cry on their way up

to the town of Luhith;

on the road to Horonaim

they tell of disasters.

6The streams of Nimrim

and the grasslands

have dried up.

Every plant is parched.

7The people of Moab are leaving,

crossing over Willow Brook,

taking everything they own

and have worked for.

8In the towns of Eglaim

and of Beerelim

and everywhere else in Moab

mournful cries are heard.

9The streams near Dimon

are flowing with blood.

But the Lord will bring

even worse trouble to Dimon,

because all in Moab who escape

will be attacked by lions.

Isaiah 16

More troubles for Moab

1Send lambs as gifts

to the ruler of the land.

Send them across the desert

from Sela to Mount Zion.

2The women of Moab

crossing the River Arnon

are like a flock of birds

scattered from their nests.

3Moab's messengers say

to the people of Judah,

“Be kind and help us!

Shade us from the heat

of the noonday sun.

Hide our refugees!

Don't turn them away.

4Let our people live

in your country

and find safety here.”

Moab, your cruel enemies

will disappear;

they will no longer attack

and destroy your land.

5Then a kingdom of love

will be set up,

and someone from David's family

will rule with fairness.

He will do what is right

and quickly bring justice.

Moab's pride is destroyed

6We have heard of Moab's pride.

Its people strut and boast,

but without reason.

7Tell everyone in Moab

to mourn for their nation.

Tell them to cry and weep

for those fine raisins

of Kir-Hareseth.

8Vineyards near Heshbon

and Sibmah

have turned brown.

The rulers of nations

used to get drunk

on wine from those vineyards

that spread to Jazer,

then across the desert

and beyond the sea.

9Now I mourn like Jazer

for the vineyards

of Sibmah.

I shed tears for Heshbon

and for Elealeh.

There will be no more

harvest celebrations

10or joyful and happy times,

while bringing in the crops.

Singing and shouting are gone

from the vineyards.

There are no joyful shouts

where grapes were pressed.

God has silenced them all.

11Deep in my heart I suffer

for Moab and Kir-Heres.

12It's useless for Moab's people

to wear themselves out

by going to their altars

to worship and pray.

13The LORD has already said all this about Moab. 14Now he says, “The contract of a hired worker is good for three years, but Moab's glory and greatness won't last any longer than that. Only a few of its people will survive, and they will be left helpless.”

Isaiah 17

Damascus will be punished

1This is a message about Damascus:

Damascus is doomed!

It will end up in ruins.

2The villages around Aroer

will be deserted,

with only sheep living there

and no one to bother them.

3Israel will lose its fortresses.

The kingdom of Damascus

will be destroyed;

its survivors will suffer

the same fate as Israel.

The LORD All-Powerful

has promised this.

Sin and suffering

4When that time comes,

the glorious nation of Israel

will be brought down;

its prosperous people

will be skin and bones.

5Israel will be like wheat fields

in Rephaim Valley

picked clean of grain.

6It will be like an olive tree

beaten with a stick,

leaving two or three olives

or perhaps four or five

on the highest

or most fruitful branches.

The LORD God of Israel

has promised this.

7At that time the people will turn and trust their Creator, the holy God of Israel. 8They have built altars and places for burning incense to their goddess Asherah, and they have set up sacred poles for her. But they will stop worshipping at these places.

9Israel captured powerful cities and chased out the people who lived there. But these cities will lie in ruins, covered over with weeds and undergrowth.

10Israel, you have forgotten

the God who saves you,

the one who is the mighty rock

where you find protection.

You plant the finest flowers

to honour a foreign god.

11The plants may sprout

and blossom

that very same morning,

but it will do you no good,

because you will suffer

endless agony.

God defends his people

12The nations are a noisy,

thunderous sea.

13But even if they roar

like a fearsome flood,

God will give the command

to turn them back.

They will be like dust,

or like straw

blowing across the hills

in a storm.

14In the evening

their attack is fierce,

but by morning

they are destroyed.

This is what happens to those

who raid and rob us.

Isaiah 18

Ethiopia will be punished

1Downstream from Ethiopia

lies the country of Egypt,

swarming with insects.

2Egypt sends messengers

up the River Nile

on ships made of reeds.

Send them fast to Ethiopia,

whose people are tall

and have smooth skin.

Their land is divided by rivers;

they are strong and brutal,

feared all over the world.

3Everyone on this earth,

listen with care!

A signal will be given

on the mountains,

and you will hear a trumpet.

4The LORD said to me,

“I will calmly look down

from my home above—

as calmly as the sun at midday

or clouds in the heat

of harvest season.”

5Before the blossoms

can turn into grapes,

God will cut off the shoots

and hack off the branches.

6Ethiopians will be food

for mountain eagles

during the summer

and for wild animals

during the winter.

7Those Ethiopians are tall and their skin is smooth. They are feared all over the world, because they are strong and brutal. But at that time they will come from their land divided by rivers, and they will bring gifts to the LORD All-Powerful, who is worshipped on Mount Zion.

Isaiah 15:1-18:7CEVOpen in Bible reader

Philippians 2

Christ's example of true humility

1Christ encourages you, and his love comforts you. God's Spirit unites you, and you are concerned for others. 2Now make me completely happy! Live in harmony by showing love for each other. Be united in what you think, as if you were only one person. 3Don't be jealous or proud, but be humble and consider others more important than yourselves. 4Care about them as much as you care about yourselves 5and think the same way that Christ Jesus thought:

6Christ was truly God.

But he did not try to remain

equal with God.

7Instead he gave up everything

and became a slave,

when he became

like one of us.

8Christ was humble.

He obeyed God and even died

on a cross.

9Then God gave Christ

the highest place

and honoured his name

above all others.

10So at the name of Jesus

everyone will bow down,

those in heaven, on earth,

and under the earth.

11And to the glory

of God the Father

everyone will openly agree,

“Jesus Christ is Lord!”

Lights in the world

12My dear friends, you always obeyed when I was with you. Now that I am away, you should obey even more. So work with fear and trembling to discover what it really means to be saved. 13God is working in you to make you willing and able to obey him.

14Do everything without grumbling or arguing. 15Then you will be the pure and innocent children of God. You live among people who are crooked and evil, but you must not do anything that they can say is wrong. Try to shine as lights among the people of this world, 16as you hold firmly to the message that gives life. Then on the day when Christ returns, I can take pride in you. I can also know that my work and efforts were not useless.

17Your faith in the Lord and your service are like a sacrifice offered to him. And my own blood may have to be poured out with the sacrifice. If this happens, I will be glad and rejoice with you. 18In the same way, you should be glad and rejoice with me.

News about Paul's friends

Timothy and Epaphroditus

19I want to be encouraged by news about you. So I hope the Lord Jesus will soon let me send Timothy to you. 20I don't have anyone else who cares about you as much as he does. 21The others think only about what interests them and not about what concerns Christ Jesus. 22But you know what kind of person Timothy is. He has worked with me like a son in spreading the good news. 23I hope to send him to you, as soon as I find out what is going to happen to me. 24And I feel sure that the Lord will also let me come soon.

25I think I ought to send my dear friend Epaphroditus back to you. He is a follower and a worker and a soldier of the Lord, just as I am. You sent him to look after me, 26but now he is eager to see you. He is worried, because you heard he was sick. 27In fact, he was very sick and almost died. But God was kind to him, and also to me, and he kept me from being burdened down with sorrow.

28Now I am more eager than ever to send Epaphroditus back again. You will be glad to see him, and I won't have to worry any longer. 29Be sure to give him a cheerful welcome, just as people who serve the Lord deserve. 30He almost died working for Christ, and he risked his own life to do for me what you could not.

Philippians 2:1-30CEVOpen in Bible reader
Canadian Bible Societyv.4.24.4
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