ISAIAH 8

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The Coming Assyrian Invasion  8:1 Then the Lord said to me, “Take a large tablet and write on it in common characters, ‘Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.’ 2 And I will get reliable witnesses, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me.”
    3 And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, “Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz; 4 for before the boy knows how to cry ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”
    5 The Lord spoke to me again: 6 “Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over Rezin and the son of Remaliah, 7 therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the River, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks, 8 and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.”
9

Be broken, you peoples, and be shattered;

give ear, all you far countries;

strap on your armor and be shattered;

strap on your armor and be shattered. 10

Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing;

speak a word, but it will not stand,

for God is with us. Fear God, Wait for the Lord11 For the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: 12 “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. 13 But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. 14 And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15 And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”
    16 Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples. 17 I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him. 18 Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. 19 And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. 21 They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. 22 And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.

ISAIAH 9

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For to Us a Child Is Born  9:1 But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
2

The people who walked in darkness

have seen a great light;

those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,

on them has light shone. 3

You have multiplied the nation;

you have increased its joy;

they rejoice before you

as with joy at the harvest,

as they are glad when they divide the spoil. 4

For the yoke of his burden,

and the staff for his shoulder,

the rod of his oppressor,

you have broken as on the day of Midian. 5

For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult

and every garment rolled in blood

will be burned as fuel for the fire. 6

For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given;

and the government shall be upon his shoulder,

and his name shall be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7

Of the increase of his government and of peace

there will be no end,

on the throne of David and over his kingdom,

to establish it and to uphold it

with justice and with righteousness

from this time forth and forevermore.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. Judgment on Arrogance and Oppression8

The Lord has sent a word against Jacob,

and it will fall on Israel; 9

and all the people will know,

Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,

who say in pride and in arrogance of heart: 10

“The bricks have fallen,

but we will build with dressed stones;

the sycamores have been cut down,

but we will put cedars in their place.” 11

But the Lord raises the adversaries of Rezin against him,

and stirs up his enemies. 12

The Syrians on the east and the Philistines on the west

devour Israel with open mouth.

For all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.
13

The people did not turn to him who struck them,

nor inquire of the Lord of hosts. 14

So the Lord cut off from Israel head and tail,

palm branch and reed in one day— 15

the elder and honored man is the head,

and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail; 16

for those who guide this people have been leading them astray,

and those who are guided by them are swallowed up. 17

Therefore the Lord does not rejoice over their young men,

and has no compassion on their fatherless and widows;

for everyone is godless and an evildoer,

and every mouth speaks folly.

For all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.
18

For wickedness burns like a fire;

it consumes briers and thorns;

it kindles the thickets of the forest,

and they roll upward in a column of smoke. 19

Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts

the land is scorched,

and the people are like fuel for the fire;

no one spares another. 20

They slice meat on the right, but are still hungry,

and they devour on the left, but are not satisfied;

each devours the flesh of his own arm, 21

Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim devours Manasseh;

together they are against Judah.

For all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.

PROVERBS 5

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Warning Against Adultery5:1

My son, be attentive to my wisdom;

incline your ear to my understanding, 2

that you may keep discretion,

and your lips may guard knowledge. 3

For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey,

and her speech is smoother than oil, 4

but in the end she is bitter as wormwood,

sharp as a two-edged sword. 5

Her feet go down to death;

her steps follow the path to Sheol; 6

she does not ponder the path of life;

her ways wander, and she does not know it.
7

And now, O sons, listen to me,

and do not depart from the words of my mouth. 8

Keep your way far from her,

and do not go near the door of her house, 9

lest you give your honor to others

and your years to the merciless, 10

lest strangers take their fill of your strength,

and your labors go to the house of a foreigner, 11

and at the end of your life you groan,

when your flesh and body are consumed, 12

and you say, “How I hated discipline,

and my heart despised reproof! 13

I did not listen to the voice of my teachers

or incline my ear to my instructors. 14

I am at the brink of utter ruin

in the assembled congregation.”
15

Drink water from your own cistern,

flowing water from your own well. 16

Should your springs be scattered abroad,

streams of water in the streets? 17

Let them be for yourself alone,

and not for strangers with you. 18

Let your fountain be blessed,

and rejoice in the wife of your youth, 19

a lovely deer, a graceful doe.

Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight;

be intoxicated always in her love. 20

Why should you be intoxicated, my son, with a forbidden woman

and embrace the bosom of an adulteress? 21

For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the Lord,

and he ponders all his paths. 22

The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him,

and he is held fast in the cords of his sin. 23

He dies for lack of discipline,

and because of his great folly he is led astray.

PSALM 104

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O Lord My God, You Are Very Great104:1

Bless the Lord, O my soul!

O Lord my God, you are very great!

You are clothed with splendor and majesty, 2

covering yourself with light as with a garment,

stretching out the heavens like a tent. 3

He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters;

he makes the clouds his chariot;

he rides on the wings of the wind; 4

he makes his messengers winds,

his ministers a flaming fire.
5

He set the earth on its foundations,

so that it should never be moved. 6

You covered it with the deep as with a garment;

the waters stood above the mountains. 7

At your rebuke they fled;

at the sound of your thunder they took to flight. 8

The mountains rose, the valleys sank down

to the place that you appointed for them. 9

You set a boundary that they may not pass,

so that they might not again cover the earth.
10

You make springs gush forth in the valleys;

they flow between the hills; 11

they give drink to every beast of the field;

the wild donkeys quench their thirst. 12

Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell;

they sing among the branches. 13

From your lofty abode you water the mountains;

the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.
14

You cause the grass to grow for the livestock

and plants for man to cultivate,

that he may bring forth food from the earth 15

and wine to gladden the heart of man,

oil to make his face shine

and bread to strengthen man’s heart.
16

The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly,

the cedars of Lebanon that he planted. 17

In them the birds build their nests;

the stork has her home in the fir trees. 18

The high mountains are for the wild goats;

the rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers.
19

He made the moon to mark the seasons;

the sun knows its time for setting. 20

You make darkness, and it is night,

when all the beasts of the forest creep about. 21

The young lions roar for their prey,

seeking their food from God. 22

When the sun rises, they steal away

and lie down in their dens. 23

Man goes out to his work

and to his labor until the evening.
24

O Lord, how manifold are your works!

In wisdom have you made them all;

the earth is full of your creatures. 25

Here is the sea, great and wide,

which teems with creatures innumerable,

living things both small and great. 26

There go the ships,

and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it.
27

These all look to you,

to give them their food in due season. 28

When you give it to them, they gather it up;

when you open your hand, they are filled with good things. 29

When you hide your face, they are dismayed;

when you take away their breath, they die

and return to their dust. 30

When you send forth your Spirit, they are created,

and you renew the face of the ground.
31

May the glory of the Lord endure forever;

may the Lord rejoice in his works, 32

who looks on the earth and it trembles,

who touches the mountains and they smoke! 33

I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;

I will sing praise to my God while I have being. 34

May my meditation be pleasing to him,

for I rejoice in the Lord. 35

Let sinners be consumed from the earth,

and let the wicked be no more!

Bless the Lord, O my soul!

Praise the Lord!

PSALM 105

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Tell of All His Wondrous Works105:1

Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name;

make known his deeds among the peoples! 2

Sing to him, sing praises to him;

tell of all his wondrous works! 3

Glory in his holy name;

let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice! 4

Seek the Lord and his strength;

seek his presence continually! 5

Remember the wondrous works that he has done,

his miracles, and the judgments he uttered, 6

O offspring of Abraham, his servant,

children of Jacob, his chosen ones!
7

He is the Lord our God;

his judgments are in all the earth. 8

He remembers his covenant forever,

the word that he commanded, for a thousand generations, 9

the covenant that he made with Abraham,

his sworn promise to Isaac, 10

which he confirmed to Jacob as a statute,

to Israel as an everlasting covenant, 11

saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan

as your portion for an inheritance.”
12

When they were few in number,

of little account, and sojourners in it, 13

wandering from nation to nation,

from one kingdom to another people, 14

he allowed no one to oppress them;

he rebuked kings on their account, 15

saying, “Touch not my anointed ones,

do my prophets no harm!”
16

When he summoned a famine on the land

and broke all supply of bread, 17

he had sent a man ahead of them,

Joseph, who was sold as a slave. 18

His feet were hurt with fetters;

his neck was put in a collar of iron; 19

until what he had said came to pass,

the word of the Lord tested him. 20

The king sent and released him;

the ruler of the peoples set him free; 21

he made him lord of his house

and ruler of all his possessions, 22

to bind his princes at his pleasure

and to teach his elders wisdom.
23

Then Israel came to Egypt;

Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. 24

And the Lord made his people very fruitful

and made them stronger than their foes. 25

He turned their hearts to hate his people,

to deal craftily with his servants.
26

He sent Moses, his servant,

and Aaron, whom he had chosen. 27

They performed his signs among them

and miracles in the land of Ham. 28

He sent darkness, and made the land dark;

they did not rebel against his words. 29

He turned their waters into blood

and caused their fish to die. 30

Their land swarmed with frogs,

even in the chambers of their kings. 31

He spoke, and there came swarms of flies,

and gnats throughout their country. 32

He gave them hail for rain,

and fiery lightning bolts through their land. 33

He struck down their vines and fig trees,

and shattered the trees of their country. 34

He spoke, and the locusts came,

young locusts without number, 35

which devoured all the vegetation in their land

and ate up the fruit of their ground. 36

He struck down all the firstborn in their land,

the firstfruits of all their strength.
37

Then he brought out Israel with silver and gold,

and there was none among his tribes who stumbled. 38

Egypt was glad when they departed,

for dread of them had fallen upon it.
39

He spread a cloud for a covering,

and fire to give light by night. 40

They asked, and he brought quail,

and gave them bread from heaven in abundance. 41

He opened the rock, and water gushed out;

it flowed through the desert like a river. 42

For he remembered his holy promise,

and Abraham, his servant.
43

So he brought his people out with joy,

his chosen ones with singing. 44

And he gave them the lands of the nations,

and they took possession of the fruit of the peoples’ toil, 45

that they might keep his statutes

and observe his laws.

Praise the Lord!