Isaiah 17

A Message about Damascus and Israel
 ¹  This message came to me concerning Damascus:

"Look, the city of Damascus will disappear!
  It will become a heap of ruins.
 ²  The towns of Aroer will be deserted.
  Flocks will graze in the streets and lie down undisturbed,
  with no one to chase them away.
 ³  The fortified towns of Israel [3]  will also be destroyed,
  and the royal power of Damascus will end.
All that remains of Syria [3] 
  will share the fate of Israel's departed glory,"
  declares the LORD of Heaven's Armies.

 ⁴  "In that day Israel's [4]  glory will grow dim;
  its robust body will waste away.
 ⁵  The whole land will look like a grainfield
  after the harvesters have gathered the grain.
It will be desolate,
  like the fields in the valley of Rephaim after the harvest.
 ⁶  Only a few of its people will be left,
  like stray olives left on a tree after the harvest.
Only two or three remain in the highest branches,
  four or five scattered here and there on the limbs,"
  declares the LORD, the God of Israel.

 ⁷  Then at last the people will look to their Creator
  and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.
 ⁸  They will no longer look to their idols for help
  or worship what their own hands have made.
They will never again bow down to their Asherah poles
  or worship at the pagan shrines they have built.
 ⁹  Their largest cities will be like a deserted forest,
  like the land the Hivites and Amorites abandoned [9] 
when the Israelites came here so long ago.
  It will be utterly desolate.
 ¹⁰  Why? Because you have turned from the God who can save you.
  You have forgotten the Rock who can hide you.
So you may plant the finest grapevines
  and import the most expensive seedlings.
 ¹¹  They may sprout on the day you set them out;
  yes, they may blossom on the very morning you plant them,
but you will never pick any grapes from them.
  Your only harvest will be a load of grief and unrelieved pain.

 ¹²  Listen! The armies of many nations
  roar like the roaring of the sea.
Hear the thunder of the mighty forces
  as they rush forward like thundering waves.
 ¹³  But though they thunder like breakers on a beach,
  God will silence them, and they will run away.
They will flee like chaff scattered by the wind,
  like a tumbleweed whirling before a storm.
 ¹⁴  In the evening Israel waits in terror,
  but by dawn its enemies are dead.
This is the just reward of those who plunder us,
  a fitting end for those who destroy us.

Isaiah 18

A Message about Ethiopia
 ¹  Listen, Ethiopia [1] —land of fluttering sails [1] 
  that lies at the headwaters of the Nile,
 ²  that sends ambassadors
  in swift boats down the river.

Go, swift messengers!
Take a message to a tall, smooth-skinned people,
  who are feared far and wide
for their conquests and destruction,
  and whose land is divided by rivers.

 ³  All you people of the world,
  everyone who lives on the earth—
when I raise my battle flag on the mountain, look!
  When I blow the ram's horn, listen!
 ⁴  For the LORD has told me this: "I will watch quietly from my dwelling place—as quietly as the heat rises on a summer day, or as the morning dew forms during the harvest."  ⁵  Even before you begin your attack,
  while your plans are ripening like grapes,
the LORD will cut off your new growth with pruning shears.
  He will snip off and discard your spreading branches.
 ⁶  Your mighty army will be left dead in the fields
  for the mountain vultures and wild animals.
The vultures will tear at the corpses all summer.
  The wild animals will gnaw at the bones all winter.

 ⁷  At that time the LORD of Heaven's Armies will receive gifts
  from this land divided by rivers,
from this tall, smooth-skinned people,
  who are feared far and wide for their conquests and destruction.
They will bring the gifts to Jerusalem, [7] 
  where the LORD of Heaven's Armies dwells.

Isaiah 19

A Message about Egypt
 ¹  This message came to me concerning Egypt:

Look! The LORD is advancing against Egypt,
  riding on a swift cloud.
The idols of Egypt tremble.
  The hearts of the Egyptians melt with fear.

 ²  "I will make Egyptian fight against Egyptian—
  brother against brother,
neighbor against neighbor,
  city against city,
  province against province.
 ³  The Egyptians will lose heart,
  and I will confuse their plans.
They will plead with their idols for wisdom
  and call on spirits, mediums, and those who consult the spirits of the dead.
 ⁴  I will hand Egypt over
  to a hard, cruel master.
A fierce king will rule them,"
  says the Lord, the LORD of Heaven's Armies.

 ⁵  The waters of the Nile will fail to rise and flood the fields.
  The riverbed will be parched and dry.
 ⁶  The canals of the Nile will dry up,
  and the streams of Egypt will stink
  with rotting reeds and rushes.
 ⁷  All the greenery along the riverbank
  and all the crops along the river
  will dry up and blow away.
 ⁸  The fishermen will lament for lack of work.
  Those who cast hooks into the Nile will groan,
  and those who use nets will lose heart.
 ⁹  There will be no flax for the harvesters,
  no thread for the weavers.
 ¹⁰  They will be in despair,
  and all the workers will be sick at heart.

 ¹¹  What fools are the officials of Zoan!
  Their best counsel to the king of Egypt is stupid and wrong.
Will they still boast to Pharaoh of their wisdom?
  Will they dare brag about all their wise ancestors?
 ¹²  Where are your wise counselors, Pharaoh?
  Let them tell you what God plans,
  what the LORD of Heaven's Armies is going to do to Egypt.
 ¹³  The officials of Zoan are fools,
  and the officials of Memphis [13]  are deluded.
The leaders of the people
  have led Egypt astray.
 ¹⁴  The LORD has sent a spirit of foolishness on them,
  so all their suggestions are wrong.
They cause Egypt to stagger
  like a drunk in his vomit.
 ¹⁵  There is nothing Egypt can do.
  All are helpless—
the head and the tail,
  the noble palm branch and the lowly reed.

   ¹⁶  In that day the Egyptians will be as weak as women. They will cower in fear beneath the upraised fist of the LORD of Heaven's Armies.  ¹⁷  Just to speak the name of Israel will terrorize them, for the LORD of Heaven's Armies has laid out his plans against them.
   ¹⁸  In that day five of Egypt's cities will follow the LORD of Heaven's Armies. They will even begin to speak Hebrew, the language of Canaan. One of these cities will be Heliopolis, the City of the Sun. [18] 
   ¹⁹  In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the heart of Egypt, and there will be a monument to the LORD at its border.  ²⁰  It will be a sign and a witness that the LORD of Heaven's Armies is worshiped in the land of Egypt. When the people cry to the LORD for help against those who oppress them, he will send them a savior who will rescue them.  ²¹  The LORD will make himself known to the Egyptians. Yes, they will know the LORD and will give their sacrifices and offerings to him. They will make a vow to the LORD and will keep it.  ²²  The LORD will strike Egypt, and then he will bring healing. For the Egyptians will turn to the LORD, and he will listen to their pleas and heal them.
   ²³  In that day Egypt and Assyria will be connected by a highway. The Egyptians and Assyrians will move freely between their lands, and they will both worship God.  ²⁴  And Israel will be their ally. The three will be together, and Israel will be a blessing to them.  ²⁵  For the LORD of Heaven's Armies will say, "Blessed be Egypt, my people. Blessed be Assyria, the land I have made. Blessed be Israel, my special possession!"

<<  17:3a Hebrew of Ephraim, referring to the northern kingdom of Israel. 17:3b Hebrew Aram.
<<  17:4 Hebrew Jacob's. See note on 14:1.
<<  17:9 As in Greek version; Hebrew reads like places of the wood and the highest bough.
<<  18:1a Hebrew Cush. 18:1b Or land of many locusts; Hebrew reads land of whirring wings.
<<  18:7 Hebrew to Mount Zion.
<<  19:13 Hebrew Noph.
<<  19:18 Or will be the City of Destruction.

Ephesians 5 : 17-33

 ¹⁷  Don't act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.  ¹⁸  Don't be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit ...  ¹⁹  singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, and making music to the Lord in your hearts.  ²⁰  "And give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." Spirit-Guided Relationships: Wives and Husbands
 ²¹  And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
   ²²  For wives, this means submit to your husbands as to the Lord.  ²³  For a husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of his body, the church.  ²⁴  As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything.
   ²⁵  For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her  ²⁶  to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God's word. [26]   ²⁷  He did this to present her to himself as a glorious church without a spot or wrinkle or any other blemish. Instead, she will be holy and without fault.  ²⁸  In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as they love their own bodies. For a man who loves his wife actually shows love for himself.  ²⁹  No one hates his own body but feeds and cares for it, just as Christ cares for the church.  ³⁰  And we are members of his body.
   ³¹  As the Scriptures say, "A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one." [31]   ³²  This is a great mystery, but it is an illustration of the way Christ and the church are one.  ³³  So again I say, each man must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

<<  5:26 Greek washed by water with the word.
<<  5:31 Gen 2:24.