ESV: One-Year Tract Bible Reading Plan

November 7: 2 Kings 20, Hebrews 2, Hosea 13, Psalm 74

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:01:00 -0800

2 Kings 20 (Listen)

Hezekiah's Illness and Recovery

20:1 In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.’” Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, saying, “Now, O LORD, please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly. And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him: “Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the leader of my people, Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the LORD, and I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David's sake.” And Isaiah said, “Bring a cake of figs. And let them take and lay it on the boil, that he may recover.”

And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “What shall be the sign that the LORD will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the LORD on the third day?” And Isaiah said, “This shall be the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do the thing that he has promised: shall the shadow go forward ten steps, or go back ten steps?” And Hezekiah answered, “It is an easy thing for the shadow to lengthen ten steps. Rather let the shadow go back ten steps.” And Isaiah the prophet called to the LORD, and he brought the shadow back ten steps, by which it had gone down on the steps of Ahaz.

Hezekiah and the Babylonian Envoys

At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that Hezekiah had been sick. And Hezekiah welcomed them, and he showed them all his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?” And Hezekiah said, “They have come from a far country, from Babylon.” He said, “What have they seen in your house?” And Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.”

Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD: Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the LORD. And some of your own sons, who shall be born to you, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “Why not, if there will be peace and security in my days?”

The rest of the deeds of Hezekiah and all his might and how he made the pool and the conduit and brought water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and Manasseh his son reigned in his place.

Hebrews 2 (Listen)

Warning Against Neglecting Salvation

2:1 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

The Founder of Salvation

Now it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere,

“What is man, that you are mindful of him,
  or the son of man, that you care for him?
You made him for a little while lower than the angels;
  you have crowned him with glory and honor,
  putting everything in subjection under his feet.”

Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying,

“I will tell of your name to my brothers;
in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”

And again,

“I will put my trust in him.”

And again,

“Behold, I and the children God has given me.”

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Hosea 13 (Listen)

The LORD's Relentless Judgment on Israel

13:1 When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling;
  he was exalted in Israel,
  but he incurred guilt through Baal and died.
And now they sin more and more,
  and make for themselves metal images,
idols skillfully made of their silver,
  all of them the work of craftsmen.
It is said of them,
  “Those who offer human sacrifice kiss calves!”
Therefore they shall be like the morning mist
  or like the dew that goes early away,
like the chaff that swirls from the threshing floor
  or like smoke from a window.

But I am the LORD your God
  from the land of Egypt;
you know no God but me,
  and besides me there is no savior.
It was I who knew you in the wilderness,
  in the land of drought;
but when they had grazed, they became full,
  they were filled, and their heart was lifted up;
  therefore they forgot me.
So I am to them like a lion;
  like a leopard I will lurk beside the way.
I will fall upon them like a bear robbed of her cubs;
  I will tear open their breast,
and there I will devour them like a lion,
  as a wild beast would rip them open.

He destroys you, O Israel,
  for you are against me, against your helper.
Where now is your king, to save you in all your cities?
  Where are all your rulers—
those of whom you said,
  “Give me a king and princes”?
I gave you a king in my anger,
  and I took him away in my wrath.

The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up;
  his sin is kept in store.
The pangs of childbirth come for him,
  but he is an unwise son,
for at the right time he does not present himself
  at the opening of the womb.

Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol?
  Shall I redeem them from Death?
O Death, where are your plagues?
  O Sheol, where is your sting?
  Compassion is hidden from my eyes.

Though he may flourish among his brothers,
  the east wind, the wind of the LORD, shall come,
  rising from the wilderness,
and his fountain shall dry up;
  his spring shall be parched;
it shall strip his treasury
  of every precious thing.
Samaria shall bear her guilt,
  because she has rebelled against her God;
they shall fall by the sword;
  their little ones shall be dashed in pieces,
  and their pregnant women ripped open.

Psalm 74 (Listen)

Arise, O God, Defend Your Cause

A Maskil of Asaph.

74:1 O God, why do you cast us off forever?
  Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?
Remember your congregation, which you have purchased of old,
  which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your heritage!
  Remember Mount Zion, where you have dwelt.
Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins;
  the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!

Your foes have roared in the midst of your meeting place;
  they set up their own signs for signs.
They were like those who swing axes
  in a forest of trees.
And all its carved wood
  they broke down with hatchets and hammers.
They set your sanctuary on fire;
  they profaned the dwelling place of your name,
  bringing it down to the ground.
They said to themselves, “We will utterly subdue them”;
  they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.

We do not see our signs;
  there is no longer any prophet,
  and there is none among us who knows how long.
How long, O God, is the foe to scoff?
  Is the enemy to revile your name forever?
Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand?
  Take it from the fold of your garment and destroy them!

Yet God my King is from of old,
  working salvation in the midst of the earth.
You divided the sea by your might;
  you broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters.
You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
  you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
You split open springs and brooks;
  you dried up ever-flowing streams.
Yours is the day, yours also the night;
  you have established the heavenly lights and the sun.
You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth;
  you have made summer and winter.

Remember this, O LORD, how the enemy scoffs,
and a foolish people reviles your name.
Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild beasts;
do not forget the life of your poor forever.

Have regard for the covenant,
for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.
Let not the downtrodden turn back in shame;
let the poor and needy praise your name.

Arise, O God, defend your cause;
remember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!
Do not forget the clamor of your foes,
the uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually! (ESV)

Footnotes

[1] 2:7 Some manuscripts insert and set him over the works of your hands
[2] 2:11 Greek all are of one
[3] 2:11 Or brothers and sisters. The plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) refers to siblings in a family. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, adelphoi may refer either to men or to both men and women who are siblings (brothers and sisters) in God's family, the church; also verse 12
[4] 13:6 Hebrew according to their pasture
[5] 13:9 Or I will destroy
[6] 13:16 Ch 14:1 in Hebrew
[7] 74:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term
[8] 74:5 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
[9] 74:11 Hebrew from your bosom
[10] 74:13 Or the great sea creatures

November 6: 2 Kings 19, Hebrews 1, Hosea 12, Psalm 73

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:01:00 -0800

2 Kings 19 (Listen)

Isaiah Reassures Hezekiah

19:1 As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the LORD. And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz. They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. It may be that the LORD your God heard all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the LORD your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.” When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the LORD: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me. Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’”

Sennacherib Defies the LORD

The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he heard that the king had left Lachish. Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, “Behold, he has set out to fight against you.” So he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered? Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?’”

Hezekiah's Prayer

Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD and spread it before the LORD. And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD and said: “O LORD, the God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. Incline your ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. So now, O LORD our God, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O LORD, are God alone.”

Isaiah Prophesies Sennacherib's Fall

Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Your prayer to me about Sennacherib king of Assyria I have heard. This is the word that the LORD has spoken concerning him:

“She despises you, she scorns you—
the virgin daughter of Zion;
she wags her head behind you—
the daughter of Jerusalem.

“Whom have you mocked and reviled?
  Against whom have you raised your voice
and lifted your eyes to the heights?
  Against the Holy One of Israel!
By your messengers you have mocked the Lord,
  and you have said, ‘With my many chariots
I have gone up the heights of the mountains,
  to the far recesses of Lebanon;
I felled its tallest cedars,
  its choicest cypresses;
I entered its farthest lodging place,
  its most fruitful forest.
I dug wells
  and drank foreign waters,
and I dried up with the sole of my foot
  all the streams of Egypt.’

“Have you not heard
  that I determined it long ago?
I planned from days of old
  what now I bring to pass,
that you should turn fortified cities
  into heaps of ruins,
while their inhabitants, shorn of strength,
  are dismayed and confounded,
and have become like plants of the field
  and like tender grass,
like grass on the housetops,
  blighted before it is grown.

“But I know your sitting down
  and your going out and coming in,
  and your raging against me.
Because you have raged against me
  and your complacency has come into my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose
  and my bit in your mouth,
and I will turn you back on the way
  by which you came.

“And this shall be the sign for you: this year eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs of the same. Then in the third year sow and reap and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD will do this.

“Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there, or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it. By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the LORD. For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”

And that night the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at Nineveh. And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

Hebrews 1 (Listen)

The Supremacy of God's Son

1:1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

For to which of the angels did God ever say,

“You are my Son,
today I have begotten you”?

Or again,

“I will be to him a father,
and he shall be to me a son”?

And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says,

“Let all God's angels worship him.”

Of the angels he says,

“He makes his angels winds,
and his ministers a flame of fire.”

But of the Son he says,

“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.
You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”

And,

“You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning,
  and the heavens are the work of your hands;
they will perish, but you remain;
  they will all wear out like a garment,
like a robe you will roll them up,
  like a garment they will be changed.
But you are the same,
  and your years will have no end.”

And to which of the angels has he ever said,

“Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?

Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?

Hosea 12 (Listen)

12:1 Ephraim feeds on the wind
  and pursues the east wind all day long;
they multiply falsehood and violence;
  they make a covenant with Assyria,
  and oil is carried to Egypt.

The LORD's Indictment of Israel and Judah

The LORD has an indictment against Judah
  and will punish Jacob according to his ways;
  he will repay him according to his deeds.
In the womb he took his brother by the heel,
  and in his manhood he strove with God.
He strove with the angel and prevailed;
  he wept and sought his favor.
He met God at Bethel,
  and there God spoke with us—
the LORD, the God of hosts,
  the LORD is his memorial name:
“So you, by the help of your God, return,
  hold fast to love and justice,
  and wait continually for your God.”

A merchant, in whose hands are false balances,
  he loves to oppress.
Ephraim has said, “Ah, but I am rich;
  I have found wealth for myself;
in all my labors they cannot find in me iniquity or sin.”
I am the LORD your God
  from the land of Egypt;
I will again make you dwell in tents,
  as in the days of the appointed feast.

I spoke to the prophets;
  it was I who multiplied visions,
  and through the prophets gave parables.
If there is iniquity in Gilead,
  they shall surely come to nothing:
in Gilgal they sacrifice bulls;
  their altars also are like stone heaps
  on the furrows of the field.
Jacob fled to the land of Aram;
  there Israel served for a wife,
  and for a wife he guarded sheep.
By a prophet the LORD brought Israel up from Egypt,
  and by a prophet he was guarded.
Ephraim has given bitter provocation;
  so his Lord will leave his bloodguilt on him
  and will repay him for his disgraceful deeds.

Psalm 73 (Listen)

Book Three

God Is My Strength and Portion Forever

A Psalm of Asaph.

73:1 Truly God is good to Israel,
  to those who are pure in heart.
But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
  my steps had nearly slipped.
For I was envious of the arrogant
  when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

For they have no pangs until death;
  their bodies are fat and sleek.
They are not in trouble as others are;
  they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
Therefore pride is their necklace;
  violence covers them as a garment.
Their eyes swell out through fatness;
  their hearts overflow with follies.
They scoff and speak with malice;
  loftily they threaten oppression.
They set their mouths against the heavens,
  and their tongue struts through the earth.
Therefore his people turn back to them,
  and find no fault in them.
And they say, “How can God know?
  Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
Behold, these are the wicked;
  always at ease, they increase in riches.
All in vain have I kept my heart clean
  and washed my hands in innocence.
For all the day long I have been stricken
  and rebuked every morning.
If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
  I would have betrayed the generation of your children.

But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,
until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their end.

Truly you set them in slippery places;
  you make them fall to ruin.
How they are destroyed in a moment,
  swept away utterly by terrors!
Like a dream when one awakes,
  O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
When my soul was embittered,
  when I was pricked in heart,
I was brutish and ignorant;
  I was like a beast toward you.

Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
  you hold my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
  and afterward you will receive me to glory.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
  And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
  but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
  you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
But for me it is good to be near God;
  I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,
  that I may tell of all your works. (ESV)

Footnotes

[1] 1:12 Some manuscripts omit like a garment
[2] 12:4 Hebrew him
[3] 73:10 Probable reading; Hebrew the waters of a full cup are drained by them
[4] 73:26 Hebrew rock

November 5: 2 Kings 18, Philemon 1, Hosea 11, Psalm 72

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:01:00 -0800

2 Kings 18 (Listen)

Hezekiah Reigns in Judah

18:1 In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah. And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done. He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan). He trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. For he held fast to the LORD. He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the LORD commanded Moses. And the LORD was with him; wherever he went out, he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and would not serve him. He struck down the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city.

In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it, and at the end of three years he took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. The king of Assyria carried the Israelites away to Assyria and put them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, because they did not obey the voice of the LORD their God but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded. They neither listened nor obeyed.

Sennacherib Attacks Judah

In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; withdraw from me. Whatever you impose on me I will bear.” And the king of Assyria required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the king's house. At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the LORD and from the doorposts that Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria. And the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rab-saris, and the Rabshakeh with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. When they arrived, they came and stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway to the Washer's Field. And when they called for the king, there came out to them Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebnah 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 now 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 in Jerusalem”? 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 place to destroy it? The LORD said to me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.’”

Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, and Shebnah, 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 to them, “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 to drink their own urine?”

Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the word 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 out of my hand. Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD by saying, The LORD will surely deliver us, and 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 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, a land of olive trees and honey, that you may live, and not die. And do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, The LORD will deliver us. Has any of the gods of the nations ever 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, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand? Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”

But the people 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.

Philemon 1 (Listen)

Greeting

1:1 Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother,

To Philemon our beloved fellow worker and Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Philemon's Love and Faith

I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.

Paul's Plea for Onesimus

Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, yet for love's sake I prefer to appeal to you—I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus— I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment. (Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.) I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart. I would have been glad to keep him with me, in order that he might serve me on your behalf during my imprisonment for the gospel, but I preferred to do nothing without your consent in order that your goodness might not be by compulsion but of your own accord. For this perhaps is why he was parted from you for a while, that you might have him back forever, no longer as a slave but more than a slave, as a beloved brother—especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.

So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me. If he has wronged you at all, or owes you anything, charge that to my account. I, Paul, write this with my own hand: I will repay it—to say nothing of your owing me even your own self. Yes, brother, I want some benefit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ.

Confident of your obedience, I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say. At the same time, prepare a guest room for me, for I am hoping that through your prayers I will be graciously given to you.

Final Greetings

Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

Hosea 11 (Listen)

The LORD's Love for Israel

11:1 When Israel was a child, I loved him,
  and out of Egypt I called my son.
The more they were called,
  the more they went away;
they kept sacrificing to the Baals
  and burning offerings to idols.

Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk;
  I took them up by their arms,
  but they did not know that I healed them.
I led them with cords of kindness,
  with the bands of love,
and I became to them as one who eases the yoke on their jaws,
  and I bent down to them and fed them.

They shall not return to the land of Egypt,
  but Assyria shall be their king,
  because they have refused to return to me.
The sword shall rage against their cities,
  consume the bars of their gates,
  and devour them because of their own counsels.
My people are bent on turning away from me,
  and though they call out to the Most High,
  he shall not raise them up at all.

How can I give you up, O Ephraim?
  How can I hand you over, O Israel?
How can I make you like Admah?
  How can I treat you like Zeboiim?
My heart recoils within me;
  my compassion grows warm and tender.
I will not execute my burning anger;
  I will not again destroy Ephraim;
for I am God and not a man,
  the Holy One in your midst,
  and I will not come in wrath.

They shall go after the LORD;
  he will roar like a lion;
when he roars,
  his children shall come trembling from the west;
they shall come trembling like birds from Egypt,
  and like doves from the land of Assyria,
  and I will return them to their homes, declares the LORD.
Ephraim has surrounded me with lies,
  and the house of Israel with deceit,
but Judah still walks with God
  and is faithful to the Holy One.

Psalm 72 (Listen)

Give the King Your Justice

Of Solomon.

72:1 Give the king your justice, O God,
  and your righteousness to the royal son!
May he judge your people with righteousness,
  and your poor with justice!
Let the mountains bear prosperity for the people,
  and the hills, in righteousness!
May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,
  give deliverance to the children of the needy,
  and crush the oppressor!

May they fear you while the sun endures,
  and as long as the moon, throughout all generations!
May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass,
  like showers that water the earth!
In his days may the righteous flourish,
  and peace abound, till the moon be no more!

May he have dominion from sea to sea,
  and from the River to the ends of the earth!
May desert tribes bow down before him,
  and his enemies lick the dust!
May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands
  render him tribute;
may the kings of Sheba and Seba
  bring gifts!
May all kings fall down before him,
  all nations serve him!

For he delivers the needy when he calls,
  the poor and him who has no helper.
He has pity on the weak and the needy,
  and saves the lives of the needy.
From oppression and violence he redeems their life,
  and precious is their blood in his sight.

Long may he live;
  may gold of Sheba be given to him!
May prayer be made for him continually,
  and blessings invoked for him all the day!
May there be abundance of grain in the land;
  on the tops of the mountains may it wave;
  may its fruit be like Lebanon;
and may people blossom in the cities
  like the grass of the field!
May his name endure forever,
  his fame continue as long as the sun!
May people be blessed in him,
  all nations call him blessed!

Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel,
  who alone does wondrous things.
Blessed be his glorious name forever;
  may the whole earth be filled with his glory!
     Amen and Amen!

The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended. (ESV)

Footnotes

[1] 18:4 Nehushtan sounds like the Hebrew for both bronze and serpent
[2] 18:14 A talent was about 75 pounds or 34 kilograms
[3] 18:29 Hebrew his
[4] 18:31 Hebrew Make a blessing with me
[5] 1:6 Or for Christ's service
[6] 1:10 Onesimus means useful (see verse 11) or beneficial (see verse 20)
[7] 1:16 Greek bondservant; twice in this verse
[8] 11:4 Or humaneness; Hebrew man
[9] 11:5 Or surely
[10] 11:9 Or into the city
[11] 11:12 Ch 12:1 in Hebrew
[12] 72:5 Septuagint He shall endure
[13] 72:8 That is, the Euphrates

November 4: 2 Kings 17, Titus 3, Hosea 10, Psalms 70-71

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:01:00 -0800

2 Kings 17 (Listen)

17:1 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel, and he reigned nine years. And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him. Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria. And Hoshea became his vassal and paid him tribute. But the king of Assyria found treachery in Hoshea, for he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison. Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land and came to Samaria, and for three years he besieged it.

The Fall of Israel

In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

Exile Because of Idolatry

And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods and walked in the customs of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced. And the people of Israel did secretly against the LORD their God things that were not right. They built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city. They set up for themselves pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, and there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom the LORD carried away before them. And they did wicked things, provoking the LORD to anger, and they served idols, of which the LORD had said to them, “You shall not do this.” Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.”

But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the LORD their God. They despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They went after false idols and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the LORD had commanded them that they should not do like them. And they abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made for themselves metal images of two calves; and they made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal. And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings and used divination and omens and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger. Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight. None was left but the tribe of Judah only.

Judah also did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the customs that Israel had introduced. And the LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until he had cast them out of his sight.

When he had torn Israel from the house of David, they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. And Jeroboam drove Israel from following the LORD and made them commit great sin. The people of Israel walked in all the sins that Jeroboam did. They did not depart from them, until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had spoken by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was exiled from their own land to Assyria until this day.

Assyria Resettles Samaria

And the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the people of Israel. And they took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities. And at the beginning of their dwelling there, they did not fear the LORD. Therefore the LORD sent lions among them, which killed some of them. So the king of Assyria was told, “The nations that you have carried away and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the law of the god of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them, and behold, they are killing them, because they do not know the law of the god of the land.” Then the king of Assyria commanded, “Send there one of the priests whom you carried away from there, and let him go and dwell there and teach them the law of the god of the land.” So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in Bethel and taught them how they should fear the LORD.

But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the shrines of the high places that the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities in which they lived. The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima, and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. They also feared the LORD and appointed from among themselves all sorts of people as priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places. So they feared the LORD but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.

To this day they do according to the former manner. They do not fear the LORD, and they do not follow the statutes or the rules or the law or the commandment that the LORD commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel. The LORD made a covenant with them and commanded them, “You shall not fear other gods or bow yourselves to them or serve them or sacrifice to them, but you shall fear the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm. You shall bow yourselves to him, and to him you shall sacrifice. And the statutes and the rules and the law and the commandment that he wrote for you, you shall always be careful to do. You shall not fear other gods, and you shall not forget the covenant that I have made with you. You shall not fear other gods, but you shall fear the LORD your God, and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.” However, they would not listen, but they did according to their former manner.

So these nations feared the LORD and also served their carved images. Their children did likewise, and their children's children—as their fathers did, so they do to this day.

Titus 3 (Listen)

Be Ready for Every Good Work

3:1 Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people. But avoid foolish controversies, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless. As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him, knowing that such a person is warped and sinful; he is self-condemned.

Final Instructions and Greetings

When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there. Do your best to speed Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way; see that they lack nothing. And let our people learn to devote themselves to good works, so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful.

All who are with me send greetings to you. Greet those who love us in the faith.

Grace be with you all.

Hosea 10 (Listen)

10:1 Israel is a luxuriant vine
  that yields its fruit.
The more his fruit increased,
  the more altars he built;
as his country improved,
  he improved his pillars.
Their heart is false;
  now they must bear their guilt.
The LORD will break down their altars
  and destroy their pillars.

For now they will say:
  “We have no king,
for we do not fear the LORD;
  and a king—what could he do for us?”
They utter mere words;
  with empty oaths they make covenants;
so judgment springs up like poisonous weeds
  in the furrows of the field.
The inhabitants of Samaria tremble
  for the calf of Beth-aven.
Its people mourn for it, and so do its idolatrous priests—
  those who rejoiced over it and over its glory—
  for it has departed from them.
The thing itself shall be carried to Assyria
  as tribute to the great king.
Ephraim shall be put to shame,
  and Israel shall be ashamed of his idol.

Samaria's king shall perish
  like a twig on the face of the waters.
The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel,
  shall be destroyed.
Thorn and thistle shall grow up
  on their altars,
and they shall say to the mountains, “Cover us,”
  and to the hills, “Fall on us.”

From the days of Gibeah, you have sinned, O Israel;
  there they have continued.
  Shall not the war against the unjust overtake them in Gibeah?
When I please, I will discipline them,
  and nations shall be gathered against them
  when they are bound up for their double iniquity.

Ephraim was a trained calf
  that loved to thresh,
  and I spared her fair neck;
but I will put Ephraim to the yoke;
  Judah must plow;
  Jacob must harrow for himself.
Sow for yourselves righteousness;
  reap steadfast love;
  break up your fallow ground,
for it is the time to seek the LORD,
  that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.

You have plowed iniquity;
  you have reaped injustice;
  you have eaten the fruit of lies.
Because you have trusted in your own way
  and in the multitude of your warriors,
therefore the tumult of war shall arise among your people,
  and all your fortresses shall be destroyed,
as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle;
  mothers were dashed in pieces with their children.
Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel,
  because of your great evil.
At dawn the king of Israel
  shall be utterly cut off.

Psalms 70-71 (Listen)

O LORD, Do Not Delay

To the choirmaster. Of David, for the memorial offering.

70:1 Make haste, O God, to deliver me!
  O LORD, make haste to help me!
Let them be put to shame and confusion
  who seek my life!
Let them be turned back and brought to dishonor
  who delight in my hurt!
Let them turn back because of their shame
  who say, “Aha, Aha!”

May all who seek you
  rejoice and be glad in you!
May those who love your salvation
  say evermore, “God is great!”
But I am poor and needy;
  hasten to me, O God!
You are my help and my deliverer;
  O LORD, do not delay!

Forsake Me Not When My Strength Is Spent

71:1 In you, O LORD, do I take refuge;
  let me never be put to shame!
In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
  incline your ear to me, and save me!
Be to me a rock of refuge,
  to which I may continually come;
you have given the command to save me,
  for you are my rock and my fortress.

Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
  from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.
For you, O Lord, are my hope,
  my trust, O LORD, from my youth.
Upon you I have leaned from before my birth;
  you are he who took me from my mother's womb.
My praise is continually of you.

I have been as a portent to many,
  but you are my strong refuge.
My mouth is filled with your praise,
  and with your glory all the day.
Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
  forsake me not when my strength is spent.
For my enemies speak concerning me;
  those who watch for my life consult together
and say, “God has forsaken him;
  pursue and seize him,
  for there is none to deliver him.”

O God, be not far from me;
  O my God, make haste to help me!
May my accusers be put to shame and consumed;
  with scorn and disgrace may they be covered
  who seek my hurt.
But I will hope continually
  and will praise you yet more and more.
My mouth will tell of your righteous acts,
  of your deeds of salvation all the day,
  for their number is past my knowledge.
With the mighty deeds of the Lord GOD I will come;
  I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone.

O God, from my youth you have taught me,
  and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
So even to old age and gray hairs,
  O God, do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to another generation,
  your power to all those to come.
Your righteousness, O God,
  reaches the high heavens.
You who have done great things,
  O God, who is like you?
You who have made me see many troubles and calamities
  will revive me again;
from the depths of the earth
  you will bring me up again.
You will increase my greatness
  and comfort me again.

I will also praise you with the harp
  for your faithfulness, O my God;
I will sing praises to you with the lyre,
  O Holy One of Israel.
My lips will shout for joy,
  when I sing praises to you;
  my soul also, which you have redeemed.
And my tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long,
for they have been put to shame and disappointed
  who sought to do me hurt. (ESV)

Footnotes

[1] 17:17 Or made their sons and their daughters pass through the fire
[2] 17:27 Syriac, Vulgate; Hebrew them
[3] 10:2 Hebrew He
[4] 10:5 Or calves
[5] 10:5 Or has gone into exile
[6] 10:6 Or to King Jareb
[7] 10:6 Or counsel
[8] 10:9 Hebrew the children of injustice

November 3: 2 Kings 16, Titus 2, Hosea 9, Psalm 69

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:01:00 -0800

2 Kings 16 (Listen)

Ahaz Reigns in Judah

16:1 In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign. Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD his God, as his father David had done, but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even burned his son as an offering, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel. And he sacrificed and made offerings on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.

Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to wage war on Jerusalem, and they besieged Ahaz but could not conquer him. At that time Rezin the king of Syria recovered Elath for Syria and drove the men of Judah from Elath, and the Edomites came to Elath, where they dwell to this day. So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and rescue me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.” Ahaz also took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD and in the treasures of the king's house and sent a present to the king of Assyria. And the king of Assyria listened to him. The king of Assyria marched up against Damascus and took it, carrying its people captive to Kir, and he killed Rezin.

When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus. And King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a model of the altar, and its pattern, exact in all its details. And Uriah the priest built the altar; in accordance with all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Uriah the priest made it, before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus. And when the king came from Damascus, the king viewed the altar. Then the king drew near to the altar and went up on it and burned his burnt offering and his grain offering and poured his drink offering and threw the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. And the bronze altar that was before the LORD he removed from the front of the house, from the place between his altar and the house of the LORD, and put it on the north side of his altar. And King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, saying, “On the great altar burn the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering and the king's burnt offering and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offering and their drink offering. And throw on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice, but the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by.” Uriah the priest did all this, as King Ahaz commanded.

And King Ahaz cut off the frames of the stands and removed the basin from them, and he took down the sea from off the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone pedestal. And the covered way for the Sabbath that had been built inside the house and the outer entrance for the king he caused to go around the house of the LORD, because of the king of Assyria. Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? And Ahaz slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.

Titus 2 (Listen)

Teach Sound Doctrine

2:1 But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. Slaves are to be submissive to their own masters in everything; they are to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that in everything they may adorn the doctrine of God our Savior.

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you.

Hosea 9 (Listen)

The LORD Will Punish Israel

9:1 Rejoice not, O Israel!
  Exult not like the peoples;
for you have played the whore, forsaking your God.
  You have loved a prostitute's wages
  on all threshing floors.
Threshing floor and wine vat shall not feed them,
  and the new wine shall fail them.
They shall not remain in the land of the LORD,
  but Ephraim shall return to Egypt,
  and they shall eat unclean food in Assyria.

They shall not pour drink offerings of wine to the LORD,
  and their sacrifices shall not please him.
It shall be like mourners' bread to them;
  all who eat of it shall be defiled;
for their bread shall be for their hunger only;
  it shall not come to the house of the LORD.

What will you do on the day of the appointed festival,
  and on the day of the feast of the LORD?
For behold, they are going away from destruction;
  but Egypt shall gather them;
  Memphis shall bury them.
Nettles shall possess their precious things of silver;
  thorns shall be in their tents.

The days of punishment have come;
  the days of recompense have come;
  Israel shall know it.
The prophet is a fool;
  the man of the spirit is mad,
because of your great iniquity
  and great hatred.
The prophet is the watchman of Ephraim with my God;
yet a fowler's snare is on all his ways,
  and hatred in the house of his God.
They have deeply corrupted themselves
  as in the days of Gibeah:
he will remember their iniquity;
  he will punish their sins.

Like grapes in the wilderness,
  I found Israel.
Like the first fruit on the fig tree
  in its first season,
  I saw your fathers.
But they came to Baal-peor
  and consecrated themselves to the thing of shame,
  and became detestable like the thing they loved.
Ephraim's glory shall fly away like a bird—
  no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!
Even if they bring up children,
  I will bereave them till none is left.
Woe to them
  when I depart from them!
Ephraim, as I have seen, was like a young palm planted in a meadow;
  but Ephraim must lead his children out to slaughter.
Give them, O LORD—
  what will you give?
Give them a miscarrying womb
  and dry breasts.

Every evil of theirs is in Gilgal;
  there I began to hate them.
Because of the wickedness of their deeds
  I will drive them out of my house.
I will love them no more;
  all their princes are rebels.

Ephraim is stricken;
  their root is dried up;
  they shall bear no fruit.
Even though they give birth,
  I will put their beloved children to death.
My God will reject them
  because they have not listened to him;
  they shall be wanderers among the nations.

Psalm 69 (Listen)

Save Me, O God

To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. Of David.

69:1 Save me, O God!
  For the waters have come up to my neck.
I sink in deep mire,
  where there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters,
  and the flood sweeps over me.
I am weary with my crying out;
  my throat is parched.
My eyes grow dim
  with waiting for my God.

More in number than the hairs of my head
  are those who hate me without cause;
mighty are those who would destroy me,
  those who attack me with lies.
What I did not steal
  must I now restore?
O God, you know my folly;
  the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.

Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me,
  O Lord GOD of hosts;
let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me,
  O God of Israel.
For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach,
  that dishonor has covered my face.
I have become a stranger to my brothers,
  an alien to my mother's sons.

For zeal for your house has consumed me,
  and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting,
  it became my reproach.
When I made sackcloth my clothing,
  I became a byword to them.
I am the talk of those who sit in the gate,
  and the drunkards make songs about me.

But as for me, my prayer is to you, O LORD.
  At an acceptable time, O God,
  in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.
Deliver me
  from sinking in the mire;
let me be delivered from my enemies
  and from the deep waters.
Let not the flood sweep over me,
  or the deep swallow me up,
  or the pit close its mouth over me.

Answer me, O LORD, for your steadfast love is good;
  according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.
Hide not your face from your servant;
  for I am in distress; make haste to answer me.
Draw near to my soul, redeem me;
  ransom me because of my enemies!

You know my reproach,
  and my shame and my dishonor;
  my foes are all known to you.
Reproaches have broken my heart,
  so that I am in despair.
I looked for pity, but there was none,
  and for comforters, but I found none.
They gave me poison for food,
  and for my thirst they gave me sour wine to drink.

Let their own table before them become a snare;
  and when they are at peace, let it become a trap.
Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see,
  and make their loins tremble continually.
Pour out your indignation upon them,
  and let your burning anger overtake them.
May their camp be a desolation;
  let no one dwell in their tents.
For they persecute him whom you have struck down,
  and they recount the pain of those you have wounded.
Add to them punishment upon punishment;
  may they have no acquittal from you.
Let them be blotted out of the book of the living;
  let them not be enrolled among the righteous.

But I am afflicted and in pain;
let your salvation, O God, set me on high!

I will praise the name of God with a song;
  I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
This will please the LORD more than an ox
  or a bull with horns and hoofs.
When the humble see it they will be glad;
  you who seek God, let your hearts revive.
For the LORD hears the needy
  and does not despise his own people who are prisoners.

Let heaven and earth praise him,
  the seas and everything that moves in them.
For God will save Zion
  and build up the cities of Judah,
and people shall dwell there and possess it;
  the offspring of his servants shall inherit it,
  and those who love his name shall dwell in it. (ESV)

Footnotes

[1] 16:3 Or made his son pass through the fire
[2] 16:17 Compare 1 Kings 7:23
[3] 2:1 Or healthy; also verses 2, 8
[4] 2:9 Or servants; Greek bondservants
[5] 9:13 Or like Tyre
[6] 9:13 Hebrew to him who slaughters
[7] 69:1 Or waters threaten my life
[8] 69:10 Hebrew lacks and humbled
[9] 69:22 Hebrew; a slight revocalization yields (compare Septuagint, Syriac, Jerome) a snare, and retribution and a trap
[10] 69:27 Hebrew may they not come into your righteousness

November 2: 2 Kings 15, Titus 1, Hosea 8, Psalm 68

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:01:00 -0800

2 Kings 15 (Listen)

Azariah Reigns in Judah

15:1 In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah the son of Amaziah, king of Judah, began to reign. He was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. And the LORD touched the king, so that he was a leper to the day of his death, and he lived in a separate house. And Jotham the king's son was over the household, governing the people of the land. Now the rest of the acts of Azariah, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? And Azariah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David, and Jotham his son reigned in his place.

Zechariah Reigns in Israel

In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah, Zechariah the son of Jeroboam reigned over Israel in Samaria six months. And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his fathers had done. He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin. Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him and struck him down at Ibleam and put him to death and reigned in his place. Now the rest of the deeds of Zechariah, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. (This was the promise of the LORD that he gave to Jehu, “Your sons shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.” And so it came to pass.)

Shallum Reigns in Israel

Shallum the son of Jabesh began to reign in the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah king of Judah, and he reigned one month in Samaria. Then Menahem the son of Gadi came up from Tirzah and came to Samaria, and he struck down Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria and put him to death and reigned in his place. Now the rest of the deeds of Shallum, and the conspiracy that he made, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. At that time Menahem sacked Tiphsah and all who were in it and its territory from Tirzah on, because they did not open it to him. Therefore he sacked it, and he ripped open all the women in it who were pregnant.

Menahem Reigns in Israel

In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem the son of Gadi began to reign over Israel, and he reigned ten years in Samaria. And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not depart all his days from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin. Pul the king of Assyria came against the land, and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, that he might help him to confirm his hold on the royal power. Menahem exacted the money from Israel, that is, from all the wealthy men, fifty shekels of silver from every man, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back and did not stay there in the land. Now the rest of the deeds of Menahem and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? And Menahem slept with his fathers, and Pekahiah his son reigned in his place.

Pekahiah Reigns in Israel

In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah the son of Menahem began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned two years. And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin. And Pekah the son of Remaliah, his captain, conspired against him with fifty men of the people of Gilead, and struck him down in Samaria, in the citadel of the king's house with Argob and Arieh; he put him to death and reigned in his place. Now the rest of the deeds of Pekahiah and all that he did, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

Pekah Reigns in Israel

In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah the son of Remaliah began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned twenty years. And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin.

In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali, and he carried the people captive to Assyria. Then Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah the son of Remaliah and struck him down and put him to death and reigned in his place, in the twentieth year of Jotham the son of Uzziah. Now the rest of the acts of Pekah and all that he did, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.

Jotham Reigns in Judah

In the second year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, Jotham the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, began to reign. He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jerusha the daughter of Zadok. And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that his father Uzziah had done. Nevertheless, the high places were not removed. The people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. He built the upper gate of the house of the LORD. Now the rest of the acts of Jotham and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? In those days the LORD began to send Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah against Judah. Jotham slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father, and Ahaz his son reigned in his place.

Titus 1 (Listen)

Greeting

1:1 Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior;

To Titus, my true child in a common faith:

Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

Qualifications for Elders

This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and appoint elders in every town as I directed you— if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife, and his children are believers and not open to the charge of debauchery or insubordination. For an overseer, as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined. He must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.

For there are many who are insubordinate, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision party. They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. One of the Cretans, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true. Therefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith, not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and the commands of people who turn away from the truth. To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.

Hosea 8 (Listen)

Israel Will Reap the Whirlwind

8:1 Set the trumpet to your lips!
  One like a vulture is over the house of the LORD,
because they have transgressed my covenant
  and rebelled against my law.
To me they cry,
  “My God, we—Israel—know you.”
Israel has spurned the good;
  the enemy shall pursue him.

They made kings, but not through me.
  They set up princes, but I knew it not.
With their silver and gold they made idols
  for their own destruction.
I have spurned your calf, O Samaria.
  My anger burns against them.
How long will they be incapable of innocence?
For it is from Israel;
a craftsman made it;
  it is not God.
The calf of Samaria
  shall be broken to pieces.

For they sow the wind,
  and they shall reap the whirlwind.
The standing grain has no heads;
  it shall yield no flour;
if it were to yield,
  strangers would devour it.
Israel is swallowed up;
  already they are among the nations
  as a useless vessel.
For they have gone up to Assyria,
  a wild donkey wandering alone;
  Ephraim has hired lovers.
Though they hire allies among the nations,
  I will soon gather them up.
And the king and princes shall soon writhe
  because of the tribute.

Because Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning,
  they have become to him altars for sinning.
Were I to write for him my laws by the ten thousands,
  they would be regarded as a strange thing.
As for my sacrificial offerings,
  they sacrifice meat and eat it,
  but the LORD does not accept them.
Now he will remember their iniquity
  and punish their sins;
  they shall return to Egypt.
For Israel has forgotten his Maker
  and built palaces,
and Judah has multiplied fortified cities;
  so I will send a fire upon his cities,
  and it shall devour her strongholds.

Psalm 68 (Listen)

God Shall Scatter His Enemies

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song.

68:1 God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered;
  and those who hate him shall flee before him!
As smoke is driven away, so you shall drive them away;
  as wax melts before fire,
  so the wicked shall perish before God!
But the righteous shall be glad;
  they shall exult before God;
  they shall be jubilant with joy!

Sing to God, sing praises to his name;
  lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts;
his name is the LORD;
  exult before him!
Father of the fatherless and protector of widows
  is God in his holy habitation.
God settles the solitary in a home;
  he leads out the prisoners to prosperity,
  but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.

O God, when you went out before your people,
  when you marched through the wilderness,     Selah
the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain,
  before God, the One of Sinai,
  before God, the God of Israel.
Rain in abundance, O God, you shed abroad;
  you restored your inheritance as it languished;
your flock found a dwelling in it;
  in your goodness, O God, you provided for the needy.

The Lord gives the word;
  the women who announce the news are a great host:
  “The kings of the armies—they flee, they flee!”
The women at home divide the spoil—
  though you men lie among the sheepfolds—
the wings of a dove covered with silver,
  its pinions with shimmering gold.
When the Almighty scatters kings there,
  let snow fall on Zalmon.

O mountain of God, mountain of Bashan;
  O many-peaked mountain, mountain of Bashan!
Why do you look with hatred, O many-peaked mountain,
  at the mount that God desired for his abode,
  yes, where the LORD will dwell forever?
The chariots of God are twice ten thousand,
  thousands upon thousands;
  the Lord is among them; Sinai is now in the sanctuary.
You ascended on high,
  leading a host of captives in your train
  and receiving gifts among men,
even among the rebellious, that the LORD God may dwell there.

Blessed be the Lord,
  who daily bears us up;
  God is our salvation.     Selah
Our God is a God of salvation,
  and to GOD, the Lord, belong deliverances from death.
But God will strike the heads of his enemies,
  the hairy crown of him who walks in his guilty ways.
The Lord said,
  “I will bring them back from Bashan,
I will bring them back from the depths of the sea,
that you may strike your feet in their blood,
  that the tongues of your dogs may have their portion from the foe.”

Your procession is seen, O God,
  the procession of my God, my King, into the sanctuary—
the singers in front, the musicians last,
  between them virgins playing tambourines:
“Bless God in the great congregation,
  the LORD, O you who are of Israel's fountain!”
There is Benjamin, the least of them, in the lead,
  the princes of Judah in their throng,
  the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali.

Summon your power, O God,
  the power, O God, by which you have worked for us.
Because of your temple at Jerusalem
  kings shall bear gifts to you.
Rebuke the beasts that dwell among the reeds,
  the herd of bulls with the calves of the peoples.
Trample underfoot those who lust after tribute;
  scatter the peoples who delight in war.
Nobles shall come from Egypt;
  Cush shall hasten to stretch out her hands to God.

O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God;
  sing praises to the Lord,     Selah
to him who rides in the heavens, the ancient heavens;
  behold, he sends out his voice, his mighty voice.
Ascribe power to God,
  whose majesty is over Israel,
  and whose power is in the skies.
Awesome is God from his sanctuary;
  the God of Israel—he is the one who gives power and strength to his people.
Blessed be God! (ESV)

Footnotes

[1] 15:5 Leprosy was a term for several skin diseases; see Leviticus 13
[2] 15:5 The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain
[3] 15:13 Another name for Azariah
[4] 15:19 Another name for Tiglath-pileser III (compare verse 29)
[5] 15:19 A talent was about 75 pounds or 34 kilograms
[6] 15:20 A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams
[7] 1:1 Or slave; Greek bondservant
[8] 1:2 Greek before times eternal
[9] 1:6 Or a man of one woman
[10] 1:7 Or bishop; Greek episkopos
[11] 1:9 Or healthy; also verse 13
[12] 1:12 Greek One of them
[13] 1:12 Probably from Epimenides of Crete
[14] 8:5 Hebrew He has
[15] 8:6 Or shall go up in flames
[16] 68:10 Or your congregation
[17] 68:15 Or hunch-backed; also verse 16
[18] 68:24 Or has been
[19] 68:26 The Hebrew for you is plural here
[20] 68:28 Probable reading; Hebrew Your God has summoned your power
[21] 68:30 The meaning of the Hebrew verse is uncertain
[22] 68:35 Septuagint; Hebrew your

November 1: 2 Kings 14, 2 Timothy 4, Hosea 7, Psalms 66-67

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:01:00 -0700

2 Kings 14 (Listen)

Amaziah Reigns in Judah

14:1 In the second year of Joash the son of Joahaz, king of Israel, Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, began to reign. He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, yet not like David his father. He did in all things as Joash his father had done. But the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. And as soon as the royal power was firmly in his hand, he struck down his servants who had struck down the king his father. But he did not put to death the children of the murderers, according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, where the LORD commanded, “Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. But each one shall die for his own sin.”

He struck down ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt and took Sela by storm, and called it Joktheel, which is its name to this day.

Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, let us look one another in the face.” And Jehoash king of Israel sent word to Amaziah king of Judah, “A thistle on Lebanon sent to a cedar on Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son for a wife,’ and a wild beast of Lebanon passed by and trampled down the thistle. You have indeed struck down Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Be content with your glory, and stay at home, for why should you provoke trouble so that you fall, you and Judah with you?”

But Amaziah would not listen. So Jehoash king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah faced one another in battle at Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah. And Judah was defeated by Israel, and every man fled to his home. And Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Jehoash, son of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh, and came to Jerusalem and broke down the wall of Jerusalem for four hundred cubits, from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate. And he seized all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the king's house, also hostages, and he returned to Samaria.

Now the rest of the acts of Jehoash that he did, and his might, and how he fought with Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? And Jehoash slept with his fathers and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel, and Jeroboam his son reigned in his place.

Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, lived fifteen years after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel. Now the rest of the deeds of Amaziah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? And they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But they sent after him to Lachish and put him to death there. And they brought him on horses; and he was buried in Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David. And all the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah. He built Elath and restored it to Judah, after the king slept with his fathers.

Jeroboam II Reigns in Israel

In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, began to reign in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years. And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin. He restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher. For the LORD saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter, for there was none left, bond or free, and there was none to help Israel. But the LORD had not said that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, so he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.

Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam and all that he did, and his might, how he fought, and how he restored Damascus and Hamath to Judah in Israel, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? And Jeroboam slept with his fathers, the kings of Israel, and Zechariah his son reigned in his place.

2 Timothy 4 (Listen)

Preach the Word

4:1 I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.

Personal Instructions

Do your best to come to me soon. For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry. Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus. When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments. Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message. At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them! But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Final Greetings

Greet Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus. Erastus remained at Corinth, and I left Trophimus, who was ill, at Miletus. Do your best to come before winter. Eubulus sends greetings to you, as do Pudens and Linus and Claudia and all the brothers.

The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.

Hosea 7 (Listen)

7:1 When I would heal Israel,
  the iniquity of Ephraim is revealed,
  and the evil deeds of Samaria;
for they deal falsely;
  the thief breaks in,
  and the bandits raid outside.
But they do not consider
  that I remember all their evil.
Now their deeds surround them;
  they are before my face.
By their evil they make the king glad,
  and the princes by their treachery.
They are all adulterers;
  they are like a heated oven
whose baker ceases to stir the fire,
  from the kneading of the dough
  until it is leavened.
On the day of our king, the princes
  became sick with the heat of wine;
  he stretched out his hand with mockers.
For with hearts like an oven they approach their intrigue;
  all night their anger smolders;
  in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.
All of them are hot as an oven,
  and they devour their rulers.
All their kings have fallen,
  and none of them calls upon me.

Ephraim mixes himself with the peoples;
  Ephraim is a cake not turned.
Strangers devour his strength,
  and he knows it not;
gray hairs are sprinkled upon him,
  and he knows it not.
The pride of Israel testifies to his face;
  yet they do not return to the LORD their God,
  nor seek him, for all this.

Ephraim is like a dove,
  silly and without sense,
  calling to Egypt, going to Assyria.
As they go, I will spread over them my net;
  I will bring them down like birds of the heavens;
  I will discipline them according to the report made to their congregation.
Woe to them, for they have strayed from me!
  Destruction to them, for they have rebelled against me!
I would redeem them,
  but they speak lies against me.

They do not cry to me from the heart,
  but they wail upon their beds;
for grain and wine they gash themselves;
  they rebel against me.
Although I trained and strengthened their arms,
  yet they devise evil against me.
They return, but not upward;
  they are like a treacherous bow;
their princes shall fall by the sword
  because of the insolence of their tongue.
This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.

Psalms 66-67 (Listen)

How Awesome Are Your Deeds

To the choirmaster. A Song. A Psalm.

66:1 Shout for joy to God, all the earth;
  sing the glory of his name;
  give to him glorious praise!
Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!
  So great is your power that your enemies come cringing to you.
All the earth worships you
  and sings praises to you;
  they sing praises to your name.”     Selah

Come and see what God has done:
  he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man.
He turned the sea into dry land;
  they passed through the river on foot.
There did we rejoice in him,
  who rules by his might forever,
whose eyes keep watch on the nations—
  let not the rebellious exalt themselves.     Selah

Bless our God, O peoples;
  let the sound of his praise be heard,
who has kept our soul among the living
  and has not let our feet slip.
For you, O God, have tested us;
  you have tried us as silver is tried.
You brought us into the net;
  you laid a crushing burden on our backs;
you let men ride over our heads;
  we went through fire and through water;
yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.

I will come into your house with burnt offerings;
  I will perform my vows to you,
that which my lips uttered
  and my mouth promised when I was in trouble.
I will offer to you burnt offerings of fattened animals,
  with the smoke of the sacrifice of rams;
I will make an offering of bulls and goats.     Selah

Come and hear, all you who fear God,
  and I will tell what he has done for my soul.
I cried to him with my mouth,
  and high praise was on my tongue.
If I had cherished iniquity in my heart,
  the Lord would not have listened.
But truly God has listened;
  he has attended to the voice of my prayer.

Blessed be God,
because he has not rejected my prayer
or removed his steadfast love from me!

Make Your Face Shine upon Us

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song.

67:1 May God be gracious to us and bless us
  and make his face to shine upon us,     Selah
that your way may be known on earth,
  your saving power among all nations.
Let the peoples praise you, O God;
  let all the peoples praise you!

Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
  for you judge the peoples with equity
  and guide the nations upon earth.     Selah
Let the peoples praise you, O God;
  let all the peoples praise you!

The earth has yielded its increase;
God, our God, shall bless us.
God shall bless us;
let all the ends of the earth fear him! (ESV)

Footnotes

[1] 14:8 Jehoash is another spelling for Joash (son of Jehoahaz) as in 13:9, 12-14; also verses 9, 11-16
[2] 14:13 A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters
[3] 4:3 Or healthy
[4] 4:10 Some manuscripts Gaul
[5] 4:21 Or brothers and sisters. The plural Greek word adelphoi (translated “brothers”) refers to siblings in a family. In New Testament usage, depending on the context, adelphoi may refer either to men or to both men and women who are siblings (brothers and sisters) in God's family, the church
[6] 4:22 The Greek for you is plural
[7] 7:10 Or in his presence
[8] 7:16 Or to the Most High
[9] 66:17 Hebrew under
[10] 66:17 Or and he was exalted with my tongue