Friday, 04 October

1.   In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod, when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him, and he fought against Ashdod and took it, 2.   at the same time the LORD spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, "Go, and remove the sackcloth from your body, and take your sandals off your feet." And he did so, walking naked and barefoot. 3.   Then the LORD said, "Just as My servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and a wonder against Egypt and Ethiopia, 4.   "so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians as prisoners and the Ethiopians as captives, young and old, naked and barefoot, with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. 5.   "Then they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia their expectation and Egypt their glory. 6.   "And the inhabitant of this territory will say in that day, ‘Surely such is our expectation, wherever we flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria; and how shall we escape?’"

1.   The burden against the Wilderness of the Sea. As whirlwinds in the South pass through, So it comes from the desert, from a terrible land. 2.   A distressing vision is declared to me; The treacherous dealer deals treacherously, And the plunderer plunders. Go up, O Elam! Besiege, O Media! All its sighing I have made to cease. 3.   Therefore my loins are filled with pain; Pangs have taken hold of me, like the pangs of a woman in labor. I was distressed when I heard it ; I was dismayed when I saw it . 4.   My heart wavered, fearfulness frightened me; The night for which I longed He turned into fear for me. 5.   Prepare the table, Set a watchman in the tower, Eat and drink. Arise, you princes, Anoint the shield! 6.   For thus has the Lord said to me: "Go, set a watchman, Let him declare what he sees." 7.   And he saw a chariot with a pair of horsemen, A chariot of donkeys, and a chariot of camels, And he listened earnestly with great care. 8.   Then he cried, "A lion, my Lord! I stand continually on the watchtower in the daytime; I have sat at my post every night. 9.   And look, here comes a chariot of men with a pair of horsemen!" Then he answered and said, "Babylon is fallen, is fallen! And all the carved images of her gods He has broken to the ground." 10.   Oh, my threshing and the grain of my floor! That which I have heard from the LORD of hosts, The God of Israel, I have declared to you. 11.   The burden against Dumah. He calls to me out of Seir, "Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?" 12.   The watchman said, "The morning comes, and also the night. If you will inquire, inquire; Return! Come back!" 13.   The burden against Arabia. In the forest in Arabia you will lodge, O you traveling companies of Dedanites. 14.   O inhabitants of the land of Tema, Bring water to him who is thirsty; With their bread they met him who fled. 15.   For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, From the bent bow, and from the distress of war. 16.   For thus the Lord has said to me: "Within a year, according to the year of a hired man, all the glory of Kedar will fail; 17.   "and the remainder of the number of archers, the mighty men of the people of Kedar, will be diminished; for the LORD God of Israel has spoken it ."

1.   The burden against the Valley of Vision. What ails you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops, 2.   You who are full of noise, A tumultuous city, a joyous city? Your slain men are not slain with the sword, Nor dead in battle. 3.   All your rulers have fled together; They are captured by the archers. All who are found in you are bound together; They have fled from afar. 4.   Therefore I said, "Look away from me, I will weep bitterly; Do not labor to comfort me Because of the plundering of the daughter of my people." 5.   For it is a day of trouble and treading down and perplexity By the Lord GOD of hosts In the Valley of Vision––Breaking down the walls And of crying to the mountain. 6.   Elam bore the quiver With chariots of men and horsemen, And Kir uncovered the shield. 7.   It shall come to pass that your choicest valleys Shall be full of chariots, And the horsemen shall set themselves in array at the gate. 8.   He removed the protection of Judah. You looked in that day to the armor of the House of the Forest; 9.   You also saw the damage to the city of David, That it was great; And you gathered together the waters of the lower pool. 10.   You numbered the houses of Jerusalem, And the houses you broke down To fortify the wall. 11.   You also made a reservoir between the two walls For the water of the old pool. But you did not look to its Maker, Nor did you have respect for Him who fashioned it long ago. 12.   And in that day the Lord GOD of hosts Called for weeping and for mourning, For baldness and for girding with sackcloth. 13.   But instead, joy and gladness, Slaying oxen and killing sheep, Eating meat and drinking wine: "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!" 14.   Then it was revealed in my hearing by the LORD of hosts, "Surely for this iniquity there will be no atonement for you, Even to your death," says the Lord GOD of hosts. 15.   Thus says the Lord GOD of hosts: "Go, proceed to this steward, To Shebna, who is over the house, and say : 16.   ‘What have you here, and whom have you here, That you have hewn a sepulcher here, As he who hews himself a sepulcher on high, Who carves a tomb for himself in a rock? 17.   Indeed, the LORD will throw you away violently, O mighty man, And will surely seize you. 18.   He will surely turn violently and toss you like a ball Into a large country; There you shall die, and there your glorious chariots Shall be the shame of your master’s house. 19.   So I will drive you out of your office, And from your position he will pull you down. 20.   ‘Then it shall be in that day, That I will call My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah; 21.   I will clothe him with your robe And strengthen him with your belt; I will commit your responsibility into his hand. He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem And to the house of Judah. 22.   The key of the house of David I will lay on his shoulder; So he shall open, and no one shall shut; And he shall shut, and no one shall open. 23.   I will fasten him as a peg in a secure place, And he will become a glorious throne to his father’s house. 24.   ‘They will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the posterity, all vessels of small quantity, from the cups to all the pitchers. 25.   ‘In that day,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘the peg that is fastened in the secure place will be removed and be cut down and fall, and the burden that was on it will be cut off; for the LORD has spoken.’"

1.   Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2.   of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 3.   And this we will do if God permits. 4.   For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5.   and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6.   if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame. 7.   For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; 8.   but if it bears thorns and briars, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned. 9.   But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner. 10.   For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. 11.   And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, 12.   that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. 13.   For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, 14.   saying, "Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you." 15.   And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. 16.   For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. 17.   Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, 18.   that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us . 19.   This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, 20.   where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.