Bible Reading Plan

Chapter 25

Song of Praise for God's Favor

¹ LORD, You are ^(C1)my God;
I will exalt You, I will give thanks to Your name;
For You have ^(C2)worked wonders,
^(C3)Plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness.

² For You have turned a city into a ^(C1)heap,
A ^(C2)fortified city into a ruin;
A ^(C3)palace of strangers is no longer a city,
It will never be rebuilt.

³ Therefore a strong people will ^(C1)glorify You;
^(C2)Cities of ruthless nations will revere You.

⁴ For You have been a ^(C1)stronghold for the helpless,
A stronghold for the poor in his distress,
A ^(C2)refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat;
For the breath of the ^(C3)ruthless
Is like a rain storm against a wall.

⁵ Like heat in a dry land, You subdue the ^(C1)uproar of foreigners;
Like heat by the shadow of a cloud, the song of the ruthless is ^(F1)silenced.

^6 (C1)Now the LORD of armies will prepare a ^(F1)lavish banquet for ^(C2)all peoples on this mountain;
A banquet of ^(F2)aged wine, ^(F3)choice pieces with marrow,
And ^(F4)refined, aged wine.

⁷ And on this mountain He will destroy the ^(F1)(C1)covering which is over all peoples,
The veil which is ^(F2)stretched over all nations.

⁸ He will ^(F1)(C1)swallow up death for all time,
And the Lord ^(F2)GOD will ^(C2)wipe tears away from all faces,
And He will remove the ^(C3)disgrace of His people from all the earth;
For the LORD has spoken.

⁹ And it will be said on that day,
"Behold, ^(C1)this is our God for whom we have ^(C2)waited ^(F1)that ^(C3)He might save us.
This is the LORD for whom we have waited;
^(C4)Let's rejoice and be glad in His salvation."

¹⁰ For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain,
And ^(C1)Moab will be trampled down in his place
As straw is trampled down in the water of a manure pile.

¹¹ And he will ^(C1)spread out his hands in the middle of it
As a swimmer spreads out his hands to swim,
But the Lord will ^(C2)lay low his pride together with the trickery of his hands.

¹² The ^(C1)unassailable fortifications of your walls He will bring down,
Lay low, and throw to the ground, to the dust.

Chapter 26

Song of Trust in God's Protection

^1 (C1)On that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

"We have a ^(C2)strong city;
He sets up walls and ramparts for ^(F1)(C3)security.

² "Open the ^(C1)gates, that the ^(C2)righteous nation may enter,
The one that ^(F1)remains faithful.

³ "The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect ^(C1)peace,
Because he trusts in You.

⁴ "^(C1)Trust in the LORD forever,
For in ^(F1)GOD the LORD, we have an everlasting ^(C2)Rock.

⁵ "For He has brought low those who dwell on high, the ^(C1)unassailable city;
^(C2)He lays it low, He lays it low to the ground, He casts it to the dust.

⁶ "^(C1)The foot will trample it,
The feet of the ^(C2)poor, the steps of the helpless."

⁷ The ^(C1)way of the righteous is smooth;
O Upright One, ^(C2)make the path of the righteous level.

⁸ Indeed, while following the way of ^(C1)Your judgments, LORD,
We have waited for You eagerly;
^(C2)Your name, and ^(C3)remembering You, is the desire of our souls.

^9 (C1)At night ^(F1)my soul longs for You,
Indeed, ^(F2)my spirit within me ^(C2)seeks You diligently;
For when the earth ^(F3)experiences Your judgments,
The inhabitants of the world ^(C3)learn righteousness.

¹⁰ Though the wicked person is shown compassion,
He does not ^(C1)learn righteousness;
He ^(C2)deals unjustly in the land of uprightness,
And does not perceive the majesty of the LORD.

¹¹ LORD, Your hand is lifted up, yet they ^(C1)do not see it.
^(F1)They see ^(C2)Your zeal for the people and are put to shame;
Indeed, ^(F2)(C3)fire will devour Your enemies.

¹² LORD, You will establish ^(C1)peace for us,
Since You have also performed for us all our works.

¹³ LORD, our God, ^(C1)other masters besides You have ruled us;
But through You alone we ^(F1)(C2)confess Your name.

^14 (C1)The dead will not live, the ^(F1)departed spirits will not rise;
Therefore You have ^(C2)punished and destroyed them,
And You have eliminated all remembrance of them.

^15 (C1)You have increased the nation, LORD,
You have increased the nation, You are glorified;
You have ^(C2)extended all the borders of the land.

¹⁶ LORD, they sought You ^(C1)in distress;
They ^(F1)could only whisper a prayer,
Your discipline was upon them.

^17 (C1)As the pregnant woman approaches the time to give birth,
She writhes and cries out in her labor pains;
This is how we were before You, LORD.

¹⁸ We were pregnant, we writhed in labor,
We ^(C1)gave birth, as it seems, only to wind.
We could not accomplish deliverance for the earth,
Nor were ^(C2)inhabitants of the world ^(F1)born.

¹⁹ Your ^(C1)dead will live;
^(F1)Their corpses will rise.
You who lie in the dust, ^(C2)awake and shout for joy,
For your dew is as the dew of the ^(F2)dawn,
And the earth will ^(F3)give birth to the ^(F4)departed spirits.

²⁰ Come, my people, ^(C1)enter your rooms
And close your doors behind you;
Hide for a little ^(F1)(C2)while
Until ^(C3)indignation ^(F2)runs its course.

²¹ For behold, the LORD is about to ^(C1)come out from His place
To ^(C2)punish the inhabitants of the earth for their wrongdoing;
And the earth will ^(C3)reveal her bloodshed
And will no longer cover her slain.

Chapter 27

God's Blessings for Israel

¹ On that day ^(C1)the LORD will punish ^(F1)(C2)Leviathan the fleeing serpent,
With His fierce and great and mighty sword,
Even ^(F1)Leviathan the twisted serpent;
And ^(C3)He will kill the dragon who lives in the sea.

² On that day,
"A ^(F1)(C1)vineyard of beauty, sing of it!

³ "I, the LORD, am its keeper;
^(C1)I water it every moment.
So that no one will ^(F1)damage it,
I ^(C2)guard it night and day.

⁴ "I have no wrath.
Should ^(F1)someone give Me ^(C1)briars and thorns in battle,
Then I would step on them, ^(C2)I would burn them ^(F2)completely.

⁵ "Or let him ^(F1)(C1)rely on My protection,
Let him make peace with Me,
Let him ^(C2)make peace with Me."

^6 (F1)In the days to come Jacob ^(C1)will take root,
Israel will ^(C2)blossom and sprout,
And they will fill the ^(F2)whole world with ^(C3)fruit.

⁷ Like the striking of Him who has struck them, has ^(C1)He struck them?
Or like the slaughter of His slain, ^(F1)have they been slain?

⁸ You contended with them ^(F1)by banishing them, by ^(C1)driving them away.
With His fierce wind He has expelled them on the day of the ^(C2)east wind.

⁹ Therefore through this Jacob's wrongdoing will be ^(C1)forgiven;
And this will be ^(F1)the full price of the ^(F2)(C2)pardoning of his sin:
When he makes all the ^(C3)altar stones like pulverized chalk stones;
When ^(F3)Asherim and incense altars will not stand.

¹⁰ For the fortified city is ^(C1)isolated,
A ^(F1)homestead deserted and abandoned like the desert;
^(C2)There the calf will graze,
And there it will lie down and ^(F2)feed on its branches.

¹¹ When its ^(C1)limbs are dry, they are broken off;
Women come and make a fire with them,
For they are not a people of ^(C2)discernment,
Therefore ^(C3)their Maker ^(C4)will not have compassion on them.
And their Creator will not be gracious to them.

¹² On that day the LORD ^(C1)will thresh from the flowing stream of the ^(C2)Euphrates River to the brook of Egypt, and you will be ^(C3)gathered up one by one, you sons of Israel.¹³ It will come about also on that day that a great ^(C1)trumpet will be blown, and those who were perishing in the land of ^(C2)Assyria and who were scattered in the land of Egypt will come and ^(C3)worship the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.

Chapter 28

Ephraim's Captivity Predicted

¹ Woe to the proud crown of the ^(C1)habitually drunk of ^(C2)Ephraim,
And to the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
Which is at the head of the ^(F1)fertile valley
Of those who are ^(F2)overcome with wine!

² Behold, the Lord has a strong and ^(C1)mighty agent;
As a storm of ^(C2)hail, a tempest of destruction,
Like a storm of ^(C3)mighty overflowing waters,
He has thrown it down to the earth with His hand.

³ The splendid crown of the habitually drunk of Ephraim is ^(C1)trampled underfoot.

⁴ And the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
Which is at the head of the ^(F1)fertile valley,
Will be like the ^(C1)first-ripe fig prior to the summer,
Which ^(F2)one sees,
And ^(F3)as soon as it is in his ^(F4)hand,
He swallows it.

⁵ On that day the ^(C1)LORD of armies will become a beautiful ^(C2)crown
And a glorious wreath to the remnant of His people;

⁶ A ^(C1)spirit of justice for him who sits in judgment,
A ^(C2)strength to those who repel the ^(F1)onslaught at the gate.

⁷ And these also ^(C1)reel with wine and stagger from intoxicating drink:
^(C2)The priest and ^(C3)the prophet reel with intoxicating drink,
They are confused by wine, they stagger from ^(C4)intoxicating drink;
They reel while ^(F1)having ^(C5)visions,
They stagger when rendering a verdict.

⁸ For all the tables are full of filthy ^(C1)vomit, without a single clean place.

⁹ "To ^(C1)whom would He teach knowledge,
And to whom would He interpret the message?
Those just ^(C2)weaned from milk?
Those just taken from the breast?

¹⁰ "For He says,
'^(F1)(C1)Order on order, order on order,
Line on line, line on line,
A little here, a little there.'"

¹¹ Indeed, He will speak to this people
Through ^(C1)stammering lips and a foreign tongue,

¹² He who said to them, "This is the ^(C1)place of quiet, give rest to the weary,"
And, "This is the resting place," but they would not listen.

¹³ So the word of the LORD to them will be,
"^(F1)Order on order, order on order,
Line on line, line on line,
A little here, a little there,"
That they may go and ^(C1)stumble backward, be broken, snared, and taken captive.

Judah Is Warned

¹⁴ Therefore, ^(C1)hear the word of the LORD, you ^(C2)scoffers,
Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,

¹⁵ Because you have said, "We have made a ^(C1)covenant with death,
And with ^(F1)Sheol we have made a ^(F2)pact.
^(C2)The ^(F3)gushing flood will not reach us when it passes by,
Because we have made ^(C3)falsehood our refuge and we have ^(C4)concealed ourselves with deception."