the Week of Proper 18 / Ordinary 23
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Bible Reading Plan
Daily Bible Reading
September 13 - Old & New Testament
csb
Isaiah 7,8
The Message to Ahaz
1 This took place during the reign of Ahaz, son of Jotham, son of Uzziah king of Judah:(a) Rezin king of Aram, along with Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, waged war against Jerusalem,(b) but he could not succeed. 2 When it became known to the house of David(c) that Aram had occupied Ephraim,(d) the heart of Ahaz[a] and the hearts of his people trembled like trees of a forest shaking in the wind.
3 Then the Lord said to Isaiah, "Go out with your son Shear-jashub(e) to meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the upper pool,(f) by the road to the Fuller's Field. 4 Say to him: Calm down and be quiet. Don't be afraid or cowardly(g) because of these two smoldering stubs of firebrands, the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram, and the son of Remaliah. 5 For Aram, along with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has plotted harm against you. They say, 6 ‘Let us go up against Judah, terrorize it, and conquer it for ourselves. Then we can install Tabeel's son as king in it.'"
7 This is what the Lord God says:
It will not happen; it will not occur.(h)
8 The[b] head of Aram is Damascus,
the head of Damascus is Rezin
(within 65 years
Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people),
9 the head of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.
If you do not stand firm in your faith,
then you will not stand at all.
The Immanuel Prophecy
10 Then the Lord spoke again to Ahaz: 11 "Ask for a sign(i) from the Lord your God—from the depths of Sheol to the heights of heaven."
12 But Ahaz replied, "I will not ask. I will not test the Lord ."
13 Isaiah(j) said, "Listen, house of David! Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men? Will you also try the patience of my God?(k) 14 Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you[c] a sign: The virgin will conceive,[d] have a son, and name him Immanuel.[e](l) 15 By the time he learns to reject what is bad and choose what is good,(m) he will be eating butter[f] and honey.(n) 16 For before the boy knows to reject what is bad and choose what is good, the land of the two kings you dread will be abandoned. 17 The Lord will bring on you, your people, and the house of your father, such a time as has never been since Ephraim separated from Judah(o)—the king of Assyria(p) is coming."
18 On that day(q)
the
Lord
will whistle(r) to the fly
that is at the farthest streams of the Nile
and to the bee that is in the land of Assyria.
19 All of them will come and settle
in the steep ravines, in the clefts of the rocks,(s)
in all the thornbushes, and in all the water holes.
20 On that day the Lord will use a razor(t) hired from beyond the Euphrates River—the king of Assyria(u)—to shave the head, the hair on the legs, and to remove the beard as well.
21 On that day
a man will raise a young cow and two sheep,
22 and from the abundant milk they give
he will eat butter,
for every survivor in the land will eat butter and honey.(v)
23 And on that day
every place where there were 1,000 vines,
worth 1,000 pieces of silver,
will become thorns and briers.(w)
24 A man will go there with bow and arrows
because the whole land will be thorns and briers.
25 You will not go to all the hills
that were once tilled with a hoe,
for fear of the thorns and briers.
Those hills will be places for oxen to graze
and for sheep to trample.
The Coming Assyrian Invasion
1 Then the Lord said to me, "Take a large piece of parchment[a] and write on it with an ordinary pen:[b](a) Maher-shalal-hash-baz.[c] 2 I have appointed[d] trustworthy witnesses—Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah."(b)
3 I was then intimate with the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. The Lord said to me, "Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz, 4 for before the boy knows how to call out father or mother,(c) the wealth of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria will be carried off to the king of Assyria."(d)
5 The Lord spoke to me again:
6 Because these people rejected
the slowly flowing waters of Shiloah
and rejoiced with[e] Rezin
and the son of Remaliah,(e)
7 the Lord will certainly bring against them
the mighty rushing waters of the Euphrates River—
the king of Assyria and all his glory.
It will overflow its channels
and spill over all its banks.
8 It will pour into Judah,
flood over it, and sweep through,
reaching up to the neck;(f)
and its spreading streams[f]
will fill your entire land, Immanuel!(g)
9 Band together, peoples, and be broken;
pay attention, all you distant lands;
prepare for war, and be broken;
prepare for war, and be broken.
10 Devise a plan; it will fail.(h)
Make a prediction; it will not happen.
For God is with us.[g](i)
The Lord of Hosts, the Only Refuge
11 For this is what the Lord said to me with great power, to keep[h] me from going the way of this people:(j)
12 Do not call everything an alliance
these people say is an alliance.(k)
Do not fear what they fear;(l)
do not be terrified.
13 You are to regard only the
Lord
of Hosts as holy.(m)
Only He should be feared;(n)
only He should be held in awe.
14 He will be a sanctuary;(o)
but for the two houses of Israel,
He will be a stone(p) to stumble over
and a rock to trip over,(q)
and a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
15 Many will stumble over these;(r)
they will fall and be broken;
they will be snared and captured.
16 Bind up the testimony.(s)
Seal up the instruction(t) among my disciples.
17 I will wait for the
Lord
,(u)
who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob.(v)
I will wait for Him.
18 Here I am with the children the Lord has given me(w) to be signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of Hosts who dwells on Mount Zion. 19 When they say to you, "Consult the spirits of the dead and the spiritists who chirp and mutter,"(x) shouldn't a people consult their God?[i] Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?(y) 20 To the law and to the testimony!(z) If they do not speak according to this word, there will be no dawn for them.
21 They will wander through the land, dejected and hungry. When they are famished, they will become enraged, and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. 22 They will look toward the earth(aa) and see only distress, darkness, and the gloom of affliction, and they will be driven into thick darkness.
Acts 20:17-38
Chapter 20
17 Now from Miletus, he sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church. 18 And when they came to him, he said to them: "You know, from the first day I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time(l)— 19 serving the Lord with all humility, with tears, and with the trials that came to me through the plots of the Jews(m)— 20 and that I did not shrink back from proclaiming to you anything that was profitable or from teaching it to you in public and from house to house. 21 I testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God(n) and faith in our Lord Jesus.(o)
22 "And now I am on my way to Jerusalem, bound in my spirit,[e] not knowing what I will encounter there,(p) 23 except that in town after town the Holy Spirit testifies to me that chains and afflictions are waiting for me.(q) 24 But I count my life of no value to myself, so that I may finish my course[f] and the ministry(r) I received from the Lord Jesus,(s) to testify to the gospel of God's grace.
25 "And now I know that none of you will ever see my face again—everyone I went about preaching the kingdom to. 26 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent[g] of everyone's blood,(t) 27 for I did not shrink back from declaring to you the whole plan of God.(u) 28 Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock(v) that the Holy Spirit has appointed you to as overseers,(w) to shepherd the church of God,[h] which He purchased with His own blood.(x) 29 I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. 30 And men will rise up from your own number with deviant doctrines to lure the disciples into following them.(y) 31 Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for three years I did not stop warning each one of you with tears.(z)
32 "And now[i] I commit you to God and to the message of His grace,(aa) which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance(ab) among all who are sanctified. 33 I have not coveted anyone's silver or gold or clothing.(ac) 34 You yourselves know that these hands have provided for my needs and for those who were with me.(ad) 35 In every way I've shown you that by laboring like this, it is necessary to help the weak and to keep in mind the words of the Lord Jesus, for He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.' "
36 After he said this, he knelt down and prayed with all of them.(ae) 37 There was a great deal of weeping by everyone. They embraced Paul and kissed him, 38 grieving most of all over his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they escorted him to the ship.(af)
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