Old/New Testament
Woe to Samaria
28 Woe to the majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards,(A)
and to the fading flower of its beautiful splendor,
which is on the summit above the rich valley.
Woe to those overcome with wine.
2 Look, the Lord has a strong and mighty one(B)—
like a devastating hail storm,
like a storm with strong flooding waters.
He will bring it across the land with His hand.
3 The majestic crown of Ephraim’s drunkards
will be trampled underfoot.
4 The fading flower of his beautiful splendor,
which is on the summit above the rich valley,
will be like a ripe fig before the summer harvest.(C)
Whoever sees it will swallow it
while it is still in his hand.
5 On that day
the Lord of Hosts will become a crown of beauty
and a diadem of splendor(D)
to the remnant of His people,
6 a spirit of justice
to the one who sits in judgment,(E)
and strength
to those who turn back the battle at the gate.
7 These also stagger because of wine
and stumble under the influence of beer:
priest and prophet stagger because of beer,
they are confused by wine.(F)
They stumble because of beer,
they are muddled in their visions,
they stumble in their judgments.
8 Indeed, all their tables are covered with vomit;
there is no place without a stench.
9 Who is he[a] trying to teach?
Who is he[b] trying to instruct?
Infants[c] just weaned from milk?
Babies[d] removed from the breast?
10 For he says: “Law after law, law after law,
line after line, line after line,
a little here, a little there.”[e][f]
11 So He will speak to this people
with stammering speech
and in a foreign language.(G)
12 He had said to them:
“This is the place of rest,
let the weary rest;(H)
this is the place of repose.”
But they would not listen.
13 Then the word of the Lord came to them:
“Law after law, law after law,
line after line, line after line,
a little here, a little there,”[g][h]
so they go stumbling backward,
to be broken, trapped, and captured.(I)
A Deal with Death
14 Therefore hear the word of the Lord,(J) you mockers(K)
who rule this people in Jerusalem.
15 For you said, “We have cut a deal with Death,
and we have made an agreement with Sheol;
when the overwhelming scourge passes through,(L)
it will not touch us,
because we have made falsehood our refuge
and have hidden behind treachery.”
16 Therefore the Lord God said:
“Look, I have laid a stone(M) in Zion,
a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation;(N)
the one who believes will be unshakable.[i](O)
17 And I will make justice the measuring line
and righteousness the mason’s level.”(P)
Hail will sweep away the false refuge,
and water will flood your hiding place.
18 Your deal with Death will be dissolved,
and your agreement with Sheol will not last.
When the overwhelming scourge passes through,
you will be trampled.
19 Every time it passes through,
it will carry you away;
it will pass through every morning—
every day and every night.
Only terror(Q) will cause you
to understand the message.[j]
20 Indeed, the bed is too short to stretch out on,
and its cover too small to wrap up in.
21 For the Lord will rise up as He did at Mount Perazim.(R)
He will rise in wrath, as at the Valley of Gibeon,(S)
to do His work, His strange work,
and to perform His task, His disturbing task.
22 So now, do not mock,
or your shackles will become stronger.
Indeed, I have heard from the Lord God of Hosts
a decree of destruction for the whole land.(T)
God’s Wonderful Advice
23 Listen and hear my voice.
Pay attention and hear what I say.
24 Does the plowman plow every day to plant seed?
Does he continuously break up and cultivate the soil?
25 When he has leveled its surface,
does he not then scatter black cumin and sow cumin?
He plants wheat in rows and barley in plots,
with spelt as their border.
26 His God teaches him order;
He instructs him.
27 Certainly black cumin is not threshed
with a threshing board,
and a cart wheel is not rolled over the cumin.
But black cumin is beaten out with a stick,
and cumin with a rod.
28 Bread grain is crushed,
but is not threshed endlessly.
Though the wheel of the farmer’s cart rumbles,
his horses do not crush it.
29 This also comes from the Lord of Hosts.
He gives wonderful advice;
He gives great wisdom.(U)
Woe to Jerusalem
29 Woe to Ariel,[k] Ariel,
the city where David camped!(V)
Continue year after year;
let the festivals recur.
2 I will oppress Ariel,
and there will be mourning and crying,
and she will be to Me like an Ariel.[l]
3 I will camp in a circle around you;
I will besiege you with earth ramps,
and I will set up my siege towers against you.
4 You will be brought down;
you will speak from the ground,
and your words will come from low in the dust.
Your voice will be like that of a spirit from the ground;(W)
your speech will whisper from the dust.
5 Your many foes[m] will be like fine dust,(X)
and many of the ruthless, like blowing chaff.
Then suddenly, in an instant,(Y)
6 you will be visited by the Lord of Hosts
with thunder, earthquake, and loud noise,
storm, tempest, and a flame of consuming fire.(Z)
7 All the many nations(AA)
going out to battle against Ariel—
all the attackers, the siege works against her,
and those who oppress her—
will then be like a dream, a vision in the night.(AB)
8 It will be like a hungry one who dreams he is eating,
then wakes and is still hungry;
and like a thirsty one who dreams he is drinking,
then wakes and is still thirsty, longing for water.
So it will be for all the many nations
who go to battle against Mount Zion.
9 Stop and be astonished;
blind yourselves and be blind!
They are drunk,[n] but not with wine;
they stagger,[o] but not with beer.(AC)
10 For the Lord has poured out on you
an overwhelming urge to[p] sleep;(AD)
He has shut your eyes—the prophets,
and covered your heads—the seers.(AE)
11 For you the entire vision will be like the words of a sealed document.(AF) If it is given to one who can read and he is asked to read it,[q] he will say, “I can’t read it, because it is sealed.” 12 And if the document is given to one who cannot read and he is asked to read it,[r] he will say, “I can’t read.”
13 The Lord said:
Because these people approach Me with their mouths(AG)
to honor Me with lip-service[s]—
yet their hearts are far from Me,
and their worship consists of man-made rules
learned by rote—
14 therefore I will again confound these people
with wonder after wonder.(AH)
The wisdom of their wise men will vanish,(AI)
and the understanding of the perceptive will be hidden.
15 Woe to those who go to great lengths
to hide their plans from the Lord.(AJ)
They do their works in darkness,
and say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”(AK)
16 You have turned things around,
as if the potter were the same as the clay.
How can what is made say about its maker,
“He didn’t make me”?(AL)
How can what is formed
say about the one who formed it,
“He doesn’t understand what he’s doing”?
17 Isn’t it true that in just a little while
Lebanon will become an orchard,
and the orchard will seem like a forest?(AM)
18 On that day the deaf will hear(AN)
the words of a document,
and out of a deep darkness
the eyes of the blind will see.
19 The humble will have joy
after joy in the Lord,
and the poor people will rejoice(AO)
in the Holy One of Israel.(AP)
20 For the ruthless one will vanish,
the scorner will disappear,(AQ)
and all those who lie in wait with evil intent
will be killed—
21 those who, with their speech,
accuse a person of wrongdoing,
who set a trap at the gate for the mediator,
and without cause deprive the righteous of justice.(AR)
22 Therefore, the Lord who redeemed Abraham(AS) says this about the house of Jacob:
Jacob will no longer be ashamed
and his face will no longer be pale.
23 For when he sees his children,
the work of My hands within his nation,
they will honor My name,
they will honor the Holy One of Jacob(AT)
and stand in awe of the God of Israel.(AU)
24 Those who are confused will gain understanding,
and those who grumble will accept instruction.
Knowing Christ
3 Finally, my brothers, rejoice(A) in the Lord. To write to you again about this is no trouble for me and is a protection for you.
2 Watch out for “dogs,”[a] watch out for evil(B) workers, watch out for those who mutilate the flesh. 3 For we are the circumcision,(C) the ones who serve by the Spirit(D) of God, boast in Christ Jesus,(E) and do not put confidence in the flesh— 4 although I once also had confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised the eighth day;(F) of the nation of Israel,(G) of the tribe of Benjamin,(H) a Hebrew born of Hebrews; regarding the law,(I) a Pharisee; 6 regarding zeal,(J) persecuting(K) the church; regarding the righteousness that is in the law,(L) blameless.(M)
7 But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ. 8 More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value(N) of knowing Christ(O) Jesus my Lord. Because of Him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them filth, so that I may gain Christ(P) 9 and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law,(Q) but one that is through faith in Christ[b]—the righteousness from God based on faith.(R) 10 My goal is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings,(S) being conformed to His death,(T) 11 assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead.
Reaching Forward to God’s Goal
12 Not that I have already reached the goal or am already fully mature, but I make every effort to take hold(U) of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus. 13 Brothers, I do not[c] consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind(V) and reaching forward to what is ahead, 14 I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly[d] call in Christ Jesus.(W) 15 Therefore, all who are mature should think this way. And if you think differently about anything, God will reveal(X) this also to you. 16 In any case, we should live up to whatever truth we have attained. 17 Join in imitating me, brothers, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. 18 For I have often told you, and now say again with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross(Y) of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction; their god is their stomach; their glory(Z) is in their shame. They are focused on earthly things, 20 but our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. 21 He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of His glorious(AA) body,(AB) by the power that enables Him to subject everything to Himself.
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