Friday, September 11, 2026

7 Reasons Not to Worry, Part 1

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6:25–26)


We are going to spend three days on this part of Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 6:25–34, Jesus is dealing specifically with anxiety about food and clothing. But, in fact, it relates to all anxiety.


Even in America, with its extensive welfare system, anxiety over finances and housing and food and clothing can be intense. Not to mention Christians who live in situations where much greater poverty threatens life. But Jesus says in verse 30 that our anxiety comes from little faith in our Father’s promise of future grace: “O you of little faith.”


These verses (25–34) contain at least seven promises designed by Jesus to help us fight the good fight against unbelief and be free from anxiety. (Today we look at Promises 1 and 2 — then over the next two days at the rest.)


Promise #1: “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25)


Since your body and your life are vastly more complex and difficult to provide than food and clothing are, and yet God has, in fact, created and provided you with both, then surely he will be able and willing to provide you with food and clothing.


Moreover, no matter what happens, God will raise your body someday and preserve your life and body for his eternal fellowship.


Promise #2: “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6:26)


If God is willing and able to feed such insignificant creatures as birds who cannot do anything to bring their food into being — as you can by farming — then he will certainly provide what you need, because you are worth a lot more than birds. You, unlike the birds, have the amazing capacity to glorify God by trusting, obeying, and thanking God.


John Piper 

 

Your Inheritance Is Bigger Than You Think

“Let your eyes be on the field which they reap, and go after them. Have I not commanded the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink from what the young men have drawn.” RUTH 2:9

 

PONDER THIS


Ruth is out in the fields, and Boaz says, “Ruth, are you thirsty? Help yourself to the things I’ve got for my workers there. Ruth, go ahead, glean the fields. Ruth, you can glean if you want to among the sheaves. Hey fellows, leave some on the ground for her. When it’s dinnertime and all the workers are eating, she doesn’t have to go off there in the corner of the field. Just invite her to the table and let her eat until she is satisfied.”


Did you know that soon she’s going to own that field? She’s gleaning in the field right now, but she is going to marry the owner of that field and all that he has will be hers. Think about it. Right now we’re just getting the first fruits, and thank God for those hands full of purpose. He gives me some day by day. And He says, “Sit down and eat and be satisfied.”


But bless the Lord, the meek will inherit the Earth. We’re going to be united to the Lord Jesus Christ, our heavenly Boaz. All that belonged to Boaz became Ruth’s; the very field that she was gleaning in. Look around. Do you think God made all this for those that belong to the world? He made it for His people. One day it will be ours because we will be united with Him.


How does it change your perspective to remember that God has promised His people will one day inherit the Earth?

How does it motivate you to join God’s work as coheirs with Christ?


PRACTICE THIS


Take a walk today for the purpose of observing God’s creation all around you. Be reminded that God has promised that His people will one day inherit the Earth as coheirs with Christ. Meditate on how glorious that will be—Scripture calls it a new Heaven and a new Earth in the Book of Revelation.



LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

September 11

Luke 22:47-53


[47] While he was still speaking, there came a crowd, and the man called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He drew near to Jesus to kiss him, [48] but Jesus said to him, “Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” [49] And when those who were around him saw what would follow, they said, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” [50] And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. [51] But Jesus said, “No more of this!” And he touched his ear and healed him. [52] Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders, who had come out against him, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? [53] When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.”


Hebrews 7:1-10


[1] For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, [2] and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. [3] He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.


[4] See how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils! [5] And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, though these also are descended from Abraham. [6] But this man who does not have his descent from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. [7] It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior. [8] In the one case tithes are received by mortal men, but in the other case, by one of whom it is testified that he lives. [9] One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, [10] for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him.


Proverbs 23:19-35


    [19] 

    Hear, my son, and be wise,

        and direct your heart in the way. 

    [20] 

    Be not among drunkards

        or among gluttonous eaters of meat, 

    [21] 

    for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty,

        and slumber will clothe them with rags.


    [22] 

    Listen to your father who gave you life,

        and do not despise your mother when she is old. 

    [23] 

    Buy truth, and do not sell it;

        buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding. 

    [24] 

    The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice;

        he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him. 

    [25] 

    Let your father and mother be glad;

        let her who bore you rejoice.


    [26] 

    My son, give me your heart,

        and let your eyes observe my ways. 

    [27] 

    For a prostitute is a deep pit;

        an adulteress is a narrow well. 

    [28] 

    She lies in wait like a robber

        and increases the traitors among mankind.


    [29] 

    Who has woe? Who has sorrow?

        Who has strife? Who has complaining?

    Who has wounds without cause?

        Who has redness of eyes? 

    [30] 

    Those who tarry long over wine;

        those who go to try mixed wine. 

    [31] 

    Do not look at wine when it is red,

        when it sparkles in the cup

        and goes down smoothly. 

    [32] 

    In the end it bites like a serpent

        and stings like an adder. 

    [33] 

    Your eyes will see strange things,

        and your heart utter perverse things. 

    [34] 

    You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea,

        like one who lies on the top of a mast. 

    [35] 

    “They struck me,” you will say, “but I was not hurt;

        they beat me, but I did not feel it.

    When shall I awake?

        I must have another drink.”


Isaiah 29


    [1] Ah, Ariel, Ariel,

        the city where David encamped!

    Add year to year;

        let the feasts run their round. 

    [2] Yet I will distress Ariel,

        and there shall be moaning and lamentation,

        and she shall be to me like an Ariel. 

    [3] And I will encamp against you all around,

        and will besiege you with towers

        and I will raise siegeworks against you. 

    [4] And you will be brought low; from the earth you shall speak,

        and from the dust your speech will be bowed down;

    your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost,

        and from the dust your speech shall whisper.


    [5] But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like small dust,

        and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff.

    And in an instant, suddenly, 

    [6]     you will be visited by the LORD of hosts

    with thunder and with earthquake and great noise,

        with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire. 

    [7] And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel,

        all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her,

        shall be like a dream, a vision of the night. 

    [8] As when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he is eating,

        and awakes with his hunger not satisfied,

    or as when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he is drinking,

        and awakes faint, with his thirst not quenched,

    so shall the multitude of all the nations be

        that fight against Mount Zion.


    [9] Astonish yourselves and be astonished;

        blind yourselves and be blind!

    Be drunk, but not with wine;

        stagger, but not with strong drink! 

    [10] For the LORD has poured out upon you

        a spirit of deep sleep,

    and has closed your eyes (the prophets),

        and covered your heads (the seers).


    [11] And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” [12] And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot read.”


    [13] And the Lord said:

    “Because this people draw near with their mouth

        and honor me with their lips,

        while their hearts are far from me,

    and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men, 

    [14] therefore, behold, I will again

        do wonderful things with this people,

        with wonder upon wonder;

    and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,

        and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”


    [15] Ah, you who hide deep from the LORD your counsel,

        whose deeds are in the dark,

        and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?” 

    [16] You turn things upside down!

    Shall the potter be regarded as the clay,

    that the thing made should say of its maker,

        “He did not make me”;

    or the thing formed say of him who formed it,

        “He has no understanding”?


    [17] Is it not yet a very little while

        until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field,

        and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest? 

    [18] In that day the deaf shall hear

        the words of a book,

    and out of their gloom and darkness

        the eyes of the blind shall see. 

    [19] The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the LORD,

        and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel. 

    [20] For the ruthless shall come to nothing

        and the scoffer cease,

        and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off, 

    [21] who by a word make a man out to be an offender,

        and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate,

        and with an empty plea turn aside him who is in the right.


    [22] Therefore thus says the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: 


    “Jacob shall no more be ashamed,

        no more shall his face grow pale. 

    [23] For when he sees his children,

        the work of my hands, in his midst,

        they will sanctify my name;

    they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob

        and will stand in awe of the God of Israel. 

    [24] And those who go astray in spirit will come to understanding,

        and those who murmur will accept instruction.”


Isaiah 30


    [1] “Ah, stubborn children,” declares the LORD,

    “who carry out a plan, but not mine,

    and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit,

        that they may add sin to sin; 

    [2] who set out to go down to Egypt,

        without asking for my direction,

    to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh

        and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt! 

    [3] Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame,

        and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation. 

    [4] For though his officials are at Zoan

        and his envoys reach Hanes, 

    [5] everyone comes to shame

        through a people that cannot profit them,

    that brings neither help nor profit,

        but shame and disgrace.”


    [6] An oracle on the beasts of the Negeb. 


    Through a land of trouble and anguish,

        from where come the lioness and the lion,

        the adder and the flying fiery serpent,

    they carry their riches on the backs of donkeys,

        and their treasures on the humps of camels,

        to a people that cannot profit them. 

    [7] Egypt’s help is worthless and empty;

        therefore I have called her

        “Rahab who sits still.”


    [8] And now, go, write it before them on a tablet

        and inscribe it in a book,

    that it may be for the time to come

        as a witness forever. 

    [9] For they are a rebellious people,

        lying children,

    children unwilling to hear

        the instruction of the LORD; 

    [10] who say to the seers, “Do not see,”

        and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right;

    speak to us smooth things,

        prophesy illusions, 

    [11] leave the way, turn aside from the path,

        let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.” 

    [12] Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel,

    “Because you despise this word

        and trust in oppression and perverseness

        and rely on them, 

    [13] therefore this iniquity shall be to you

        like a breach in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse,

        whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant; 

    [14] and its breaking is like that of a potter’s vessel

        that is smashed so ruthlessly

    that among its fragments not a shard is found

        with which to take fire from the hearth,

        or to dip up water out of the cistern.”


    [15] For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel,

    “In returning and rest you shall be saved;

        in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”

    But you were unwilling,  [16] and you said,

    “No! We will flee upon horses”;

        therefore you shall flee away;

    and, “We will ride upon swift steeds”;

        therefore your pursuers shall be swift. 

    [17] A thousand shall flee at the threat of one;

        at the threat of five you shall flee,

    till you are left

        like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain,

        like a signal on a hill.


    [18] Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you,

        and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you.

    For the LORD is a God of justice;

        blessed are all those who wait for him.


    [19] For a people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. [20] And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. [21] And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. [22] Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, “Be gone!”


[23] And he will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and bread, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. In that day your livestock will graze in large pastures, [24] and the oxen and the donkeys that work the ground will eat seasoned fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork. [25] And on every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water, in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. [26] Moreover, the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when the LORD binds up the brokenness of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.


    [27] Behold, the name of the LORD comes from afar,

        burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke;

    his lips are full of fury,

        and his tongue is like a devouring fire; 

    [28] his breath is like an overflowing stream

        that reaches up to the neck;

    to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction,

        and to place on the jaws of the peoples a bridle that leads astray.


    [29] You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart, as when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to the mountain of the LORD, to the Rock of Israel. [30] And the LORD will cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in furious anger and a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst and storm and hailstones. [31] The Assyrians will be terror-stricken at the voice of the LORD, when he strikes with his rod. [32] And every stroke of the appointed staff that the LORD lays on them will be to the sound of tambourines and lyres. Battling with brandished arm, he will fight with them. [33] For a burning place has long been prepared; indeed, for the king it is made ready, its pyre made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.

Thursday, September 10, 2026

How to Fight Anxiety

[Cast] all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:7)


Psalm 56:3 says, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.”


Notice: it does not say, “I never struggle with fear.” Fear strikes, and the battle begins. So the Bible does not assume that true believers will have no anxieties. Instead, the Bible tells us how to fight when they strike.


For example, 1 Peter 5:7 says, “[Cast] all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” It does not say, you will never feel any anxieties. It says, when you have them, cast them on God. When the mud splatters your windshield and you temporarily lose sight of the road and start to swerve in anxiety, turn on your wipers and squirt your windshield washer.


So my response to the person who has to deal with feelings of anxiety every day is to say: that’s more or less normal. At least it is for me, ever since my teenage years. The issue is: How do we fight them?


The answer to that question is: we fight anxieties by fighting against unbelief and fighting for faith in future grace. And the way you fight this “good fight” (1 Timothy 6:12; 2 Timothy 4:7) is by meditating on God’s assurances of future grace and by asking for the help of his Spirit.


The windshield wipers are the promises of God that clear away the mud of unbelief, and the windshield washer fluid is the help of the Holy Spirit. The battle to be freed from sin — including the sin of anxiety — is fought “by the Spirit and belief in the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:13).


The work of the Spirit and the word of truth. These are the great faith-builders. Without the softening work of the Holy Spirit, the wipers of the word just scrape over the blinding clumps of unbelief on the windshield.


Both are necessary: the Spirit and the word. We read the promises of God and we pray for the help of his Spirit. And as the windshield clears so that we can see the welfare that God plans for us (Jeremiah 29:11), our faith grows stronger and the swerving of anxiety straightens out.


John Piper 

 

God Is Shaping You Through This

“Then Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, ‘Whose young woman is this?’” RUTH 2:5

 

PONDER THIS


Samuel Rutherford, a man who knew suffering, has been quoted as saying, “Praise God for the hammer, the file, and the furnace.” Has it seemed like you’re a nail, and some hammer is coming out of nowhere, beating on you? Does it seem like you are a piece of metal, and there is some file that is gnawing and scraping and reducing you? Does it seem like you have been flung into a furnace and are being consumed? Remember that God holds the nail and the hammer. God holds the metal and the file. It is God who has allowed you to be in the furnace and watches over the furnace.


Ruth surely wondered, “Why this hammer? Why this file? Why this furnace of fire?” But if you back out and look at the bigger picture, you see that it was saving grace, it was sovereign grace, and it was God moving everything so that Ruth showed up just at the right time in the barley field when Boaz was there because God had a plan.


When have you experienced suffering that felt like a hammer, file, or furnace?

How does it encourage you to remember that God has a plan, even in difficult times?


PRACTICE THIS


Journal today about a time during which you were able to see God’s plan in very difficult circumstances.


LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

September 10

Luke 22:39-46


[39] And he came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. [40] And when he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.” [41] And he withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, [42] saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” [43] And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. [44] And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. [45] And when he rose from prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow, [46] and he said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.”


Hebrews 6:13-20


[13] For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, [14] saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” [15] And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. [16] For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. [17] So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, [18] so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. [19] We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, [20] where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.


Proverbs 23:1-18


    [1] When you sit down to eat with a ruler,

        observe carefully what is before you, 

    [2] 

    and put a knife to your throat

        if you are given to appetite. 

    [3] 

    Do not desire his delicacies,

        for they are deceptive food. 

    [4] 

    Do not toil to acquire wealth;

        be discerning enough to desist. 

    [5] 

    When your eyes light on it, it is gone,

        for suddenly it sprouts wings,

        flying like an eagle toward heaven. 

    [6] 

    Do not eat the bread of a man who is stingy;

        do not desire his delicacies, 

    [7] 

    for he is like one who is inwardly calculating.

        “Eat and drink!” he says to you,

        but his heart is not with you. 

    [8] 

    You will vomit up the morsels that you have eaten,

        and waste your pleasant words. 

    [9] 

    Do not speak in the hearing of a fool,

        for he will despise the good sense of your words. 

    [10] 

    Do not move an ancient landmark

        or enter the fields of the fatherless, 

    [11] 

    for their Redeemer is strong;

        he will plead their cause against you. 

    [12] 

    Apply your heart to instruction

        and your ear to words of knowledge. 

    [13] 

    Do not withhold discipline from a child;

        if you strike him with a rod, he will not die. 

    [14] 

    If you strike him with the rod,

        you will save his soul from Sheol. 

    [15] 

    My son, if your heart is wise,

        my heart too will be glad. 

    [16] 

    My inmost being will exult

        when your lips speak what is right. 

    [17] 

    Let not your heart envy sinners,

        but continue in the fear of the LORD all the day. 

    [18] 

    Surely there is a future,

        and your hope will not be cut off.


Isaiah 27


[1] In that day the LORD with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea.


    [2] In that day,

    “A pleasant vineyard, sing of it! 

    [3]     I, the LORD, am its keeper;

        every moment I water it.

        Lest anyone punish it,

    I keep it night and day; 

    [4]     I have no wrath.

    Would that I had thorns and briers to battle!

        I would march against them,

        I would burn them up together. 

    [5] Or let them lay hold of my protection,

        let them make peace with me,

        let them make peace with me.”


    [6] In days to come Jacob shall take root,

        Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots

        and fill the whole world with fruit.


    [7] Has he struck them as he struck those who struck them?

        Or have they been slain as their slayers were slain? 

    [8] Measure by measure, by exile you contended with them;

        he removed them with his fierce breath in the day of the east wind. 

    [9] Therefore by this the guilt of Jacob will be atoned for,

        and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin:

    when he makes all the stones of the altars

        like chalkstones crushed to pieces,

        no Asherim or incense altars will remain standing. 

    [10] For the fortified city is solitary,

        a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness;

    there the calf grazes;

        there it lies down and strips its branches. 

    [11] When its boughs are dry, they are broken;

        women come and make a fire of them.

    For this is a people without discernment;

        therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them;

        he who formed them will show them no favor.


    [12] In that day from the river Euphrates to the Brook of Egypt the LORD will thresh out the grain, and you will be gleaned one by one, O people of Israel. [13] And in that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.


Isaiah 28


    [1] Ah, the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim,

        and the fading flower of its glorious beauty,

        which is on the head of the rich valley of those overcome with wine! 

    [2] Behold, the Lord has one who is mighty and strong;

        like a storm of hail, a destroying tempest,

    like a storm of mighty, overflowing waters,

        he casts down to the earth with his hand. 

    [3] The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim

        will be trodden underfoot; 

    [4] and the fading flower of its glorious beauty,

        which is on the head of the rich valley,

    will be like a first-ripe fig before the summer:

        when someone sees it, he swallows it

        as soon as it is in his hand.


    [5] In that day the LORD of hosts will be a crown of glory,

        and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people, 

    [6] and a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment,

        and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.


    [7] These also reel with wine

        and stagger with strong drink;

    the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink,

        they are swallowed by wine,

        they stagger with strong drink,

    they reel in vision,

        they stumble in giving judgment. 

    [8] For all tables are full of filthy vomit,

        with no space left.


    [9] “To whom will he teach knowledge,

        and to whom will he explain the message?

    Those who are weaned from the milk,

        those taken from the breast? 

    [10] For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept,

        line upon line, line upon line,

        here a little, there a little.”


    [11] For by people of strange lips

        and with a foreign tongue

    the LORD will speak to this people, 

    [12]     to whom he has said,

    “This is rest;

        give rest to the weary;

    and this is repose”;

        yet they would not hear. 

    [13] And the word of the LORD will be to them

    precept upon precept, precept upon precept,

        line upon line, line upon line,

        here a little, there a little,

    that they may go, and fall backward,

        and be broken, and snared, and taken.


    [14] Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scoffers,

        who rule this people in Jerusalem! 

    [15] Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death,

        and with Sheol we have an agreement,

    when the overwhelming whip passes through

        it will not come to us,

    for we have made lies our refuge,

        and in falsehood we have taken shelter”; 

    [16] therefore thus says the Lord GOD,

    “Behold, I am the one who has laid as a foundation in Zion,

        a stone, a tested stone,

    a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation:

        ‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’ 

    [17] And I will make justice the line,

        and righteousness the plumb line;

    and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,

        and waters will overwhelm the shelter.” 

    [18] Then your covenant with death will be annulled,

        and your agreement with Sheol will not stand;

    when the overwhelming scourge passes through,

        you will be beaten down by it. 

    [19] As often as it passes through it will take you;

        for morning by morning it will pass through,

        by day and by night;

    and it will be sheer terror to understand the message. 

    [20] For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on,

        and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in. 

    [21] For the LORD will rise up as on Mount Perazim;

        as in the Valley of Gibeon he will be roused;

    to do his deed—strange is his deed!

        and to work his work—alien is his work! 

    [22] Now therefore do not scoff,

        lest your bonds be made strong;

    for I have heard a decree of destruction

        from the Lord GOD of hosts against the whole land.


    [23] Give ear, and hear my voice;

        give attention, and hear my speech. 

    [24] Does he who plows for sowing plow continually?

        Does he continually open and harrow his ground? 

    [25] When he has leveled its surface,

        does he not scatter dill, sow cumin,

    and put in wheat in rows

        and barley in its proper place,

        and emmer as the border? 

    [26] For he is rightly instructed;

        his God teaches him.


    [27] Dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge,

        nor is a cart wheel rolled over cumin,

    but dill is beaten out with a stick,

        and cumin with a rod. 

    [28] Does one crush grain for bread?

        No, he does not thresh it forever;

    when he drives his cart wheel over it

        with his horses, he does not crush it. 

    [29] This also comes from the LORD of hosts;

        he is wonderful in counsel

        and excellent in wisdom.