September 11

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." - Luke 22:47-53

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. - Hebrews 7:1-10

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."  - Proverbs 23:19-35

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 29

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. - Isaiah 30

Your Ark of Safety

BIBLE MEDITATION

“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” Romans 8:1

 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

Think for a moment about what it was like for Noah and his family to be in the ark while the waters raged outside and the entire world faced destruction. What would you feel? What would you be glad of? First, that it was waterproof. Second, it held every provision they needed. Thirdly, they were safe in God’s hand. He had shut the door and sealed them inside.

It’s the very same to be “in Christ Jesus.” He is our Ark of safety. God told Noah, “put pitch on the inside and on the outside” of the ark (Genesis 6:14). The word “pitch” in the Hebrew is kapar—and it’s exactly the same word translated as "atonement." To Noah, it was pitch—a tar-like substance. For us, He has said, “Put atonement on the outside, atonement on the inside,” because the ark was a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. The water was judgment, but not one drop of judgment could come through that atonement in that ark of safety, which was the Lord Jesus Christ.

You see, we are in Jesus as Noah was in that ark. Just as the storms of God’s wrath beat upon that ark, the storms of God’s wrath beat upon the Lord Jesus. But we are on the inside, and not one drop of judgment can come through.

ACTION POINT

Read Romans 8:35-39. Reflect on the list of things Paul says will never separate you from God’s love. Give glory to God that your sins have been fully forgiven by the righteous blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

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 

September 10

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." - Luke 22:39-46

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. - Hebrews 6:13-20

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.  - Proverbs 23:1-18

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 27

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.  - Isaiah 28

You've Got 3 Ways to Get to Heaven

BIBLE MEDITATION

“…not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit…” Titus 3:5

 

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT

Theoretically, there are three ways you can get to Heaven:

Die before you reach the age of accountability. Precious little children who die before they know right from wrong go immediately to Heaven. Joyce and I have a little baby boy there. I confidently expect to meet our son Philip in Heaven. If you understand what I’m saying, that opportunity is passed for you.

Strike one.

Be perfect, never sin. Keep all the commandments perfectly. Never commit an evil deed or have an evil thought. If you could keep them, it would show you have no sinful nature; you wouldn't need to be saved. But no one can. Is there anyone reading this who has never sinned at all? 

Strike two. Since Genesis 3, we are born with a sin nature.

Give your heart to Jesus Christ. Receive Him and His death on Calvary as full payment for your sin.

You see, you already have two strikes against you when you come to the plate. Pass the age of accountability—Strike one. Commit a sin—Strike two. 

One last opportunity: Receive Jesus Christ. If you don't, Strike three—you're out. The Bible is clear: you can’t do anything to merit eternal life in and of yourself.

ACTION POINT

The only way to Heaven is to receive Christ as your personal Savior. Are you certain you’re saved, your sins forgiven? It’s not something you inherit by doing it; it’s a gift of God you receive by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

Grace Must Be Free

What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it? (1 Corinthians 4:7)

Picture salvation as a house that you live in.

It provides you with protection. It is stocked with food and drink that will last forever. It never decays or crumbles. Its windows open onto vistas of all-satisfying glory.

God built it at great cost to himself and to his Son, and he gave it to you free and clear.

The “purchase” agreement is called a “new covenant.” The terms read: “This house shall become and remain yours if you will receive it as a gift and take delight in the Father and the Son as they inhabit the house with you. You shall not profane the house of God by sheltering other gods nor turn your heart away after other treasures, but find your contentment in the fellowship of God in this house.”

Would it not be foolish to say yes to this agreement, and then hire a lawyer to draw up an amortization schedule with monthly payments in the hopes of somehow balancing accounts and paying for the house?

You would be treating the house no longer as a gift, but a purchase. God would no longer be the free benefactor. And you would be enslaved to a new set of demands that he never dreamed of putting on you.

If grace is to be free — which is the very meaning of grace — we cannot view it as something to be repaid.

John Piper 

September 9

1 Behold, the LORD will empty the earth and make it desolate, and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants. 

2 And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the slave, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the creditor, so with the debtor. 

3 The earth shall be utterly empty and utterly plundered; for the LORD has spoken this word. 

4 The earth mourns and withers; the world languishes and withers; the highest people of the earth languish. 

5 The earth lies defiled under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant. 

6 Therefore a curse devours the earth, and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched, and few men are left. 

7 The wine mourns, the vine languishes, all the merry-hearted sigh. 

8 The mirth of the tambourines is stilled, the noise of the jubilant has ceased, the mirth of the lyre is stilled. 

9 No more do they drink wine with singing; strong drink is bitter to those who drink it. 

10 The wasted city is broken down; every house is shut up so that none can enter. 

11 There is an outcry in the streets for lack of wine; all joy has grown dark; the gladness of the earth is banished. 

12 Desolation is left in the city; the gates are battered into ruins. 

13 For thus it shall be in the midst of the earth among the nations, as when an olive tree is beaten, as at the gleaning when the grape harvest is done. 

14 They lift up their voices, they sing for joy; over the majesty of the LORD they shout from the west. 

15 Therefore in the east give glory to the LORD; in the coastlands of the sea, give glory to the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. 

16 From the ends of the earth we hear songs of praise, of glory to the Righteous One. But I say, "I waste away, I waste away. Woe is me! For the traitors have betrayed, with betrayal the traitors have betrayed." 

17 Terror and the pit and the snare are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth! 

18 He who flees at the sound of the terror shall fall into the pit, and he who climbs out of the pit shall be caught in the snare. For the windows of heaven are opened, and the foundations of the earth tremble. 

19 The earth is utterly broken, the earth is split apart, the earth is violently shaken. 

20 The earth staggers like a drunken man; it sways like a hut; its transgression lies heavy upon it, and it falls, and will not rise again. 

21 On that day the LORD will punish the host of heaven, in heaven, and the kings of the earth, on the earth. 

22 They will be gathered together as prisoners in a pit; they will be shut up in a prison, and after many days they will be punished. 

23 Then the moon will be confounded and the sun ashamed, for the LORD of hosts reigns on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and his glory will be before his elders.  - Isaiah 24

1 O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure. 

2 For you have made the city a heap, the fortified city a ruin; the foreigners' palace is a city no more; it will never be rebuilt. 

3 Therefore strong peoples will glorify you; cities of ruthless nations will fear you. 

4 For you have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat; for the breath of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall, 

5 like heat in a dry place. You subdue the noise of the foreigners; as heat by the shade of a cloud, so the song of the ruthless is put down. 

6 On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. 

7 And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. 

8 He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. 

9 It will be said on that day, "Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation." 

10 For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain, and Moab shall be trampled down in his place, as straw is trampled down in a dunghill. 

11 And he will spread out his hands in the midst of it as a swimmer spreads his hands out to swim, but the LORD will lay low his pompous pride together with the skill of his hands. 

12 And the high fortifications of his walls he will bring down, lay low, and cast to the ground, to the dust.  - Isaiah 25

1 In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: "We have a strong city; he sets up salvation as walls and bulwarks. 

2 Open the gates, that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in. 

3 You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. 

4 Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock. 

5 For he has humbled the inhabitants of the height, the lofty city. He lays it low, lays it low to the ground, casts it to the dust. 

6 The foot tramples it, the feet of the poor, the steps of the needy." 

7 The path of the righteous is level; you make level the way of the righteous. 

8 In the path of your judgments, O LORD, we wait for you; your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul. 

9 My soul yearns for you in the night; my spirit within me earnestly seeks you. For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. 

10 If favor is shown to the wicked, he does not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness he deals corruptly and does not see the majesty of the LORD. 

11 O LORD, your hand is lifted up, but they do not see it. Let them see your zeal for your people, and be ashamed. Let the fire for your adversaries consume them. 

12 O LORD, you will ordain peace for us, for you have indeed done for us all our works. 

13 O LORD our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us, but your name alone we bring to remembrance. 

14 They are dead, they will not live; they are shades, they will not arise; to that end you have visited them with destruction and wiped out all remembrance of them. 

15 But you have increased the nation, O LORD, you have increased the nation; you are glorified; you have enlarged all the borders of the land. 

16 O LORD, in distress they sought you; they poured out a whispered prayer when your discipline was upon them. 

17 Like a pregnant woman who writhes and cries out in her pangs when she is near to giving birth, so were we because of you, O LORD; 

18 we were pregnant, we writhed, but we have given birth to wind. We have accomplished no deliverance in the earth, and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen. 

19 Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead. 

20 Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until the fury has passed by. 

21 For behold, the LORD is coming out from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it, and will no more cover its slain.  - Isaiah 26

17 Incline your ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply your heart to my knowledge, 

18 for it will be pleasant if you keep them within you, if all of them are ready on your lips. 

19 That your trust may be in the LORD, I have made them known to you today, even to you. 

20 Have I not written for you thirty sayings of counsel and knowledge, 

21 to make you know what is right and true, that you may give a true answer to those who sent you? 

22 Do not rob the poor, because he is poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate, 

23 for the LORD will plead their cause and rob of life those who rob them. 

24 Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, 

25 lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare. 

26 Be not one of those who give pledges, who put up security for debts. 

27 If you have nothing with which to pay, why should your bed be taken from under you? 

28 Do not move the ancient landmark that your fathers have set. 

29 Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings; he will not stand before obscure men.  - Proverbs 22:17-29

1 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,

2 and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.

3 And this we will do if God permits.

4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit,

5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come,

6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

7 For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God.

8 But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned.

9 Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things-things that belong to salvation.

10 For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.

11 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end,

12 so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. - Hebrews 6:1-12

31 "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat,

32 but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers."

33 Peter said to him, "Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death."

34 Jesus said, "I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me."

35 And he said to them, "When I sent you out with no moneybag or knapsack or sandals, did you lack anything?" They said, "Nothing."

36 He said to them, "But now let the one who has a moneybag take it, and likewise a knapsack. And let the one who has no sword sell his cloak and buy one.

37 For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me: 'And he was numbered with the transgressors.' For what is written about me has its fulfillment."

38 And they said, "Look, Lord, here are two swords." And he said to them, "It is enough." - Luke 22:31-38