September 15

Luke 23:13-25

[13] Pilate then called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, [14] and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was misleading the people. And after examining him before you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him. [15] Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look, nothing deserving death has been done by him. [16] I will therefore punish and release him.”

Pilate Delivers Jesus to Be Crucified

[18] But they all cried out together, “Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas”—[19] a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city and for murder. [20] Pilate addressed them once more, desiring to release Jesus, [21] but they kept shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!” [22] A third time he said to them, “Why? What evil has he done? I have found in him no guilt deserving death. I will therefore punish and release him.” [23] But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified. And their voices prevailed. [24] So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted. [25] He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus over to their will.

Hebrews 9:1-10

The Earthly Holy Place

[1] Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. [2] For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place. [3] Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place, [4] having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. [5] Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.

[6] These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, [7] but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. [8] By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing [9] (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, [10] but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.

Proverbs 25:15-28

    [15] With patience a ruler may be persuaded,

        and a soft tongue will break a bone. 

    [16] If you have found honey, eat only enough for you,

        lest you have your fill of it and vomit it. 

    [17] Let your foot be seldom in your neighbor’s house,

        lest he have his fill of you and hate you. 

    [18] A man who bears false witness against his neighbor

        is like a war club, or a sword, or a sharp arrow. 

    [19] Trusting in a treacherous man in time of trouble

        is like a bad tooth or a foot that slips. 

    [20] Whoever sings songs to a heavy heart

        is like one who takes off a garment on a cold day,

        and like vinegar on soda. 

    [21] If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat,

        and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink, 

    [22] for you will heap burning coals on his head,

        and the LORD will reward you. 

    [23] The north wind brings forth rain,

        and a backbiting tongue, angry looks. 

    [24] It is better to live in a corner of the housetop

        than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife. 

    [25] Like cold water to a thirsty soul,

        so is good news from a far country. 

    [26] Like a muddied spring or a polluted fountain

        is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked. 

    [27] It is not good to eat much honey,

        nor is it glorious to seek one’s own glory. 

    [28] A man without self-control

        is like a city broken into and left without walls.

Isaiah 40

Comfort for God’s People

    [1] Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 

    [2] Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,

        and cry to her

    that her warfare is ended,

        that her iniquity is pardoned,

    that she has received from the LORD’s hand

        double for all her sins.

    [3] A voice cries:

    “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;

        make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 

    [4] Every valley shall be lifted up,

        and every mountain and hill be made low;

    the uneven ground shall become level,

        and the rough places a plain. 

    [5] And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,

        and all flesh shall see it together,

        for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

    The Word of God Stands Forever

    [6] A voice says, “Cry!”

        And I said, “What shall I cry?”

    All flesh is grass,

        and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. 

    [7] The grass withers, the flower fades

        when the breath of the LORD blows on it;

        surely the people are grass. 

    [8] The grass withers, the flower fades,

        but the word of our God will stand forever.

    The Greatness of God

    [9] Go on up to a high mountain,

        O Zion, herald of good news;

    lift up your voice with strength,

        O Jerusalem, herald of good news;

        lift it up, fear not;

    say to the cities of Judah,

        “Behold your God!” 

    [10] Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might,

        and his arm rules for him;

    behold, his reward is with him,

        and his recompense before him. 

    [11] He will tend his flock like a shepherd;

        he will gather the lambs in his arms;

    he will carry them in his bosom,

        and gently lead those that are with young.

    [12] Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand

        and marked off the heavens with a span,

    enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure

        and weighed the mountains in scales

        and the hills in a balance? 

    [13] Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD,

        or what man shows him his counsel? 

    [14] Whom did he consult,

        and who made him understand?

    Who taught him the path of justice,

        and taught him knowledge,

        and showed him the way of understanding? 

    [15] Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,

        and are accounted as the dust on the scales;

        behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. 

    [16] Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,

        nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. 

    [17] All the nations are as nothing before him,

        they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

    [18] To whom then will you liken God,

        or what likeness compare with him? 

    [19] An idol! A craftsman casts it,

        and a goldsmith overlays it with gold

        and casts for it silver chains. 

    [20] He who is too impoverished for an offering

        chooses wood that will not rot;

    he seeks out a skillful craftsman

        to set up an idol that will not move.

    [21] Do you not know? Do you not hear?

        Has it not been told you from the beginning?

        Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 

    [22] It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,

        and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;

    who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,

        and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; 

    [23] who brings princes to nothing,

        and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.

    [24] Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,

        scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,

    when he blows on them, and they wither,

        and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

    [25] To whom then will you compare me,

        that I should be like him? says the Holy One. 

    [26] Lift up your eyes on high and see:

        who created these?

    He who brings out their host by number,

        calling them all by name;

    by the greatness of his might

        and because he is strong in power,

        not one is missing.

    [27] Why do you say, O Jacob,

        and speak, O Israel,

    “My way is hidden from the LORD,

        and my right is disregarded by my God”? 

    [28] Have you not known? Have you not heard?

    The LORD is the everlasting God,

        the Creator of the ends of the earth.

    He does not faint or grow weary;

        his understanding is unsearchable. 

    [29] He gives power to the faint,

        and to him who has no might he increases strength. 

    [30] Even youths shall faint and be weary,

        and young men shall fall exhausted; 

    [31] but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;

        they shall mount up with wings like eagles;

    they shall run and not be weary;

        they shall walk and not faint.

Isaiah 41

Fear Not, for I Am with You

    [1] Listen to me in silence, O coastlands;

        let the peoples renew their strength;

    let them approach, then let them speak;

        let us together draw near for judgment.

    [2] Who stirred up one from the east

        whom victory meets at every step?

    He gives up nations before him,

        so that he tramples kings underfoot;

    he makes them like dust with his sword,

        like driven stubble with his bow. 

    [3] He pursues them and passes on safely,

        by paths his feet have not trod. 

    [4] Who has performed and done this,

        calling the generations from the beginning?

    I, the LORD, the first,

        and with the last; I am he.

    [5] The coastlands have seen and are afraid;

        the ends of the earth tremble;

        they have drawn near and come. 

    [6] Everyone helps his neighbor

        and says to his brother, “Be strong!” 

    [7] The craftsman strengthens the goldsmith,

        and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil,

    saying of the soldering, “It is good”;

        and they strengthen it with nails so that it cannot be moved.

    [8] But you, Israel, my servant,

        Jacob, whom I have chosen,

        the offspring of Abraham, my friend; 

    [9] you whom I took from the ends of the earth,

        and called from its farthest corners,

    saying to you, “You are my servant,

        I have chosen you and not cast you off”; 

    [10] fear not, for I am with you;

        be not dismayed, for I am your God;

    I will strengthen you, I will help you,

        I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

    [11] Behold, all who are incensed against you

        shall be put to shame and confounded;

    those who strive against you

        shall be as nothing and shall perish. 

    [12] You shall seek those who contend with you,

        but you shall not find them;

    those who war against you

        shall be as nothing at all. 

    [13] For I, the LORD your God,

        hold your right hand;

    it is I who say to you, “Fear not,

        I am the one who helps you.”

    [14] Fear not, you worm Jacob,

        you men of Israel!

    I am the one who helps you, declares the LORD;

        your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel. 

    [15] Behold, I make of you a threshing sledge,

        new, sharp, and having teeth;

    you shall thresh the mountains and crush them,

        and you shall make the hills like chaff; 

    [16] you shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away,

        and the tempest shall scatter them.

    And you shall rejoice in the LORD;

        in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.

    [17] When the poor and needy seek water,

        and there is none,

        and their tongue is parched with thirst,

    I the LORD will answer them;

        I the God of Israel will not forsake them. 

    [18] I will open rivers on the bare heights,

        and fountains in the midst of the valleys.

    I will make the wilderness a pool of water,

        and the dry land springs of water. 

    [19] I will put in the wilderness the cedar,

        the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive.

    I will set in the desert the cypress,

        the plane and the pine together, 

    [20] that they may see and know,

        may consider and understand together,

    that the hand of the LORD has done this,

        the Holy One of Israel has created it.

    The Futility of Idols

    [21] Set forth your case, says the LORD;

        bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob. 

    [22] Let them bring them, and tell us

        what is to happen.

    Tell us the former things, what they are,

        that we may consider them,

    that we may know their outcome;

        or declare to us the things to come. 

    [23] Tell us what is to come hereafter,

        that we may know that you are gods;

    do good, or do harm,

        that we may be dismayed and terrified. 

    [24] Behold, you are nothing,

        and your work is less than nothing;

        an abomination is he who chooses you.

    [25] I stirred up one from the north, and he has come,

        from the rising of the sun, and he shall call upon my name;

    he shall trample on rulers as on mortar,

        as the potter treads clay. 

    [26] Who declared it from the beginning, that we might know,

        and beforehand, that we might say, “He is right”?

    There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed,

        none who heard your words. 

    [27] I was the first to say to Zion, “Behold, here they are!”

        and I give to Jerusalem a herald of good news. 

    [28] But when I look, there is no one;

        among these there is no counselor

        who, when I ask, gives an answer. 

    [29] Behold, they are all a delusion;

        their works are nothing;

        their metal images are empty wind.

Is the Bible Scientifically Accurate?

PRAY OVER THIS

“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” Job 38:4-7

 

PONDER THIS

I believe the Bible is the Word of God because of its scientific accuracy. The skeptic, the atheist, or the unbeliever will say, “Well, of course, the Bible has scientific errors in it.” But before you say that, make certain that you know two things. Number one, you must know science. And number two, you must know the Bible. Many consider the Bible an old-fashioned book. They claim it’s not a book of science, it’s a book of religion. That is true. It is not a scientific textbook. It is not written to teach us science. It is written to teach us God. It has well been said, “The Bible was not given to tell us how the heavens go, but how to go to Heaven.” But the God of creation and the God of salvation are the same God. Science doesn’t take God by surprise. And you don’t have to check your brains at the door to believe the Bible is the Word of God.

When have you heard a version of the argument that the Bible is not scientifically accurate?

Can you name examples in which the Bible states truths about science?

PRACTICE THIS

Read Job 38–39. Ask God to give you a humble spirit as you approach Him, the Creator of all things.

LWF Dr. Adrian Rogers 

God Will Supply All Your Needs

My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19)

In Philippians 4:6, Paul says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” And then in Philippians 4:19 (just 13 verses later), he gives the liberating promise of future grace: “My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.”

If we live by faith in this promise of future grace, it will be very hard for anxiety to survive. God’s “riches in glory” are inexhaustible. He really means for us not to worry about our future.

We should follow this pattern that Paul lays out for us. We should battle the unbelief of anxiety with the promises of future grace.

When I am anxious about some risky new venture or meeting, I regularly battle unbelief with one of my most often-used promises, Isaiah 41:10.

The day I left America for three years in Germany my father called me long distance and gave me this promise on the telephone. For three years I must have quoted it to myself five hundred times to get me through periods of tremendous stress. “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

I have fought anxiety with this promise so many times that when the motor of my mind is in neutral, the hum of the gears is the sound of Isaiah 41:10.

John Piper 

September 14

Luke 23:1-12

Jesus Before Pilate

[1] Then the whole company of them arose and brought him before Pilate. [2] And they began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man misleading our nation and forbidding us to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king.” [3] And Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” And he answered him, “You have said so.” [4] Then Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no guilt in this man.” [5] But they were urgent, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee even to this place.”

Jesus Before Herod

[6] When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean. [7] And when he learned that he belonged to Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him over to Herod, who was himself in Jerusalem at that time. [8] When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long desired to see him, because he had heard about him, and he was hoping to see some sign done by him. [9] So he questioned him at some length, but he made no answer. [10] The chief priests and the scribes stood by, vehemently accusing him. [11] And Herod with his soldiers treated him with contempt and mocked him. Then, arraying him in splendid clothing, he sent him back to Pilate. [12] And Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day, for before this they had been at enmity with each other.

Hebrews 8:7-13

[7] For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.

[8] For he finds fault with them when he says: 

    “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord,

        when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel

        and with the house of Judah, 

    [9] not like the covenant that I made with their fathers

        on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.

    For they did not continue in my covenant,

        and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. 

    [10] For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel

        after those days, declares the Lord:

    I will put my laws into their minds,

        and write them on their hearts,

    and I will be their God,

        and they shall be my people. 

    [11] And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor

        and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’

    for they shall all know me,

        from the least of them to the greatest. 

    [12] For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,

        and I will remember their sins no more.”

    [13] In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

Proverbs 25:1-14

More Proverbs of Solomon

[1] These also are proverbs of Solomon which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied.

    [2] It is the glory of God to conceal things,

        but the glory of kings is to search things out. 

    [3] As the heavens for height, and the earth for depth,

        so the heart of kings is unsearchable. 

    [4] Take away the dross from the silver,

        and the smith has material for a vessel; 

    [5] take away the wicked from the presence of the king,

        and his throne will be established in righteousness. 

    [6] Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence

        or stand in the place of the great, 

    [7] for it is better to be told, “Come up here,”

        than to be put lower in the presence of a noble.

    What your eyes have seen 

    [8]     do not hastily bring into court,

    for what will you do in the end,

        when your neighbor puts you to shame? 

    [9] Argue your case with your neighbor himself,

        and do not reveal another’s secret, 

    [10] lest he who hears you bring shame upon you,

        and your ill repute have no end.

    [11] A word fitly spoken

        is like apples of gold in a setting of silver. 

    [12] Like a gold ring or an ornament of gold

        is a wise reprover to a listening ear. 

    [13] Like the cold of snow in the time of harvest

        is a faithful messenger to those who send him;

        he refreshes the soul of his masters. 

    [14] Like clouds and wind without rain

        is a man who boasts of a gift he does not give.

Isaiah 37

Hezekiah Seeks Isaiah’s Help

[1] As soon as King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth and went into the house of the LORD. [2] And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz. [3] They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the point of birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. [4] It may be that the LORD your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the LORD your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.’”

[5] When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, [6] Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master, ‘Thus says the LORD: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the young men of the king of Assyria have reviled me. [7] Behold, I will put a spirit in him, so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’”

[8] The Rabshakeh returned, and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish. [9] Now the king heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, “He has set out to fight against you.” And when he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, [10] “Thus shall you speak to Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. [11] Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, devoting them to destruction. And shall you be delivered? [12] Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my fathers destroyed, Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar? [13] Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?’”

Hezekiah’s Prayer for Deliverance

[14] Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers, and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD, and spread it before the LORD. [15] And Hezekiah prayed to the LORD: [16] “O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. [17] Incline your ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; and hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. [18] Truly, O LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, [19] and have cast their gods into the fire. For they were no gods, but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. Therefore they were destroyed. [20] So now, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the LORD.”

Sennacherib’s Fall

[21] Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, [22] this is the word that the LORD has spoken concerning him: 

    “‘She despises you, she scorns you—

        the virgin daughter of Zion;

    she wags her head behind you—

        the daughter of Jerusalem.

    [23] “‘Whom have you mocked and reviled?

        Against whom have you raised your voice

    and lifted your eyes to the heights?

        Against the Holy One of Israel! 

    [24] By your servants you have mocked the Lord,

        and you have said, With my many chariots

    I have gone up the heights of the mountains,

        to the far recesses of Lebanon,

    to cut down its tallest cedars,

        its choicest cypresses,

    to come to its remotest height,

        its most fruitful forest. 

    [25] I dug wells

        and drank waters,

    to dry up with the sole of my foot

        all the streams of Egypt.

    [26] “‘Have you not heard

        that I determined it long ago?

    I planned from days of old

        what now I bring to pass,

    that you should make fortified cities

        crash into heaps of ruins, 

    [27] while their inhabitants, shorn of strength,

        are dismayed and confounded,

    and have become like plants of the field

        and like tender grass,

    like grass on the housetops,

        blighted before it is grown.

    [28] “‘I know your sitting down

        and your going out and coming in,

        and your raging against me. 

    [29] Because you have raged against me

        and your complacency has come to my ears,

    I will put my hook in your nose

        and my bit in your mouth,

    and I will turn you back on the way

        by which you came.’

    [30] “And this shall be the sign for you: this year you shall eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that. Then in the third year sow and reap, and plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. [31] And the surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. [32] For out of Jerusalem shall go a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

[33] “Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city or shoot an arrow there or come before it with a shield or cast up a siege mound against it. [34] By the way that he came, by the same he shall return, and he shall not come into this city, declares the LORD. [35] For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”

[36] And the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. [37] Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at Nineveh. [38] And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword. And after they escaped into the land of Ararat, Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

Isaiah 38

Hezekiah’s Sickness and Recovery

[1] In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “Thus says the LORD: Set your house in order, for you shall die, you shall not recover.” [2] Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, [3] and said, “Please, O LORD, remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

[4] Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah: [5] “Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life. [6] I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and will defend this city.

[7] “This shall be the sign to you from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing that he has promised: [8] Behold, I will make the shadow cast by the declining sun on the dial of Ahaz turn back ten steps.” So the sun turned back on the dial the ten steps by which it had declined.

[9] A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, after he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness:

    [10] I said, In the middle of my days

        I must depart;

    I am consigned to the gates of Sheol

        for the rest of my years. 

    [11] I said, I shall not see the LORD,

        the LORD in the land of the living;

    I shall look on man no more

        among the inhabitants of the world. 

    [12] My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me

        like a shepherd’s tent;

    like a weaver I have rolled up my life;

        he cuts me off from the loom;

    from day to night you bring me to an end; 

    [13]     I calmed myself until morning;

    like a lion he breaks all my bones;

        from day to night you bring me to an end.

    [14] Like a swallow or a crane I chirp;

        I moan like a dove.

    My eyes are weary with looking upward.

        O Lord, I am oppressed; be my pledge of safety! 

    [15] What shall I say? For he has spoken to me,

        and he himself has done it.

    I walk slowly all my years

        because of the bitterness of my soul.

    [16] O Lord, by these things men live,

        and in all these is the life of my spirit.

        Oh restore me to health and make me live! 

    [17] Behold, it was for my welfare

        that I had great bitterness;

    but in love you have delivered my life

        from the pit of destruction,

    for you have cast all my sins

        behind your back. 

    [18] For Sheol does not thank you;

        death does not praise you;

    those who go down to the pit do not hope

        for your faithfulness. 

    [19] The living, the living, he thanks you,

        as I do this day;

    the father makes known to the children

        your faithfulness.

    [20] The LORD will save me,

        and we will play my music on stringed instruments

    all the days of our lives,

        at the house of the LORD.

    [21] Now Isaiah had said, “Let them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may recover.” [22] Hezekiah also had said, “What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the LORD?”

Isaiah 39

Envoys from Babylon

[1] At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. [2] And Hezekiah welcomed them gladly. And he showed them his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his whole armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. [3] Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?” Hezekiah said, “They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon.” [4] He said, “What have they seen in your house?” Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.”

[5] Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: [6] Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the LORD. [7] And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” [8] Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “There will be peace and security in my days.”