Day 266 of 365

Isa 35:1–36:22

35:1 The wilderness and the dry land will be glad. The desert will rejoice and blossom like a rose.

35:2 It will blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing. Lebanon's glory Lebanon will be given to it, the excellence of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the Lord's glory, the excellence of our God.

35:3 Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.

35:4 Tell those who have a fearful heart, "Be strong. Do not be afraid. Behold, your God will come with vengeance, God's retribution. He will come and save you.

35:5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.

35:6 Then the lame man will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing; for waters will break out in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.

35:7 The burning sand will become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water. Grass with reeds and rushes will be in the habitation of jackals, where they lay.

35:8 A highway will be there, a road, and it will be called The Holy Way. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it will be for those who walk in the Way. Wicked fools will not go there.

35:9 No lion will be there, nor will any ravenous animal go up on it. They will not be found there; but the redeemed will walk there.

35:10 The Lord's ransomed ones will return, and come with singing to Zion; and everlasting joy will be on their heads. They will obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away."

36:1 Now it happened in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah, that Sennacherib king of Assyria attacked all of the fortified cities of Judah, and captured them.

36:2 The king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to king Hezekiah with a large army. He stood by the aqueduct from the upper pool in the fuller's field highway.

36:3 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder came out to him.

36:4 Rabshakeh said to them, "Now tell Hezekiah, 'Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria, "What confidence is this in which you trust?

36:5 I say that your counsel and strength for the war are only vain words. Now in whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me?

36:6 Behold, you trust in the staff of this bruised reed, even in Egypt, which if a man leans on it, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.

36:7 But if you tell me, 'We trust in the Lord our God,' isn't that he whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, 'You shall worship before this altar?'"

36:8 Now therefore, please make a pledge to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them.

36:9 How then can you turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants, and put your trust on Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?

36:10 Have I come up now without the Lord against this land to destroy it? The Lord said to me, "Go up against this land, and destroy it."'"

36:11 Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah said to Rabshakeh, "Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; and do not speak to us in the Jews' language in the hearing of the people who are on the wall."

36:12 But Rabshakeh said, "Has my master sent me only to your master and to you, to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, who will eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?"

36:13 Then Rabshakeh stood, and called out with a loud voice in the Jews' language, and said, "Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!

36:14 Thus says the king, 'Do not let Hezekiah deceive you; for he will not be able to deliver you.

36:15 Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, "The Lord will surely deliver us. This city won't be given into the hand of the king of Assyria."'

36:16 Do not listen to Hezekiah, for thus says the king of Assyria, 'Make your peace with me, and come out to me; and each of you eat from his vine, and each one from his fig tree, and each one of you drink the waters of his own cistern;

36:17 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.

36:18 Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, "The Lord will deliver us." Have any of the gods of the nations delivered their lands from the hand of the king of Assyria?

36:19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand?

36:20 Who are they among all the gods of these countries that have delivered their country out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?'"

36:21 But they remained silent, and said nothing in reply, for the king's commandment was, "Do not answer him."

36:22 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah, the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of Rabshakeh.

1 Cor 9:18–10:13

9:18 What then is my reward? That, when I proclaim the Good News, I may present the Good News without charge, so as not to abuse my authority in the Good News.

9:19 For though I was free from all, I brought myself under bondage to all, that I might gain the more.

9:20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might gain Jews; to those who are under the law, as under the law, not being myself under the law, that I might gain those who are under the law;

9:21 to those who are without law, as without law (not being without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I might win those who are without law.

9:22 To the weak I became as weak, that I might gain the weak. I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save some.

9:23 Now I do all things for the sake of the Good News, that I may be a joint partaker of it.

9:24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run like that, that you may win.

9:25 Every man who strives in the games exercises self-control in all things. Now they do it to receive a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.

9:26 I therefore run like that, as not uncertainly. I fight like that, as not beating the air,

9:27 but I beat my body and bring it into submission, lest by any means, after I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected.

10:1 Now I would not have you ignorant, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;

10:2 and were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea;

10:3 and all ate the same spiritual food;

10:4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.

10:5 However with most of them, God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

10:6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.

10:7 Neither be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play."

10:8 Neither let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them committed, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell.

10:9 Neither let us test the Lord, as some of them tested, and perished by the serpents.

10:10 Neither grumble, as some of them also grumbled, and perished by the destroyer.

10:11 Now all these things happened to them by way of example, and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come.

10:12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands be careful that he does not fall.

10:13 No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

Job 15:20–35

20 the wicked man writhes in pain all his days, even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor.

21 A sound of terrors is in his ears. In prosperity the destroyer shall come on him.

22 He doesn't believe that he shall return out of darkness. He is waited for by the sword.

23 He wanders abroad for bread, saying, 'Where is it?' He knows that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.

24 Distress and anguish make him afraid. They prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.

25 Because he has stretched out his hand against God, and behaves himself proudly against the Almighty;

26 he runs at him with a stiff neck, with the thick shields of his bucklers;

27 because he has covered his face with his fatness, and gathered fat on his thighs.

28 He has lived in desolate cities, in houses which no one inhabited, which were ready to become heaps.

29 He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall their possessions be extended on the earth.

30 He shall not depart out of darkness. The flame shall dry up his branches. By the breath of God's mouth shall he go away.

31 Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself; for emptiness shall be his reward.

32 It shall be accomplished before his time. His branch shall not be green.

33 He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive tree.

34 For the company of the godless shall be barren, and fire shall consume the tents of bribery.

35 They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. Their heart prepares deceit."