Bible Readings for September 14, 2012

Today our passages are Isaiah 15:1–18:7; Galatians 1:1-24; Psalm 58:1-11; and Proverbs 23:12. The readings are from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson.

Isaiah 15-18:7 (The Message)

Isaiah 15

Poignant Cries Reverberate Through Moab

 ^1-4 A Message concerning Moab:    Village Ar of Moab is in ruins,
   destroyed in a night raid.
Village Kir of Moab is in ruins,
   destroyed in a night raid.
Village Dibon climbs to its chapel in the hills,
   goes up to lament.
Moab weeps and wails
   over Nebo and Medba.
Every head is shaved bald,
   every beard shaved clean.
They pour into the streets wearing black,
   go up on the roofs, take to the town square,
Everyone in tears,
   everyone in grief.
Towns Heshbon and Elealeh cry long and loud.
   The sound carries as far as Jahaz.
Moab sobs, shaking in grief.
   The soul of Moab trembles.
 ^5-9Oh, how I grieve for Moab!
   Refugees stream to Zoar
   and then on to Eglath-shelishiyah.
Up the slopes of Luhith they weep;
   on the road to Horonaim they cry their loss.
The springs of Nimrim are dried up—
   grass brown, buds stunted, nothing grows.
They leave, carrying all their possessions
   on their backs, everything they own,
Making their way as best they can
   across Willow Creek to safety.
Poignant cries reverberate
   all through Moab,
Gut-wrenching sobs as far as Eglaim,
   heart-racking sobs all the way to Beer-elim.
The banks of the Dibon crest with blood,
   but God has worse in store for Dibon:
A lion—a lion to finish off the fugitives,
   to clean up whoever's left in the land.

Isaiah 16

A New Government in the David Tradition

 ^1-4 "Dispatch a gift of lambs," says Moab, "to the leaders in Jerusalem—
Lambs from Sela sent across the desert
   to buy the goodwill of Jerusalem.
The towns and people of Moab
   are at a loss,
New-hatched birds knocked from the nest,
   fluttering helplessly
At the banks of the Arnon River,
   unable to cross:
'Tell us what to do,
   help us out!
Protect us,
   hide us!
Give the refugees from Moab
   sanctuary with you.
Be a safe place for those on the run
   from the killing fields.'"  ^4-5"When this is all over," Judah answers,
   "the tyrant toppled,
The killing at an end,
   all signs of these cruelties long gone,
A new government of love will be established
   in the venerable David tradition.
A Ruler you can depend upon
   will head this government,
A Ruler passionate for justice,
   a Ruler quick to set things right."
 ^6-12We've heard—everyone's heard!—of Moab's pride,
   world-famous for pride—
Arrogant, self-important, insufferable,
   full of hot air.
So now let Moab lament for a change,
   with antiphonal mock-laments from the neighbors!
What a shame! How terrible!
   No more fine fruitcakes and Kir-hareseth candies!
All those lush Heshbon fields dried up,
   the rich Sibmah vineyards withered!
Foreign thugs have crushed and torn out
   the famous grapevines
That once reached all the way to Jazer,
   right to the edge of the desert,
Ripped out the crops in every direction
   as far as the eye can see.
I'll join the weeping. I'll weep right along with Jazer,
   weep for the Sibmah vineyards.
And yes, Heshbon and Elealeh,
   I'll mingle my tears with your tears!
The joyful shouting at harvest is gone.
   Instead of song and celebration, dead silence.
No more boisterous laughter in the orchards,
   no more hearty work songs in the vineyards.
Instead of the bustle and sound of good work in the fields,
   silence—deathly and deadening silence.
My heartstrings throb like harp strings for Moab,
   my soul in sympathy for sad Kir-heres.
When Moab trudges to the shrine to pray,
   he wastes both time and energy.
Going to the sanctuary and praying for relief
   is useless. Nothing ever happens.
 ^13-14This is God's earlier Message on Moab. God's updated Message is, "In three years, no longer than the term of an enlisted soldier, Moab's impressive presence will be gone, that splendid hot-air balloon will be punctured, and instead of a vigorous population, just a few shuffling bums cadging handouts."

Isaiah 17

Damascus: A Pile of Dust and Rubble

 ^1-3 A Message concerning Damascus: "Watch this: Damascus undone as a city,
   a pile of dust and rubble!
Her towns emptied of people.
   The sheep and goats will move in
And take over the towns
   as if they owned them—which they will!
Not a sign of a fort is left in Ephraim,
   not a trace of government left in Damascus.
What's left of Aram?
   The same as what's left of Israel—not much."
         Decree of God-of-the-Angel-Armies.

The Day Is Coming

 ^4-6"The Day is coming when Jacob's robust splendor goes pale
   and his well-fed body turns skinny.
The country will be left empty, picked clean
   as a field harvested by field hands.
She'll be like a few stalks of barley left standing
   in the lush Valley of Rephaim after harvest,
Or like the couple of ripe olives overlooked
   in the top of the olive tree,
Or the four or five apples
   that the pickers couldn't reach in the orchard."
         Decree of the God of Israel.  ^7-8Yes, the Day is coming when people will notice The One Who Made Them, take a long hard look at The Holy of Israel. They'll lose interest in all the stuff they've made—altars and monuments and rituals, their homemade, handmade religion—however impressive it is.
 ⁹And yes, the Day is coming when their fortress cities will be abandoned —the very same cities that the Hivites and Amorites abandoned when Israel invaded! And the country will be empty, desolate.

You Have Forgotten God

 ^10-11And why? Because you have forgotten God-Your-Salvation,
   not remembered your Rock-of-Refuge.
And so, even though you are very religious,
   planting all sorts of bushes and herbs and trees
   to honor and influence your fertility gods,
And even though you make them grow so well,
   bursting with buds and sprouts and blossoms,
Nothing will come of them. Instead of a harvest
   you'll get nothing but grief and pain, pain, pain.  ^12-13Oh my! Thunder! A thundering herd of people!
   Thunder like the crashing of ocean waves!
Nations roaring, roaring,
   like the roar of a massive waterfall,
Roaring like a deafening Niagara!
   But God will silence them with a word,
And then he'll blow them away like dead leaves off a tree,
   like down from a thistle.
 ¹⁴At bedtime, terror fills the air.
   By morning it's gone—not a sign of it anywhere!
This is what happens to those who would ruin us,
   this is the fate of those out to get us.

Isaiah 18

People Mighty and Merciless

 ^1-2 Doom to the land of flies and mosquitoes beyond the Ethiopian rivers,
Shipping emissaries all over the world,
   down rivers and across seas.    Go, swift messengers,
   go to this people tall and handsome,
This people held in respect everywhere,
   this people mighty and merciless,
   from the land crisscrossed with rivers.
 ³Everybody everywhere,
   all earth-dwellers:
When you see a flag flying on the mountain, look!
   When you hear the trumpet blown, listen!

 ^4-6For here's what God told me:
   "I'm not going to say anything,
   but simply look on from where I live,
Quiet as warmth that comes from the sun,
   silent as dew during harvest."
And then, just before harvest, after the blossom
   has turned into a maturing grape,
He'll step in and prune back the new shoots,
   ruthlessly hack off all the growing branches.
He'll leave them piled on the ground
   for birds and animals to feed on—
Fodder for the summering birds,
   fodder for the wintering animals.
 ⁷Then tribute will be brought to God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
   brought from this people tall and handsome,
This people once held in respect everywhere,
   this people once mighty and merciless,
From the land crisscrossed with rivers,
   to Mount Zion, God's place.

Galatians 1:1-24 (The Message)

Galatians 1

 ^1-5 I, Paul, and my companions in faith here, send greetings to the Galatian churches. My authority for writing to you does not come from any popular vote of the people, nor does it come through the appointment of some human higher-up. It comes directly from Jesus the Messiah and God the Father, who raised him from the dead. I'm God-commissioned. So I greet you with the great words, grace and peace! We know the meaning of those words because Jesus Christ rescued us from this evil world we're in by offering himself as a sacrifice for our sins. God's plan is that we all experience that rescue. Glory to God forever! Oh, yes!

The Message

 ^6-9I can't believe your fickleness—how easily you have turned traitor to him who called you by the grace of Christ by embracing a variant message! It is not a minor variation, you know; it is completely other, an alien message, a no-message, a lie about God. Those who are provoking this agitation among you are turning the Message of Christ on its head. Let me be blunt: If one of us—even if an angel from heaven!—were to preach something other than what we preached originally, let him be cursed. I said it once; I'll say it again: If anyone, regardless of reputation or credentials, preaches something other than what you received originally, let him be cursed.  ^10-12Do you think I speak this strongly in order to manipulate crowds? Or curry favor with God? Or get popular applause? If my goal was popularity, I wouldn't bother being Christ's slave. Know this—I am most emphatic here, friends—this great Message I delivered to you is not mere human optimism. I didn't receive it through the traditions, and I wasn't taught it in some school. I got it straight from God, received the Message directly from Jesus Christ.
 ^13-16I'm sure that you've heard the story of my earlier life when I lived in the Jewish way. In those days I went all out in persecuting God's church. I was systematically destroying it. I was so enthusiastic about the traditions of my ancestors that I advanced head and shoulders above my peers in my career. Even then God had designs on me. Why, when I was still in my mother's womb he chose and called me out of sheer generosity! Now he has intervened and revealed his Son to me so that I might joyfully tell non-Jews about him.
 ^16-20Immediately after my calling—without consulting anyone around me and without going up to Jerusalem to confer with those who were apostles long before I was—I got away to Arabia. Later I returned to Damascus, but it was three years before I went up to Jerusalem to compare stories with Peter. I was there only fifteen days—but what days they were! Except for our Master's brother James, I saw no other apostles. (I'm telling you the absolute truth in this.)
 ^21-24Then I began my ministry in the regions of Syria and Cilicia. After all that time and activity I was still unknown by face among the Christian churches in Judea. There was only this report: "That man who once persecuted us is now preaching the very message he used to try to destroy." Their response was to recognize and worship God because of me!

Psalm 58:1-11 (The Message)

Psalm 58

A David Psalm

 ^1-2 Is this any way to run a country? Is there an honest politician in the house?
   Behind the scenes you brew cauldrons of evil,
      behind closed doors you make deals with demons.

 ^3-5 The wicked crawl from the wrong side of the cradle;
      their first words out of the womb are lies.
   Poison, lethal rattlesnake poison,
      drips from their forked tongues—
   Deaf to threats, deaf to charm,
      decades of wax built up in their ears.

 ^6-9 God, smash their teeth to bits,
      leave them toothless tigers.
   Let their lives be buckets of water spilled,
      all that's left, a damp stain in the sand.
   Let them be trampled grass
      worn smooth by the traffic.
   Let them dissolve into snail slime,
      be a miscarried fetus that never sees sunlight.
   Before what they cook up is half-done, God,
      throw it out with the garbage!

 ^10-11 The righteous will call up their friends
      when they see the wicked get their reward,
   Serve up their blood in goblets
      as they toast one another,
   Everyone cheering, "It's worth it to play by the rules!
      God's handing out trophies and tending the earth!"

A David Psalm, When Saul Set a Watch on

    David's House in Order to Kill Him

 

Proverbs 23:12 (The Message)

11

 ¹² Give yourselves to disciplined instruction;
   open your ears to tested knowledge.

 

Verse of the Day

 

“[True Humility]Christ encourages you, and his love comforts you. God's Spirit unites you, and you are concerned for others. Now make me completely happy! Live in harmony by showing love for each other. Be united in what you think, as if you were only one person.” - Philippians 2:1-2

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

Thought for the Day

American journalist Sydney J. Harris wrote, “Agnosticism is a perfectly respectable and tenable philosophical position; it is not dogmatic and makes no pronouncements about the ultimate truths of the universe. It remains open to evidence and persuasion; lacking faith, it nevertheless does not deride faith. Atheism, on the other hand, is as unyielding and dogmatic about religious belief as true believers are about heathens. It tries to use reason to demolish a structure that is not built upon reason.”