Bible Readings for September 16, 2017

Today our passages are Isaiah 22:1–24:23; Galatians 2:17–3:9; Psalm 60:1-12; and Proverbs 23:15-1. The readings are from the Contemporary English Version. If you find these readings helpful, please consider sending an offering directly to Cove Presbyterian Church, 3404 Main Steet, Weirton, West Virginia or through PayPal by using the link below.

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Isaiah 22-24:23 (Contemporary English Version)

Isaiah 22

Trouble in Vision Valley

 ¹This is a message    about Vision Valley: ^[a] Why are you celebrating
   on the flat roofs ^[b] of your houses?
    ²Your city is filled
   with noisy shouts.
   Those who lie drunk
   in your streets
   were not killed in battle.
    ³Your leaders ran away,
   but they were captured
   without a fight.
   No matter how far they ran,
   they were found and caught. ^[c] ⁴Then I said, "Leave me alone!
   Let me cry bitter tears.
   My people have been destroyed,
   so don't try to comfort me."
    ⁵The LORD All-Powerful
   had chosen a time
   for noisy shouts and confusion
   to fill Vision Valley,
   and for everyone to beg
   the mountains for help. ^[d] ⁶The people of Elam and Kir ^[e] attacked with chariots ^[f] and carried shields.
    ⁷Your most beautiful valleys
   were covered with chariots;
   your cities were surrounded
   by cavalry troops.
    ⁸Judah was left defenseless.
   At that time you trusted in the weapons you had stored in Forest Palace. ^[g] ⁹You saw the holes in the outer wall of Jerusalem, and you brought water from the lower pool. ^[h] ¹⁰You counted the houses in Jerusalem and tore down some of them, so you could get stones to repair the city wall. ¹¹Then you built a large tank between the walls ^[i] to store the water. But you refused to trust the God who planned this long ago and made it happen.

A Time To Weep

 ¹²When all of this happened,    the LORD All-Powerful told you
   to weep and mourn,
   to shave your heads,
   and wear sackcloth.
    ¹³But instead, you celebrated
   by feasting on beef and lamb
   and by drinking wine,
   because you said,
   "Let's eat and drink!
   Tomorrow we may die."
    ¹⁴The LORD All-Powerful
   has spoken to me
   this solemn promise:
   "I won't forgive them for this,
   not as long as they live."
   

Selfish Officials Are Doomed

 ¹⁵The LORD All-Powerful is sending you with this message for Shebna, the prime minister:     ¹⁶Shebna, what gives you the right to have a tomb carved out of rock in this burial place of royalty? None of your relatives are buried here. ¹⁷You may be powerful, but the LORD is about to snatch you up and throw you away. ¹⁸He will roll you into a ball and throw you into a wide open country, where you will die and your chariots will be destroyed. You're a disgrace to those you serve.
    ¹⁹The LORD is going to take away your job! ^20-21He will give your official robes and your authority to his servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah.
   Eliakim will be like a father to the people of Jerusalem and to the royal family of Judah. ²²The LORD will put him in charge of the key that belongs to King David's family. No one will be able to unlock what he locks, and no one will be able to lock what he unlocks. ²³The LORD will make him as firm in his position as a tent peg hammered in the ground, and Eliakim will bring honor to his family.
    ²⁴His children and relatives will be supported by him, like pans hanging from a peg on the wall. ²⁵That peg is fastened firmly now, but someday it will be shaken loose and fall down. Then everything that was hanging on it will be destroyed. This is what the LORD All-Powerful has promised.
   

Isaiah 23

The City of Tyre Will Be Punished

 ¹This is a message    from distant islands
   about the city of Tyre: ^[j] Cry, you seagoing ships! ^[k] Tyre and its houses
   lie in ruins. ^[l] ²Mourn in silence,
   you shop owners of Sidon, ^[m] you people on the coast.
   Your sailors crossed oceans,
   making your city rich.
    ³Your merchants sailed the seas,
   making you wealthy
   by trading
   with nation after nation.
   They brought back grain
   that grew along the Nile. ^[n] ⁴Sidon, you are a mighty fortress
   built along the sea.
   But you will be disgraced
   like a married woman
   who never had children. ^[o] ⁵When Egypt hears about Tyre,
   it will tremble.
    ⁶All of you along the coast
   had better cry
   and sail
   far across the ocean. ^[p] ⁷Can this be the happy city
   that has stood for centuries?
   Its people have spread
   to distant lands;
    ⁸its merchants were kings
   honored all over the world.
   Who planned to destroy Tyre?
    ⁹The LORD All-Powerful planned it
   to bring shame and disgrace
   to those
   who are honored
   by everyone on earth.
    ¹⁰People of Tyre, ^[q] your harbor is destroyed!
   You will have to become farmers
   just like the Egyptians. ^[r]

Tyre Will Be Forgotten

 ¹¹The LORD's hand has reached    across the sea,
   upsetting the nations.
   He has given a command
   to destroy fortresses
   in the land of Canaan.
    ¹²The LORD has said
   to the people of Sidon,
   "Your celebrating is over--
   you are crushed.
   Even if you escape to Cyprus,
   you won't find peace."
    ¹³Look what the Assyrians have done to Babylonia! They have attacked, destroying every palace in the land. Now wild animals live among the ruins. ^[s] ¹⁴Not a fortress will be left standing, so tell all the seagoing ships ^[t] to mourn. ¹⁵The city of Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, which is the lifetime of a king. Then Tyre will be like that evil woman in the song:
    ¹⁶You're gone and forgotten,
   you evil woman!
   So strut through the town,
   singing and playing
   your favorite tune
   to be remembered again.
    ¹⁷At the end of those seventy years, the LORD will let Tyre get back into business. The city will be like a woman who sells her body to everyone of every nation on earth, ¹⁸but none of what is earned will be kept in the city. That money will belong to the LORD, and it will be used to buy more than enough food and good clothes for those who worship the LORD.
   

Isaiah 24

The Earth Will Be Punished

 ¹The LORD is going to twist the earth out of shape and turn it into a desert. Everyone will be scattered, ²including ordinary people and priests, slaves and slave owners, buyers and sellers, lenders and borrowers, the rich and the poor. ³The earth will be stripped bare and left that way. This is what the LORD has promised.     ⁴The earth wilts away;
   its mighty leaders melt
   to nothing. ^[u] ⁵The earth is polluted
   because its people
   disobeyed the laws of God,
   breaking their agreement
   that was to last forever.
    ⁶The earth is under a curse;
   its people are dying out
   because of their sins.
    ⁷Grapevines have dried up:
   wine is almost gone--
   mournful sounds are heard
   instead of joyful shouts.
    ⁸No one plays tambourines
   or stringed instruments;
   all noisy celebrating
   has come to an end.
    ⁹They no longer sing
   as they drink their wine,
   and it tastes sour.
    ¹⁰Towns are crushed and in chaos;
   houses are locked tight.
    ¹¹Happy times have disappeared
   from the earth,
   and people shout in the streets,
   "We're out of wine!"
    ¹²Cities are destroyed;
   their gates are torn down.
    ¹³Nations will be stripped bare,
   like olive trees
   or vineyards
   after the harvest season.
   

Praise the God of Justice

 ¹⁴People in the west shout;    they joyfully praise
   the majesty of the LORD.
    ¹⁵And so, everyone in the east
   and those on the islands
   should praise the LORD,
   the God of Israel.
    ¹⁶From all over the world
   songs of praise are heard
   for the God of justice. ^[v] But I feel awful,
   terribly miserable.
   Can anyone be trusted?
   So many are treacherous!
   

There's No Escape

 ¹⁷Terror, traps, and pits    are waiting for everyone.
    ¹⁸If you are terrified and run,
   you will fall into a pit;
   if you crawl out of the pit,
   you will get caught in a trap.
   The sky has split apart
   like a window thrown open.
   The foundations of the earth
   have been shaken;
    ¹⁹the earth is shattered,
   ripped to pieces.
    ²⁰It staggers and shakes
   like a drunkard
   or a hut in a windstorm.
   It is burdened down with sin;
   the earth will fall,
   never again to get up.
    ²¹On that day the LORD
   will punish
   the powers
   in the heavens ^[w] and the kings of the earth.
    ²²He will put them in a pit
   and keep them prisoner.
   Then later on,
   he will punish them.
    ²³The moon and sun will both
   be embarrassed and ashamed.
   The LORD All-Powerful will rule
   on Mount Zion in Jerusalem,
   where he will show its rulers
   his wonderful glory.
   

Footnotes:

1. Isaiah 22:1 Vision Valley: The exact location is not known. In Hebrew the name sounds something like "Hinnom Valley," where the people of Jerusalem sometimes offered human sacrifices to the gods of Canaan.
2. Isaiah 22:1 flat roofs: In Palestine the houses usually had a flat roof. Stairs on the outside led up to the roof, which was made of beams and boards covered with packed earth.
3. Isaiah 22:3 No matter. . . caught: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
4. Isaiah 22:5 and for. . . help: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
5. Isaiah 22:6 Elam and Kir: Regions in the Iranian highlands.
6. Isaiah 22:6 chariots: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
7. Isaiah 22:8 Forest Palace: Built by Solomon (1 Kings 7.2) and used as a place for storing weapons.
8. Isaiah 22:9 the lower pool: Mentioned only here; probably in the southern part of the Central Valley (Tyropoean Valley) of Jerusalem.
9. Isaiah 22:11 between the walls: Some cities had two walls with a space between them. If the enemy broke through the outer wall, the city was still protected by the inner wall. The houses that were torn down to repair the outer wall were probably squatters' huts that had been built between the two walls.
10. Isaiah 23:1 Tyre: A fortress city built on an island in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of what is now Lebanon.
11. Isaiah 23:1 seagoing ships: See the note at 2.16.
12. Isaiah 23:1 Tyre. . . ruins: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
13. Isaiah 23:2 Sidon: A coastal city just north of Tyre.
14. Isaiah 23:3 along the Nile: The Hebrew text has "grain of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile," but Shihor is probably a name for a region near the lower part of the Nile.
15. Isaiah 23:4 children: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
16. Isaiah 23:6 far across the ocean: The Hebrew text has "to Tarshish," probably meaning a long distance.
17. Isaiah 23:10 People of Tyre: The Hebrew text has "the people of Tarshish," which stands for the colonies of Tyre.
18. Isaiah 23:10 Egyptians: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 10.
19. Isaiah 23:13 ruins: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 13.
20. Isaiah 23:14 seagoing ships: See the note at 2.16.
21. Isaiah 24:4 its. . . to nothing: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
22. Isaiah 24:16 God of justice: Or "people who do right."
23. Isaiah 24:21 the powers in the heavens: In ancient times the stars were thought of as powerful spiritual beings, and sometimes they stood for pagan gods.

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Galatians 2:17-3:9 (Contemporary English Version)

¹⁷When we Jews started looking for a way to please God, we discovered that we are sinners too. Does this mean that Christ is the one who makes us sinners? No, it doesn't! ¹⁸But if I tear down something and then build it again, I prove that I was wrong at first. ¹⁹It was the Law itself that killed me and freed me from its power, so that I could live for God.
   I have been nailed to the cross with Christ. ²⁰I have died, but Christ lives in me. And I now live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me. ²¹I don't turn my back on God's undeserved kindness. If we can be acceptable to God by obeying the Law, it was useless for Christ to die.
   

Galatians 3

Faith Is the Only Way

 ¹You stupid Galatians! I told you exactly how Jesus Christ was nailed to a cross. Has someone now put an evil spell on you? ²I want to know only one thing. How were you given God's Spirit? Was it by obeying the Law of Moses or by hearing about Christ and having faith in him? ³How can you be so stupid? Do you think that by yourself you can complete what God's Spirit started in you? ⁴Have you gone through all of this for nothing? Is it all really for nothing? ⁵God gives you his Spirit and works miracles in you. But does he do this because you obey the Law of Moses or because you have heard about Christ and have faith in him?     ⁶The Scriptures say that God accepted Abraham because Abraham had faith. ⁷And so, you should understand that everyone who has faith is a child of Abraham. ^[a] ⁸Long ago the Scriptures said that God would accept the Gentiles because of their faith. That's why God told Abraham the good news that all nations would be blessed because of him. ⁹This means that everyone who has faith will share in the blessings that were given to Abraham because of his faith.

Footnotes:

1. Galatians 3:7 a child of Abraham: God chose Abraham, and so it was believed that anyone who was a child of Abraham was also a child of God (see the note at 3.29).

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Psalm 60:1-12 (Contemporary English Version)

Psalm 60

(For the music leader. To the tune "Lily of the Promise." A special psalm by David for teaching. He wrote it during his wars with the Arameans of northern Syria, ^[a] in Salt Valley.)

You Can Depend on God

 ¹You, God, are angry with us!    We are rejected and crushed.
   Make us strong again!
    ²You made the earth shake
   and split wide open;
   now heal its wounds
   and stop its trembling.
    ³You brought hard times
   on your people,
   and you gave us wine
   that made us stagger.
    ⁴You gave a signal to those
   who worship you,
   so they could escape
   from enemy arrows. ^[b] ⁵Answer our prayers!
   Use your powerful arm
   and give us victory.
   Then the people you love
   will be safe.
    ⁶Our God, you solemnly promised,
   "I would gladly divide up
   the city of Shechem
   and give away Succoth Valley
   piece by piece.
    ⁷The lands of Gilead
   and Manasseh are mine.
   Ephraim is my war helmet,
   and Judah is the symbol
   of my royal power.
    ⁸Moab is merely my washbasin.
   Edom belongs to me,
   and I shout in triumph
   over the Philistines."
    ⁹Our God, who will bring me
   to the fortress,
   or lead me to Edom?
    ¹⁰Have you rejected us
   and deserted our armies?
    ¹¹Help us defeat our enemies!
   No one else can rescue us.
    ¹²You will give us victory
   and crush our enemies.
   

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 60:1 (Psalm 60 wars. . . Syria: See 2 Samuel 8.3-8; 10.16-18; 1 Chronicles 18.3-11; 19.6-19.) when Joab came back and killed twelve thousand Edomites Psalm 60 killed. . . Edomites: See 2 Samuel 8.13; 1 Chronicles 18.12.
2. Psalm 60:4 so. . . arrows: Some ancient translations and one possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.

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Proverbs 23:15-16 (Contemporary English Version)

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 ¹⁵ My children,    if you show good sense,
   I will be happy,
    ¹⁶and if you are truthful,
   I will really be glad.

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Verse of the Day

“[Wisdom from Above]Are any of you wise or sensible? Then show it by living right and by being humble and wise in everything you do.” - James 3:13

Today's passage is from the Contemporary English Version.

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Thought for the Day

American comic book writer, Kurt Busiek wrote, “I tend to think that the best face of humanity is that we learn. We explore, we study, we think.”

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A Joke for Today

Before my daughter went on her first date, I gave her 'the talk.'

'Sometimes, it’s easy to get carried away when you’re with a boy,' I said. 'Remember, a short moment of indiscretion could ruin your life.'

'Don’t worry,' she said. 'I don’t plan on ruining my life until I get married.'