October 8: Isaiah 31–33; Psalm 91; Acts 15

Old Testament: Isaiah 31–33 Isaiah 31–33 (Listen) Woe to Those Who Go Down to Egypt 31   Woe1 to those who go down to Egypt for help    and rely on horses,  who trust in chariots because they are many    and in horsemen because they are very strong,  but do not look to the Holy One of Israel    or consult the LORD!2   And yet he is wise and brings disaster;    he does not call back his words,  but will arise against the house of the evildoers    and against the helpers of those who work iniquity.3   The Egyptians are man, and not God,    and their horses are flesh, and not spirit.  When the LORD stretches out his hand,    the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall,    and they will all perish together. 4   For thus the LORD said to me,  “As a lion or a young lion growls over his prey,    and when a band of shepherds is called out against him  he is not terrified by their shouting    or daunted at their noise,  so the LORD of hosts will come down    to fight2 on Mount Zion and on its hill.5   Like birds hovering, so the LORD of hosts    will protect Jerusalem;  he will protect and deliver it;    he will spare and rescue it.” 6 Turn to him from whom people3 have deeply revolted, O children of Israel. 7 For in that day everyone shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your hands have sinfully made for you. 8   “And the Assyrian shall fall by a sword, not of man;    and a sword, not of man, shall devour him;  and he shall flee from the sword,    and his young men shall be put to forced labor.9   His rock shall pass away in terror,    and his officers desert the standard in panic,”  declares the LORD, whose fire is in Zion,    and whose furnace is in Jerusalem. A King Will Reign in Righteousness 32   Behold, a king will reign in righteousness,    and princes will rule in justice.2   Each will be like a hiding place from the wind,    a shelter from the storm,  like streams of water in a dry place,    like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.3   Then the eyes of those who see will not be closed,    and the ears of those who hear will give attention.4   The heart of the hasty will understand and know,    and the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak distinctly.5   The fool will no more be called noble,    nor the scoundrel said to be honorable.6   For the fool speaks folly,    and his heart is busy with iniquity,  to practice ungodliness,    to utter error concerning the LORD,  to leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied,    and to deprive the thirsty of drink.7   As for the scoundrel—his devices are evil;    he plans wicked schemes  to ruin the poor with lying words,    even when the plea of the needy is right.8   But he who is noble plans noble things,    and on noble things he stands. Complacent Women Warned of Disaster 9   Rise up, you women who are at ease, hear my voice;    you complacent daughters, give ear to my speech.10   In little more than a year    you will shudder, you complacent women;  for the grape harvest fails,    the fruit harvest will not come.11   Tremble, you women who are at ease,    shudder, you complacent ones;  strip, and make yourselves bare,    and tie sackcloth around your waist.12   Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields,    for the fruitful vine,13   for the soil of my people    growing up in thorns and briers,  yes, for all the joyous houses    in the exultant city.14   For the palace is forsaken,    the populous city deserted;  the hill and the watchtower    will become dens forever,  a joy of wild donkeys,    a pasture of flocks;15   until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high,    and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field,    and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.16   Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,    and righteousness abide in the fruitful field.17   And the effect of righteousness will be peace,    and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust4 forever.18   My people will abide in a peaceful habitation,    in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.19   And it will hail when the forest falls down,    and the city will be utterly laid low.20   Happy are you who sow beside all waters,    who let the feet of the ox and the donkey range free. O Lord, Be Gracious to Us 33   Ah, you destroyer,    who yourself have not been destroyed,  you traitor,    whom none has betrayed!  When you have ceased to destroy,    you will be destroyed;  and when you have finished betraying,    they will betray you. 2   O LORD, be gracious to us; we wait for you.    Be our arm every morning,    our salvation in the time of trouble.3   At the tumultuous noise peoples flee;    when you lift yourself up, nations are scattered,4   and your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers;    as locusts leap, it is leapt upon. 5   The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high;    he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness,6   and he will be the stability of your times,    abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge;    the fear of the LORD is Zion’s5 treasure. 7   Behold, their heroes cry in the streets;    the envoys of peace weep bitterly.8   The highways lie waste;    the traveler ceases.  Covenants are broken;    cities6 are despised;    there is no regard for man.9   The land mourns and languishes;    Lebanon is confounded and withers away;  Sharon is like a desert,    and Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves. 10   “Now I will arise,” says the LORD,    “now I will lift myself up;    now I will be exalted.11   You conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble;    your breath is a fire that will consume you.12   And the peoples will be as if burned to lime,    like thorns cut down, that are burned in the fire.” 13   Hear, you who are far off, what I have done;    and you who are near, acknowledge my might.14   The sinners in Zion are afraid;    trembling has seized the godless:  “Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire?    Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?”15   He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly,    who despises the gain of oppressions,  who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe,    who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed    and shuts his eyes from looking on evil,16   he will dwell on the heights;    his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks;    his bread will be given him; his water will be sure. 17   Your eyes will behold the king in his beauty;    they will see a land that stretches afar.18   Your heart will muse on the terror:    “Where is he who counted, where is he who weighed the tribute?    Where is he who counted the towers?”19   You will see no more the insolent people,    the people of an obscure speech that you cannot comprehend,    stammering in a tongue that you cannot understand.20   Behold Zion, the city of our appointed feasts!    Your eyes will see Jerusalem,    an untroubled habitation, an immovable tent,  whose stakes will never be plucked up,    nor will any of its cords be broken.21   But there the LORD in majesty will be for us    a place of broad rivers and streams,  where no galley with oars can go,    nor majestic ship can pass.22   For the LORD is our judge; the LORD is our lawgiver;    the LORD is our king; he will save us. 23   Your cords hang loose;    they cannot hold the mast firm in its place    or keep the sail spread out.  Then prey and spoil in abundance will be divided;    even the lame will take the prey.24   And no inhabitant will say, “I am sick”;    the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity. Footnotes [1] 31:1 Or Ah, [2] 31:4 The Hebrew words for hosts and to fight sound alike [3] 31:6 Hebrew they [4] 32:17 Or security [5] 33:6 Hebrew his [6] 33:8 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scroll witnesses (ESV) Psalm: Psalm 91 Psalm 91 (Listen) My Refuge and My Fortress 91   He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High    will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.2   I will say1 to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress,    my God, in whom I trust.” 3   For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler    and from the deadly pestilence.4   He will cover you with his pinions,    and under his wings you will find refuge;    his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.5   You will not fear the terror of the night,    nor the arrow that flies by day,6   nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,    nor the destruction that wastes at noonday. 7   A thousand may fall at your side,    ten thousand at your right hand,    but it will not come near you.8   You will only look with your eyes    and see the recompense of the wicked. 9   Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place—    the Most High, who is my refuge2—10   no evil shall be allowed to befall you,    no plague come near your tent. 11   For he will command his angels concerning you    to guard you in all your ways.12   On their hands they will bear you up,    lest you strike your foot against a stone.13   You will tread on the lion and the adder;    the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot. 14   “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;    I will protect him, because he knows my name.15   When he calls to me, I will answer him;    I will be with him in trouble;    I will rescue him and honor him.16   With long life I will satisfy him    and show him my salvation.” Footnotes [1] 91:2 Septuagint He will say [2] 91:9 Or For you, O Lord, are my refuge! You have made the Most High your dwelling place (ESV) New Testament: Acts 15 Acts 15 (Listen) The Jerusalem Council 15 But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2 And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. 3 So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers.1 4 When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them. 5 But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.” 6 The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter. 7 And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. 8 And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, 9 and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. 10 Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? 11 But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.” 12 And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. 13 After they finished speaking, James replied, “Brothers, listen to me. 14 Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name. 15 And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written, 16   “‘After this I will return,  and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen;  I will rebuild its ruins,     and I will restore it,17   that the remnant2 of mankind may seek the Lord,    and all the Gentiles who are called by my name,    says the Lord, who makes these things 18 known from of old.’ 19 Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, 20 but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood. 21 For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.” The Council’s Letter to Gentile Believers 22 Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers, 23 with the following letter: “The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the brothers3 who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings. 24 Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you4 with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, 25 it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, 26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 27 We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth. 28 For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements: 29 that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.” 30 So when they were sent off, they went down to Antioch, and having gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter. 31 And when they had read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement. 32 And Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, encouraged and strengthened the brothers with many words. 33 And after they had spent some time, they were sent off in peace by the brothers to those who had sent them.5 35 But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also. Paul and Barnabas Separate 36 And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.” 37 Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark. 38 But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. 39 And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus, 40 but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. 41 And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. Footnotes [1] 15:3 Or brothers and sisters; also verse 22 [2] 15:17 Or rest [3] 15:23 Or brothers and sisters; also verses 32, 33, 36 [4] 15:24 Some manuscripts some persons from us have troubled you [5] 15:33 Some manuscripts insert verse 34: But it seemed good to Silas to remain there (ESV)