1 Then we turned and set out toward the wilderness on the way to the Red Sea just as the Lord told me to do, detouring around Mount Seir for a long time. 2 At this point the Lord said to me, 3 “You have circled around this mountain long enough; now turn north. 4 Instruct these people as follows: ‘You are about to cross the border of your relatives the descendants of Esau, who inhabit Seir. They will be afraid of you, so watch yourselves carefully. 5 Do not be hostile toward them, because I am not giving you any of their land, not even a footprint, for I have given Mount Seir as an inheritance for Esau. 6 You may purchase food to eat and water to drink from them. 7 All along the way I, the Lord your God, have blessed your every effort. I have been attentive to your travels through this great wilderness. These forty years I have been with you; you have lacked nothing.’”
8 So we turned away from our relatives the descendants of Esau, the inhabitants of Seir, turning from the route of the rift valley which comes up from Elat and Ezion Geber, and traveling the way of the wilderness of Moab. 9 Then the Lord said to me, “Do not harass Moab and provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land as your territory. This is because I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as their possession. 10 (The Emites used to live there, a people as powerful, numerous, and tall as the Anakites. 11 These people, as well as the Anakites, are also considered Rephaites; the Moabites call them Emites. 12 Previously the Horites lived in Seir, but the descendants of Esau dispossessed and destroyed them and settled in their place, just as Israel did to the land it came to possess, the land the Lord gave them.) 13 Now, get up and cross the Wadi Zered.” So we did so. 14 Now the length of time it took for us to go from Kadesh Barnea to the crossing of Wadi Zered was thirty-eight years, time for all the military men of that generation to die, just as the Lord had vowed to them. 15 Indeed, it was the very hand of the Lord that eliminated them from within the camp until they were all gone.
16 So it was that after all the military men had been eliminated from the community, 17 the Lord said to me, 18 “Today you are going to cross the border of Moab, that is, of Ar. 19 But when you come close to the Ammonites, do not harass or provoke them because I am not giving you any of the Ammonites’ land as your possession; I have already given it to Lot’s descendants as their possession.”
20 (That also is considered to be a land of the Rephaites. The Rephaites lived there originally; the Ammonites call them Zamzummites. 21 They are a people as powerful, numerous, and tall as the Anakites. But the Lord destroyed the Rephaites in advance of the Ammonites, so they dispossessed them and settled down in their place. 22 This is exactly what he did for the descendants of Esau who lived in Seir when he destroyed the Horites before them so that they could dispossess them and settle in their area to this very day. 23 As for the Avvites who lived in settlements as far west as Gaza, Caphtorites who came from Crete destroyed them and settled down in their place.)
24 “Get up, make your way across Wadi Arnon. Look, I have already delivered over to you Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Go ahead—take it! Engage him in war! 25 This very day I will begin to fill all the people of the earth with dread and to terrify them when they hear about you. They will shiver and shake in anticipation of your approach.”
26 Then I sent messengers from the Kedemoth wilderness to King Sihon of Heshbon with an offer of peace: 27 “Let me pass through your land; I will keep strictly to the roadway. I will not turn aside to the right or the left. 28 Sell me food for cash so that I can eat and sell me water to drink. Just allow me to go through on foot, 29 just as the descendants of Esau who live at Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for me, until I cross the Jordan to the land the Lord our God is giving us.” 30 But King Sihon of Heshbon was unwilling to allow us to pass near him because the Lord our God had made him obstinate and stubborn so that he might deliver him over to you this very day. 31 The Lord said to me, “Look! I have already begun to give over Sihon and his land to you. Start right now to take his land as your possession.” 32 When Sihon and all his troops emerged to encounter us in battle at Jahaz, 33 the Lord our God delivered him over to us and we struck him down, along with his sons and everyone else. 34 At that time we seized all his cities and put every one of them under divine judgment, including even the women and children; we left no survivors. 35 We kept only the livestock and plunder from the cities for ourselves. 36 From Aroer, which is at the edge of Wadi Arnon (it is the city in the wadi), all the way to Gilead there was not a town able to resist us—the Lord our God gave them all to us. 37 However, you did not approach the land of the Ammonites, the Wadi Jabbok, the cities of the hill country, or any place else forbidden by the Lord our God.
1 O God, do not be silent.
Do not ignore us. Do not be inactive, O God.
2 For look, your enemies are making a commotion;
those who hate you are hostile.
3 They carefully plot against your people,
and make plans to harm the ones you cherish.
4 They say, “Come on, let’s annihilate them so they are no longer a nation.
Then the name of Israel will be remembered no more.”
5 Yes, they devise a unified strategy;
they form an alliance against you.
6 It includes the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
Moab and the Hagrites,
7 Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek,
Philistia and the inhabitants of Tyre.
8 Even Assyria has allied with them,
lending its strength to the descendants of Lot. (Selah)
9 Do to them as you did to Midian—
as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the Kishon River.
10 They were destroyed at Endor;
their corpses were like manure on the ground.
11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,
and all their rulers like Zebah and Zalmunna,
12 who said, “Let’s take over the pastures of God.”
13 O my God, make them like dead thistles,
like dead weeds blown away by the wind.
14 Like the fire that burns down the forest,
or the flames that consume the mountainsides,
15 chase them with your gale winds,
and terrify them with your windstorm.
16 Cover their faces with shame,
so they might seek you, O Lord.
17 May they be humiliated and continually terrified.
May they die in shame.
18 Then they will know that you alone are the Lord,
the Most High over all the earth.
1 How lovely is the place where you live,
O Lord of Heaven’s Armies!
2 I desperately want to be
in the courts of the Lord’s temple.
My heart and my entire being shout for joy
to the living God.
3 Even the birds find a home there,
and the swallow builds a nest,
where she can protect her young
near your altars, O Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
my King and my God.
4 How blessed are those who live in your temple
and praise you continually. (Selah)
5 How blessed are those who find their strength in you,
and long to travel the roads that lead to your temple.
6 As they pass through the Baca Valley,
he provides a spring for them.
The rain even covers it with pools of water.
7 They are sustained as they travel along;
each one appears before God in Zion.
8 O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies,
hear my prayer.
Listen, O God of Jacob. (Selah)
9 O God, take notice of our shield.
Show concern for your chosen king.
10 Certainly spending just one day in your temple courts is better
than spending a thousand elsewhere.
I would rather stand at the entrance to the temple of my God
than live in the tents of the wicked.
11 For the Lord God is our sovereign protector.
The Lord bestows favor and honor;
he withholds no good thing from those who have integrity.
12 O Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
how blessed are those who trust in you.
1 “The rebellious children are as good as dead,” says the Lord,
“those who make plans without consulting me,
who form alliances without consulting my Spirit,
and thereby compound their sin.
2 They travel down to Egypt
without seeking my will,
seeking Pharaoh’s protection,
and looking for safety in Egypt’s protective shade.
3 But Pharaoh’s protection will bring you nothing but shame,
and the safety of Egypt’s protective shade nothing but humiliation.
4 Though his officials are in Zoan
and his messengers arrive at Hanes,
5 all will be put to shame
because of a nation that cannot help them,
who cannot give them aid or help,
but only shame and disgrace.”
6 This is an oracle about the animals in the Negev:
Through a land of distress and danger,
inhabited by lionesses and roaring lions,
by snakes and darting adders,
they transport their wealth on the backs of donkeys,
their riches on the humps of camels,
to a nation that cannot help them.
7 Egypt is totally incapable of helping.
For this reason I call her
“Proud one who is silenced.”
8 Now go, write it down on a tablet in their presence,
inscribe it on a scroll,
so that it might be preserved for a future time
as an enduring witness.
9 For these are rebellious people—
they are lying children,
children unwilling to obey the Lord’s law.
10 They say to the visionaries, “See no more visions!”
and to the seers, “Don’t relate messages to us about what is right!
Tell us nice things;
relate deceptive messages.
11 Turn aside from the way;
stray off the path.
Remove from our presence the Holy One of Israel.”
12 For this reason this is what the Holy One of Israel says:
“You have rejected this message;
you trust instead in your ability to oppress and trick,
and rely on that kind of behavior.
13 So this sin will become your downfall.
You will be like a high wall
that bulges and cracks and is ready to collapse;
it crumbles suddenly, in a flash.
14 It shatters in pieces like a clay jar,
so shattered to bits that none of it can be salvaged.
Among its fragments one cannot find a shard large enough
to scoop a hot coal from a fire
or to skim off water from a cistern.”
15 For this is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel says:
“If you repented and patiently waited for me, you would be delivered;
if you calmly trusted in me, you would find strength,
but you are unwilling.
16 You say, ‘No, we will flee on horses,’
so you will indeed flee.
You say, ‘We will ride on fast horses,’
so your pursuers will be fast.
17 One thousand will scurry at the battle cry of one enemy soldier;
at the battle cry of five enemy soldiers you will all run away,
until the remaining few are as isolated
as a flagpole on a mountaintop
or a signal flag on a hill.”
18 For this reason the Lord is ready to show you mercy;
he sits on his throne, ready to have compassion on you.
Indeed, the Lord is a just God;
all who wait for him in faith will be blessed.
19 For people will live in Zion;
in Jerusalem you will weep no more.
When he hears your cry of despair, he will indeed show you mercy;
when he hears it, he will respond to you.
20 The Lord will give you distress to eat
and suffering to drink;
but your teachers will no longer be hidden;
your eyes will see them.
21 You will hear a word spoken behind you, saying,
“This is the correct way, walk in it,”
whether you are heading to the right or the left.
22 You will desecrate your silver-plated idols
and your gold-plated images.
You will throw them away as if they were a menstrual rag,
saying to them, “Get out!”
23 He will water the seed you plant in the ground,
and the ground will produce crops in abundance.
At that time your cattle will graze in wide pastures.
24 The oxen and donkeys used in plowing
will eat seasoned feed winnowed with a shovel and pitchfork.
25 On every high mountain
and every high hill
there will be streams flowing with water,
at the time of great slaughter when the fortified towers collapse.
26 The light of the full moon will be like the sun’s glare,
and the sun’s glare will be seven times brighter,
like the light of seven days,
when the Lord binds up his people’s fractured bones
and heals their severe wound.
27 Look, the name of the Lord comes from a distant place
in raging anger and awesome splendor.
He speaks angrily,
and his word is like destructive fire.
28 His battle cry overwhelms like a flooding river
that reaches one’s neck.
He shakes the nations in a sieve that isolates the chaff;
he puts a bit into the mouth of the nations and leads them to destruction.
29 You will sing
as you do in the evening when you are celebrating a festival.
You will be happy like one who plays a flute
as he goes to the mountain of the Lord, the Rock who shelters Israel.
30 The Lord will give a mighty shout
and intervene in power,
with furious anger and flaming, destructive fire,
with a driving rainstorm and hailstones.
31 Indeed, the Lord’s shout will shatter Assyria;
he will beat them with a club.
32 Every blow from his punishing cudgel
with which the Lord will beat them
will be accompanied by music from the tambourine and harp,
and he will attack them with his weapons.
33 For the burial place is already prepared;
it has been made deep and wide for the king.
The firewood is piled high on it.
The Lord’s breath, like a stream flowing with brimstone,
will ignite it.
1 From Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are called, wrapped in the love of God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ. 2 May mercy, peace, and love be lavished on you!
3 Dear friends, although I have been eager to write to you about our common salvation, I now feel compelled instead to write to encourage you to contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. 4 For certain men have secretly slipped in among you—men who long ago were marked out for the condemnation I am about to describe—ungodly men who have turned the grace of our God into a license for evil and who deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
5 Now I desire to remind you (even though you have been fully informed of these facts once for all) that Jesus, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, later destroyed those who did not believe. 6 You also know that the angels who did not keep within their proper domain but abandoned their own place of residence, he has kept in eternal chains in utter darkness, locked up for the judgment of the great Day. 7 So also Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns, since they indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire in a way similar to these angels, are now displayed as an example by suffering the punishment of eternal fire.
8 Yet these men, as a result of their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and insult the glorious ones. 9 But even when Michael the archangel was arguing with the devil and debating with him concerning Moses’ body, he did not dare to bring a slanderous judgment, but said, “May the Lord rebuke you!” 10 But these men do not understand the things they slander, and they are being destroyed by the very things that, like irrational animals, they instinctively comprehend. 11 Woe to them! For they have traveled down Cain’s path, and because of greed have abandoned themselves to Balaam’s error; hence, they will certainly perish in Korah’s rebellion. 12 These men are dangerous reefs at your love feasts, feasting without reverence, feeding only themselves. They are waterless clouds, carried along by the winds; autumn trees without fruit—twice dead, uprooted; 13 wild sea waves, spewing out the foam of their shame; wayward stars for whom the utter depths of eternal darkness have been reserved.
14 Now Enoch, the seventh in descent beginning with Adam, even prophesied of them, saying, “Look! The Lord is coming with thousands and thousands of his holy ones, 15 to execute judgment on all, and to convict every person of all their thoroughly ungodly deeds that they have committed, and of all the harsh words that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” 16 These people are grumblers and fault-finders who go wherever their desires lead them, and they give bombastic speeches, enchanting folks for their own gain.
17 But you, dear friends—recall the predictions foretold by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. 18 For they said to you, “At the end of time there will come scoffers, propelled by their own ungodly desires.” 19 These people are divisive, worldly, devoid of the Spirit. 20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith, by praying in the Holy Spirit, 21 maintain yourselves in the love of God, while anticipating the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that brings eternal life. 22 And have mercy on those who waver; 23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; have mercy on others, coupled with a fear of God, hating even the clothes stained by the flesh.
24 Now to the one who is able to keep you from falling, and to cause you to stand, rejoicing, without blemish before his glorious presence, 25 to the only God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time, and now, and for all eternity. Amen.
