September 20  

Daily Bible in a Year

Daily Old and New Testaments, Psalms, and Proverbs

  •   Isaiah 33:10-36:22
    Isaiah 33:10-36:22

    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.

    Judgment on the Nations
    34 
    Draw near, O nations, to hear,
         and give attention, O peoples!
     Let the earth hear, and all that fills it;
         the world, and all that comes from it.

    2 
    For the Lord is enraged against all the nations,
         and furious against all their host;
         he has devoted them to destruction,[a] has given them over for slaughter.

    3 
    Their slain shall be cast out,
         and the stench of their corpses shall rise;
         the mountains shall flow with their blood.

    4 
    All the host of heaven shall rot away,
         and the skies roll up like a scroll.
     All their host shall fall,
         as leaves fall from the vine,
         like leaves falling from the fig tree.

    5 
    For my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens;
         behold, it descends for judgment upon Edom,
         upon the people I have devoted to destruction.

    6 
    The Lord has a sword; it is sated with blood;
         it is gorged with fat,
         with the blood of lambs and goats,
         with the fat of the kidneys of rams.
     For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah,
         a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

    7 
    Wild oxen shall fall with them,
         and young steers with the mighty bulls.
     Their land shall drink its fill of blood,
         and their soil shall be gorged with fat.

    8 
    For the Lord has a day of vengeance,
         a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.

    9 
    And the streams of Edom[b] shall be turned into pitch,
         and her soil into sulfur;
         her land shall become burning pitch.

    10 
    Night and day it shall not be quenched;
         its smoke shall go up forever.
     From generation to generation it shall lie waste;
         none shall pass through it forever and ever.

    11 
    But the hawk and the porcupine[c] shall possess it,
         the owl and the raven shall dwell in it.
     He shall stretch the line of confusion[d] over it,
         and the plumb line of emptiness.

    12 
    Its nobles—there is no one there to call it a kingdom,
         and all its princes shall be nothing.

    13 
    Thorns shall grow over its strongholds,
         nettles and thistles in its fortresses.
     It shall be the haunt of jackals,
         an abode for ostriches.[e]

    14 
    And wild animals shall meet with hyenas;
         the wild goat shall cry to his fellow;
     indeed, there the night bird[f] settles
         and finds for herself a resting place.

    15 
    There the owl nests and lays
         and hatches and gathers her young in her shadow;
     indeed, there the hawks are gathered,
         each one with her mate.

    16 
    Seek and read from the book of the Lord:
         Not one of these shall be missing;
         none shall be without her mate.
     For the mouth of the Lord has commanded,
         and his Spirit has gathered them.

    17 
    He has cast the lot for them;
         his hand has portioned it out to them with the line;
     they shall possess it forever;
         from generation to generation they shall dwell in it.

    The Ransomed Shall Return
    35 
    The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad;
         the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus;

    2 
    it shall blossom abundantly
         and rejoice with joy and singing.
     The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
         the majesty of Carmel and Sharon.
     They shall see the glory of the Lord,
         the majesty of our God.

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

    4 
    Say to those who have an anxious heart,
         “Be strong; fear not!
     Behold, your God
         will come with vengeance,
     with the recompense of God.
         He will come and save you.”

    5 
    Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
         and the ears of the deaf unstopped;

    6 
    then shall the lame man leap like a deer,
         and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
     For waters break forth in the wilderness,
         and streams in the desert;

    7 
    the burning sand shall become a pool,
         and the thirsty ground springs of water;
     in the haunt of jackals, where they lie down,
         the grass shall become reeds and rushes.

    8 
    And a highway shall be there,
         and it shall be called the Way of Holiness;
     the unclean shall not pass over it.
         It shall belong to those who walk on the way;
         even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.[g]

    9 
    No lion shall be there,
         nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;
     they shall not be found there,
         but the redeemed shall walk there.

    10 
    And the ransomed of the Lord shall return
         and come to Zion with singing;
     everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
         they shall obtain gladness and joy,
         and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

    Sennacherib Invades Judah
    36 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 2 And the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh[h] from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem, with a great army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer's Field. 3 And there came out to him Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.
    4 And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? 5 Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me? 6 Behold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. 7 But if you say to me, “We trust in the Lordour God,” is it not he whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar”? 8 Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. 9 How then can you repulse a single captain among the least of my master's servants, when you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 10 Moreover, is it without the Lord that I have come up against this land to destroy it? The Lord said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it.”’”
    11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 12 But the Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”
    13 Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! 14 Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. 15 Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord by saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us. This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 16 Do not listen to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of Assyria: Make your peace with me[i] and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, 17 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18 Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you by saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?20 Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”
    21 But they were silent and answered him not a word, for the king's command was, “Do not answer him.” 22 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.
    Footnotes:
    1. Isaiah 34:2 That is, set apart (devoted) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction); also verse 5
    2. Isaiah 34:9 Hebrew her streams
    3. Isaiah 34:11 The identity of the animals rendered hawk and porcupine is uncertain
    4. Isaiah 34:11 Hebrew formlessness
    5. Isaiah 34:13 Or owls
    6. Isaiah 34:14 Identity uncertain
    7. Isaiah 35:8 Or if they are fools, they shall not wander in it
    8. Isaiah 36:2 Rabshakeh is the title of a high-ranking Assyrian military officer
    9. Isaiah 36:16 Hebrew Make a blessing with me
  •   Galatians 5:13-26
    Galatians 5:13-26

    13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.
    Keep in Step with the Spirit
    16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality,20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy,[a] drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do[b] such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
    25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
    Footnotes:
    1. Galatians 5:21 Some manuscripts add murder
    2. Galatians 5:21 Or make a practice of doing
  •   Psalm 64
    Psalm 64

    Hide Me from the Wicked
    To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
    64 
    Hear my voice, O God, in my complaint;
         preserve my life from dread of the enemy.

    2 
    Hide me from the secret plots of the wicked,
         from the throng of evildoers,

    3 
    who whet their tongues like swords,
         who aim bitter words like arrows,

    4 
    shooting from ambush at the blameless,
         shooting at him suddenly and without fear.

    5 
    They hold fast to their evil purpose;
         they talk of laying snares secretly,
     thinking, “Who can see them?”

    6 
        They search out injustice,
     saying, “We have accomplished a diligent search.”
         For the inward mind and heart of a man are deep.

    7 
    But God shoots his arrow at them;
         they are wounded suddenly.

    8 
    They are brought to ruin, with their own tongues turned against them;
         all who see them will wag their heads.

    9 
    Then all mankind fears;
         they tell what God has brought about
         and ponder what he has done.

    10 
    Let the righteous one rejoice in the Lord
         and take refuge in him!
     Let all the upright in heart exult!
  •   Proverbs 23:23

    Proverbs 23:23

    23 
    Buy truth, and do not sell it;

        buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.


    English Standard Version (ESV)
    The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.