October 11: Isaiah 39-41; Psalm 94; Acts 17

Isaiah 39-41

Envoys from Babylon

39 At that time Merodach-baladan the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent envoys with letters and a present to Hezekiah, for he heard that he had been sick and had recovered. And Hezekiah welcomed them gladly. And he showed them his treasure house, the silver, the gold, the spices, the precious oil, his whole armory, all that was found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his realm that Hezekiah did not show them. Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah, and said to him, “What did these men say? And from where did they come to you?” Hezekiah said, “They have come to me from a far country, from Babylon.” He said, “What have they seen in your house?” Hezekiah answered, “They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.”

Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD of hosts: Behold, the days are coming, when all that is in your house, and that which your fathers have stored up till this day, shall be carried to Babylon. Nothing shall be left, says the LORD. And some of your own sons, who will come from you, whom you will father, shall be taken away, and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “There will be peace and security in my days.”

Comfort for God's People

40   Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
  Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
    and cry to her
  that her warfare¹ is ended,
    that her iniquity is pardoned,
  that she has received from the LORD's hand
    double for all her sins.
  A voice cries:²
  “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;
    make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
  Every valley shall be lifted up,
    and every mountain and hill be made low;
  the uneven ground shall become level,
    and the rough places a plain.
  And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
    and all flesh shall see it together,
    for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

The Word of God Stands Forever

  A voice says, “Cry!”
    And I said,³“What shall I cry?”
  All flesh is grass,
    and all its beauty⁴ is like the flower of the field.
  The grass withers, the flower fades
    when the breath of the LORD blows on it;
    surely the people are grass.
  The grass withers, the flower fades,
    but the word of our God will stand forever.

The Greatness of God

  Go on up to a high mountain,
    O Zion, herald of good news;⁵
  lift up your voice with strength,
    O Jerusalem, herald of good news;⁶
    lift it up, fear not;
  say to the cities of Judah,
    “Behold your God!”
  Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might,
    and his arm rules for him;
  behold, his reward is with him,
    and his recompense before him.
  He will tend his flock like a shepherd;
    he will gather the lambs in his arms;
  he will carry them in his bosom,
    and gently lead those that are with young.
  Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
    and marked off the heavens with a span,
  enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure
    and weighed the mountains in scales
    and the hills in a balance?
  Who has measured⁷ the Spirit of the LORD,
    or what man shows him his counsel?
  Whom did he consult,
    and who made him understand?
  Who taught him the path of justice,
    and taught him knowledge,
    and showed him the way of understanding?
  Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
    and are accounted as the dust on the scales;
    behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.
  Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,
    nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.
  All the nations are as nothing before him,
    they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.
  To whom then will you liken God,
    or what likeness compare with him?
  An idol! A craftsman casts it,
    and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
    and casts for it silver chains.
  He who is too impoverished for an offering
    chooses wood⁸ that will not rot;
  he seeks out a skillful craftsman
    to set up an idol that will not move.
  Do you not know? Do you not hear?
    Has it not been told you from the beginning?
    Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
  It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
    and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
  who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
    and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;
  who brings princes to nothing,
    and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.
  Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
    scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
  when he blows on them, and they wither,
    and the tempest carries them off like stubble.
  To whom then will you compare me,
    that I should be like him? says the Holy One.
  Lift up your eyes on high and see:
    who created these?
  He who brings out their host by number,
    calling them all by name;
  by the greatness of his might
    and because he is strong in power,
    not one is missing.
  Why do you say, O Jacob,
    and speak, O Israel,
  “My way is hidden from the LORD,
    and my right is disregarded by my God”?
  Have you not known? Have you not heard?
  The LORD is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
  He does not faint or grow weary;
    his understanding is unsearchable.
  He gives power to the faint,
    and to him who has no might he increases strength.
  Even youths shall faint and be weary,
    and young men shall fall exhausted;
  but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;
    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
  they shall run and not be weary;
    they shall walk and not faint.

Fear Not, for I Am with You

41   Listen to me in silence, O coastlands;
    let the peoples renew their strength;
  let them approach, then let them speak;
    let us together draw near for judgment.
  Who stirred up one from the east
    whom victory meets at every step?⁹
  He gives up nations before him,
    so that he tramples kings underfoot;
  he makes them like dust with his sword,
    like driven stubble with his bow.
  He pursues them and passes on safely,
    by paths his feet have not trod.
  Who has performed and done this,
    calling the generations from the beginning?
  I, the LORD, the first,
    and with the last; I am he.
  The coastlands have seen and are afraid;
    the ends of the earth tremble;
    they have drawn near and come.
  Everyone helps his neighbor
    and says to his brother, “Be strong!”
  The craftsman strengthens the goldsmith,
    and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil,
  saying of the soldering, “It is good”;
    and they strengthen it with nails so that it cannot be moved.
  But you, Israel, my servant,
    Jacob, whom I have chosen,
    the offspring of Abraham, my friend;
  you whom I took from the ends of the earth,
    and called from its farthest corners,
  saying to you, “You are my servant,
    I have chosen you and not cast you off”;
  fear not, for I am with you;
    be not dismayed, for I am your God;
  I will strengthen you, I will help you,
    I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
  Behold, all who are incensed against you
    shall be put to shame and confounded;
  those who strive against you
    shall be as nothing and shall perish.
  You shall seek those who contend with you,
    but you shall not find them;
  those who war against you
    shall be as nothing at all.
  For I, the LORD your God,
    hold your right hand;
  it is I who say to you, “Fear not,
    I am the one who helps you.”
  Fear not, you worm Jacob,
    you men of Israel!
  I am the one who helps you, declares the LORD;
    your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
  Behold, I make of you a threshing sledge,
    new, sharp, and having teeth;
  you shall thresh the mountains and crush them,
    and you shall make the hills like chaff;
  you shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away,
    and the tempest shall scatter them.
  And you shall rejoice in the LORD;
    in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.
  When the poor and needy seek water,
    and there is none,
    and their tongue is parched with thirst,
  I the LORD will answer them;
    I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
  I will open rivers on the bare heights,
    and fountains in the midst of the valleys.
  I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
    and the dry land springs of water.
  I will put in the wilderness the cedar,
    the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive.
  I will set in the desert the cypress,
    the plane and the pine together,
  that they may see and know,
    may consider and understand together,
  that the hand of the LORD has done this,
    the Holy One of Israel has created it.

The Futility of Idols

  Set forth your case, says the LORD;
    bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob.
  Let them bring them, and tell us
    what is to happen.
  Tell us the former things, what they are,
    that we may consider them,
  that we may know their outcome;
    or declare to us the things to come.
  Tell us what is to come hereafter,
    that we may know that you are gods;
  do good, or do harm,
    that we may be dismayed and terrified.¹⁰
  Behold, you are nothing,
    and your work is less than nothing;
    an abomination is he who chooses you.
  I stirred up one from the north, and he has come,
    from the rising of the sun, and he shall call upon my name;
  he shall trample on rulers as on mortar,
    as the potter treads clay.
  Who declared it from the beginning, that we might know,
    and beforehand, that we might say, “He is right”?
  There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed,
    none who heard your words.
  I was the first to say¹¹ to Zion, “Behold, here they are!”
    and I give to Jerusalem a herald of good news.
  But when I look, there is no one;
    among these there is no counselor
    who, when I ask, gives an answer.
  Behold, they are all a delusion;
    their works are nothing;
    their metal images are empty wind.

(ESV)

Psalm 94

The Lord Will Not Forsake His People

94   O LORD, God of vengeance,
    O God of vengeance, shine forth!
  Rise up, O judge of the earth;
    repay to the proud what they deserve!
  O LORD, how long shall the wicked,
    how long shall the wicked exult?
  They pour out their arrogant words;
    all the evildoers boast.
  They crush your people, O LORD,
    and afflict your heritage.
  They kill the widow and the sojourner,
    and murder the fatherless;
  and they say, “The LORD does not see;
    the God of Jacob does not perceive.”
  Understand, O dullest of the people!
    Fools, when will you be wise?
  He who planted the ear, does he not hear?
  He who formed the eye, does he not see?
  He who disciplines the nations, does he not rebuke?
  He who teaches man knowledge—
    the LORD—knows the thoughts of man,
    that they are but a breath.¹
  Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O LORD,
    and whom you teach out of your law,
  to give him rest from days of trouble,
    until a pit is dug for the wicked.
  For the LORD will not forsake his people;
    he will not abandon his heritage;
  for justice will return to the righteous,
    and all the upright in heart will follow it.
  Who rises up for me against the wicked?
    Who stands up for me against evildoers?
  If the LORD had not been my help,
    my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence.
  When I thought, “My foot slips,”
    your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up.
  When the cares of my heart are many,
    your consolations cheer my soul.
  Can wicked rulers be allied with you,
    those who frame² injustice by statute?
  They band together against the life of the righteous
    and condemn the innocent to death.³
  But the LORD has become my stronghold,
    and my God the rock of my refuge.
  He will bring back on them their iniquity
    and wipe them out for their wickedness;
    the LORD our God will wipe them out.

(ESV)

Acts 17

Paul and Silas in Thessalonica

17 Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. But the Jews¹ were jealous, and taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out to the crowd. And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.” And the people and the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things. And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

Paul and Silas in Berea

The brothers² immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now these Jews were more noble than those in Thessalonica; they received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so. Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek women of high standing as well as men. But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, agitating and stirring up the crowds. Then the brothers immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and Timothy remained there. Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving a command for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed.

Paul in Athens

Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols. So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.

Paul Addresses the Areopagus

So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,³nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for

  “‘In him we live and move and have our being’;⁴

as even some of your own poets have said,

  “‘For we are indeed his offspring.’⁵

Being then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked. But others said, “We will hear you again about this.” So Paul went out from their midst. But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.

(ESV)