The Berean Pursuit
For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob; once again He will choose Israel and settle them in their own land. The foreigner will join them and unite with the house of Jacob. The nations will escort Israel and bring it to its homeland.
Then the house of Israel will possess the nations as menservants and maidservants in the LORD's land. They will make captives of their captors and rule over their oppressors.
On the day that the LORD gives you rest from your pain and torment, and from the hard labor into which you were forced, you will sing this song of contempt against the king of Babylon:
How the oppressor has ceased,
and how his fury has ended!
The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked,
the scepter of the rulers.
It struck the peoples in anger
with unceasing blows;
it subdued the nations in rage
with relentless persecution.
All the earth is at peace and at rest;
they break out in song.
Even the cypresses and cedars of Lebanon
exult over you:
"Since you have been laid low,
no woodcutter comes against us."
Sheol beneath is eager
to meet you upon your arrival.
It stirs the spirits of the dead to greet you-
all the rulers of the earth.
It makes all the kings of the nations
rise from their thrones.
They will all respond to you, saying,
"You too have become weak, as we are;
you have become like us!"
Your pomp has been brought down to Sheol,
along with the music of your harps.
Maggots are your bed
and worms your blanket.
How you have fallen from heaven,
O day star, son of the dawn!
You have been cut down to the ground,
O destroyer of nations.
You said in your heart:
"I will ascend to the heavens;
I will raise my throne
above the stars of God.
I will sit on the mount of assembly,
in the far reaches of the north.
I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High."
But you will be brought down to Sheol,
to the lowest depths of the Pit.
Those who see you will stare;
they will ponder your fate:
"Is this the man who shook the earth
and made the kingdoms tremble,
who turned the world into a desert
and destroyed its cities,
who refused to let the captives
return to their homes?"
All the kings of the nations lie in state,
each in his own tomb.
But you are cast out of your grave like a rejected branch,
covered by those slain with the sword,
and dumped into a rocky pit
like a carcass trampled underfoot.
You will not join them in burial,
since you have destroyed your land
and slaughtered your own people.
The offspring of the wicked
will never again be mentioned.
Prepare a place to slaughter his sons
for the iniquities of their forefathers.
They will never rise up to possess a land
or cover the earth with their cities.
"I will rise up against them,"
declares the LORD of Hosts.
"I will cut off from Babylon
her name and her remnant,
her offspring and her posterity,"
declares the LORD.
"I will make her a place
for owls and for swamplands;
I will sweep her away
with the broom of destruction,"
declares the LORD of Hosts.
The LORD of Hosts has sworn:
"Surely, as I have planned, so will it be;
as I have purposed, so will it stand.
I will break Assyria in My land;
I will trample him on My mountain.
His yoke will be taken off My people,
and his burden removed from their shoulders."
This is the plan devised for the whole earth,
and this is the hand stretched out over all the nations.
The LORD of Hosts has purposed,
and who can thwart Him?
His hand is outstretched,
so who can turn it back?
In the year that King Ahaz died, this burden was received:
Do not rejoice, all you Philistines,
that the rod that struck you is broken.
For a viper will spring from the root of the snake,
and a flying serpent from its egg.
Then the firstborn of the poor will find pasture,
and the needy will lie down in safety,
but I will kill your root by famine,
and your remnant will be slain.
Wail, O gate! Cry out, O city!
Melt away, all you Philistines!
For a cloud of smoke comes from the north,
and there are no stragglers in its ranks.
What answer will be given
to the envoys of that nation?
"The LORD has founded Zion,
where His afflicted people will find refuge."
This is the burden against Moab:
Ar in Moab is ruined,
destroyed in a night!
Kir in Moab is devastated,
destroyed in a night!
Dibon goes up to its temple
to weep at its high places.
Moab wails over Nebo,
as well as over Medeba.
Every head is shaved,
every beard is cut off.
In its streets they wear sackcloth;
on the rooftops and in the public squares
they all wail, falling down weeping.
Heshbon and Elealeh cry out;
their voices are heard as far as Jahaz.
Therefore the soldiers of Moab cry out;
their souls tremble within.
My heart cries out over Moab;
her fugitives flee as far as Zoar,
as far as Eglath-shelishiyah.
With weeping they ascend the slope of Luhith;
they lament their destruction on the road to Horonaim.
The waters of Nimrim are dried up,
and the grass is withered;
the vegetation is gone,
and the greenery is no more.
So they carry their wealth and belongings
over the Brook of the Willows.
For their outcry echoes to the border of Moab.
Their wailing reaches Eglaim;
it is heard in Beer-elim.
The waters of Dimon are full of blood,
but I will bring more upon Dimon-
a lion upon the fugitives of Moab
and upon the remnant of the land.
Send the tribute lambs
to the ruler of the land,
from Sela in the desert
to the mount of Daughter Zion.
Like fluttering birds
pushed out of the nest,
so are the daughters of Moab
at the fords of the Arnon:
"Give us counsel;
render a decision.
Shelter us at noonday
with shade as dark as night.
Hide the refugees;
do not betray the one who flees.
Let my fugitives stay with you;
be a refuge for Moab from the destroyer."
When the oppressor has gone, destruction has ceased,
and the oppressors have vanished from the land,
in loving devotion a throne will be established
in the tent of David.
A judge seeking justice and hastening righteousness
will sit on it in faithfulness.
We have heard of Moab's pomposity,
his exceeding pride and conceit,
his overflowing arrogance.
But his boasting is empty.
Therefore let Moab wail;
let them wail together for Moab.
Moan for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth,
you who are utterly stricken.
For the fields of Heshbon have withered,
along with the grapevines of Sibmah.
The rulers of the nations
have trampled its choicest vines,
which had reached as far as Jazer
and spread toward the desert.
Their shoots had spread out
and passed over the sea.
So I weep with Jazer
for the vines of Sibmah;
I drench Heshbon and Elealeh
with my tears.
Triumphant shouts have fallen silent
over your summer fruit and your harvest.
Joy and gladness are removed from the orchard;
no one sings or shouts in the vineyards.
No one tramples the grapes in the winepresses;
I have put an end to the cheering.
Therefore my heart laments for Moab like a harp,
my inmost being for Kir-heres.
When Moab appears on the high place,
when he wearies himself
and enters his sanctuary to pray,
it will do him no good.
This is the message that the LORD spoke earlier concerning Moab. And now the LORD says, "In three years, as a hired worker counts the years, Moab's splendor will become an object of contempt, with all her many people. And those who are left will be few and feeble."
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb.
Suddenly there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, rolled away the stone, and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards trembled in fear of him and became like dead men.
But the angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; He has risen, just as He said! Come, see the place where He lay. Then go quickly and tell His disciples, 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see Him.' See, I have told you."
So they hurried away from the tomb in fear and great joy, and ran to tell His disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them and said, "Greetings!" They came to Him, grasped His feet, and worshiped Him. "Do not be afraid," said Jesus. "Go and tell My brothers to go to Galilee. There they will see Me."
While the women were on their way, some of the guards went into the city and reported to the chief priests all that had happened. And after the chief priests had met with the elders and formed a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money and instructed them: "You are to say, 'His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.' If this report reaches the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble."
So the guards took the money and did as they were instructed. And this account has been circulated among the Jews to this very day.
Meanwhile, the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain Jesus had designated. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him, but some doubted.
Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age."