The Berean Pursuit
This is the burden against Damascus:
"Behold, Damascus is no longer a city;
it has become a heap of ruins.
The cities of Aroer are forsaken;
they will be left to the flocks,
which will lie down with no one to fear.
The fortress will disappear from Ephraim,
and the sovereignty from Damascus.
The remnant of Aram will be
like the splendor of the Israelites,"
declares the LORD of Hosts.
"In that day the splendor of Jacob will fade,
and the fat of his body will waste away,
as the reaper gathers the standing grain
and harvests the ears with his arm,
as one gleans heads of grain
in the Valley of Rephaim.
Yet gleanings will remain,
like an olive tree that has been beaten-
two or three berries atop the tree,
four or five on its fruitful branches,"
declares the LORD, the God of Israel.
In that day men will look to their Maker
and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.
They will not look to the altars
they have fashioned with their hands
or to the Asherahs and incense altars
they have made with their fingers.
In that day their strong cities
will be like forsaken thickets and summits,
abandoned to the Israelites
and to utter desolation.
For you have forgotten the God of your salvation
and failed to remember the Rock of your refuge.
Therefore, though you cultivate delightful plots
and set out cuttings from exotic vines-
though on the day you plant
you make them grow,
and on that morning
you help your seed sprout-
yet the harvest will vanish
on the day of disease and incurable pain.
Alas, the tumult of many peoples;
they rage like the roaring seas and clamoring nations;
they rumble like the crashing of mighty waters.
The nations rage like the rush of many waters.
He rebukes them, and they flee far away,
driven before the wind like chaff on the hills,
like tumbleweeds before a gale.
In the evening, there is sudden terror!
Before morning, they are no more!
This is the portion of those who loot us
and the lot of those who plunder us.
Woe to the land of whirring wings,
along the rivers of Cush,
which sends couriers by sea,
in papyrus vessels on the waters.
Go, swift messengers,
to a people tall and smooth-skinned,
to a people widely feared,
to a powerful nation of strange speech,
whose land is divided by rivers.
All you people of the world
and dwellers of the earth,
when a banner is raised on the mountains,
you will see it;
when a ram's horn sounds,
you will hear it.
For this is what the LORD has told me:
"I will quietly look on from My dwelling place,
like shimmering heat in the sunshine,
like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest."
For before the harvest, when the blossom is gone
and the flower becomes a ripening grape,
He will cut off the shoots with a pruning knife
and remove and discard the branches.
They will all be left to the mountain birds of prey,
and to the beasts of the land.
The birds will feed on them in summer,
and all the wild animals in winter.
At that time gifts will be brought to the LORD of Hosts-
from a people tall and smooth-skinned,
from a people widely feared,
from a powerful nation of strange speech,
whose land is divided by rivers-
to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the LORD of Hosts.
This is the burden against Egypt:
Behold, the LORD rides on a swift cloud;
He is coming to Egypt.
The idols of Egypt will tremble before Him,
and the hearts of the Egyptians will melt within them.
"So I will incite Egyptian against Egyptian;
brother will fight against brother, neighbor against neighbor,
city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.
Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be emptied out from among them,
and I will frustrate their plans,
so that they will resort to idols and spirits of the dead,
to mediums and spiritists.
I will deliver the Egyptians into the hands of harsh masters,
and a fierce king will rule over them,"
declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.
The waters of the Nile will dry up,
and the riverbed will be parched and empty.
The canals will stink;
the streams of Egypt will trickle and dry up;
the reeds and rushes will wither.
The bulrushes by the Nile,
by the mouth of the river,
and all the fields sown along the Nile,
will wither, blow away, and be no more.
Then the fishermen will mourn,
all who cast a hook into the Nile will lament,
and those who spread nets on the waters will pine away.
The workers in flax will be dismayed,
and the weavers of fine linen will turn pale.
The workers in cloth will be dejected,
and all the hired workers will be sick at heart.
The princes of Zoan are mere fools;
Pharaoh's wise counselors give senseless advice.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
"I am one of the wise,
a son of eastern kings"?
Where are your wise men now?
Let them tell you and reveal
what the LORD of Hosts has planned against Egypt.
The princes of Zoan have become fools;
the princes of Memphis are deceived.
The cornerstones of her tribes
have led Egypt astray.
The LORD has poured into her
a spirit of confusion.
Egypt has been led astray in all she does,
as a drunkard staggers through his own vomit.
There is nothing Egypt can do-
head or tail, palm or reed.
In that day the Egyptians will be like women. They will tremble with fear beneath the uplifted hand of the LORD of Hosts, when He brandishes it against them. The land of Judah will bring terror to Egypt; whenever Judah is mentioned, Egypt will tremble over what the LORD of Hosts has planned against it.
In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the LORD of Hosts. One of them will be called the City of the Sun.
In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the center of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the LORD near her border. It will be a sign and a witness to the LORD of Hosts in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the LORD because of their oppressors, He will send them a savior and defender to rescue them. The LORD will make Himself known to Egypt, and on that day Egypt will acknowledge the LORD. They will worship with sacrifices and offerings; they will make vows to the LORD and fulfill them.
And the LORD will strike Egypt with a plague; He will strike them but heal them. They will turn to the LORD, and He will hear their prayers and heal them.
In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt, and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together.
In that day Israel will join a three-party alliance with Egypt and Assyria-a blessing upon the earth. The LORD of Hosts will bless them, saying, "Blessed be Egypt My people, Assyria My handiwork, and Israel My inheritance."
For the choirmaster. According to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.
In God alone my soul finds rest;
my salvation comes from Him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation.
He is my fortress;
I will never be shaken.
How long will you threaten a man?
Will all of you throw him down
like a leaning wall
or a tottering fence?
They fully intend to cast him down from his lofty perch;
they delight in lies;
with their mouths they bless,
but inwardly they curse.
Selah
Rest in God alone, O my soul,
for my hope comes from Him.
He alone is my rock and my salvation;
He is my fortress; I will not be shaken.
My salvation and my honor rest on God, my strong rock;
my refuge is in God.
Trust in Him at all times, O people;
pour out your hearts before Him.
God is our refuge.
Selah
Lowborn men are but a vapor,
the exalted but a lie.
Weighed on the scale, they go up;
together they are but a vapor.
Place no trust in extortion,
or false hope in stolen goods.
If your riches increase,
do not set your heart upon them.
God has spoken once;
I have heard this twice:
that power belongs to God,
and loving devotion to You, O Lord.
For You will repay each man
according to his deeds.
Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes,
To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, their Lord and ours:
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
I always thank my God for you because of the grace He has given you in Christ Jesus. For in Him you have been enriched in every way, in all speech and all knowledge, because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you.
Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly await the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will sustain you to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.
I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree together, so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be united in mind and conviction. My brothers, some from Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: Individuals among you are saying, "I follow Paul," "I follow Apollos," "I follow Cephas," or "I follow Christ."
Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul? I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that I do not remember if I baptized anyone else. For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with words of wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;
the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate."
Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.
Jews demand signs and Greeks search for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.
Brothers, consider the time of your calling: Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were powerful; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly and despised things of the world, and the things that are not, to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast in His presence.
It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God: our righteousness, holiness, and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: "Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."