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.