The Berean Pursuit
This is the burden against Tyre:
Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
for Tyre is laid waste,
without house or harbor.
Word has reached them
from the land of Cyprus.
Be silent, O dwellers of the coastland,
you merchants of Sidon,
whose traders have crossed the sea.
On the great waters
came the grain of Shihor;
the harvest of the Nile was the revenue of Tyre;
she was the merchant of the nations.
Be ashamed, O Sidon, the stronghold of the sea,
for the sea has spoken:
"I have not been in labor
or given birth.
I have not raised young men
or brought up young women."
When the report reaches Egypt,
they will writhe in agony over the news of Tyre.
Cross over to Tarshish;
wail, O inhabitants of the coastland!
Is this your jubilant city,
whose origin is from antiquity,
whose feet have taken her
to settle far away?
Who planned this against Tyre,
the bestower of crowns,
whose traders are princes,
whose merchants are renowned on the earth?
The LORD of Hosts planned it,
to defile all its glorious beauty,
to disgrace all the renowned of the earth.
Cultivate your land like the Nile, O Daughter of Tarshish;
there is no longer a harbor.
The LORD has stretched out His hand over the sea;
He has made kingdoms tremble.
He has given a command
that the strongholds of Canaan be destroyed.
He said, "You shall rejoice no more,
O oppressed Virgin Daughter of Sidon.
Get up and cross over to Cyprus-
even there you will find no rest."
Look at the land of the Chaldeans-
a people now of no account.
The Assyrians destined it for the desert creatures;
they set up their siege towers and stripped its palaces.
They brought it to ruin.
Wail, O ships of Tarshish,
for your harbor has been destroyed!
At that time Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years-the span of a king's life. But at the end of seventy years, it will happen to Tyre as in the song of the harlot:
"Take up your harp,
stroll through the city,
O forgotten harlot.
Make sweet melody,
sing many a song,
so you will be remembered."
And at the end of seventy years, the LORD will restore Tyre. Then she will return to hire as a prostitute and sell herself to all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. Yet her profits and wages will be set apart to the LORD; they will not be stored or saved, for her profit will go to those who live before the LORD, for abundant food and fine clothing.
Behold, the LORD lays waste the earth
and leaves it in ruins.
He will twist its surface
and scatter its inhabitants-
people and priest alike, servant and master,
maid and mistress, buyer and seller,
lender and borrower, creditor and debtor.
The earth will be utterly laid waste
and thoroughly plundered.
For the LORD has spoken this word.
The earth mourns and withers;
the world languishes and fades;
the exalted of the earth waste away.
The earth is defiled by its people;
they have transgressed the laws;
they have overstepped the decrees
and broken the everlasting covenant.
Therefore a curse has consumed the earth,
and its inhabitants must bear the guilt;
the earth's dwellers have been burned,
and only a few survive.
The new wine dries up, the vine withers.
All the merrymakers now groan.
The joyful tambourines have ceased;
the noise of revelers has stopped;
the joyful harp is silent.
They no longer sing and drink wine;
strong drink is bitter to those who consume it.
The city of chaos is shattered;
every house is closed to entry.
In the streets they cry out for wine.
All joy turns to gloom;
rejoicing is exiled from the land.
The city is left in ruins;
its gate is reduced to rubble.
So will it be on the earth
and among the nations,
like a harvested olive tree,
like a gleaning after a grape harvest.
They raise their voices, they shout for joy;
from the west they proclaim the majesty of the LORD.
Therefore glorify the LORD in the east.
Extol the name of the LORD, the God of Israel
in the islands of the sea.
From the ends of the earth we hear singing:
"Glory to the Righteous One."
But I said, "I am wasting away! I am wasting away!
Woe is me."
The treacherous betray;
the treacherous deal in treachery.
Terror and pit and snare await you,
O dweller of the earth.
Whoever flees the sound of panic
will fall into the pit,
and whoever climbs from the pit
will be caught in the snare.
For the windows of heaven are open,
and the foundations of the earth are shaken.
The earth is utterly broken apart,
the earth is split open,
the earth is shaken violently.
The earth staggers like a drunkard
and sways like a shack.
Earth's rebellion weighs it down,
and it falls, never to rise again.
In that day the LORD will punish
the host of heaven above
and the kings of the earth below.
They will be gathered together
like prisoners in a pit.
They will be confined to a dungeon
and punished after many days.
The moon will be confounded
and the sun will be ashamed;
for the LORD of Hosts will reign
on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem,
and before His elders with great glory.
O LORD, You are my God!
I will exalt You;
I will praise Your name.
For You have worked wonders-
plans formed long ago-
in perfect faithfulness.
Indeed, You have made the city a heap of rubble,
the fortified town a ruin.
The fortress of strangers is a city no more;
it will never be rebuilt.
Therefore, a strong people will honor You.
The cities of ruthless nations will revere You.
For You have been a refuge for the poor,
a stronghold for the needy in distress,
a refuge from the storm,
a shade from the heat.
For the breath of the ruthless
is like rain against a wall,
like heat in a dry land.
You subdue the uproar of foreigners.
As the shade of a cloud cools the heat,
so the song of the ruthless is silenced.
On this mountain the LORD of Hosts
will prepare a banquet for all the peoples,
a feast of aged wine, of choice meat,
of finely aged wine.
On this mountain He will swallow up
the shroud that enfolds all peoples,
the sheet that covers all nations;
He will swallow up death forever.
The Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from every face
and remove the disgrace of His people
from the whole earth.
For the LORD has spoken.
And in that day it will be said, "Surely this is our God;
we have waited for Him, and He has saved us.
This is the LORD for whom we have waited.
Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation."
For the hand of the LORD
will rest on this mountain.
But Moab will be trampled in his place
as straw is trodden into the dung pile.
He will spread out his hands within it,
as a swimmer spreads his arms to swim.
His pride will be brought low,
despite the skill of his hands.
The high-walled fortress will be brought down,
cast to the ground, into the dust.
Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual, but as worldly-as infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for solid food. In fact, you are still not ready, for you are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and dissension among you, are you not worldly? Are you not walking in the way of man? For when one of you says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men?
What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? They are servants through whom you believed, as the Lord has assigned to each his role. I planted the seed and Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. He who plants and he who waters are one in purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.
By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one must be careful how he builds. For no one can lay a foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.
If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, his workmanship will be evident, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will prove the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive a reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as if through the flames.
Do you not know that you yourselves are God's temple, and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.
Let no one deceive himself. If any of you thinks he is wise in this age, he should become a fool, so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. As it is written: "He catches the wise in their craftiness." And again, "The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile."
Therefore, stop boasting in men. All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future. All of them belong to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.