Week 34, Day 3 in the LEB

Aug 21, 2024

Podcast: Play in new window (Duration: 11:12 — 3.32MB)
The reading for today is Isaiah 14-16; Matthew 28.

Scripture quotations are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.

Isaiah 14

But Yahweh will have compassion on Jacob,
    and he will again choose Israel
and set them on their land,
and the immigrant will join himself to them,
    and they will attach themselves to the house of Jacob.
And the nations will take them
    and bring them to their place,
and the house of Israel will take possession of them in the land of Yahweh
    as slaves and female slaves.

And this will happen:

they will take their captors captive
    and rule over their oppressors.

And it shall happen on the day Yahweh gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and hard labor which you had to perform,

that you will take this taunt against the king of Babylon,
    and you will say:
"How the oppressor has ceased!
    his insolence has ceased.
Yahweh has broken the staff of the wicked,
    the scepter of rulers,
that struck the peoples in wrath, a blow without ceasing,
    that ruled the nations in anger
    with unrestrained persecution.
All of the earth rests and is quiet;
    they break forth into singing.
Even the cypresses rejoice over you,
    the cedars of Lebanon:
‘Since you were laid down,
    no wood cutter comes up against us.’
Sheol below is getting excited over you,
    to meet you when you come;
it arouses the dead spirits for you,
    all of the leaders of the earth.
    It raises all of the kings of the nations from their thrones.
All of them will respond and say to you,
‘You yourself also were made weak like us!
    You have become the same as us!’
Your pride is brought down to Sheol,
    and the sound of your harps;
maggots are spread out beneath you like a bed,
    and your covering is worms.
How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of dawn!
    You are cut down to the ground, conqueror of nations!

And you yourself said in your heart,

‘I will ascend to heaven;
    I will raise up my throne above the stars of God;
and I will sit on the mountain of assembly
    on the summit of Zaphon;
I will ascend to the high places of the clouds,
    I will make myself like the Most High.’
But you are brought down to Sheol,
    to the depths of the pit.
Those who see you will stare at you,
    they will look closely at you:
Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
    who caused kingdoms to shake,
who made the world like the desert
    and destroyed its cities,
    who would not let his prisoners go home?’
All the kings of the nations, all of them, lie in glory,
    each one in his house.
But as for you, you are thrown away from your grave,
    like an abhorrent shoot,
clothed with the slain,
    those pierced by the sword,
those who go down to the stones of the pit,
    like a corpse that is trodden down.
You will not be united with them in burial
because you have destroyed your land,
    you have killed your people.

The descendants of evildoers will not be mentioned for eternity!

Prepare a place of slaughter for his sons
    because of the sin of their ancestors.
Let them not rise and take possession of the earth
    or fill up the face of the world with cities."
"And I will rise up against them,"

declares Yahweh of hosts,

"and I will cut off name and a remnant from Babylon,
    and offspring and posterity,"

declares Yahweh.

"And I will make her a possession of the hedgehog,
    and pools of water,
    and I will sweep her away with the broom of destruction,"

declares Yahweh of hosts.

Yahweh of hosts has sworn, saying,

"Surely just as I have intended, so it shall be.
    And just as I have planned, it shall stand:
to break Assyria in my land,
    and I will trample him down on my mountains;
and he shall remove his yoke from them,
    and he shall remove his burden from his shoulders."
This is the plan that is planned concerning all of the earth;
    and this is the hand that is stretched out over all of the nations.
For Yahweh of hosts has planned, and who will frustrate it?
    And his hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?

In the year of the death of king Ahaz there was this oracle:

You must not rejoice, all you Philistines,
    that the rod that struck you is broken,
for a viper will come forth from the root of the snake,
    and its fruit will be a flying serpent.
And the firstborn of the poor will graze,
    and the needy will lie down in security;
but I will cause your root to die in famine,
    and it will kill your remnant.
Wail, gate! Cry, city!
    Melt, Philistia, all of you!
For smoke is coming from the north,
    and there is no straggler in his ranks.

And what will one answer the messengers of the nation?

That Yahweh has founded Zion,
    and the needy of his people will take refuge in it.

Isaiah 15

An oracle of Moab:

Because Ar is devastated in a night, Moab is destroyed;
    because Kir of Moab is devastated in a night, it is destroyed.
It has gone up to the house,
    and Dibon to the high places
for weeping over Nebo,
    and Moab wails over Medeba.
Every head is bald,
    every beard is shaved.
They gird themselves with sackcloth in its streets;
    on its roofs and public squares everyone wails,
        going down in weeping.
And Heshbon and Elealeh cry out,
    their voice is heard as far as Jahaz;
therefore the armed ones of Moab cry out;
    its soul quivers for him.
My heart cries out for Moab;
    its fugitives flee up to Zoar,
    to Eglath-shelishiyah.
For at the ascent of Luhith it goes up it with weeping;
    for on the road of Horonaim they raise up a cry of destruction.
For the waters of Nimrim are wastelands;
    for the grass has withered,
the vegetation has vanished,
    there is no greenness.
Therefore they carry the abundance it has made
    and their store of goods over the river of the poplars.
For a cry for help has encircled the territory of Moab,
    her wailing is heard as far as Eglaim,
    and her wailing as far as Beer Elim.
For the waters of Dimon are full of blood;
    but I will place added things upon Dimon:
a lion for the survivors of Moab
    and for the remnant of the land.

Isaiah 16

Send a ram to the ruler of the land,
    from Sela across the desert to the mountain of daughter Zion.

And this shall be:

like a bird fleeing from a thrust away nest
    shall be the daughters of Moab at the fords of Arnon.
"Bring counsel,
    make a decision;
make your shade like the night
    in the middle of noonday.
Hide the outcasts;
    you must not betray the fugitive.
Let my outcasts of Moab dwell as aliens among you;
    be a hiding place for them from the presence of the destroyer."
When the oppressor is no more, destruction has stopped,
    the one who tramples has disappeared from the land,
then a throne shall be established in steadfast love,
    and one shall sit on it in faithfulness, in the tent of David,
judging and seeking justice
    and zealous for righteousness.
We have heard of the pride of Moab—exceedingly proud—
    of his arrogance, pride, and insolence; his boasting is not true.
Therefore Moab wails;
    all of it wails for Moab,
    for the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth you moan, utterly devastated.
For Heshbon withers the fields, the vine of Sibmah;
    rulers of nations have broken down her tendrils,
they reached up to Jazer,
    they wandered to the desert;
her shoots spread abroad,
    they crossed over the sea.
Therefore I weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah.
    I drench you with my tears, Heshbon and Elealeh,
        for a jubilant shout has fallen over your summer fruit and harvest.
And joy and gladness are taken away from the fruitful land,
    and in the vineyards no one exults,
no one shouts for joy;
    no treader treads wine in the presses;
    I have put to an end to the jubilant shout.
Therefore my heart moans like a harp for Moab
    and my inner parts for Kir-heres.

And this shall happen:

when Moab appears, when it is weary upon the high place
    and it comes to its sanctuary to pray, it will not prevail.

This was the word that Yahweh spoke to Moab in the past. But now Yahweh speaks, saying, "In three years, like the years of a hired worker, the glory of Moab will become contemptible, with all of the great multitude, and the remnant will be a few, small, not strong.

Matthew 28

Now after the Sabbath, at the dawning on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to view the tomb. And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came up and rolled away the stone and sat down on it. Now his appearance was like lightning and his clothing white as snow. And the guards trembled from the fear of him and became like dead men. But the angel answered and said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here, for he has been raised, just as he said. Come, see the place where he was lying. And go quickly, tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and behold, he is going ahead of you into Galilee. You will see him there.’ Behold, I have told you." And they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them, saying, "Greetings!" And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid! Go tell my brothers that they should go to Galilee, and there they will see me."

And while they were going, behold, some of the guard of soldiers went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. And after they had assembled with the elders and had taken counsel, they gave a rather large sum of money to the soldiers, telling them, "Say ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him while we were sleeping.’ And if this matter is heard before the governor, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble." So they took the money and did as they were told, and spread abroad this report among the Jews until this very day.

So the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated for them. And when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus approached and spoke to them, saying, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you all the days until the end of the age."