Isaiah 27Isaiah 28Hebrews 11.1-16Isaiah 27
1
In that day the Lord, with his great and strong and cruel sword, will send punishment on Leviathan, the quick-moving snake, and on Leviathan, the twisted snake and he will put to death the dragon which is in the sea.
2
In that day it will be said, A vine-garden of delight, make a song about it.
3
I, the Lord, am watching it I will give it water at all times: I will keep it night and day, for fear that any damage comes to it.
4
My passion is over: if the thorns were fighting against me, I would make an attack on them, and they would be burned up together.
5
Or let him put himself under my power, and make peace with me.
6
In days to come Jacob will take root: Israel will put out buds and flowers and the face of the world will be full of fruit.
7
Is his punishment like the punishment of those who overcame him? or are his dead as great in number as those he put to the sword?
8
Your anger against her has been made clear by driving her away he has taken her away with his storm-wind in the day of his east wind.
9
So by this will the sin of Jacob be covered, and this is all the fruit of taking away his punishment when all the stones of the altar are crushed together, so that the wood pillars and the sun-images will not be put up again.
10
For the strong town is without men, an unpeopled living-place and she has become a waste land: there the young ox will take his rest, and its branches will be food for him.
11
When its branches are dry they will be broken off the women will come and put fire to them: for it is a foolish people for this cause he who made them will have no mercy on them, and he whose work they are will not have pity on them.
12
And it will be in that day that the Lord will get together his grain, from the River to the stream of Egypt, and you will be got together with care, O children of Israel.
13
And it will be in that day that a great horn will be sounded and those who were wandering in the land of Assyria, and those who had been sent away into the land of Egypt, will come and they will give worship to the Lord in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.
Isaiah 28
1
Ho! crown of pride of those who are given up to wine in Ephraim, and the dead flower of his glory which is on the head of those who are overcome by strong drink!
2
See, the Lord has a strong and cruel one like a rain of ice, a storm of destruction, like the overflowing of a strong river, he will violently overcome them.
3
The crown of pride of those who are given up to wine in Ephraim will be crushed under foot
4
And the dead flower of his glory, which is on the head of the fertile valley, will be like the first early fruit before the summer which a man takes and puts in his mouth the minute he sees it.
5
In that day will the Lord of armies be a crown of glory, and a fair ornament, to the rest of his people
6
And a spirit of wisdom to the judge, and strength to those who keep back the attackers at the door of the town.
7
And further, these are uncertain through wine, and have gone out of the right way through strong drink: the priest and the prophet are uncertain through strong drink, they are overcome by wine, they have gone out of the way through strong drink their vision is false, they go wrong in their decisions.
8
For all the tables are covered with coughed-up food, so that there is not a clean place.
9
To whom will he give knowledge? and to whom will he make clear the word? Will it be to those who have newly given up milk, and who have only now been taken from the breast?
10
For it is one rule after another one line after another here a little, there a little.
11
No, but with broken talk, and with a strange tongue, he will give his word to this people:
12
To whom he said, This is the rest, give rest to him who is tired and by this you may get new strength but they would not give ear.
13
For this cause the word of the Lord will be to them rule after rule, line after line, here a little, there a little so that they may go on their way, and falling back may be broken, and taken in the net.
14
Give ear then to the word of the Lord, you men of pride, the rulers of this people in Jerusalem:
15
Because you have said, We have made death our friend, and with the underworld we have made an agreement when the overflowing waters come through they will not come near us for we are looking to false words for help, taking cover in what is untrue:
16
For this cause says the Lord God, See, I am placing in Zion as a base, a stone, a tested stone, an angle-stone which is certain and of great value: and he who has faith will not give way.
17
And I will make right decision the measuring-line, and righteousness the weight: and the ice-storm will take away the safe place of false words, and the secret place will be covered by the flowing waters.
18
And the help you were looking for from death will come to nothing, and your agreement with the underworld will be broken when the overflowing waters come through, then you will be overcome by them.
19
Whenever they come through they will overtake you for they will come through morning after morning, by day and by night: and the news will be nothing but fear.
20
For the bed is not long enough for a man to be stretched out on: and the cover is not wide enough for him to be covered with.
21
For the Lord will come up as on Mount Perazim, he will be moved to wrath as in the valley of Gibeon so that he may do his work--strange is his work and give effect to his act--unnatural is his act.
22
And now, take care that you do not make sport of him, or your bands will be made strong for I have had word from the Lord, the Lord of armies, of an end, of a complete end, which is to come on all the land.
23
Let your ears be open to my voice give attention to what I say.
24
Is the ploughman for ever ploughing? does he not get the earth ready and broken up for the seed?
25
When the face of the earth has been levelled, does he not put in the different sorts of seed, and the grain in lines, and the barley in its place, and the spelt at the edge?
26
For his God is his teacher, giving him the knowledge of these things.
27
For the fitches are not crushed with a sharp instrument, and a cart-wheel is not rolled over the cummin but the grain of the fitches is hammered out with a stick, and of the cummin with a rod.
28
Is the grain for bread crushed? He does not go on crushing it for ever, but he lets his cart-wheels and his horses go over it without crushing it.
29
This comes from the Lord of armies, purposing wonders, and wise in all his acts.
Hebrews 11
1-16
1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the sign that the things not seen are true.
2
For by it our fathers had God's approval.
3
By faith it is clear to us that the order of events was fixed by the word of God, so that what is seen has not been made from things which only seem to be.
4
By faith Abel made a better offering to God than Cain, and he had witness through it of his righteousness, God giving his approval of his offering: and his voice still comes to us through it though he is dead.
5
By faith Enoch was taken up to heaven so that he did not see death he was seen no longer, for God took him away: for before he was taken, witness had been given that he was well-pleasing to God:
6
And without faith it is not possible to be well-pleasing to him, for it is necessary for anyone who comes to God to have the belief that God is, and that he is a rewarder of all those who make a serious search for him.
7
By faith Noah, being moved by the fear of God, made ready an ark for the salvation of his family, because God had given him news of things which were not seen at the time and through it the world was judged by him, and he got for his heritage the righteousness which is by faith.
8
By faith Abraham did as God said when he was ordered to go out into a place which was to be given to him as a heritage, and went out without knowledge of where he was going.
9
By faith he was a wanderer in the land of the agreement, as in a strange land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who had a part with him in the same heritage:
10
For he was looking for the strong town, whose builder and maker is God.
11
And by faith Sarah herself had power to give birth, when she was very old, because she had faith in him who gave his word
12
So that from one man, who was near to death, came children in number as the stars in heaven, or as the sand by the seaside, which may not be numbered.
13
All these came to their end in faith, not having had the heritage but having seen it with delight far away, they gave witness that they were wanderers and not of the earth.
14
For those who say such things make it clear that they are searching for a country for themselves.
15
And truly if they had kept in mind the country from which they went out, they would have had chances of turning back.
16
But now their desire is for a better country, that is to say, for one in heaven and so it is no shame to God to be named their God for he has made ready a town for them.
