Numbers 23, Psalm 64, 65, Isaiah 13, 1 Peter 1

Numbers 23,

1 Balaam said, "Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me."
 
2 Balak did as Balaam said, and the two of them offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
 
3 Then Balaam said to Balak, "Stay here beside your offering while I go aside. Perhaps the LORD will come to meet with me. Whatever he reveals to me I will tell you." Then he went off to a barren height.
 
4 God met with him, and Balaam said, "I have prepared seven altars, and on each altar I have offered a bull and a ram."
 
5 The LORD put a message in Balaam's mouth and said, "Go back to Balak and give him this message."
 
6 So he went back to him and found him standing beside his offering, with all the princes of Moab.
 
7 Then Balaam uttered his oracle: "Balak brought me from Aram, the king of Moab from the eastern mountains. 'Come,' he said, 'curse Jacob for me; come, denounce Israel.'
 
8 How can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce those whom the LORD has not denounced?
 
9 From the rocky peaks I see them, from the heights I view them. I see a people who live apart and do not consider themselves one of the nations.
 
10 Who can count the dust of Jacob or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and may my end be like theirs!"
 
11 Balak said to Balaam, "What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but you have done nothing but bless them!"
 
12 He answered, "Must I not speak what the LORD puts in my mouth?"
 
13 Then Balak said to him, "Come with me to another place where you can see them; you will see only a part but not all of them. And from there, curse them for me."
 
14 So he took him to the field of Zophim on the top of Pisgah, and there he built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
 
15 Balaam said to Balak, "Stay here beside your offering while I meet with him over there."
 
16 The LORD met with Balaam and put a message in his mouth and said, "Go back to Balak and give him this message."
 
17 So he went to him and found him standing beside his offering, with the princes of Moab. Balak asked him, "What did the LORD say?"
 
18 Then he uttered his oracle: "Arise, Balak, and listen; hear me, son of Zippor.
 
19 God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?
 
20 I have received a command to bless; he has blessed, and I cannot change it.
 
21 "No misfortune is seen in Jacob, no misery observed in Israel. The LORD their God is with them; the shout of the King is among them.
 
22 God brought them out of Egypt; they have the strength of a wild ox.
 
23 There is no sorcery against Jacob, no divination against Israel. It will now be said of Jacob and of Israel, 'See what God has done!'
 
24 The people rise like a lioness; they rouse themselves like a lion that does not rest till he devours his prey and drinks the blood of his victims."
 
25 Then Balak said to Balaam, "Neither curse them at all nor bless them at all!"
 
26 Balaam answered, "Did I not tell you I must do whatever the LORD says?"
 
27 Then Balak said to Balaam, "Come, let me take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God to let you curse them for me from there."
 
28 And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, overlooking the wasteland.
 
29 Balaam said, "Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me."
 
30 Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

Psalm 64, 65,

1 Hear me, O God, as I voice my complaint; protect my life from the threat of the enemy.
 
2 Hide me from the conspiracy of the wicked, from that noisy crowd of evildoers.
 
3 They sharpen their tongues like swords and aim their words like deadly arrows.
 
4 They shoot from ambush at the innocent man; they shoot at him suddenly, without fear.
 
5 They encourage each other in evil plans, they talk about hiding their snares; they say, "Who will see them?"
 
6 They plot injustice and say, "We have devised a perfect plan!" Surely the mind and heart of man are cunning.
 
7 But God will shoot them with arrows; suddenly they will be struck down.
 
8 He will turn their own tongues against them and bring them to ruin; all who see them will shake their heads in scorn.
 
9 All mankind will fear; they will proclaim the works of God and ponder what he has done.
 
10 Let the righteous rejoice in the LORD and take refuge in him; let all the upright in heart praise him!

1 Praise awaits you, O God, in Zion; to you our vows will be fulfilled.
 
2 O you who hear prayer, to you all men will come.
 
3 When we were overwhelmed by sins, you forgave our transgressions.
 
4 Blessed are those you choose and bring near to live in your courts! We are filled with the good things of your house, of your holy temple.
 
5 You answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness, O God our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas,
 
6 who formed the mountains by your power, having armed yourself with strength,
 
7 who stilled the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the turmoil of the nations.
 
8 Those living far away fear your wonders; where morning dawns and evening fades you call forth songs of joy.
 
9 You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly. The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain, for so you have ordained it.
 
10 You drench its furrows and level its ridges; you soften it with showers and bless its crops.
 
11 You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance.
 
12 The grasslands of the desert overflow; the hills are clothed with gladness.
 
13 The meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain; they shout for joy and sing.

Isaiah 13,

1 An oracle concerning Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw:
 
2 Raise a banner on a bare hilltop, shout to them; beckon to them to enter the gates of the nobles.
 
3 I have commanded my holy ones; I have summoned my warriors to carry out my wrath-those who rejoice in my triumph.
 
4 Listen, a noise on the mountains, like that of a great multitude! Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms, like nations massing together! The LORD Almighty is mustering an army for war.
 
5 They come from faraway lands, from the ends of the heavens-the LORD and the weapons of his wrath-to destroy the whole country.
 
6 Wail, for the day of the LORD is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty.
 
7 Because of this, all hands will go limp, every man's heart will melt.
 
8 Terror will seize them, pain and anguish will grip them; they will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at each other, their faces aflame.
 
9 See, the day of the LORD is coming -a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger-to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it.
 
10 The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light.
 
11 I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless.
 
12 I will make man scarcer than pure gold, more rare than the gold of Ophir.
 
13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the LORD Almighty, in the day of his burning anger.
 
14 Like a hunted gazelle, like sheep without a shepherd, each will return to his own people, each will flee to his native land.
 
15 Whoever is captured will be thrust through; all who are caught will fall by the sword.
 
16 Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses will be looted and their wives ravished.
 
17 See, I will stir up against them the Medes, who do not care for silver and have no delight in gold.
 
18 Their bows will strike down the young men; they will have no mercy on infants nor will they look with compassion on children.
 
19 Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the glory of the Babylonians' pride, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.
 
20 She will never be inhabited or lived in through all generations; no Arab will pitch his tent there, no shepherd will rest his flocks there.
 
21 But desert creatures will lie there, jackals will fill her houses; there the owls will dwell, and there the wild goats will leap about.
 
22 Hyenas will howl in her strongholds, jackals in her luxurious palaces. Her time is at hand, and her days will not be prolonged.

1 Peter 1,

1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God's elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia,
 
2 who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
 
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
 
4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade-kept in heaven for you,
 
5 who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
 
6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.
 
7 These have come so that your faith-of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
 
8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,
 
9 for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
 
10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care,
 
11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.
 
12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.
 
13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.
 
14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance.
 
15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do;
 
16 for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy."
 
17 Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear.
 
18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers,
 
19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
 
20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.
 
21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
 
22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.
 
23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
 
24 For, "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,
 
25 but the word of the Lord stands forever." And this is the word that was preached to you.