Numbers 30, Psalm 74, Isaiah 22, 2 Peter 3

Numbers 30,

1 Moses said to the heads of the tribes of Israel: "This is what the LORD commands:
 
2 When a man makes a vow to the LORD or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said.
 
3 "When a young woman still living in her father's house makes a vow to the LORD or obligates herself by a pledge
 
4 and her father hears about her vow or pledge but says nothing to her, then all her vows and every pledge by which she obligated herself will stand.
 
5 But if her father forbids her when he hears about it, none of her vows or the pledges by which she obligated herself will stand; the LORD will release her because her father has forbidden her.
 
6 "If she marries after she makes a vow or after her lips utter a rash promise by which she obligates herself
 
7 and her husband hears about it but says nothing to her, then her vows or the pledges by which she obligated herself will stand.
 
8 But if her husband forbids her when he hears about it, he nullifies the vow that obligates her or the rash promise by which she obligates herself, and the LORD will release her.
 
9 "Any vow or obligation taken by a widow or divorced woman will be binding on her.
 
10 "If a woman living with her husband makes a vow or obligates herself by a pledge under oath
 
11 and her husband hears about it but says nothing to her and does not forbid her, then all her vows or the pledges by which she obligated herself will stand.
 
12 But if her husband nullifies them when he hears about them, then none of the vows or pledges that came from her lips will stand. Her husband has nullified them, and the LORD will release her.
 
13 Her husband may confirm or nullify any vow she makes or any sworn pledge to deny herself.
 
14 But if her husband says nothing to her about it from day to day, then he confirms all her vows or the pledges binding on her. He confirms them by saying nothing to her when he hears about them.
 
15 If, however, he nullifies them some time after he hears about them, then he is responsible for her guilt."
 
16 These are the regulations the LORD gave Moses concerning relationships between a man and his wife, and between a father and his young daughter still living in his house.

Psalm 74,

1 Why have you rejected us forever, O God? Why does your anger smolder against the sheep of your pasture?
 
2 Remember the people you purchased of old, the tribe of your inheritance, whom you redeemed-Mount Zion, where you dwelt.
 
3 Turn your steps toward these everlasting ruins, all this destruction the enemy has brought on the sanctuary.
 
4 Your foes roared in the place where you met with us; they set up their standards as signs.
 
5 They behaved like men wielding axes to cut through a thicket of trees.
 
6 They smashed all the carved paneling with their axes and hatchets.
 
7 They burned your sanctuary to the ground; they defiled the dwelling place of your Name.
 
8 They said in their hearts, "We will crush them completely!" They burned every place where God was worshiped in the land.
 
9 We are given no miraculous signs; no prophets are left, and none of us knows how long this will be.
 
10 How long will the enemy mock you, O God? Will the foe revile your name forever?
 
11 Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand? Take it from the folds of your garment and destroy them!
 
12 But you, O God, are my king from of old; you bring salvation upon the earth.
 
13 It was you who split open the sea by your power; you broke the heads of the monster in the waters.
 
14 It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan and gave him as food to the creatures of the desert.
 
15 It was you who opened up springs and streams; you dried up the ever flowing rivers.
 
16 The day is yours, and yours also the night; you established the sun and moon.
 
17 It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth; you made both summer and winter.
 
18 Remember how the enemy has mocked you, O LORD, how foolish people have reviled your name.
 
19 Do not hand over the life of your dove to wild beasts; do not forget the lives of your afflicted people forever.
 
20 Have regard for your covenant, because haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land.
 
21 Do not let the oppressed retreat in disgrace; may the poor and needy praise your name.
 
22 Rise up, O God, and defend your cause; remember how fools mock you all day long.
 
23 Do not ignore the clamor of your adversaries, the uproar of your enemies, which rises continually.

Isaiah 22,

1 An oracle concerning the Valley of Vision: What troubles you now, that you have all gone up on the roofs,
 
2 O town full of commotion, O city of tumult and revelry? Your slain were not killed by the sword, nor did they die in battle.
 
3 All your leaders have fled together; they have been captured without using the bow. All you who were caught were taken prisoner together, having fled while the enemy was still far away.
 
4 Therefore I said, "Turn away from me; let me weep bitterly. Do not try to console me over the destruction of my people."
 
5 The Lord, the LORD Almighty, has a day of tumult and trampling and terror in the Valley of Vision, a day of battering down walls and of crying out to the mountains.
 
6 Elam takes up the quiver, with her charioteers and horses; Kir uncovers the shield.
 
7 Your choicest valleys are full of chariots, and horsemen are posted at the city gates;
 
8 the defenses of Judah are stripped away. And you looked in that day to the weapons in the Palace of the Forest;
 
9 you saw that the City of David had many breaches in its defenses; you stored up water in the Lower Pool.
 
10 You counted the buildings in Jerusalem and tore down houses to strengthen the wall.
 
11 You built a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the Old Pool, but you did not look to the One who made it, or have regard for the One who planned it long ago.
 
12 The Lord, the LORD Almighty, called you on that day to weep and to wail, to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth.
 
13 But see, there is joy and revelry, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine! "Let us eat and drink," you say, "for tomorrow we die!"
 
14 The LORD Almighty has revealed this in my hearing: "Till your dying day this sin will not be atoned for," says the Lord, the LORD Almighty.
 
15 This is what the Lord, the LORD Almighty, says: "Go, say to this steward, to Shebna, who is in charge of the palace:
 
16 What are you doing here and who gave you permission to cut out a grave for yourself here, hewing your grave on the height and chiseling your resting place in the rock?
 
17 "Beware, the LORD is about to take firm hold of you and hurl you away, O you mighty man.
 
18 He will roll you up tightly like a ball and throw you into a large country. There you will die and there your splendid chariots will remain-you disgrace to your master's house!
 
19 I will depose you from your office, and you will be ousted from your position.
 
20 "In that day I will summon my servant, Eliakim son of Hilkiah.
 
21 I will clothe him with your robe and fasten your sash around him and hand your authority over to him. He will be a father to those who live in Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.
 
22 I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.
 
23 I will drive him like a peg into a firm place; he will be a seat of honor for the house of his father.
 
24 All the glory of his family will hang on him: its offspring and offshoots-all its lesser vessels, from the bowls to all the jars.
 
25 "In that day," declares the LORD Almighty, "the peg driven into the firm place will give way; it will be sheared off and will fall, and the load hanging on it will be cut down." The LORD has spoken.

2 Peter 3

1 Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.
 
2 I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.
 
3 First of all, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.
 
4 They will say, "Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation."
 
5 But they deliberately forget that long ago by God's word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water.
 
6 By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.
 
7 By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
 
8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.
 
9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
 
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare.
 
11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives
 
12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.
 
13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.
 
14 So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.
 
15 Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him.
 
16 He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
 
17 Therefore, dear friends, since you already know this, be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position.
 
18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.