Deuteronomy 2, Psalm 83, 84, Isaiah 30, Jude 1

Deuteronomy 2,

1 Then we turned back and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea, as the LORD had directed me. For a long time we made our way around the hill country of Seir.
 
2 Then the LORD said to me,
 
3 "You have made your way around this hill country long enough; now turn north.
 
4 Give the people these orders: 'You are about to pass through the territory of your brothers the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, but be very careful.
 
5 Do not provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, not even enough to put your foot on. I have given Esau the hill country of Seir as his own.
 
6 You are to pay them in silver for the food you eat and the water you drink.' "
 
7 The LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast desert. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything.
 
8 So we went on past our brothers the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. We turned from the Arabah road, which comes up from Elath and Ezion Geber, and traveled along the desert road of Moab.
 
9 Then the LORD said to me, "Do not harass the Moabites or provoke them to war, for I will not give you any part of their land. I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as a possession."
 
10 (The Emites used to live there-a people strong and numerous, and as tall as the Anakites.
 
11 Like the Anakites, they too were considered Rephaites, but the Moabites called them Emites.
 
12 Horites used to live in Seir, but the descendants of Esau drove them out. They destroyed the Horites from before them and settled in their place, just as Israel did in the land the LORD gave them as their possession.)
 
13 And the LORD said, "Now get up and cross the Zered Valley." So we crossed the valley.
 
14 Thirty-eight years passed from the time we left Kadesh Barnea until we crossed the Zered Valley. By then, that entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the LORD had sworn to them.
 
15 The LORD's hand was against them until he had completely eliminated them from the camp.
 
16 Now when the last of these fighting men among the people had died,
 
17 the LORD said to me,
 
18 "Today you are to pass by the region of Moab at Ar.
 
19 When you come to the Ammonites, do not harass them or provoke them to war, for I will not give you possession of any land belonging to the Ammonites. I have given it as a possession to the descendants of Lot."
 
20 (That too was considered a land of the Rephaites, who used to live there; but the Ammonites called them Zamzummites.
 
21 They were a people strong and numerous, and as tall as the Anakites. The LORD destroyed them from before the Ammonites, who drove them out and settled in their place.
 
22 The LORD had done the same for the descendants of Esau, who lived in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites from before them. They drove them out and have lived in their place to this day.
 
23 And as for the Avvites who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorites coming out from Caphtor destroyed them and settled in their place.)
 
24 "Set out now and cross the Arnon Gorge. See, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his country. Begin to take possession of it and engage him in battle.
 
25 This very day I will begin to put the terror and fear of you on all the nations under heaven. They will hear reports of you and will tremble and be in anguish because of you."
 
26 From the desert of Kedemoth I sent messengers to Sihon king of Heshbon offering peace and saying,
 
27 "Let us pass through your country. We will stay on the main road; we will not turn aside to the right or to the left.
 
28 Sell us food to eat and water to drink for their price in silver. Only let us pass through on foot-
 
29 as the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, and the Moabites, who live in Ar, did for us-until we cross the Jordan into the land the LORD our God is giving us."
 
30 But Sihon king of Heshbon refused to let us pass through. For the LORD your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate in order to give him into your hands, as he has now done.
 
31 The LORD said to me, "See, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his country over to you. Now begin to conquer and possess his land."
 
32 When Sihon and all his army came out to meet us in battle at Jahaz,
 
33 the LORD our God delivered him over to us and we struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army.
 
34 At that time we took all his towns and completely destroyed them-men, women and children. We left no survivors.
 
35 But the livestock and the plunder from the towns we had captured we carried off for ourselves.
 
36 From Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Gorge, and from the town in the gorge, even as far as Gilead, not one town was too strong for us. The LORD our God gave us all of them.
 
37 But in accordance with the command of the LORD our God, you did not encroach on any of the land of the Ammonites, neither the land along the course of the Jabbok nor that around the towns in the hills.

Psalm 83, 84,

1 O God, do not keep silent; be not quiet, O God, be not still.
 
2 See how your enemies are astir, how your foes rear their heads.
 
3 With cunning they conspire against your people; they plot against those you cherish.
 
4 "Come," they say, "let us destroy them as a nation, that the name of Israel be remembered no more."
 
5 With one mind they plot together; they form an alliance against you-
 
6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, of Moab and the Hagrites,
 
7 Gebal, Ammon and Amalek, Philistia, with the people of Tyre.
 
8 Even Assyria has joined them to lend strength to the descendants of Lot. Selah
 
9 Do to them as you did to Midian, as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the river Kishon,
 
10 who perished at Endor and became like refuse on the ground.
 
11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
 
12 who said, "Let us take possession of the pasturelands of God."
 
13 Make them like tumbleweed, O my God, like chaff before the wind.
 
14 As fire consumes the forest or a flame sets the mountains ablaze,
 
15 so pursue them with your tempest and terrify them with your storm.
 
16 Cover their faces with shame so that men will seek your name, O LORD.
 
17 May they ever be ashamed and dismayed; may they perish in disgrace.
 
18 Let them know that you, whose name is the LORD-that you alone are the Most High over all the earth.

1 How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD Almighty!
 
2 My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
 
3 Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young-a place near your altar, O LORD Almighty, my King and my God.
 
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you. Selah
 
5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.
 
6 As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs; the autumn rains also cover it with pools.
 
7 They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.
 
8 Hear my prayer, O LORD God Almighty; listen to me, O God of Jacob. Selah
 
9 Look upon our shield, O God; look with favor on your anointed one.
 
10 Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
 
11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.
 
12 O LORD Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you.

Isaiah 30,

1 "Woe to the obstinate children," declares the LORD, "to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance, but not by my Spirit, heaping sin upon sin;
 
2 who go down to Egypt without consulting me; who look for help to Pharaoh's protection, to Egypt's shade for refuge.
 
3 But Pharaoh's protection will be to your shame, Egypt's shade will bring you disgrace.
 
4 Though they have officials in Zoan and their envoys have arrived in Hanes,
 
5 everyone will be put to shame because of a people useless to them, who bring neither help nor advantage, but only shame and disgrace."
 
6 An oracle concerning the animals of the Negev: Through a land of hardship and distress, of lions and lionesses, of adders and darting snakes, the envoys carry their riches on donkeys' backs, their treasures on the humps of camels, to that unprofitable nation,
 
7 to Egypt, whose help is utterly useless. Therefore I call her Rahab the Do-Nothing.
 
8 Go now, write it on a tablet for them, inscribe it on a scroll, that for the days to come it may be an everlasting witness.
 
9 These are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the LORD's instruction.
 
10 They say to the seers, "See no more visions!" and to the prophets, "Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions.
 
11 Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!"
 
12 Therefore, this is what the Holy One of Israel says: "Because you have rejected this message, relied on oppression and depended on deceit,
 
13 this sin will become for you like a high wall, cracked and bulging, that collapses suddenly, in an instant.
 
14 It will break in pieces like pottery, shattered so mercilessly that among its pieces not a fragment will be found for taking coals from a hearth or scooping water out of a cistern."
 
15 This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.
 
16 You said, 'No, we will flee on horses.' Therefore you will flee! You said, 'We will ride off on swift horses.' Therefore your pursuers will be swift!
 
17 A thousand will flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you will all flee away, till you are left like a flagstaff on a mountaintop, like a banner on a hill."
 
18 Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!
 
19 O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you.
 
20 Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them.
 
21 Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."
 
22 Then you will defile your idols overlaid with silver and your images covered with gold; you will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, "Away with you!"
 
23 He will also send you rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the food that comes from the land will be rich and plentiful. In that day your cattle will graze in broad meadows.
 
24 The oxen and donkeys that work the soil will eat fodder and mash, spread out with fork and shovel.
 
25 In the day of great slaughter, when the towers fall, streams of water will flow on every high mountain and every lofty hill.
 
26 The moon will shine like the sun, and the sunlight will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven full days, when the LORD binds up the bruises of his people and heals the wounds he inflicted.
 
27 See, the Name of the LORD comes from afar, with burning anger and dense clouds of smoke; his lips are full of wrath, and his tongue is a consuming fire.
 
28 His breath is like a rushing torrent, rising up to the neck. He shakes the nations in the sieve of destruction; he places in the jaws of the peoples a bit that leads them astray.
 
29 And you will sing as on the night you celebrate a holy festival; your hearts will rejoice as when people go up with flutes to the mountain of the LORD, to the Rock of Israel.
 
30 The LORD will cause men to hear his majestic voice and will make them see his arm coming down with raging anger and consuming fire, with cloudburst, thunderstorm and hail.
 
31 The voice of the LORD will shatter Assyria; with his scepter he will strike them down.
 
32 Every stroke the LORD lays on them with his punishing rod will be to the music of tambourines and harps, as he fights them in battle with the blows of his arm.
 
33 Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its fire pit has been made deep and wide, with an abundance of fire and wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze.

Jude 1

1 Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a brother of James, To those who have been called, who are loved by God the Father and kept by Jesus Christ:
 
2 Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.
 
3 Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.
 
4 For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord.
 
5 Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe.
 
6 And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home-these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day.
 
7 In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.
 
8 In the very same way, these dreamers pollute their own bodies, reject authority and slander celestial beings.
 
9 But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!"
 
10 Yet these men speak abusively against whatever they do not understand; and what things they do understand by instinct, like unreasoning animals-these are the very things that destroy them.
 
11 Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam's error; they have been destroyed in Korah's rebellion.
 
12 These men are blemishes at your love feasts, eating with you without the slightest qualm-shepherds who feed only themselves. They are clouds without rain, blown along by the wind; autumn trees, without fruit and uprooted-twice dead.
 
13 They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.
 
14 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men: "See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones
 
15 to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of all the ungodly acts they have done in the ungodly way, and of all the harsh words ungodly sinners have spoken against him."
 
16 These men are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage.
 
17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold.
 
18 They said to you, "In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires."
 
19 These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.
 
20 But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.
 
21 Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.
 
22 Be merciful to those who doubt;
 
23 snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear-hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.
 
24 To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy-
 
25 to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.