Deuteronomy 20, Psalm 107, Isaiah 47, Revelation 17

Deuteronomy 20,

1 When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you.
 
2 When you are about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and address the army.
 
3 He shall say: "Hear, O Israel, today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not be terrified or give way to panic before them.
 
4 For the LORD your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory."
 
5 The officers shall say to the army: "Has anyone built a new house and not dedicated it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else may dedicate it.
 
6 Has anyone planted a vineyard and not begun to enjoy it? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else enjoy it.
 
7 Has anyone become pledged to a woman and not married her? Let him go home, or he may die in battle and someone else marry her."
 
8 Then the officers shall add, "Is any man afraid or fainthearted? Let him go home so that his brothers will not become disheartened too."
 
9 When the officers have finished speaking to the army, they shall appoint commanders over it.
 
10 When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace.
 
11 If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labor and shall work for you.
 
12 If they refuse to make peace and they engage you in battle, lay siege to that city.
 
13 When the LORD your God delivers it into your hand, put to the sword all the men in it.
 
14 As for the women, the children, the livestock and everything else in the city, you may take these as plunder for yourselves. And you may use the plunder the LORD your God gives you from your enemies.
 
15 This is how you are to treat all the cities that are at a distance from you and do not belong to the nations nearby.
 
16 However, in the cities of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes.
 
17 Completely destroy them-the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites-as the LORD your God has commanded you.
 
18 Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the LORD your God.
 
19 When you lay siege to a city for a long time, fighting against it to capture it, do not destroy its trees by putting an ax to them, because you can eat their fruit. Do not cut them down. Are the trees of the field people, that you should besiege them?
 
20 However, you may cut down trees that you know are not fruit trees and use them to build siege works until the city at war with you falls.

Psalm 107,

1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.
 
2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say this-those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,
 
3 those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.
 
4 Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle.
 
5 They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away.
 
6 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.
 
7 He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle.
 
8 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men,
 
9 for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.
 
10 Some sat in darkness and the deepest gloom, prisoners suffering in iron chains,
 
11 for they had rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel of the Most High.
 
12 So he subjected them to bitter labor; they stumbled, and there was no one to help.
 
13 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.
 
14 He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom and broke away their chains.
 
15 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men,
 
16 for he breaks down gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron.
 
17 Some became fools through their rebellious ways and suffered affliction because of their iniquities.
 
18 They loathed all food and drew near the gates of death.
 
19 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.
 
20 He sent forth his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave.
 
21 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men.
 
22 Let them sacrifice thank offerings and tell of his works with songs of joy.
 
23 Others went out on the sea in ships; they were merchants on the mighty waters.
 
24 They saw the works of the LORD, his wonderful deeds in the deep.
 
25 For he spoke and stirred up a tempest that lifted high the waves.
 
26 They mounted up to the heavens and went down to the depths; in their peril their courage melted away.
 
27 They reeled and staggered like drunken men; they were at their wits' end.
 
28 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress.
 
29 He stilled the storm to a whisper; the waves of the sea were hushed.
 
30 They were glad when it grew calm, and he guided them to their desired haven.
 
31 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men.
 
32 Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people and praise him in the council of the elders.
 
33 He turned rivers into a desert, flowing springs into thirsty ground,
 
34 and fruitful land into a salt waste, because of the wickedness of those who lived there.
 
35 He turned the desert into pools of water and the parched ground into flowing springs;
 
36 there he brought the hungry to live, and they founded a city where they could settle.
 
37 They sowed fields and planted vineyards that yielded a fruitful harvest;
 
38 he blessed them, and their numbers greatly increased, and he did not let their herds diminish.
 
39 Then their numbers decreased, and they were humbled by oppression, calamity and sorrow;
 
40 he who pours contempt on nobles made them wander in a trackless waste.
 
41 But he lifted the needy out of their affliction and increased their families like flocks.
 
42 The upright see and rejoice, but all the wicked shut their mouths.
 
43 Whoever is wise, let him heed these things and consider the great love of the LORD.

Isaiah 47,

1 "Go down, sit in the dust, Virgin Daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne, Daughter of the Babylonians. No more will you be called tender or delicate.
 
2 Take millstones and grind flour; take off your veil. Lift up your skirts, bare your legs, and wade through the streams.
 
3 Your nakedness will be exposed and your shame uncovered. I will take vengeance; I will spare no one."
 
4 Our Redeemer-the LORD Almighty is his name-is the Holy One of Israel.
 
5 "Sit in silence, go into darkness, Daughter of the Babylonians; no more will you be called queen of kingdoms.
 
6 I was angry with my people and desecrated my inheritance; I gave them into your hand, and you showed them no mercy. Even on the aged you laid a very heavy yoke.
 
7 You said, 'I will continue forever-the eternal queen!' But you did not consider these things or reflect on what might happen.
 
8 "Now then, listen, you wanton creature, lounging in your security and saying to yourself, 'I am, and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or suffer the loss of children.'
 
9 Both of these will overtake you in a moment, on a single day: loss of children and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and all your potent spells.
 
10 You have trusted in your wickedness and have said, 'No one sees me.' Your wisdom and knowledge mislead you when you say to yourself, 'I am, and there is none besides me.'
 
11 Disaster will come upon you, and you will not know how to conjure it away. A calamity will fall upon you that you cannot ward off with a ransom; a catastrophe you cannot foresee will suddenly come upon you.
 
12 "Keep on, then, with your magic spells and with your many sorceries, which you have labored at since childhood. Perhaps you will succeed, perhaps you will cause terror.
 
13 All the counsel you have received has only worn you out! Let your astrologers come forward, those stargazers who make predictions month by month, let them save you from what is coming upon you.
 
14 Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot even save themselves from the power of the flame. Here are no coals to warm anyone; here is no fire to sit by.
 
15 That is all they can do for you-these you have labored with and trafficked with since childhood. Each of them goes on in his error; there is not one that can save you.

Revelation 17

1 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters.
 
2 With her the kings of the earth committed adultery and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries."
 
3 Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns.
 
4 The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries.
 
5 This title was written on her forehead: MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
 
6 I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus. When I saw her, I was greatly astonished.
 
7 Then the angel said to me: "Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns.
 
8 The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up out of the Abyss and go to his destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because he once was, now is not, and yet will come.
 
9 "This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits.
 
10 They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for a little while.
 
11 The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction.
 
12 "The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast.
 
13 They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast.
 
14 They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings-and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers."
 
15 Then the angel said to me, "The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages.
 
16 The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire.
 
17 For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to give the beast their power to rule, until God's words are fulfilled.
 
18 The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth."