1 Samuel 11, Romans 9, Jeremiah 48, Psalm 25

1 Samuel 11,

1 Nahash the Ammonite went up and besieged Jabesh Gilead. And all the men of Jabesh said to him, "Make a treaty with us, and we will be subject to you."
 
2 But Nahash the Ammonite replied, "I will make a treaty with you only on the condition that I gouge out the right eye of every one of you and so bring disgrace on all Israel."
 
3 The elders of Jabesh said to him, "Give us seven days so we can send messengers throughout Israel; if no one comes to rescue us, we will surrender to you."
 
4 When the messengers came to Gibeah of Saul and reported these terms to the people, they all wept aloud.
 
5 Just then Saul was returning from the fields, behind his oxen, and he asked, "What is wrong with the people? Why are they weeping?" Then they repeated to him what the men of Jabesh had said.
 
6 When Saul heard their words, the Spirit of God came upon him in power, and he burned with anger.
 
7 He took a pair of oxen, cut them into pieces, and sent the pieces by messengers throughout Israel, proclaiming, "This is what will be done to the oxen of anyone who does not follow Saul and Samuel." Then the terror of the LORD fell on the people, and they turned out as one man.
 
8 When Saul mustered them at Bezek, the men of Israel numbered three hundred thousand and the men of Judah thirty thousand.
 
9 They told the messengers who had come, "Say to the men of Jabesh Gilead, 'By the time the sun is hot tomorrow, you will be delivered.' " When the messengers went and reported this to the men of Jabesh, they were elated.
 
10 They said to the Ammonites, "Tomorrow we will surrender to you, and you can do to us whatever seems good to you."
 
11 The next day Saul separated his men into three divisions; during the last watch of the night they broke into the camp of the Ammonites and slaughtered them until the heat of the day. Those who survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together.
 
12 The people then said to Samuel, "Who was it that asked, 'Shall Saul reign over us?' Bring these men to us and we will put them to death."
 
13 But Saul said, "No one shall be put to death today, for this day the LORD has rescued Israel."
 
14 Then Samuel said to the people, "Come, let us go to Gilgal and there reaffirm the kingship."
 
15 So all the people went to Gilgal and confirmed Saul as king in the presence of the LORD. There they sacrificed fellowship offerings before the LORD, and Saul and all the Israelites held a great celebration.
 

Romans 9,

1 I speak the truth in Christ-I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit-
 
2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.
 
3 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race,
 
4 the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises.
 
5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.
 
6 It is not as though God's word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.
 
7 Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham's children. On the contrary, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned."
 
8 In other words, it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring.
 
9 For this was how the promise was stated: "At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son."
 
10 Not only that, but Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac.
 
11 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad-in order that God's purpose in election might stand:
 
12 not by works but by him who calls-she was told, "The older will serve the younger."
 
13 Just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."
 
14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all!
 
15 For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."
 
16 It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.
 
17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."
 
18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
 
19 One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?"
 
20 But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?' "
 
21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?
 
22 What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath-prepared for destruction?
 
23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory-
 
24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?
 
25 As he says in Hosea: "I will call them 'my people' who are not my people; and I will call her 'my loved one' who is not my loved one,"
 
26 and, "It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the living God.' "
 
27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: "Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved.
 
28 For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality."
 
29 It is just as Isaiah said previously: "Unless the Lord Almighty had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah."
 
30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;
 
31 but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it.
 
32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the "stumbling stone."
 
33 As it is written: "See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."
 

Jeremiah 48,

1 Concerning Moab: This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: "Woe to Nebo, for it will be ruined. Kiriathaim will be disgraced and captured; the stronghold will be disgraced and shattered.
 
2 Moab will be praised no more; in Heshbon men will plot her downfall: 'Come, let us put an end to that nation.' You too, O Madmen, will be silenced; the sword will pursue you.
 
3 Listen to the cries from Horonaim, cries of great havoc and destruction.
 
4 Moab will be broken; her little ones will cry out.
 
5 They go up the way to Luhith, weeping bitterly as they go; on the road down to Horonaim anguished cries over the destruction are heard.
 
6 Flee! Run for your lives; become like a bush in the desert.
 
7 Since you trust in your deeds and riches, you too will be taken captive, and Chemosh will go into exile, together with his priests and officials.
 
8 The destroyer will come against every town, and not a town will escape. The valley will be ruined and the plateau destroyed, because the LORD has spoken.
 
9 Put salt on Moab, for she will be laid waste; her towns will become desolate, with no one to live in them.
 
10 "A curse on him who is lax in doing the LORD's work! A curse on him who keeps his sword from bloodshed!
 
11 "Moab has been at rest from youth, like wine left on its dregs, not poured from one jar to another-she has not gone into exile. So she tastes as she did, and her aroma is unchanged.
 
12 But days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will send men who pour from jars, and they will pour her out; they will empty her jars and smash her jugs.
 
13 Then Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed when they trusted in Bethel.
 
14 "How can you say, 'We are warriors, men valiant in battle'?
 
15 Moab will be destroyed and her towns invaded; her finest young men will go down in the slaughter," declares the King, whose name is the LORD Almighty.
 
16 "The fall of Moab is at hand; her calamity will come quickly.
 
17 Mourn for her, all who live around her, all who know her fame; say, 'How broken is the mighty scepter, how broken the glorious staff!'
 
18 "Come down from your glory and sit on the parched ground, O inhabitants of the Daughter of Dibon, for he who destroys Moab will come up against you and ruin your fortified cities.
 
19 Stand by the road and watch, you who live in Aroer. Ask the man fleeing and the woman escaping, ask them, 'What has happened?'
 
20 Moab is disgraced, for she is shattered. Wail and cry out! Announce by the Arnon that Moab is destroyed.
 
21 Judgment has come to the plateau-to Holon, Jahzah and Mephaath,
 
22 to Dibon, Nebo and Beth Diblathaim,
 
23 to Kiriathaim, Beth Gamul and Beth Meon,
 
24 to Kerioth and Bozrah-to all the towns of Moab, far and near.
 
25 Moab's horn is cut off; her arm is broken," declares the LORD.
 
26 "Make her drunk, for she has defied the LORD. Let Moab wallow in her vomit; let her be an object of ridicule.
 
27 Was not Israel the object of your ridicule? Was she caught among thieves, that you shake your head in scorn whenever you speak of her?
 
28 Abandon your towns and dwell among the rocks, you who live in Moab. Be like a dove that makes its nest at the mouth of a cave.
 
29 "We have heard of Moab's pride-her overweening pride and conceit, her pride and arrogance and the haughtiness of her heart.
 
30 I know her insolence but it is futile," declares the LORD, "and her boasts accomplish nothing.
 
31 Therefore I wail over Moab, for all Moab I cry out, I moan for the men of Kir Hareseth.
 
32 I weep for you, as Jazer weeps, O vines of Sibmah. Your branches spread as far as the sea; they reached as far as the sea of Jazer. The destroyer has fallen on your ripened fruit and grapes.
 
33 Joy and gladness are gone from the orchards and fields of Moab. I have stopped the flow of wine from the presses; no one treads them with shouts of joy. Although there are shouts, they are not shouts of joy.
 
34 "The sound of their cry rises from Heshbon to Elealeh and Jahaz, from Zoar as far as Horonaim and Eglath Shelishiyah, for even the waters of Nimrim are dried up.
 
35 In Moab I will put an end to those who make offerings on the high places and burn incense to their gods," declares the LORD.
 
36 "So my heart laments for Moab like a flute; it laments like a flute for the men of Kir Hareseth. The wealth they acquired is gone.
 
37 Every head is shaved and every beard cut off; every hand is slashed and every waist is covered with sackcloth.
 
38 On all the roofs in Moab and in the public squares there is nothing but mourning, for I have broken Moab like a jar that no one wants," declares the LORD.
 
39 "How shattered she is! How they wail! How Moab turns her back in shame! Moab has become an object of ridicule, an object of horror to all those around her."
 
40 This is what the LORD says: "Look! An eagle is swooping down, spreading its wings over Moab.
 
41 Kerioth will be captured and the strongholds taken. In that day the hearts of Moab's warriors will be like the heart of a woman in labor.
 
42 Moab will be destroyed as a nation because she defied the LORD.
 
43 Terror and pit and snare await you, O people of Moab," declares the LORD.
 
44 "Whoever flees from the terror will fall into a pit, whoever climbs out of the pit will be caught in a snare; for I will bring upon Moab the year of her punishment," declares the LORD.
 
45 "In the shadow of Heshbon the fugitives stand helpless, for a fire has gone out from Heshbon, a blaze from the midst of Sihon; it burns the foreheads of Moab, the skulls of the noisy boasters.
 
46 Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh are destroyed; your sons are taken into exile and your daughters into captivity.
 
47 "Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab in days to come," declares the LORD. Here ends the judgment on Moab.
 

Psalm 25

1 To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul;
 
2 in you I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me.
 
3 No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame, but they will be put to shame who are treacherous without excuse.
 
4 Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths;
 
5 guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.
 
6 Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old.
 
7 Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are good, O LORD.
 
8 Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.
 
9 He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.
 
10 All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant.
 
11 For the sake of your name, O LORD, forgive my iniquity, though it is great.
 
12 Who, then, is the man that fears the LORD ? He will instruct him in the way chosen for him.
 
13 He will spend his days in prosperity, and his descendants will inherit the land.
 
14 The LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them.
 
15 My eyes are ever on the LORD, for only he will release my feet from the snare.
 
16 Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted.
 
17 The troubles of my heart have multiplied; free me from my anguish.
 
18 Look upon my affliction and my distress and take away all my sins.
 
19 See how my enemies have increased and how fiercely they hate me!
 
20 Guard my life and rescue me; let me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.
 
21 May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope is in you.
 
22 Redeem Israel, O God, from all their troubles!