Prophecy against Damascus

23Concerning Damascus.

“Hamath and Arpad are put to shame,

For they have heard bad news;

They are disheartened.

There is anxiety by the sea,

It cannot be calmed.

24Damascus has become helpless;

She has turned away to flee,

And panic has gripped her;

Distress and pangs have taken hold of her

Like a woman in childbirth.

25How the city of praise has not been deserted,

The town of My joy!

26Therefore, her young men will fall in her streets,

And all the men of war will be silenced in that day,” declares the Lord of hosts.

27“I will set fire to the wall of Damascus,

And it will devour the fortified towers of Ben-hadad.”

Prophecy against Kedar and Hazor

28Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated. Thus says the Lord,

“Arise, go up to Kedar

And devastate the men of the east.

29They will take away their tents and their flocks;

They will carry off for themselves

Their tent curtains, all their goods and their camels,

And they will call out to one another, ‘Terror on every side!’

30Run away, flee! Dwell in the depths,

O inhabitants of Hazor,” declares the Lord;

“For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has formed a plan against you

And devised a scheme against you.

31Arise, go up against a nation which is at ease,

Which lives securely,” declares the Lord.

“It has no gates or bars;

They dwell alone.

32Their camels will become plunder,

And their many cattle for booty,

And I will scatter to all the winds those who cut the corners of their hair;

And I will bring their disaster from every side,” declares the Lord.

33“Hazor will become a haunt of jackals,

A desolation forever;

No one will live there,

Nor will a son of man reside in it.”

Prophecy against Elam

34That which came as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, saying:

35“Thus says the Lord of hosts,

‘Behold, I am going to break the bow of Elam,

The finest of their might.

36I will bring upon Elam the four winds

From the four ends of heaven,

And will scatter them to all these winds;

And there will be no nation

To which the outcasts of Elam will not go.

37So I will shatter Elam before their enemies

And before those who seek their lives;

And I will bring calamity upon them,

Even My fierce anger,’ declares the Lord,

‘And I will send out the sword after them

Until I have consumed them.

38Then I will set My throne in Elam

And destroy out of it king and princes,’

Declares the Lord.

39‘But it will come about in the last days

That I will restore the fortunes of Elam,’ ”

Declares the Lord.

Prophecy against Babylon

1The word which the Lord spoke concerning Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans, through Jeremiah the prophet:

2“Declare and proclaim among the nations.

Proclaim it and lift up a standard.

Do not conceal it but say,

‘Babylon has been captured,

Bel has been put to shame, Marduk has been shattered;

Her images have been put to shame, her idols have been shattered.’

3For a nation has come up against her out of the north; it will make her land an object of horror, and there will be no inhabitant in it. Both man and beast have wandered off, they have gone away!

4“In those days and at that time,” declares the Lord, “the sons of Israel will come, both they and the sons of Judah as well; they will go along weeping as they go, and it will be the Lord their God they will seek. 5They will ask for the way to Zion, turning their faces in its direction; they will come that they may join themselves to the Lord in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.

6“My people have become lost sheep;

Their shepherds have led them astray.

They have made them turn aside on the mountains;

They have gone along from mountain to hill

And have forgotten their resting place.

7All who came upon them have devoured them;

And their adversaries have said, ‘We are not guilty,

Inasmuch as they have sinned against the Lord who is the habitation of righteousness,

Even the Lord, the hope of their fathers.’

8“Wander away from the midst of Babylon

And go forth from the land of the Chaldeans;

Be also like male goats at the head of the flock.

9For behold, I am going to arouse and bring up against Babylon

A horde of great nations from the land of the north,

And they will draw up their battle lines against her;

From there she will be taken captive.

Their arrows will be like an expert warrior

Who does not return empty-handed.

10Chaldea will become plunder;

All who plunder her will have enough,” declares the Lord.

11“Because you are glad, because you are jubilant,

O you who pillage My heritage,

Because you skip about like a threshing heifer

And neigh like stallions,

12Your mother will be greatly ashamed,

She who gave you birth will be humiliated.

Behold, she will be the least of the nations,

A wilderness, a parched land and a desert.

13Because of the indignation of the Lord she will not be inhabited,

But she will be completely desolate;

Everyone who passes by Babylon will be horrified

And will hiss because of all her wounds.

14Draw up your battle lines against Babylon on every side,

All you who bend the bow;

Shoot at her, do not be sparing with your arrows,

For she has sinned against the Lord.

15Raise your battle cry against her on every side!

She has given herself up, her pillars have fallen,

Her walls have been torn down.

For this is the vengeance of the Lord:

Take vengeance on her;

As she has done to others, so do to her.

16Cut off the sower from Babylon

And the one who wields the sickle at the time of harvest;

From before the sword of the oppressor

They will each turn back to his own people

And they will each flee to his own land.

17“Israel is a scattered flock, the lions have driven them away. The first one who devoured him was the king of Assyria, and this last one who has broken his bones is Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. 18Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I am going to punish the king of Babylon and his land, just as I punished the king of Assyria. 19And I will bring Israel back to his pasture and he will graze on Carmel and Bashan, and his desire will be satisfied in the hill country of Ephraim and Gilead. 20In those days and at that time,’ declares the Lord, ‘search will be made for the iniquity of Israel, but there will be none; and for the sins of Judah, but they will not be found; for I will pardon those whom I leave as a remnant.’

21“Against the land of Merathaim, go up against it,

And against the inhabitants of Pekod.

Slay and utterly destroy them,” declares the Lord,

“And do according to all that I have commanded you.

22The noise of battle is in the land,

And great destruction.

23How the hammer of the whole earth

Has been cut off and broken!

How Babylon has become

An object of horror among the nations!

24I set a snare for you and you were also caught, O Babylon,

While you yourself were not aware;

You have been found and also seized

Because you have engaged in conflict with the Lord.”

25The Lord has opened His armory

And has brought forth the weapons of His indignation,

For it is a work of the Lord God of hosts

In the land of the Chaldeans.

26Come to her from the farthest border;

Open up her barns,

Pile her up like heaps

And utterly destroy her,

Let nothing be left to her.

27Put all her young bulls to the sword;

Let them go down to the slaughter!

Woe be upon them, for their day has come,

The time of their punishment.

28There is a sound of fugitives and refugees from the land of Babylon,

To declare in Zion the vengeance of the Lord our God,

Vengeance for His temple.

29“Summon many against Babylon,

All those who bend the bow:

Encamp against her on every side,

Let there be no escape.

Repay her according to her work;

According to all that she has done, so do to her;

For she has become arrogant against the Lord,

Against the Holy One of Israel.

30Therefore her young men will fall in her streets,

And all her men of war will be silenced in that day,” declares the Lord.

31“Behold, I am against you, O arrogant one,”

Declares the Lord God of hosts,

“For your day has come,

The time when I will punish you.

32The arrogant one will stumble and fall

With no one to raise him up;

And I will set fire to his cities

And it will devour all his environs.”

33Thus says the Lord of hosts,

“The sons of Israel are oppressed,

And the sons of Judah as well;

And all who took them captive have held them fast,

They have refused to let them go.

34Their Redeemer is strong, the Lord of hosts is His name;

He will vigorously plead their case

So that He may bring rest to the earth,

But turmoil to the inhabitants of Babylon.

35A sword against the Chaldeans,” declares the Lord,

“And against the inhabitants of Babylon

And against her officials and her wise men!

36A sword against the oracle priests, and they will become fools!

A sword against her mighty men, and they will be shattered!

37A sword against their horses and against their chariots

And against all the foreigners who are in the midst of her,

And they will become women!

A sword against her treasures, and they will be plundered!

38A drought on her waters, and they will be dried up!

For it is a land of idols,

And they are mad over fearsome idols.

39“Therefore the desert creatures will live there along with the jackals;

The ostriches also will live in it,

And it will never again be inhabited

Or dwelt in from generation to generation.

40As when God overthrew Sodom

And Gomorrah with its neighbors,” declares the Lord,

“No man will live there,

Nor will any son of man reside in it.

41“Behold, a people is coming from the north,

And a great nation and many kings

Will be aroused from the remote parts of the earth.

42They seize their bow and javelin;

They are cruel and have no mercy.

Their voice roars like the sea;

And they ride on horses,

Marshalled like a man for the battle

Against you, O daughter of Babylon.

43The king of Babylon has heard the report about them,

And his hands hang limp;

Distress has gripped him,

Agony like a woman in childbirth.

44“Behold, one will come up like a lion from the thicket of the Jordan to a perennially watered pasture; for in an instant I will make them run away from it, and whoever is chosen I will appoint over it. For who is like Me, and who will summon Me into court? And who then is the shepherd who can stand before Me?” 45Therefore hear the plan of the Lord which He has planned against Babylon, and His purposes which He has purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: surely they will drag them off, even the little ones of the flock; surely He will make their pasture desolate because of them. 46At the shout, “Babylon has been seized!” the earth is shaken, and an outcry is heard among the nations.

Salutation

1Paul, a bond-servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of those chosen of God and the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, 2in the hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised long ages ago, 3but at the proper time manifested, even His word, in the proclamation with which I was entrusted according to the commandment of God our Savior,

4To Titus, my true child in a common faith: Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

Qualifications of Elders

5For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint elders in every city as I directed you, 6namely, if any man is above reproach, the husband of one wife, having children who believe, not accused of dissipation or rebellion. 7For the overseer must be above reproach as God’s steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain, 8but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, devout, self-controlled, 9holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.

10For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, 11who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain. 12One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” 13This testimony is true. For this reason reprove them severely so that they may be sound in the faith, 14not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth. 15To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. 16They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.

PSALM 97

The Lord’s Power and Dominion.

1The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice;

Let the many islands be glad.

2Clouds and thick darkness surround Him;

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.

3Fire goes before Him

And burns up His adversaries round about.

4His lightnings lit up the world;

The earth saw and trembled.

5The mountains melted like wax at the presence of the Lord,

At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth.

6The heavens declare His righteousness,

And all the peoples have seen His glory.

7Let all those be ashamed who serve graven images,

Who boast themselves of idols;

Worship Him, all you gods.

8Zion heard this and was glad,

And the daughters of Judah have rejoiced

Because of Your judgments, O Lord.

9For You are the Lord Most High over all the earth;

You are exalted far above all gods.

10Hate evil, you who love the Lord,

Who preserves the souls of His godly ones;

He delivers them from the hand of the wicked.

11Light is sown like seed for the righteous

And gladness for the upright in heart.

12Be glad in the Lord, you righteous ones,

And give thanks to His holy name.

PSALM 98

A Call to Praise the Lord for His Righteousness.

A Psalm.

1O sing to the Lord a new song,

For He has done wonderful things,

His right hand and His holy arm have gained the victory for Him.

2The Lord has made known His salvation;

He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations.

3He has remembered His lovingkindness and His faithfulness to the house of Israel;

All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

4Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth;

Break forth and sing for joy and sing praises.

5Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,

With the lyre and the sound of melody.

6With trumpets and the sound of the horn

Shout joyfully before the King, the Lord.

7Let the sea roar and all it contains,

The world and those who dwell in it.

8Let the rivers clap their hands,

Let the mountains sing together for joy

9Before the Lord, for He is coming to judge the earth;

He will judge the world with righteousness

And the peoples with equity.

13The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road!

A lion is in the open square!”

14As the door turns on its hinges,

So does the sluggard on his bed.

15The sluggard buries his hand in the dish;

He is weary of bringing it to his mouth again.

16The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes

Than seven men who can give a discreet answer.