Deuteronomy 10; Psalm 94; Isaiah 38; Revelation 8

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Deuteronomy 10

New Tablets of Stone

At that time the Lord said to me, lCut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to me on the mountain and mmake an ark of wood. And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets that you broke, and nyou shall put them in the ark. So I made an ark oof acacia wood, and pcut two tablets of stone like the first, and went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hand. And qhe wrote on the tablets, in the same writing as before, the Ten Commandments1 rthat the Lord had spoken to you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire son the day of the assembly. And the Lord gave them to me. Then I turned and tcame down from the mountain and uput the tablets in the ark that I had made. vAnd there they are, as the Lord commanded me.

(The people of Israel wjourneyed from Beeroth Bene-jaakan2 to Moserah. xThere Aaron died, and there he was buried. And his son Eleazar ministered as priest in his place. yFrom there they journeyed to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land with brooks of water. At that time zthe Lord set apart the tribe of Levi ato carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord bto stand before the Lord to minister to him and cto bless in his name, to this day. dTherefore Levi has no portion or inheritance with his brothers. The Lord is his inheritance, as the Lord your God said to him.)

10 eI myself stayed on the mountain, as at the first time, forty days and forty nights, fand the Lord listened to me that time also. The Lord was unwilling to destroy you. 11 gAnd the Lord said to me, Arise, go on your journey at the head of the people, so that they may go in and possess the land, which I swore to their fathers to give them.

Circumcise Your Heart

12 And now, Israel, hwhat does the Lord your God require of you, but ito fear the Lord your God, jto walk in all his ways, kto love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and lto keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today mfor your good? 14 Behold, nto the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, othe earth with all that is in it. 15 Yet pthe Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day. 16 Circumcise therefore qthe foreskin of your heart, and be no longer rstubborn. 17 For the Lord your God is sGod of gods and tLord of lords, uthe great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is vnot partial and takes no bribe. 18 wHe executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. 19 xLove the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. 20 iYou shall fear the Lord your God. You shall serve him and yhold fast to him, and zby his name you shall swear. 21 aHe is your praise. He is your God, bwho has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen. 22 Your fathers went down to Egypt cseventy persons, and now the Lord your God has made you das numerous as the stars of heaven.


Psalm 94

The Lord Will Not Forsake His People

O Lord, God of pvengeance,

O God of vengeance, qshine forth!

rRise up, O sjudge of the earth;

repay to the tproud what they deserve!

O Lord, uhow long shall the wicked,

how long shall vthe wicked exult?

They pour out their warrogant words;

all xthe evildoers boast.

They ycrush your people, O Lord,

and afflict your heritage.

They kill zthe widow and the sojourner,

and murder zthe fatherless;

aand they say, The Lord does not see;

the God of Jacob does not perceive.

bUnderstand, O dullest of the people!

Fools, when will you be wise?

cHe who planted the ear, does he not hear?

He who formed the eye, does he not see?

10  He who ddisciplines the nations, does he not rebuke?

He who eteaches man knowledge

11  fthe Lordknows the thoughts of man,

that they are gbut a breath.1

12  hBlessed is the man whom you idiscipline, O Lord,

and whom you teach out of your law,

13  to give him jrest from kdays of trouble,

until la pit is dug for the wicked.

14  mFor the Lord will not forsake his npeople;

he will not abandon his nheritage;

15  for ojustice will return to the righteous,

and all the upright in heart will pfollow it.

16  qWho rises up for me against the wicked?

Who stands up for me against evildoers?

17  rIf the Lord had not been my help,

my soul would soon have lived in the land of ssilence.

18  When I thought, tMy foot slips,

your steadfast love, O Lord, uheld me up.

19  When the cares of my heart are many,

your consolations cheer my soul.

20  Can wwicked rulers be allied with you,

those who frame2 injustice by xstatute?

21  They yband together against the life of the righteous

and condemn zthe innocent to death.3

22  But the Lord has become my astronghold,

and my God bthe rock of my crefuge.

23  He will bring back on them dtheir iniquity

and ewipe them out for their wickedness;

the Lord our God will wipe them out.


Isaiah 38

Hezekiah’s Sickness and Recovery

qIn those days Hezekiah became rsick and was at the point of death. And sIsaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, Thus says the Lord: Set your house in order, for you shall die, you shall not recover.1 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, and said, Please, O Lord, remember how tI have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight. And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add ufifteen years to your life.2 vI will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and will defend this city.

This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that he has promised: wBehold, I will make the shadow cast by the declining sun on the dial of Ahaz turn back ten steps. So the sun turned back on the dial the ten steps by which it had declined.3

A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, after he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness:

10  I said, xIn the middle4 of my days

I must depart;

I am consigned to the gates of Sheol

for the rest of my years.

11  I said, I shall not see the Lord,

the Lord yin the land of the living;

I shall look on man no more

among the inhabitants of the world.

12  My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me

zlike a shepherd’s tent;

alike a weaver bI have rolled up my life;

che cuts me off from the loom;

dfrom day to night you bring me to an end;

13  eI calmed myself5 until morning;

like a lion fhe breaks all my bones;

from day to night you bring me to an end.

14  Like ga swallow or a crane I chirp;

hI moan like a dove.

iMy eyes are weary with looking upward.

O Lord, I am oppressed; jbe my pledge of safety!

15  What shall I say? For he has spoken to me,

and he himself has done it.

kI walk slowly all my years

because of the bitterness of my soul.

16  lO Lord, by these things men live,

and in all these is the life of my spirit.

Oh restore me to health and make me live!

17  mBehold, it was for my welfare

that I had great bitterness;

nbut in love you have delivered my life

from the pit of destruction,

nfor you have cast all my sins

behind your back.

18  oFor Sheol does not thank you;

death does not praise you;

those who go down to the pit do not hope

for your faithfulness.

19  The living, the living, he thanks you,

as I do this day;

pthe father makes known to the children

your faithfulness.

20  The Lord will save me,

and we will play my music on stringed instruments

all the days of our lives,

qat the house of the Lord.

21 rNow Isaiah had said, Let them take a cake of figs and apply it to the boil, that he may recover. 22 Hezekiah also had said, What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord?


Revelation 8

The Seventh Seal and the Golden Censer

When the Lamb opened uthe seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. Then I saw the seven angels vwho stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. And another angel came and stood wat the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with xthe prayers of all the saints on ythe golden altar before the throne, and zthe smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel. Then the angel took the censer and afilled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and bthere were peals of cthunder, rumblings,1 flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

The Seven Trumpets

Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.

The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed dhail and efire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a fthird of the earth was burned up, and a third of gthe trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.

The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like ha great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea ibecame blood. A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of jthe ships were destroyed.

10 The third angel blew his trumpet, and ka great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on lthe springs of water. 11 The name of the star is Wormwood.2 A third of the waters mbecame wormwood, and many people died from the water, nbecause it had been made bitter.

12 The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of othe sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night.

13 Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead, pWoe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!