Deuteronomy 20; Psalm 107; Isaiah 47; Revelation 17

red bookmark icon blue bookmark icon gold bookmark icon
Deuteronomy 20

Laws Concerning Warfare

When you go out to war against your enemies, and see ihorses and chariots and an army larger than your own, you shall not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God is jwith you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. And when you draw near to the battle, kthe priest shall come forward and speak to the people and shall say to them, Hear, O Israel, today you are drawing near for battle against your enemies: let not your heart faint. Do not fear or panic or be in dread of them, for the Lord your God is he who goes with you lto fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory. Then the officers shall speak to the people, saying, Is there any man who has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go back to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it. And is there any man who has planted a vineyard and has not menjoyed its fruit? Let him go back to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man enjoy its fruit. nAnd is there any man who has betrothed a wife and has not taken her? Let him go back to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man take her. And the officers shall speak further to the people, and say, oIs there any man who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go back to his house, lest he make the heart of his fellows melt like his own. And when the officers have finished speaking to the people, then commanders shall be appointed at the head of the people.

10 When you draw near to a city to fight against it, poffer terms of peace to it. 11 And if it responds to you peaceably and it opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall do forced labor for you and shall serve you. 12 But if it makes no peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it. 13 And when the Lord your God gives it into your hand, qyou shall put all its males to the sword, 14 rbut the women and the little ones, the livestock, and everything else in the city, all its spoil, you sshall take as plunder for yourselves. And tyou shall enjoy the spoil of your enemies, which the Lord your God has given you. 15 Thus you shall do to all the cities that are very far from you, which are not cities of the nations here. 16 But uin the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, 17 but vyou shall devote them to complete destruction,1 the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the Lord your God has commanded, 18 that wthey may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you xsin against the Lord your God.

19 When you besiege a city for a long time, making war against it in order to take it, yyou shall not destroy its trees by wielding an axe against them. You may eat from them, but you shall not cut them down. Are the trees in the field human, that they should be besieged by you? 20 Only the trees that you know are not trees for food you may destroy and cut down, that you may build siegeworks against the city that makes war with you, until it falls.


Psalm 107

Book Five

Let the Redeemed of the Lord Say So

gOh give thanks to the Lord, hfor he is good,

for his steadfast love endures forever!

Let ithe redeemed of the Lord say so,

whom he has jredeemed from trouble1

and kgathered in from the lands,

from the east and from the west,

from the north and from the south.

Some lwandered in desert wastes,

finding no way mto a city to dwell in;

hungry and thirsty,

their soul nfainted within them.

Then they ocried to the Lord in their trouble,

and he delivered them from their distress.

He led them by pa straight way

till they reached ma city to dwell in.

qLet them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,

for his wondrous works to the children of man!

For he rsatisfies the longing soul,

sand the hungry soul he fills with good things.

10  tSome sat in darkness and in uthe shadow of death,

prisoners in vaffliction and in irons,

11  for they whad rebelled against the words of God,

and xspurned the counsel of the Most High.

12  So he bowed their hearts down with hard labor;

they fell down, ywith none to help.

13  zThen they cried to the Lord in their trouble,

and he delivered them from their distress.

14  He brought them out of adarkness and the shadow of death,

and bburst their bonds apart.

15  cLet them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,

for his wondrous works to the children of man!

16  For he dshatters the doors of bronze

and cuts in two the bars of iron.

17  Some were efools through their sinful ways,

and because of their iniquities suffered affliction;

18  fthey loathed any kind of food,

and they gdrew near to hthe gates of death.

19  iThen they cried to the Lord in their trouble,

and he delivered them from their distress.

20  He jsent out his word and khealed them,

and ldelivered them from their destruction.

21  mLet them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,

for his wondrous works to the children of man!

22  And let them noffer sacrifices of thanksgiving,

and otell of his deeds in psongs of joy!

23  Some qwent down to the sea in ships,

doing business on the great waters;

24  they saw the deeds of the Lord,

his wondrous works in the deep.

25  For he rcommanded and sraised the stormy wind,

which lifted up the waves of the sea.

26  They mounted up to heaven; they went down to the depths;

their courage tmelted away in their evil plight;

27  they reeled and ustaggered like drunken men

and vwere at their wits’ end.2

28  wThen they cried to the Lord in their trouble,

and he delivered them from their distress.

29  He xmade the storm be still,

and the waves of the sea were hushed.

30  Then they were glad that the waters3 were quiet,

and he brought them to their desired haven.

31  yLet them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,

for his wondrous works to the children of man!

32  Let them zextol him in athe congregation of the people,

and praise him in the assembly of the elders.

33  He bturns rivers into a desert,

springs of water into thirsty ground,

34  ca fruitful land into a salty waste,

because of the evil of its inhabitants.

35  He dturns a desert into pools of water,

ea parched land into springs of water.

36  And there he lets the hungry dwell,

and they establish fa city to live in;

37  they sow fields and plant vineyards

and get a fruitful yield.

38  gBy his blessing they multiply greatly,

and he does not let their livestock diminish.

39  When they are diminished and brought low

through oppression, evil, and sorrow,

40  hhe pours contempt on princes

and imakes them wander jin trackless wastes;

41  but khe raises up the needy out of affliction

and lmakes their families like flocks.

42  mThe upright see it and are glad,

and nall wickedness shuts its mouth.

43  oWhoever is wise, let him attend to these things;

let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord.


Isaiah 47

The Humiliation of Babylon

eCome down and sit in the dust,

O virgin fdaughter of Babylon;

gsit on the ground without a throne,

O daughter of hthe Chaldeans!

iFor you shall no more be called

tender and delicate.

Take the millstones and jgrind flour,

kput off your veil,

strip off your robe, uncover your legs,

pass through the rivers.

Your nakedness shall be uncovered,

and your disgrace shall be seen.

I will take vengeance,

and I will spare no one.

lOur Redeemerthe Lord of hosts is his name

is the Holy One of Israel.

mSit in silence, and go into darkness,

O daughter of hthe Chaldeans;

for you shall no more be called

nthe mistress of kingdoms.

oI was angry with my people;

I profaned my heritage;

I gave them into your hand;

pyou showed them no mercy;

on the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy.

You said, I shall be qmistress forever,

so that you did not lay these things to heart

or remember their end.

Now therefore hear this, qyou lover of pleasures,

rwho sit securely,

who say in your heart,

sI am, and there is no one besides me;

tI shall not sit as a widow

or know the loss of children:

uThese two things shall come to you

in a moment, vin one day;

the loss of children and widowhood

shall come upon you in full measure,

win spite of your many sorceries

and the great power of your enchantments.

10  You felt secure in your wickedness;

you said, No one sees me;

your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray,

and you said in your heart,

xI am, and there is no one besides me.

11  But evil shall come upon you,

which you will not know how to charm away;

disaster shall fall upon you,

for which you will not be able to atone;

yand ruin shall come upon you suddenly,

of which you know nothing.

12  zStand fast in your enchantments

and your many sorceries,

with which you have labored from your youth;

perhaps you may be able to succeed;

perhaps you may inspire terror.

13  You are wearied with your many counsels;

let them stand forth and save you,

athose who divide the heavens,

who gaze at the stars,

who at the new moons make known

what shall come upon you.

14  Behold, bthey are like stubble;

cthe fire consumes them;

they cannot deliver themselves

from the power of the flame.

No coal for warming oneself is this,

no fire to sit before!

15  Such to you are those with whom you have labored,

who have done business with you from your youth;

they wander about, each in his own direction;

there is no one to save you.


Revelation 17

The Great Prostitute and the Beast

Then vone of the seven angels who had wthe seven bowls came and said to me, Come, I will show you the judgment of xthe great prostitute ywho is seated on many waters, zwith whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and awith the wine of whose sexual immorality bthe dwellers on earth have become drunk. And che carried me away in the Spirit dinto a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on ea scarlet beast that was full of fblasphemous names, and git had seven heads and ten horns. The woman hwas arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned iwith gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand ja golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written a name of kmystery: lBabylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations. And I saw the woman, drunk mwith the blood of the saints, the blood of nthe martyrs of Jesus.1

When I saw her, I marveled greatly. But the angel said to me, Why do you marvel? I will tell you othe mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her. The beast that you saw pwas, and is not, and qis about to rise from rthe bottomless pit2 and sgo to destruction. And tthe dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in uthe book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because pit was and is not and is to come. vThis calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated; 10 they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while. 11 As for the beast wthat was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction. 12 And xthe ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings yfor one hour, together with the beast. 13 These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast. 14 They zwill make war on the Lamb, and athe Lamb will conquer them, for he is bLord of lords and bKing of kings, and those with him are ccalled and chosen and faithful.

15 And the angel3 said to me, dThe waters that you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages. 16 And ethe ten horns that you saw, they and the beast fwill hate the prostitute. They will make her gdesolate and hnaked, and idevour her flesh and jburn her up with fire, 17 for kGod has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and lhanding over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. 18 And the woman that you saw is mthe great city that has dominion over the kings of the earth.