Remember the Lord Your God

1 “The whole commandment that I command you today ^vyou shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers. 2 And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you ^wthese forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, ^xtesting you ^yto know what was in your heart, ^zwhether you would keep his commandments or not. 3 And he humbled you and ^alet you hunger and ^bfed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that ^cman does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word¹ that comes from the mouth of the Lord. 4 ^dYour clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that, ^eas a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you. 6 So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. 7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, ^fa land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, 8 a land of wheat and barley, ^gof vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, 9 a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 10 And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.

11 “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, 12 ^hlest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, 13 and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, 14 ⁱthen your heart be lifted up, and you ^jforget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, 15 who ^kled you through the great and terrifying wilderness, ^lwith its fiery serpents and scorpions ^mand thirsty ground where there was no water, ⁿwho brought you water out of the flinty rock, 16 who fed you in the wilderness with ^omanna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, ^pto do you good in the end. 17 Beware ^qlest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ 18 You shall remember the Lord your God, for ^rit is he who gives you power to get wealth, ^sthat he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. 19 And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, ^tI solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. 20 Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, ^uso shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.

My Refuge and My Fortress

Sennacherib Invades Judah

1 ^jIn the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, ^kSennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 2 ^lAnd the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh¹ from ^mLachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem, with a great army. And he stood ⁿby the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer’s Field. 3 And there came out to him ^oEliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and ^oShebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.

4 And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the ^pgreat king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? 5 Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me? 6 ^qBehold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. 7 But if you say to me, “We trust in the Lord our God,” is it not he ^rwhose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar”? 8 Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. 9 How then can you repulse ^sa single captain among the least of my master’s servants, when ^tyou trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen? 10 Moreover, is it without the Lord that I have come up against this land to destroy it? ^uThe Lord said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it.”’”

11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants ^vin Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people who are on the wall.” 12 But the Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you, and not to the men sitting on the wall, who are doomed with you to eat their own dung and drink their own urine?”

13 Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! 14 Thus says the king: ^w‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you. 15 Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord by saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us. This city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” 16 Do not listen to Hezekiah. For thus says the king of Assyria: Make your peace with me² and come out to me. Then each one of you will eat of his own vine, and each one of his own fig tree, and each one of you will drink the water of his own cistern, 17 until ^xI come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18 Beware lest Hezekiah mislead you by saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 ^yWhere are the gods of ^zHamath and ^zArpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? ^aHave they delivered Samaria out of my hand? 20 ^bWho among all the gods of these lands have delivered their lands out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?’”

21 But they were silent and answered him not a word, for the king’s command was, “Do not answer him.” 22 ^cThen Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.

The Seven Seals

1 Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of ^ethe seven seals, and I heard ^fone of the four living creatures say ^gwith a voice like thunder, ^h“Come!” 2 And I looked, and behold, ⁱa white horse! And ^jits rider had a bow, and ^ka crown was given to him, and he came out ^lconquering, and to conquer.

3 When he opened the second seal, I heard ^mthe second living creature say, “Come!” 4 And out came another horse, ⁿbright red. Its rider was permitted ^oto take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.

5 When he opened the third seal, I heard the ^mthird living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, ^pa black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. 6 And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, ^q“A quart¹ of wheat for a denarius,² and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and ^rdo not harm the oil and wine!”

7 When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of ^mthe fourth living creature say, “Come!” 8 And I looked, and behold, ^sa pale horse! And its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed him. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill ^twith sword and with famine and with pestilence and ^uby wild beasts of the earth.

9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under ^vthe altar ^wthe souls of those who had been slain ^xfor the word of God and for ^ythe witness they had borne. 10 They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, ^zholy and true, ^ahow long ^bbefore you will judge and ^cavenge our blood on ^dthose who dwell on the earth?” 11 Then they were each given ^ea white robe and ^ftold to rest a little longer, ^guntil the number of their fellow servants and their brothers^{3 h}should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

12 When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, ⁱthere was a great earthquake, and ^jthe sun became black as ^ksackcloth, the full moon became like blood, 13 and ^lthe stars of the sky fell to the earth ^mas the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale. 14 ⁿThe sky vanished ^mlike a scroll that is being rolled up, and ^oevery mountain and island was removed from its place. 15 Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave⁴ and free, ^phid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, 16 ^qcalling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of ^rhim who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, 17 for ^sthe great day of their wrath has come, and ^twho can stand?”