Isaiah 29:1–14; Jude

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Isaiah 29:1–14

The Siege of Jerusalem

Ah, Ariel, Ariel,

the city fwhere David encamped!

Add year to year;

let the feasts run their round.

Yet I will distress Ariel,

and there shall be moaning and lamentation,

and she shall be to me like an Ariel.1

gAnd I will encamp against you all around,

and will besiege you hwith towers

and I will raise siegeworks against you.

iAnd you will be brought low; from the earth you shall speak,

and from the dust your speech will be bowed down;

your voice shall come from the ground like jthe voice of a ghost,

and from the dust your speech shall whisper.

But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like ksmall dust,

and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff.

lAnd in an instant, suddenly,

myou will be visited by the Lord of hosts

with thunder and with earthquake and great noise,

with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.

And nthe multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel,

all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her,

shall be olike a dream, a vision of the night.

pAs when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he is eating,

and awakes with his hunger not satisfied,

or as when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he is drinking,

and awakes faint, with his thirst not quenched,

so shall the multitude of all the nations be

that fight against Mount Zion.

Astonish yourselves2 and be astonished;

blind yourselves and be blind!

Be drunk,3 but not with wine;

rstagger,4 but not with strong drink!

10  sFor the Lord has poured out upon you

a spirit of deep sleep,

and has closed your eyes (the prophets),

and covered your heads (the seers).

11 And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is tsealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, Read this, he says, I cannot, for it is sealed. 12 And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, Read this, he says, I cannot read.

13  And the Lord said:

Because uthis people vdraw near with their mouth

and honor me with their lips,

while their hearts are far from me,

and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,

14  therefore, behold, wI will again

do wonderful things with this people,

with wonder upon wonder;

and xthe wisdom of their wise men shall perish,

and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.


Jude

Greeting

Jude, a servant1 of Jesus Christ and brother of James,

aTo those who are called, bbeloved in God the Father and ckept for2 Jesus Christ:

May dmercy, epeace, and love be multiplied to you.

Judgment on False Teachers

Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our fcommon salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you gto contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For hcertain people ihave crept in unnoticed jwho long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert kthe grace of our God into sensuality and ldeny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Now I want mto remind you, although you once fully knew it, that nJesus, who saved3 a people out of the land of Egypt, oafterward destroyed those who did not believe. And pthe angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day just as qSodom and Gomorrah and rthe surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and spursued unnatural desire,4 serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and tblaspheme the glorious ones. But when uthe archangel vMichael, contending with the devil, was disputing wabout the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, xThe Lord rebuke you. 10 yBut these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. 11 Woe to them! For they walked in zthe way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain ato Balaam’s error and bperished in Korah’s rebellion. 12 These are hidden reefs5 cat your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear, dshepherds feeding themselves; ewaterless clouds, fswept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, guprooted; 13 hwild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of itheir own shame; jwandering stars, kfor whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.

14 It was also about these that Enoch, lthe seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, mBehold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, 15 nto execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have ocommitted in such an ungodly way, and of all pthe harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him. 16 These are grumblers, malcontents, qfollowing their own sinful desires; rthey are loud-mouthed boasters, sshowing favoritism to gain advantage.

A Call to Persevere

17 But you must tremember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. 18 They6 said to you, uIn the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions. 19 It is these who cause divisions, worldly people, vdevoid of the Spirit. 20 But you, beloved, wbuilding yourselves up in your most holy faith and xpraying in the Holy Spirit, 21 ykeep yourselves in the love of God, zwaiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. 22 And have mercy on those who doubt; 23 save others by asnatching them out of bthe fire; to others show mercy cwith fear, hating even dthe garment7 stained by the flesh.

Doxology

24 eNow to him who is able fto keep you from stumbling and gto present you hblameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to ithe only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, jbe glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time8 and now and forever. Amen.