Judgment on Israel’s Enemies
1 The oracle of the word of the Lord is against the land of Hadrach
and eDamascus is its resting place.
For the Lord has an eye on mankind
and on all the tribes of Israel,1
2 and on Hamath also, which borders on it,
Tyre and Sidon, fthough they are very wise.
3 Tyre has built herself a rampart
and gheaped up silver like dust,
and fine gold like the mud of the streets.
4 But behold, the Lord will strip her of her possessions
and strike down her power on the sea,
and she shall be devoured by fire.
5 hAshkelon shall see it, and be afraid;
Gaza too, and shall writhe in anguish;
Ekron also, because its hopes are confounded.
The king shall perish from Gaza;
Ashkelon shall be uninhabited;
6 a mixed people2 shall dwell in Ashdod,
and I will cut off the pride of Philistia.
7 I will take away its blood from its mouth,
and its abominations from between its teeth;
it too shall be a remnant for our God;
it shall be like a clan in Judah,
and Ekron shall be like the Jebusites.
8 Then I will encamp at my house as a guard,
so that none shall march to and fro;
no oppressor shall again march over them,
for now I see with my own eyes.
The Coming King of Zion
9 iRejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
Behold, your king is coming to you;
righteous and having salvation is he,
jhumble and kmounted on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
10 lI will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
and the war horse from Jerusalem;
and mthe battle bow shall be cut off,
and he shall speak npeace to the nations;
ohis rule shall be from sea to sea,
and from the River3 to the ends of the earth.
11 As for you also, pbecause of the qblood of my covenant with you,
I will rset your prisoners free from the waterless pit.
12 Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;
today I declare that I will restore to you sdouble.
13 For I have bent Judah as my bow;
I have made Ephraim its arrow.
I will stir up your sons, O Zion,
against your sons, O Greece,
and wield you like a warrior’s sword.
The Lord Will Save His People
14 Then the Lord will appear over them,
and his arrow will go forth like lightning;
the Lord God will sound the trumpet
and will march forth in the whirlwinds of the south.
15 The Lord of hosts will tprotect them,
and they shall devour, and tread down the sling stones,
and they shall drink and roar as if drunk with wine,
and be full like a bowl,
drenched like the corners of the altar.
16 On that day the Lord their God will save them,
as the flock of his people;
for ulike the jewels of a crown
they shall shine on his land.
17 For how great is his goodness, and how great his beauty!
Grain shall make the young men flourish,
and new wine the young women.
A Good Soldier of Christ Jesus
1 You then, my child, nbe strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 2 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses oentrust to faithful men,1 who will be able to teach others also. 3 pShare in suffering as a good qsoldier of Christ Jesus. 4 No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. 5 An athlete is not rcrowned unless he competes according to the rules. 6 sIt is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. 7 Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.
8 Remember Jesus Christ, trisen from the dead, the uoffspring of David, as preached in my gospel, 9 for which I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal. vBut the word of God is not bound! 10 Therefore I wendure everything xfor the sake of the yelect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. 11 zThe saying is trustworthy, for:
aIf we have died with him, we will also live with him;
12 if we endure, we will also breign with him;
if we deny him, he also will deny us;
13 cif we are faithless, he remains faithful—
for he cannot deny himself.
A Worker Approved by God
14 Remind them of these things, and dcharge them before God2 not to equarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. 15 Do your best to fpresent yourself to God as one approved,3 a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the gword of truth. 16 But havoid iirreverent babble, for it will lead people into jmore and more ungodliness, 17 and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are kHymenaeus and Philetus, 18 who have lswerved from the truth, msaying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some. 19 But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: n“The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who onames the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”
20 Now in a great phouse there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, qsome for honorable use, some for dishonorable. 21 Therefore, rif anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable,4 he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, sready for every good work.
22 So tflee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, ulove, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. 23 Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant vcontroversies; you know that they breed quarrels. 24 And the Lord’s servant5 must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 wcorrecting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the xsnare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.
