Saturday, July 31, 2021

 Jeremiah 48:1–20

¹Concerning Moab:

This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says:

"Woe to Nebo, for it will be ruined. Kiriathaim will be disgraced and captured; the stronghold will be disgraced and shattered. ²Moab will be praised no more; in Heshbon men will plot her downfall: 'Come, let us put an end to that nation.' You too, O Madmen, will be silenced; the sword will pursue you. ³Listen to the cries from Horonaim, cries of great havoc and destruction. ⁴Moab will be broken; her little ones will cry out. ⁵They go up the way to Luhith, weeping bitterly as they go; on the road down to Horonaim anguished cries over the destruction are heard. ⁶Flee! Run for your lives; become like a bush in the desert. ⁷Since you trust in your deeds and riches, you too will be taken captive, and Chemosh will go into exile, together with his priests and officials. ⁸The destroyer will come against every town, and not a town will escape. The valley will be ruined and the plateau destroyed, because the LORD has spoken. ⁹Put salt on Moab, for she will be laid waste; her towns will become desolate, with no one to live in them.

¹⁰"A curse on him who is lax in doing the LORD's work! A curse on him who keeps his sword from bloodshed!

¹¹"Moab has been at rest from youth, like wine left on its dregs, not poured from one jar to another-- she has not gone into exile. So she tastes as she did, and her aroma is unchanged. ¹²But days are coming," declares the LORD, "when I will send men who pour from jars, and they will pour her out; they will empty her jars and smash her jugs. ¹³Then Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed when they trusted in Bethel.

¹⁴"How can you say, 'We are warriors, men valiant in battle'? ¹⁵Moab will be destroyed and her towns invaded; her finest young men will go down in the slaughter," declares the King, whose name is the LORD Almighty. ¹⁶"The fall of Moab is at hand; her calamity will come quickly. ¹⁷Mourn for her, all who live around her, all who know her fame; say, 'How broken is the mighty scepter, how broken the glorious staff!'

¹⁸"Come down from your glory and sit on the parched ground, O inhabitants of the Daughter of Dibon, for he who destroys Moab will come up against you and ruin your fortified cities. ¹⁹Stand by the road and watch, you who live in Aroer. Ask the man fleeing and the woman escaping, ask them, 'What has happened?' ²⁰Moab is disgraced, for she is shattered. Wail and cry out! Announce by the Arnon that Moab is destroyed.

 

 

Psalm 30

¹A psalm. A song. For the dedication of the temple. Of David. I will exalt you, O LORD, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me. ²O LORD my God, I called to you for help and you healed me. ³O LORD, you brought me up from the grave; you spared me from going down into the pit. ⁴Sing to the LORD, you saints of his; praise his holy name. ⁵For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning. ⁶When I felt secure, I said, "I will never be shaken." ⁷O LORD, when you favored me, you made my mountain stand firm; but when you hid your face, I was dismayed. ⁸To you, O LORD, I called; to the Lord I cried for mercy: ⁹"What gain is there in my destruction, in my going down into the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it proclaim your faithfulness? ¹⁰Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me; O LORD, be my help." ¹¹You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, ¹²that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever.

 

 

Acts 28:11–16

¹¹After three months we put out to sea in a ship that had wintered in the island. It was an Alexandrian ship with the figurehead of the twin gods Castor and Pollux. ¹²We put in at Syracuse and stayed there three days. ¹³From there we set sail and arrived at Rhegium. The next day the south wind came up, and on the following day we reached Puteoli. ¹⁴There we found some brothers who invited us to spend a week with them. And so we came to Rome. ¹⁵The brothers there had heard that we were coming, and they traveled as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns to meet us. At the sight of these men Paul thanked God and was encouraged. ¹⁶When we got to Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself, with a soldier to guard him.