October 6: Isaiah 26–28; Psalm 89:30–52; Acts 13

Isaiah 26–28 (Listen)

You Keep Him in Perfect Peace

26In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

“We have a strong city;
he sets up salvation
as walls and bulwarks.
2Open the gates,
that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in.
3You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.
4Trust in the LORD forever,
for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.
5For he has humbled
the inhabitants of the height,
the lofty city.
He lays it low, lays it low to the ground,
casts it to the dust.
6The foot tramples it,
the feet of the poor,
the steps of the needy.”


7The path of the righteous is level;
you make level the way of the righteous.
8In the path of your judgments,
O LORD, we wait for you;
your name and remembrance
are the desire of our soul.
9My soul yearns for you in the night;
my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.
For when your judgments are in the earth,
the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
10If favor is shown to the wicked,
he does not learn righteousness;
in the land of uprightness he deals corruptly
and does not see the majesty of the LORD.
11O LORD, your hand is lifted up,
but they do not see it.
Let them see your zeal for your people, and be ashamed.
Let the fire for your adversaries consume them.
12O LORD, you will ordain peace for us,
for you have indeed done for us all our works.
13O LORD our God,
other lords besides you have ruled over us,
but your name alone we bring to remembrance.
14They are dead, they will not live;
they are shades, they will not arise;
to that end you have visited them with destruction
and wiped out all remembrance of them.
15But you have increased the nation, O LORD,
you have increased the nation; you are glorified;
you have enlarged all the borders of the land.


16O LORD, in distress they sought you;
they poured out a whispered prayer
when your discipline was upon them.
17Like a pregnant woman
who writhes and cries out in her pangs
when she is near to giving birth,
so were we because of you, O LORD;
18we were pregnant, we writhed,
but we have given birth to wind.
We have accomplished no deliverance in the earth,
and the inhabitants of the world have not fallen.
19Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise.
You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy!
For your dew is a dew of light,
and the earth will give birth to the dead.


20Come, my people, enter your chambers,
and shut your doors behind you;
hide yourselves for a little while
until the fury has passed by.
21For behold, the LORD is coming out from his place
to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity,
and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it,
and will no more cover its slain.

The Redemption of Israel

27In that day the LORD with his hard and great and strong sword will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the dragon that is in the sea.

2In that day,
“A pleasant vineyard,^{Many Hebrew manuscripts A vineyard of wine“>1} sing of it!
3I, the LORD, am its keeper;
every moment I water it.
Lest anyone punish it,
I keep it night and day;
4I have no wrath.
Would that I had thorns and briers to battle!
I would march against them,
I would burn them up together.
5Or let them lay hold of my protection,
let them make peace with me,
let them make peace with me.”


6In days to come^{Hebrew In those to come“>2} Jacob shall take root,
Israel shall blossom and put forth shoots
and fill the whole world with fruit.


7Has he struck them as he struck those who struck them?
Or have they been slain as their slayers were slain?
8Measure by measure,^{Or By driving her away; the meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain“>3} by exile you contended with them;
he removed them with his fierce breath^{Or wind“>4} in the day of the east wind.
9Therefore by this the guilt of Jacob will be atoned for,
and this will be the full fruit of the removal of his sin:^{Septuagint and this is the blessing when I take away his sin“>5}
when he makes all the stones of the altars
like chalkstones crushed to pieces,
no Asherim or incense altars will remain standing.
10For the fortified city is solitary,
a habitation deserted and forsaken, like the wilderness;
there the calf grazes;
there it lies down and strips its branches.
11When its boughs are dry, they are broken;
women come and make a fire of them.
For this is a people without discernment;
therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them;
he who formed them will show them no favor.

12In that day from the river Euphrates^{Hebrew from the River“>6} to the Brook of Egypt the LORD will thresh out the grain, and you will be gleaned one by one, O people of Israel. 13And in that day a great trumpet will be blown, and those who were lost in the land of Assyria and those who were driven out to the land of Egypt will come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

Judgment on Ephraim and Jerusalem

28Ah, the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim,
and the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
which is on the head of the rich valley of those overcome with wine!
2Behold, the Lord has one who is mighty and strong;
like a storm of hail, a destroying tempest,
like a storm of mighty, overflowing waters,
he casts down to the earth with his hand.
3The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim
will be trodden underfoot;
4and the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
which is on the head of the rich valley,
will be like a first-ripe fig^{Or fruit“>7} before the summer:
when someone sees it, he swallows it
as soon as it is in his hand.


5In that day the LORD of hosts will be a crown of glory,^{The Hebrew words for glory and hosts sound alike“>8}
and a diadem of beauty, to the remnant of his people,
6and a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment,
and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.


7These also reel with wine
and stagger with strong drink;
the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink,
they are swallowed by^{Or confused by“>9} wine,
they stagger with strong drink,
they reel in vision,
they stumble in giving judgment.
8For all tables are full of filthy vomit,
with no space left.


9“To whom will he teach knowledge,
and to whom will he explain the message?
Those who are weaned from the milk,
those taken from the breast?
10For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
line upon line, line upon line,
here a little, there a little.”


11For by people of strange lips
and with a foreign tongue
the LORD will speak to this people,
12to whom he has said,
“This is rest;
give rest to the weary;
and this is repose”;
yet they would not hear.
13And the word of the LORD will be to them
precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
line upon line, line upon line,
here a little, there a little,
that they may go, and fall backward,
and be broken, and snared, and taken.

A Cornerstone in Zion

14Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scoffers,
who rule this people in Jerusalem!
15Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death,
and with Sheol we have an agreement,
when the overwhelming whip passes through
it will not come to us,
for we have made lies our refuge,
and in falsehood we have taken shelter”;
16therefore thus says the Lord GOD,
“Behold, I am the one who has laid^{Dead Sea Scroll I am laying“>10} as a foundation in Zion,
a stone, a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone, of a sure foundation:
‘Whoever believes will not be in haste.’
17And I will make justice the line,
and righteousness the plumb line;
and hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,
and waters will overwhelm the shelter.”
18Then your covenant with death will be annulled,
and your agreement with Sheol will not stand;
when the overwhelming scourge passes through,
you will be beaten down by it.
19As often as it passes through it will take you;
for morning by morning it will pass through,
by day and by night;
and it will be sheer terror to understand the message.
20For the bed is too short to stretch oneself on,
and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in.
21For the LORD will rise up as on Mount Perazim;
as in the Valley of Gibeon he will be roused;
to do his deed—strange is his deed!
and to work his work—alien is his work!
22Now therefore do not scoff,
lest your bonds be made strong;
for I have heard a decree of destruction
from the Lord GOD of hosts against the whole land.


23Give ear, and hear my voice;
give attention, and hear my speech.
24Does he who plows for sowing plow continually?
Does he continually open and harrow his ground?
25When he has leveled its surface,
does he not scatter dill, sow cumin,
and put in wheat in rows
and barley in its proper place,
and emmer^{A type of wheat“>11} as the border?
26For he is rightly instructed;
his God teaches him.


27Dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge,
nor is a cart wheel rolled over cumin,
but dill is beaten out with a stick,
and cumin with a rod.
28Does one crush grain for bread?
No, he does not thresh it forever;^{Or Grain is crushed for bread; he will surely thresh it, but not forever“>12}
when he drives his cart wheel over it
with his horses, he does not crush it.
29This also comes from the LORD of hosts;
he is wonderful in counsel
and excellent in wisdom.

(ESV)

Psalm 89:30–52 (Listen)

30If his children forsake my law
and do not walk according to my rules,^{Or my just decrees“>1}
31if they violate my statutes
and do not keep my commandments,
32then I will punish their transgression with the rod
and their iniquity with stripes,
33but I will not remove from him my steadfast love
or be false to my faithfulness.
34I will not violate my covenant
or alter the word that went forth from my lips.
35Once for all I have sworn by my holiness;
I will not lie to David.
36His offspring shall endure forever,
his throne as long as the sun before me.
37Like the moon it shall be established forever,
a faithful witness in the skies.” Selah


38But now you have cast off and rejected;
you are full of wrath against your anointed.
39You have renounced the covenant with your servant;
you have defiled his crown in the dust.
40You have breached all his walls;
you have laid his strongholds in ruins.
41All who pass by plunder him;
he has become the scorn of his neighbors.
42You have exalted the right hand of his foes;
you have made all his enemies rejoice.
43You have also turned back the edge of his sword,
and you have not made him stand in battle.
44You have made his splendor to cease
and cast his throne to the ground.
45You have cut short the days of his youth;
you have covered him with shame. Selah


46How long, O LORD? Will you hide yourself forever?
How long will your wrath burn like fire?
47Remember how short my time is!
For what vanity you have created all the children of man!
48What man can live and never see death?
Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah


49Lord, where is your steadfast love of old,
which by your faithfulness you swore to David?
50Remember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked,
and how I bear in my heart the insults^{Hebrew lacks the insults“>2} of all the many nations,
51with which your enemies mock, O LORD,
with which they mock the footsteps of your anointed.


52Blessed be the LORD forever!
Amen and Amen.

(ESV)

Acts 13 (Listen)

Barnabas and Saul Sent Off

13Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger,^{Niger is a Latin word meaning black, or dark“>1} Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

Barnabas and Saul on Cyprus

4So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. 5When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they had John to assist them. 6When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. 7He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. 8But Elymas the magician (for that is the meaning of his name) opposed them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. 9But Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him 10and said, “You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? 11And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand. 12Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at the teaching of the Lord.

Paul and Barnabas at Antioch in Pisidia

13Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And John left them and returned to Jerusalem, 14but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. 15After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it.” 16So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said:

“Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen. 17The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and made the people great during their stay in the land of Egypt, and with uplifted arm he led them out of it. 18And for about forty years he put up with^{Some manuscripts he carried (compare Deuteronomy 1:31)“>2} them in the wilderness. 19And after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance. 20All this took about 450 years. And after that he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. 21Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. 22And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’ 23Of this man’s offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised. 24Before his coming, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. 25And as John was finishing his course, he said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but behold, after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’

26“Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation. 27For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. 28And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. 29And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. 30But God raised him from the dead, 31and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. 32And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, 33this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm,

“‘You are my Son,
today I have begotten you.’

34And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way,

“‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’

35Therefore he says also in another psalm,

“‘You will not let your Holy One see corruption.’

36For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption, 37but he whom God raised up did not see corruption. 38Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, 39and by him everyone who believes is freed^{Greek justified; twice in this verse“>3} from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. 40Beware, therefore, lest what is said in the Prophets should come about:

41“‘Look, you scoffers,
be astounded and perish;
for I am doing a work in your days,
a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you.’”

42As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath. 43And after the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who, as they spoke with them, urged them to continue in the grace of God.

44The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. 45But when the Jews^{Greek Ioudaioi probably refers here to Jewish religious leaders, and others under their influence, in that time; also verse 50“>4} saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him. 46And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. 47For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,

“‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles,
that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”

48And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. 49And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region. 50But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district. 51But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. 52And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

(ESV)