October 4: Isaiah 20–22; Psalm 88; Acts 11

Isaiah 20–22 (Listen)

A Sign Against Egypt and Cush

20In the year that the commander in chief, who was sent by Sargon the king of Assyria, came to Ashdod and fought against it and captured it—2at that time the LORD spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go, and loose the sackcloth from your waist and take off your sandals from your feet,” and he did so, walking naked and barefoot.

3Then the LORD said, “As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Cush,^{Probably Nubia“>1} 4so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptian captives and the Cushite exiles, both the young and the old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, the nakedness of Egypt. 5Then they shall be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and of Egypt their boast. 6And the inhabitants of this coastland will say in that day, ‘Behold, this is what has happened to those in whom we hoped and to whom we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria! And we, how shall we escape?’”

Fallen, Fallen Is Babylon

21The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea.

As whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on,
it comes from the wilderness,
from a terrible land.
2A stern vision is told to me;
the traitor betrays,
and the destroyer destroys.
Go up, O Elam;
lay siege, O Media;
all the sighing she has caused
I bring to an end.
3Therefore my loins are filled with anguish;
pangs have seized me,
like the pangs of a woman in labor;
I am bowed down so that I cannot hear;
I am dismayed so that I cannot see.
4My heart staggers; horror has appalled me;
the twilight I longed for
has been turned for me into trembling.
5They prepare the table,
they spread the rugs,^{Or they set the watchman“>2}
they eat, they drink.
Arise, O princes;
oil the shield!
6For thus the Lord said to me:
“Go, set a watchman;
let him announce what he sees.
7When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs,
riders on donkeys, riders on camels,
let him listen diligently,
very diligently.”
8Then he who saw cried out:^{Dead Sea Scroll, Syriac; Masoretic Text Then a lion cried out, or Then he cried out like a lion“>3}
“Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord,
continually by day,
and at my post I am stationed
whole nights.
9And behold, here come riders,
horsemen in pairs!”
And he answered,
“Fallen, fallen is Babylon;
and all the carved images of her gods
he has shattered to the ground.”
10O my threshed and winnowed one,
what I have heard from the LORD of hosts,
the God of Israel, I announce to you.

11The oracle concerning Dumah.

One is calling to me from Seir,
“Watchman, what time of the night?
Watchman, what time of the night?”
12The watchman says:
“Morning comes, and also the night.
If you will inquire, inquire;
come back again.”

13The oracle concerning Arabia.

In the thickets in Arabia you will lodge,
O caravans of Dedanites.
14To the thirsty bring water;
meet the fugitive with bread,
O inhabitants of the land of Tema.
15For they have fled from the swords,
from the drawn sword,
from the bent bow,
and from the press of battle.

16For thus the Lord said to me, “Within a year, according to the years of a hired worker, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end. 17And the remainder of the archers of the mighty men of the sons of Kedar will be few, for the LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken.”

An Oracle Concerning Jerusalem

22The oracle concerning the valley of vision.

What do you mean that you have gone up,
all of you, to the housetops,
2you who are full of shoutings,
tumultuous city, exultant town?
Your slain are not slain with the sword
or dead in battle.
3All your leaders have fled together;
without the bow they were captured.
All of you who were found were captured,
though they had fled far away.
4Therefore I said:
“Look away from me;
let me weep bitter tears;
do not labor to comfort me
concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.”


5For the Lord GOD of hosts has a day
of tumult and trampling and confusion
in the valley of vision,
a battering down of walls
and a shouting to the mountains.
6And Elam bore the quiver
with chariots and horsemen,
and Kir uncovered the shield.
7Your choicest valleys were full of chariots,
and the horsemen took their stand at the gates.
8He has taken away the covering of Judah.

In that day you looked to the weapons of the House of the Forest, 9and you saw that the breaches of the city of David were many. You collected the waters of the lower pool, 10and you counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall. 11You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look to him who did it, or see him who planned it long ago.

12In that day the Lord GOD of hosts
called for weeping and mourning,
for baldness and wearing sackcloth;
13and behold, joy and gladness,
killing oxen and slaughtering sheep,
eating flesh and drinking wine.
“Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die.”
14The LORD of hosts has revealed himself in my ears:
“Surely this iniquity will not be atoned for you until you die,”
says the Lord GOD of hosts.

15Thus says the Lord GOD of hosts, “Come, go to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the household, and say to him: 16What have you to do here, and whom have you here, that you have cut out here a tomb for yourself, you who cut out a tomb on the height and carve a dwelling for yourself in the rock? 17Behold, the LORD will hurl you away violently, O you strong man. He will seize firm hold on you 18and whirl you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a wide land. There you shall die, and there shall be your glorious chariots, you shame of your master’s house. 19I will thrust you from your office, and you will be pulled down from your station. 20In that day I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, 21and I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your sash on him, and will commit your authority to his hand. And he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. 22And I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David. He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. 23And I will fasten him like a peg in a secure place, and he will become a throne of honor to his father’s house. 24And they will hang on him the whole honor of his father’s house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons. 25In that day, declares the LORD of hosts, the peg that was fastened in a secure place will give way, and it will be cut down and fall, and the load that was on it will be cut off, for the LORD has spoken.”

(ESV)

Psalm 88 (Listen)

I Cry Out Day and Night Before You

A Song. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah. To the choirmaster: according to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil^{Probably musical or liturgical terms“>1} of Heman the Ezrahite.

88O LORD, God of my salvation,
I cry out day and night before you.
2Let my prayer come before you;
incline your ear to my cry!


3For my soul is full of troubles,
and my life draws near to Sheol.
4I am counted among those who go down to the pit;
I am a man who has no strength,
5like one set loose among the dead,
like the slain that lie in the grave,
like those whom you remember no more,
for they are cut off from your hand.
6You have put me in the depths of the pit,
in the regions dark and deep.
7Your wrath lies heavy upon me,
and you overwhelm me with all your waves. Selah


8You have caused my companions to shun me;
you have made me a horror^{Or an abomination“>2} to them.
I am shut in so that I cannot escape;
9my eye grows dim through sorrow.
Every day I call upon you, O LORD;
I spread out my hands to you.
10Do you work wonders for the dead?
Do the departed rise up to praise you? Selah
11Is your steadfast love declared in the grave,
or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
12Are your wonders known in the darkness,
or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?


13But I, O LORD, cry to you;
in the morning my prayer comes before you.
14O LORD, why do you cast my soul away?
Why do you hide your face from me?
15Afflicted and close to death from my youth up,
I suffer your terrors; I am helpless.^{The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain“>3}
16Your wrath has swept over me;
your dreadful assaults destroy me.
17They surround me like a flood all day long;
they close in on me together.
18You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me;
my companions have become darkness.^{Or darkness has become my only companion“>4}

(ESV)

Acts 11 (Listen)

Peter Reports to the Church

11Now the apostles and the brothers^{Or brothers and sisters“>1} who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. 2So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcision party^{Or Jerusalem, those of the circumcision“>2} criticized him, saying, 3“You went to uncircumcised men and ate with them.” 4But Peter began and explained it to them in order: 5“I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision, something like a great sheet descending, being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to me. 6Looking at it closely, I observed animals and beasts of prey and reptiles and birds of the air. 7And I heard a voice saying to me, ‘Rise, Peter; kill and eat.’ 8But I said, ‘By no means, Lord; for nothing common or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 9But the voice answered a second time from heaven, ‘What God has made clean, do not call common.’ 10This happened three times, and all was drawn up again into heaven. 11And behold, at that very moment three men arrived at the house in which we were, sent to me from Caesarea. 12And the Spirit told me to go with them, making no distinction. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. 13And he told us how he had seen the angel stand in his house and say, ‘Send to Joppa and bring Simon who is called Peter; 14he will declare to you a message by which you will be saved, you and all your household.’ 15As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. 16And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?” 18When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”

The Church in Antioch

19Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. 20But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists^{Or Greeks (that is, Greek-speaking non-Jews)“>3} also, preaching the Lord Jesus. 21And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. 22The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, 24for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord. 25So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, 26and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.

27Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius). 29So the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers^{Or brothers and sisters“>4} living in Judea. 30And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.

(ESV)