Hello, this is Father Paul, and I'm glad we're
taking this journey together to read the Bible
in a year. Today's reading is from the book of
Isaiah, chapters 28 and 29, along with 2 Kings,
chapter 17. Isaiah 28 Woe to the crown of pride,
to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty
is a fading flower, which is at the head of the
verdant valleys, to those who are overcome with
wine. behold the lord has a mighty and strong
one like a tempest of hail and a destroying storm
like a flood of mighty waters overflowing who
will bring them down to the earth with his hand
the crown of pride the drunkards of ephraim will
be trampled under foot and the glorious beauty
is a fading flower which is at the head of the
verdant valley like the first fruit before the
summer which an observer sees he eats it up while
it is still in his hand in that day the lord
of hosts will be for a crown of glory and a diadem
of beauty to the remnant of his people, for a
spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment,
and for strength to those who turn back the battle
at the gate. But they also have erred through
wine, and through intoxicating drink are out
of the way. The priest and the prophet have erred
through intoxicating drink. They are swallowed
up by wine. They are out of the way through intoxicating
drink. They err in vision. They stumble in judgment.
For all tables are full of vomit and filth, no
place is clean. Whom will he teach knowledge?
And whom will he make to understand the message?
Those just weaned from milk? Those just drawn
from the breasts? For precept must be upon precept,
precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon
line, here a little, there a little. For with
stammering lips and another tongue he will speak
to this people, to whom he said, this is the
rest. with which you may cause the weary to rest.
And this is the refreshing, yet they would not
hear. But the word of the Lord was to them, precept
upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon
line, line upon line, here a little, there a
little, that they might go and fall backward
and be broken and snared and caught. Therefore
hear the word of the Lord, you scornful men,
who rule this people who are in Jerusalem. Because
you have said, We have made a covenant with death,
and with Sheol we are in agreement. When the
overflowing scourge passes through, it will not
come to us. For we have made lies our refuge,
and under falsehood we have hidden ourselves.
Therefore thus says the Lord God, Behold, I lay
in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone,
a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. Whoever
believes will not act hastily. Also I will make
justice the measuring line, and righteousness
the plummet. The hail will sweep away the refuge
of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding
place. Your covenant with death will be annulled,
and your agreement with Sheol will not stand.
When the overflowing scourge passes through,
then you will be trampled down by it. As often
as it goes out, it will take you. For morning
by morning it will pass over, and by day and
by night. It will be a terror just to understand
the report. For the bed is too short to stretch
out on, and the covering so narrow that one cannot
wrap himself in it. For the Lord will rise up
as at Mount Perazim. He will be angry as in the
valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his
awesome work, and bring to pass his act, his
unusual act. Now therefore do not be mockers,
lest your bonds be made strong. for i have heard
from the lord god of hosts a destruction determined
even upon the whole earth give ear and hear my
voice listen and hear my speech does the ploughman
keep ploughing all day to sow does he keep turning
his soil and breaking the clods when he has levelled
its surface does he not sow the black cumin and
scatter the cumin plant the wheat in rows the
barley in a pointed place and a spelt in its
place For he instructs him in right judgment,
his God teaches him. For the black human is not
threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is a cartwheel
rolled over the human. But the black human is
beaten out with a stick, and a human with a rod.
Bread flour must be ground, therefore he does
not thresh it forever, break it with his cartwheel,
or crush it with his horseman. This also comes
from the Lord of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel
and excellent in guidance. Chapter 29 Woe to
Ariel, to Ariel the city where David dwelt! Add
year to year, let feasts come around, yet I will
distress Ariel. There shall be heaviness and
sorrow, and it shall be to me as Ariel. I will
encamp against you all around, I will lay siege
against you with a mound. And I will raise siege
works against you. You shall be brought down,
you shall speak out of the ground. Your speech
shall be low, out of the dust. your voice shall
be like a medium's out of the ground and your
speech shall whisper out of the dust moreover
the multitude of your foes shall be like fine
dust and the multitude of the terrible ones like
chaff that passes away yes it shall be in an
instant suddenly you will be punished by the
lord of hosts with thunder and earthquake and
great noise with storm and tempest and the flame
of devouring fire the multitude of all the nations
who fight against ariel Even all who fight against
her and her fortress and distress her shall be
as a dream of a night vision. It shall even be
as when a hungry man dreams, and look, he eats,
but he awakes and his soul is still empty. Or
as when a thirsty man dreams, and look, he drinks,
but he awakes and indeed he is faint, and his
soul still craves. So the multitude of all the
nations shall be who fight against Mount Zion.
Pause and wonder. Blind yourselves and be blind.
They are drunk, but not with wine. They stagger,
but not with intoxicating drink. For the Lord
has poured out on you the spirit of deep sleep,
and has closed your eyes, namely the prophets,
and he has covered your heads, namely the seers.
The whole vision has become to you like the words
of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to
one who is literate, saying, Read this, please.
And he says, I cannot, for it is sealed. Then
the book is delivered to one who is illiterate,
saying, Read this, please. And he says, I am
not literate. Therefore the Lord said, Inasmuch
as these people draw near with their mouth and
honor me with their lips, but have removed their
hearts far from me, and their fear toward me
is taught by the commandment of men, therefore,
behold, I will again do a marvelous work among
these people, a marvelous work and a wonder.
For the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
and the understanding of their prudent men shall
be hidden. Woe to those who seek deep to hide
their counsel far from the Lord, and their works
are in the dark. They say, Who sees us, and who
knows us? Surely you have things turned around.
Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay? For
shall the thing made say of him who made it,
He did not make me? Or shall the thing formed
say of him who formed it, He has no understanding?
Is it not yet a very little while till Lebanon
shall be turned into a fruitful field, and a
fruitful field be esteemed as a forest? In that
day the deaf shall hear the words of the book,
and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity
and out of darkness. The humble also shall increase
their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men
shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. for
the terrible one is brought to nothing the scornful
one is consumed and all who watch for iniquity
are cut off who make a man an offender by a word
and lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate
and turn aside the just by empty words therefore
thus says the lord who redeemed abraham concerning
the house of jacob jacob shall not now be ashamed
nor shall his face now grow pale But when he
sees his children, the work of my hands, in his
midst, they will hallow my name, and hallow the
Holy One of Jacob, and fear the God of Israel.
These also who erred in spirit will come to understanding,
and those who complained will learn doctrine.
In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hosea
the son of Elah became king of Israel in Samaria,
and he reigned nine years. And he did evil in
the sight of the Lord, but not as the kings of
Israel who were before him. Shalmaneser, king
of Assyria, came up against him, and Hosea became
his vassal and paid him tribute money. And the
king of Assyria uncovered a conspiracy by Hosea,
for he had sent messengers to Saul, king of Egypt,
and brought no tribute to the king of Assyria,
as he had done year by year. Therefore the king
of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison.
Now the king of Assyria went throughout all the
land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it
for three years. In the ninth year of Hoshea,
the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried
Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Hala,
and by the harbor, the river of Gozan, and in
the cities of the Medes. For so it was that the
children of Israel had sinned against the Lord
their God, who had brought them up out of the
land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh
king of Egypt, and they had feared other gods.
and had walked in the statutes of the nations
whom the Lord had cast out from before the children
of Israel and of the kings of Israel which they
had made. Also the children of Israel secretly
did against the Lord their God things that were
not right, and they built for themselves high
places in all their cities, from watchtower to
fortified city. They set up for themselves sacred
pillars and wooden images on every high hill
and under every green tree. There they burned
incense on all the high places, like the nations
whom the Lord had carried away before them. And
they did wicked things to provoke the Lord to
anger. For they served idols, of which the Lord
had said to them, You shall not do this thing.
Yet the Lord testified against Israel and against
Judah by all of his prophets, every seer saying,
Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments
and my statutes according to all the law. which
I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to
you by my servants the prophets. Nevertheless,
they would not hear but stiffen their necks,
like the necks of their fathers who did not believe
in the Lord their God. And they rejected his
statutes and his covenant that he had made with
their fathers, and his testimonies which he had
testified against them. They followed idols,
became idolaters, and went after the nations
who were all around them, concerning whom the
Lord had charged them. that they should not do
like them. So they left all the commandments
of the Lord their God, made for themselves a
molded image and two calves, made a wooden image
and worshipped all the hosts of heaven and served
Baal. And they caused their sons and daughters
to pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft
and soothsaying, and sold themselves to do evil
in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger.
Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel.
and removed them from his sight. There was none
left but the tribe of Judah alone. Also Judah
did not keep the commandments of the Lord their
God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which
they made. And the Lord rejected all the descendants
of Israel, afflicted them, and delivered them
into the hand of plunderers, until he had cast
them from his sight. For he tore Israel from
the house of David, and they made Jeroboam the
son of Nebat king. Then Jeroboam drove Israel
from following the Lord, and made them commit
a great sin. For the children of Israel walked
in all the sins of Jeroboam, which he did. They
did not depart from them, until the Lord removed
Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all
his servants the prophets. So Israel was carried
away from their own land to Assyria, as it is
to this day. Then the king of Assyria brought
people from Babylon. Ava, Hamad, and from Sepharvaim,
and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead
of the children of Israel. And they took possession
of Samaria and dwelt in its cities. And it was
so at the beginning of their dwelling there that
they did not fear the Lord. Therefore the Lord
sent lions among them, which killed some of them.
So they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying,
The nations whom you have removed and placed
in the cities of Samaria, Do not know the rituals
of the god of the land. Therefore he has sent
lions among them, and indeed they are killing
them, because they do not know the rituals of
the god of the land. Then the king of Assyria
commanded, saying, Send there one of the priests,
whom you brought from there. Let him go and dwell
there, and let him teach them the rituals of
the god of the land. Then one of the priests,
whom they had carried away from Samaria, came
and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they
should fear the Lord. However, every nation continued
to make gods of its own, and put them in the
shrines on the high places which the Samaritans
had made, every nation in the cities where they
dwelt. The men of Babylon made Sukkot Benot,
the men of Kut made Nergal, the men of Hamat
made Ashima, and the Avvites made Nebaz and Tartak,
and the Sepharvites burned their children in
fire to Adra -Melech and Ana -Melech, the gods
of Sepharvim. so they feared the lord and from
every class they appointed for themselves priests
of the high places who sacrificed for them in
the shrines of the high places they feared the
lord yet served their own gods according to the
rituals of the nations from among whom they were
carried away to this day they continue practicing
the former rituals they do not fear the lord
nor do they follow their statutes or their ordinances
or the law and commandment which the lord had
commanded the children of jacob whom he named
Israel, with whom the Lord had made a covenant
and charged them, saying, You shall not fear
other gods, nor bow down to them, nor serve them,
nor sacrifice to them. But the Lord who brought
you up from the land of Egypt with great power
and an outstretched arm, him you shall fear,
him you shall worship, and to him you shall offer
sacrifice. And the statutes, the ordinances,
the law and the commandment, which he wrote for
you, you shall be careful to observe forever.
you shall not fear other gods. And the covenant
that I have made with you, you shall not forget,
nor shall you fear other gods. But the Lord your
God you shall fear, and he will deliver you from
the hand of all your enemies. However, they did
not obey, but they followed their former rituals.
So these nations feared the Lord, yet served
their carved images. Also their children and
their children's children have continued doing
as their fathers did, even to this day. I hope
you enjoyed today's reading as much as I did
and I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow
to continue on our journey. God bless you and
have a great day.