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 Isaiah, chapters
15 and 16, as well as chapters 18 through 20.
Chapter 15 The Burden Against Moab Because in
the night, Ur of Moab is laid waste and destroyed.
Because in the night, Kir of Moab is laid waste
and destroyed. He has gone up to the temple and
Dibon. to the high places to weep. Moab will
wail over Nebo and over Medeba. On all their
heads will be baldness, and every beard cut off.
In their streets they will clothe themselves
with sackcloth. On the tops of their houses and
in their streets everyone will wail, weeping
bitterly. Heshbon and Eliela will cry out. Their
voice shall be heard as far as Jahaz. Therefore
the armed soldiers of Moab will cry out. His
life will be burdensome to him. My heart will
cry out for Moab, his fugitives shall flee to
Zoar, like a three -year -old heifer, for by
the ascent of Luhit they will go up with weeping,
for in the way of Horonim they will raise up
a cry of destruction, for the waters of Nimrim
will be desolate, for the green grass has withered
away. The grass fails, there is nothing green,
therefore the abundance they have gained, and
what they have laid up they will carry away to
the brook of the willows. For the cry has gone
all around the borders of Moab, its wailing to
Eglim, and its wailing to Bir Elim. For the waters
of Dimon will be full of blood, because I will
bring more upon Dimon, lions upon him who escapes
from Moab and on the remnant of the land. Chapter
16 Send the Lamb to the ruler of the land, from
Selah to the wilderness, to the mount of the
daughter of Zion. For it shall be as a wandering
bird thrown out of the nest, so shall be the
daughters of Moab at the fords of Arnon. Take
counsel, execute judgment, make your shadow like
the night in the middle of the day. Hide the
outcasts, do not betray him who escapes. Let
my outcasts dwell with you, O Moab, be a shelter
to them from the face of the spoiler. For the
extortioner is at an end, devastation ceases,
the oppressors are consumed out of the land.
In mercy the throne will be established, and
one will sit on it in truth, in the tabernacle
of David, judging and seeking justice and hastening
righteousness. We have heard of the pride of
Moab. He is very proud of his haughtiness and
his pride and his wrath. But his lies shall not
be so. Therefore Moab shall wail for Moab. Everyone
shall wail. For the foundations of Kir Haraseth
you shall mourn. Surely they are stricken. For
the fields of Hezbon languish, and the vine of
Sibma. The lords of the nations have broken down
its choice plants, which have reached to Jazer,
and wandered through the wilderness. Her branches
are stretched out, they are gone over the sea.
Therefore I will bewail the vine of Sibma. With
the weeping of Jazer, I will drench you with
my tears. O Hezbon and Eliela, for battle cries
have fallen over your summer fruits and your
harvest. Gladness is taken away. and joy from
the plentiful field in the vineyards there will
be no singing nor will there be shouting no treaders
will tread out wine in the presses i have made
their shouting cease therefore my heart shall
resound like a harp for moab and my inner being
for kir heres and it shall come to pass when
it is seen that moab is weary on the high place
that he will come to his sanctuary to pray but
he will not prevail This is the word which the
Lord has spoken concerning Moab since that time.
But now the Lord has spoken, saying, Within three
years, as the years of a hired man, the glory
of Moab will be despised with all the great multitude,
and the remnant will be very small and feeble.
Chapter 18 Woe to the land shadowed with buzzing
wings, which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,
which sends ambassadors by sea even in vessels
of reed on the waters, saying, Go swift, messengers,
to a nation tall and smooth of skin, to a people
terrible from their beginning onward, a nation
powerful and treading down, whose land the rivers
divide. All inhabitants of the world and dwellers
on the earth, when he lifts up a banner on the
mountains, you see it, and when he blows a trumpet,
you hear it. For so the Lord said to me, I will
take my rest, and I will look from my dwelling
place like clear heat in sunshine, like a cloud
of dew in the heat of harvest. For before the
harvest, when the bud is perfect and the sour
grape is ripening in the flower, he will both
cut off the springs with pruning hooks and take
away and cut down the branches. They will be
left together for the mountain birds of prey
and for the beasts of the earth. The birds of
prey will summer on them, and all the beasts
of the earth will winter on them. In that time
a present will be brought to the Lord of hosts,
from a people tall and smooth of skin, and from
a people terrible from their beginning onward,
a nation powerful and treading down, whose land
the rivers divide, to the place of the name of
the Lord of hosts, to Mount Zion. Chapter 19
The Burden Against Egypt Behold, the Lord rides
on a swift cloud and will come into Egypt. The
idols of Egypt will totter at his presence, and
the heart of Egypt will melt in its midst. I
will set Egyptians against Egyptians. Everyone
will fight against his brother and everyone against
his neighbor. City against city, kingdom against
kingdom, the spirit of Egypt will fail in its
midst. I will destroy their council, and they
will consult the idols and the charmers, the
mediums and the sorcerers. And the Egyptians
I will give into the hand of a cruel master,
and a fierce king will rule over them, says the
Lord, the Lord of hosts. The waters will fail
from the sea, and the river will be wasted and
dried up. The rivers will turn foul, the brooks
of defense will be emptied and dried up. The
reeds and rushes will wither, the papyrus reeds
by the river, by the mouth of the river. And
everything sown by the river will wither, be
driven away, and be no more. The fishermen also
will mourn. All those will lament who cast hooks
into the river, and they will languish who spread
nets on the waters. Moreover, those who work
in fine flax and those who weave fine fabric
will be ashamed, and its foundations will be
broken. All who make wages will be troubled of
soul. Surely the princes of Zoan are fools. Pharaoh's
wise counselors give foolish counsel. How do
you say to Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise,
the son of ancient kings? Where are they? Where
are your wise men? let them tell you now and
let them know what the lord of hosts has purposed
against egypt the princes of zoan have become
fools the princes of nof are deceived they have
also deluded egypt those who are the mainstay
of its tribes the lord has mingled a perverse
spirit in her midst and they have caused egypt
to err in all her work as a drunken man staggers
in his vomit neither will there be any work for
egypt which the head or tail palm branch or borrush
may do. In that day Egypt will be like women,
and will be afraid and fear because of the waving
of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which he waves
over it. And the land of Judah will be a terror
to Egypt. Everyone who makes mention of it will
be afraid in himself because of the counsel of
the Lord of hosts, which he has determined against
it. In that day, five cities in the land of Egypt
will speak the language of Canaan, and swear
by the Lord of hosts, one will be called the
city of destruction. In that day there will be
an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land
of Egypt, and a pillar to the Lord at its border.
And it will be for a sign and for a witness to
the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt. For they
will cry to the Lord because of the oppressors,
and he will send them a Savior and a Mighty One,
and he will deliver them. Then the Lord will
be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know
the Lord in that day, and will make sacrifice
and offering. Yes, they will make a vow to the
Lord and perform it. And the Lord will strike
Egypt, He will strike and heal it. They will
return to the Lord, and He will be entreated
by them and heal them. In that day there will
be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrians
will come into Egypt, and the Egyptians into
Assyria, and the Egyptians will serve with the
Assyrians. In that day Israel will be one of
three with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the
midst of the land, whom the Lord of hosts shall
bless, saying, Blessed is Egypt my people, and
Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.
Chapter 20 In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod,
when Sargon the king of Assyria sent him, and
he fought against Ashdod and took it, at the
same time the Lord spoke by Isaiah the son of
Amoz, saying, Go and remove the sackcloth from
your body and take your sandals off your feet.
And he did so walking naked and barefoot. Then
the Lord said, Just as my servant Isaiah has
walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign
and a wonder against Egypt and Ethiopia, so shall
the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians as
prisoners and the Ethiopians as captives. young
and old, naked and barefoot, with their buttocks
uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. Then they shall
be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia, their expectation,
and Egypt, their glory. And the inhabitants of
this territory will say in that day, Surely such
is our expectation, wherever we flee for help,
to be delivered from the king of Assyria. And
how shall we escape? 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.