WEBVTT 00:00:00.919 --> 00:00:03.700 Hello, this is Father Paul, and I'm glad we're 00:00:03.700 --> 00:00:05.700 taking this journey together to read the Bible 00:00:05.700 --> 00:00:09.000 in a year. Today's reading is from the book of 00:00:09.000 --> 00:00:14.619 Isaiah, chapters 22 and 30 through 32. Chapter 00:00:14.619 --> 00:00:18.579 22 The Burden Against the Valley of Vision What 00:00:18.579 --> 00:00:21.100 ails you now that you have all gone up to the 00:00:21.100 --> 00:00:23.940 housetops? You who are full of noise, a tumultuous 00:00:23.940 --> 00:00:27.719 city, a joyous city. Your slain men are not slain 00:00:27.719 --> 00:00:30.699 with a sword, nor dead in battle. All your rulers 00:00:30.699 --> 00:00:33.359 have fled together. They are captured by the 00:00:33.359 --> 00:00:35.979 archers. All who are found in you are bound together. 00:00:36.219 --> 00:00:39.399 They have fled from afar. Therefore I said, Look 00:00:39.399 --> 00:00:42.439 away from me. I will weep bitterly. Do not labor 00:00:42.439 --> 00:00:44.859 to comfort me because of the plundering of the 00:00:44.859 --> 00:00:47.780 daughter of my people. For it is a day of trouble 00:00:47.780 --> 00:00:50.719 and treading down and perplexity by the Lord 00:00:50.719 --> 00:00:53.560 God of hosts in the valley of vision, breaking 00:00:53.560 --> 00:00:56.119 down the walls, and of crying to the mountain. 00:00:56.579 --> 00:00:59.609 Elam bore the quiver. with chariots of men and 00:00:59.609 --> 00:01:02.810 horsemen, and care, uncover the shield. It shall 00:01:02.810 --> 00:01:05.349 come to pass that your choicest valleys shall 00:01:05.349 --> 00:01:07.989 be full of chariots, and the horsemen shall set 00:01:07.989 --> 00:01:11.150 themselves in array at the gate. He removed the 00:01:11.150 --> 00:01:13.870 protection of Judah. He looked in that day to 00:01:13.870 --> 00:01:16.409 the armor of the house of the forest. You also 00:01:16.409 --> 00:01:19.370 saw the damage to the city of David, that it 00:01:19.370 --> 00:01:21.870 was great, and you gathered together the waters 00:01:21.870 --> 00:01:24.629 of the lower pool. You numbered the houses of 00:01:24.629 --> 00:01:27.510 Jerusalem, and the houses you broke down. to 00:01:27.510 --> 00:01:30.930 fortify the wall, you also made a reservoir between 00:01:30.930 --> 00:01:33.390 the two walls, for the water of the old pool, 00:01:33.569 --> 00:01:36.430 but you did not look to its maker, nor did you 00:01:36.430 --> 00:01:38.950 have respect for him who fashioned it long ago. 00:01:39.170 --> 00:01:42.090 And in that day the Lord God of hosts called 00:01:42.090 --> 00:01:44.829 for weeping and for mourning, for baldness and 00:01:44.829 --> 00:01:47.810 for girding with sackcloth, but instead joy and 00:01:47.810 --> 00:01:50.689 gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating 00:01:50.689 --> 00:01:53.489 meat and drinking wine. Let us eat and drink, 00:01:53.510 --> 00:01:56.379 for tomorrow we die. Then it was revealed in 00:01:56.379 --> 00:01:58.939 my hearing by the Lord of hosts, Surely for this 00:01:58.939 --> 00:02:01.239 iniquity there will be no atonement for you, 00:02:01.299 --> 00:02:04.060 even to your death, says the Lord God of hosts. 00:02:04.579 --> 00:02:07.480 Thus says the Lord God of hosts, Go, proceed 00:02:07.480 --> 00:02:10.180 to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the house, 00:02:10.319 --> 00:02:13.060 and say, What have you here, and whom have you 00:02:13.060 --> 00:02:16.199 here, that you have hewn a sepulchre here, as 00:02:16.199 --> 00:02:18.740 he who hews himself a sepulchre on high, who 00:02:18.740 --> 00:02:21.539 carves a tomb for himself in a rock? Indeed, 00:02:21.580 --> 00:02:24.180 the Lord will throw you away violently, O mighty 00:02:24.180 --> 00:02:27.360 man, and will surely seize you. He will surely 00:02:27.360 --> 00:02:30.500 turn violently and toss you like a ball into 00:02:30.500 --> 00:02:33.439 a large country, that you shall die, and there 00:02:33.439 --> 00:02:36.159 your glorious chariots shall be the shame of 00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:38.460 your master's house. So I will drive you out 00:02:38.460 --> 00:02:40.780 of your office, and from your position he will 00:02:40.780 --> 00:02:43.860 pull you down. Then it shall be in that day that 00:02:43.860 --> 00:02:47.099 I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah. 00:02:47.479 --> 00:02:49.900 I will clothe him with your robe and strengthen 00:02:49.900 --> 00:02:52.500 him with your belt. I will commit your responsibility 00:02:52.500 --> 00:02:55.479 into his hand. He shall be a father to the inhabitants 00:02:55.479 --> 00:02:58.259 of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. The key 00:02:58.259 --> 00:03:00.819 of the house of David I will lay on his shoulder, 00:03:00.939 --> 00:03:03.979 so he will open and no one shall shut, and he 00:03:03.979 --> 00:03:07.000 shall shut and no one shall open. I will fasten 00:03:07.000 --> 00:03:10.280 him as a peg in a secure place, and he will become 00:03:10.280 --> 00:03:13.340 a glorious throne to his father's house. they 00:03:13.340 --> 00:03:15.659 will hang on him all the glory of his father's 00:03:15.659 --> 00:03:18.840 house the offspring and the posterity all vessels 00:03:18.840 --> 00:03:21.919 of small quantity from the cups to all the pitchers 00:03:21.919 --> 00:03:25.280 in that day says the lord of hosts the peg that 00:03:25.280 --> 00:03:27.599 is fastened in the secure place will be removed 00:03:27.599 --> 00:03:30.379 and be cut down and fall and the burden that 00:03:30.379 --> 00:03:33.919 was on it will be cut off for the lord has spoken 00:03:33.919 --> 00:03:38.379 chapter thirty woe to the rebellious children 00:03:38.379 --> 00:03:41.199 says the lord who take counsel but not of me 00:03:41.639 --> 00:03:44.840 and who devise plans but not of my spirit, that 00:03:44.840 --> 00:03:48.199 they may add sin to sin, who walk to go down 00:03:48.199 --> 00:03:51.560 to Egypt, and have not asked my advice, to strengthen 00:03:51.560 --> 00:03:53.840 themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to 00:03:53.840 --> 00:03:56.500 trust in the shadow of Egypt. Therefore the strength 00:03:56.500 --> 00:03:59.180 of Pharaoh shall be your shame, and trust in 00:03:59.180 --> 00:04:01.340 the shadow of Egypt shall be your humiliation. 00:04:01.659 --> 00:04:05.039 For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors 00:04:05.039 --> 00:04:08.699 came to Haines. they were all ashamed of a people 00:04:08.699 --> 00:04:11.659 who could not benefit them or be help or benefit 00:04:11.659 --> 00:04:15.520 but a shame and also a reproach the burden against 00:04:15.520 --> 00:04:18.459 the beasts of the south through a land of trouble 00:04:18.459 --> 00:04:21.220 and anguish from which came the lioness and lion 00:04:21.220 --> 00:04:24.379 the viper and fiery flying serpent they will 00:04:24.379 --> 00:04:26.959 carry their riches on the backs of young donkeys 00:04:26.959 --> 00:04:29.860 and their treasures on the humps of camels to 00:04:29.860 --> 00:04:32.420 a people who shall not profit for the egyptians 00:04:32.420 --> 00:04:35.459 shall help in vain and to no purpose Therefore 00:04:35.459 --> 00:04:39.300 I have called her Rahab Haim Shebeth. Now go, 00:04:39.420 --> 00:04:41.879 write it before them on a tablet, and note it 00:04:41.879 --> 00:04:44.540 on a scroll, that it may be for time to come 00:04:44.540 --> 00:04:47.819 forever and ever, that this is a rebellious people, 00:04:47.980 --> 00:04:50.480 lying children, children who will not hear the 00:04:50.480 --> 00:04:53.259 law of the Lord, who say to the seers, Do not 00:04:53.259 --> 00:04:55.720 see, and to the prophets, Do not prophesy to 00:04:55.720 --> 00:04:59.100 us right things, speak to us smooth things, prophesy 00:04:59.100 --> 00:05:02.279 deceits, get out of the way, turn aside from 00:05:02.279 --> 00:05:05.189 the path. caused the Holy One of Israel to cease 00:05:05.189 --> 00:05:08.509 from before us. Therefore thus says the Holy 00:05:08.509 --> 00:05:11.389 One of Israel, Because you despise this word, 00:05:11.529 --> 00:05:13.889 and trust in oppression and perversity, and rely 00:05:13.889 --> 00:05:16.689 on them, therefore this iniquity shall be to 00:05:16.689 --> 00:05:19.750 you like a breach ready to fall, a bulge in a 00:05:19.750 --> 00:05:22.910 high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly in an 00:05:22.910 --> 00:05:25.430 instant. And he shall break it like the breaking 00:05:25.430 --> 00:05:28.029 of the potter's vessel, which is broken in pieces. 00:05:28.290 --> 00:05:31.019 He shall not spare. So there shall not be found 00:05:31.019 --> 00:05:34.279 among its fragments a shard to take fire from 00:05:34.279 --> 00:05:36.939 the heath, or to take water from the cistern. 00:05:36.939 --> 00:05:39.899 For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, 00:05:40.259 --> 00:05:42.740 In returning and rest you shall be saved. In 00:05:42.740 --> 00:05:45.079 quietness and confidence shall be your strength. 00:05:45.279 --> 00:05:48.920 But you would not. And you said, No, for we will 00:05:48.920 --> 00:05:52.259 flee on horses. Therefore you shall flee. And 00:05:52.259 --> 00:05:54.800 we will ride on swift horses. Therefore those 00:05:54.800 --> 00:05:57.889 who pursue you shall be swift. One thousand shall 00:05:57.889 --> 00:06:01.009 flee at the threat of one, at the threat of five 00:06:01.009 --> 00:06:04.250 you shall flee, till you are left as a pole on 00:06:04.250 --> 00:06:06.730 top of a mountain and as a banner on a hill. 00:06:07.209 --> 00:06:09.889 Therefore the Lord will wait that he may be gracious 00:06:09.889 --> 00:06:12.410 to you, and therefore he will be exalted that 00:06:12.410 --> 00:06:15.170 he may have mercy on you. For the Lord is a God 00:06:15.170 --> 00:06:17.730 of justice. Blessed are all those who wait for 00:06:17.730 --> 00:06:20.490 him. For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem. 00:06:20.730 --> 00:06:23.670 You shall weep no more. He will be very gracious 00:06:23.670 --> 00:06:26.490 to you at the sound of your cry. When he hears 00:06:26.490 --> 00:06:29.110 it, he will answer you. And though the Lord gives 00:06:29.110 --> 00:06:32.029 you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, 00:06:32.250 --> 00:06:35.149 yet your teachers will not be moved into a corner 00:06:35.149 --> 00:06:37.949 anymore. But your eyes shall see your teachers. 00:06:38.129 --> 00:06:40.889 Your ears shall hear a word behind you saying, 00:06:41.089 --> 00:06:44.370 This is the way, walk in it. Whenever you turn 00:06:44.370 --> 00:06:46.470 to the right hand or whenever you turn to the 00:06:46.470 --> 00:06:49.089 left, you will also defile the covering of your 00:06:49.089 --> 00:06:51.529 images of silver and the ornament of your molded 00:06:51.529 --> 00:06:54.589 images of gold. You will throw them away as an 00:06:54.589 --> 00:06:57.420 unclean thing. you shall say to them, Get away. 00:06:57.660 --> 00:07:00.800 Then he will give the rain for your seed, with 00:07:00.800 --> 00:07:03.600 which you sow the ground, and bread of the increase 00:07:03.600 --> 00:07:06.899 of the earth. It will be fat and plentiful. In 00:07:06.899 --> 00:07:09.819 that day your cattle will feed in large pastures. 00:07:10.040 --> 00:07:12.540 Likewise the oxen and the young donkeys that 00:07:12.540 --> 00:07:16.079 work the ground will eat cured fodder, which 00:07:16.079 --> 00:07:19.040 have been winnowed with a shovel and fan. There 00:07:19.040 --> 00:07:21.519 will be on every high mountain and on every high 00:07:21.519 --> 00:07:24.740 hill rivers and streams of waters. in the day 00:07:24.740 --> 00:07:27.980 of the great slaughter when the towers fall moreover 00:07:27.980 --> 00:07:29.959 the light of the moon will be as the light of 00:07:29.959 --> 00:07:32.800 the sun and the light of the sun will be sevenfold 00:07:32.800 --> 00:07:36.040 as the light of seven days in the day that the 00:07:36.040 --> 00:07:38.779 lord binds up the bruise of his people and heals 00:07:38.779 --> 00:07:41.759 the stroke of their wound behold the name of 00:07:41.759 --> 00:07:44.879 the lord comes from afar burning with his anger 00:07:44.879 --> 00:07:47.800 and his burden is heavy his lips are full of 00:07:47.800 --> 00:07:50.620 indignation and his tongue like a devouring fire 00:07:51.129 --> 00:07:53.990 His breath is like an overflowing stream which 00:07:53.990 --> 00:07:56.870 reaches up to the neck to sift the nations with 00:07:56.870 --> 00:08:00.050 the sieve of futility and there shall be a brittle 00:08:00.050 --> 00:08:02.730 in the jaws of the people causing them to err. 00:08:03.149 --> 00:08:06.089 You shall have a song as in the night when a 00:08:06.089 --> 00:08:08.949 holy festival is kept and gladness of heart as 00:08:08.949 --> 00:08:11.709 when one goes with a flute to come into the mountain 00:08:11.709 --> 00:08:14.189 of the Lord to the mighty one of Israel. The 00:08:14.189 --> 00:08:16.370 Lord will cause his glorious voice to be heard 00:08:16.370 --> 00:08:19.430 and show the descent of his arm with the indignation 00:08:19.430 --> 00:08:22.189 of his anger. and the flame of a devouring fire 00:08:22.189 --> 00:08:25.910 with scattering tempest and hailstones for through 00:08:25.910 --> 00:08:28.290 the voice of the lord assyria will be beaten 00:08:28.290 --> 00:08:31.370 down as he strikes with the rod and in every 00:08:31.370 --> 00:08:34.289 place where the staff of punishment passes which 00:08:34.289 --> 00:08:37.429 the lord lays on him it will be with tambourines 00:08:37.429 --> 00:08:40.529 and harps and in battles of brandishing he will 00:08:40.529 --> 00:08:43.549 fight with it for tophet was established of old 00:08:43.549 --> 00:08:47.210 yes for the king it is prepared he has made it 00:08:47.210 --> 00:08:50.490 deep and large Its pyre is fire with much wood. 00:08:50.669 --> 00:08:53.450 The breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, 00:08:53.669 --> 00:08:58.850 kindles it. Chapter 31 Woe to those who go down 00:08:58.850 --> 00:09:01.929 to Egypt for help and rely on horses, who trust 00:09:01.929 --> 00:09:04.549 in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen 00:09:04.549 --> 00:09:07.029 because they are very strong, but who do not 00:09:07.029 --> 00:09:09.730 look to the Holy One of Israel nor seek the Lord. 00:09:09.929 --> 00:09:12.769 Yet He also is wise and will bring disaster. 00:09:13.309 --> 00:09:16.009 and will not call back his words, but will arise 00:09:16.009 --> 00:09:18.809 against the house of evildoers and against the 00:09:18.809 --> 00:09:21.950 help of those who work iniquity. Now the Egyptians 00:09:21.950 --> 00:09:24.929 are men and not God, and their horses are flesh 00:09:24.929 --> 00:09:27.830 and not spirit. When the Lord stretches out his 00:09:27.830 --> 00:09:31.309 hand, both he who helps will fall and he who 00:09:31.309 --> 00:09:34.409 is helped will fall down. They all will perish 00:09:34.409 --> 00:09:37.029 together. For thus the Lord has spoken to me. 00:09:37.190 --> 00:09:40.169 As a lion roars and a young lion over his prey, 00:09:40.350 --> 00:09:42.570 when a multitude of shepherds is summoned against 00:09:42.570 --> 00:10:13.879 him, Sin. Sin. which your own hands have made 00:10:13.879 --> 00:10:16.879 for yourselves then assyria shall fall by a sword 00:10:16.879 --> 00:10:20.379 not of man and a sword not of mankind shall devour 00:10:20.379 --> 00:10:22.779 him but he shall flee from the sword and his 00:10:22.779 --> 00:10:25.440 young men shall become forced labor he shall 00:10:25.440 --> 00:10:28.019 cross over to his stronghold for fear and his 00:10:28.019 --> 00:10:30.639 princes shall be afraid of the banner says the 00:10:30.639 --> 00:10:33.179 lord whose fire is in zion and whose furnace 00:10:33.179 --> 00:10:38.820 is in jerusalem chapter 32 behold a king will 00:10:38.820 --> 00:10:41.080 reign in righteousness and princes will rule 00:10:41.080 --> 00:10:43.799 with justice A man will be as a hiding place 00:10:43.799 --> 00:10:46.080 from the wind, and a cover from the tempest, 00:10:46.120 --> 00:10:49.440 as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow 00:10:49.440 --> 00:10:52.419 of a great rock in a weary land. The eyes of 00:10:52.419 --> 00:10:55.200 those who see will not be dim, and the ears of 00:10:55.200 --> 00:10:57.539 those who hear will listen. Also the heart of 00:10:57.539 --> 00:11:00.120 the rash will understand knowledge, and the tongue 00:11:00.120 --> 00:11:02.879 of the stammerers will be ready to speak plainly. 00:11:03.039 --> 00:11:05.879 The foolish person will no longer be called generous, 00:11:06.100 --> 00:11:09.500 nor the miser said to be bountiful. for the foolish 00:11:09.500 --> 00:11:11.700 person will speak foolishness, and his heart 00:11:11.700 --> 00:11:14.240 will work iniquity, to practice ungodliness, 00:11:14.440 --> 00:11:17.159 to utter error against the Lord, to keep the 00:11:17.159 --> 00:11:19.940 hungry unsatisfied, and he will cause the drink 00:11:19.940 --> 00:11:23.259 of the thirsty to fail. Also the schemes of the 00:11:23.259 --> 00:11:26.580 schemer are evil. He devises wicked plans, to 00:11:26.580 --> 00:11:29.259 destroy the poor with lying words, even when 00:11:29.259 --> 00:11:32.460 the needy speaks justice. But a generous man 00:11:32.460 --> 00:11:36.000 devises generous things, and by generosity he 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:39.360 shall stand. rise up you women who are at ease 00:11:39.360 --> 00:11:43.019 hear my voice you complacent daughters give ear 00:11:43.019 --> 00:11:46.200 to my speech in a year and some days you will 00:11:46.200 --> 00:11:48.960 be troubled you complacent women for the vintage 00:11:48.960 --> 00:11:52.039 will fail the gathering will not come tremble 00:11:52.039 --> 00:11:55.100 you women who are at ease be troubled you complacent 00:11:55.100 --> 00:11:58.299 ones strip yourselves make yourselves bare and 00:11:58.299 --> 00:12:01.519 gird sackcloth on your waists people shall mourn 00:12:01.519 --> 00:12:04.340 upon their breasts for the pleasant fields for 00:12:04.340 --> 00:12:06.919 the fruitful vine On the land of my people will 00:12:06.919 --> 00:12:09.960 come up thorns and briars, yes, on all the happy 00:12:09.960 --> 00:12:13.059 homes in the joyous city, because the palaces 00:12:13.059 --> 00:12:16.259 will be forsaken, the bustling city will be deserted, 00:12:16.559 --> 00:12:19.700 the forts and towers will become lairs forever, 00:12:19.940 --> 00:12:24.320 a joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks, until 00:12:24.320 --> 00:12:27.379 the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and 00:12:27.379 --> 00:12:29.940 the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and 00:12:29.940 --> 00:12:33.100 a fruitful field is counted as a forest. Then 00:12:33.100 --> 00:12:35.620 justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness 00:12:35.620 --> 00:12:38.639 remain in the fruitful field. The work of righteousness 00:12:38.639 --> 00:12:41.240 will be peace, and the effect of righteousness 00:12:41.240 --> 00:12:44.879 quietness and assurance forever. My people will 00:12:44.879 --> 00:12:47.960 dwell in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, 00:12:47.960 --> 00:12:51.259 and in quiet resting places. Though hail comes 00:12:51.259 --> 00:12:54.220 down on the forest, and the city is brought low 00:12:54.220 --> 00:12:57.259 in humiliation, blessed are you who sow beside 00:12:57.259 --> 00:13:00.340 all waters, who send out freely the feet of the 00:13:00.340 --> 00:13:08.080 ox and the donkey. I hope you enjoyed today's 00:13:08.080 --> 00:13:10.399 reading as much as I did and I look forward to 00:13:10.399 --> 00:13:12.320 seeing you again tomorrow to continue on our 00:13:12.320 --> 00:13:14.419 journey. God bless you and have a great day.