God’s Wrath against Nations

1Draw near, O nations, to hear; and listen, O peoples!

Let the earth and all it contains hear, and the world and all that springs from it.

2For the Lord’s indignation is against all the nations,

And His wrath against all their armies;

He has utterly destroyed them,

He has given them over to slaughter.

3So their slain will be thrown out,

And their corpses will give off their stench,

And the mountains will be drenched with their blood.

4And all the host of heaven will wear away,

And the sky will be rolled up like a scroll;

All their hosts will also wither away

As a leaf withers from the vine,

Or as one withers from the fig tree.

5For My sword is satiated in heaven,

Behold it shall descend for judgment upon Edom

And upon the people whom I have devoted to destruction.

6The sword of the Lord is filled with blood,

It is sated with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats,

With the fat of the kidneys of rams.

For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah

And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

7Wild oxen will also fall with them

And young bulls with strong ones;

Thus their land will be soaked with blood,

And their dust become greasy with fat.

8For the Lord has a day of vengeance,

A year of recompense for the cause of Zion.

9Its streams will be turned into pitch,

And its loose earth into brimstone,

And its land will become burning pitch.

10It will not be quenched night or day;

Its smoke will go up forever.

From generation to generation it will be desolate;

None will pass through it forever and ever.

11But pelican and hedgehog will possess it,

And owl and raven will dwell in it;

And He will stretch over it the line of desolation

And the plumb line of emptiness.

12Its nobles—there is no one there

Whom they may proclaim king—

And all its princes will be nothing.

13Thorns will come up in its fortified towers,

Nettles and thistles in its fortified cities;

It will also be a haunt of jackals

And an abode of ostriches.

14The desert creatures will meet with the wolves,

The hairy goat also will cry to its kind;

Yes, the night monster will settle there

And will find herself a resting place.

15The tree snake will make its nest and lay eggs there,

And it will hatch and gather them under its protection.

Yes, the hawks will be gathered there,

Every one with its kind.

16Seek from the book of the Lord, and read:

Not one of these will be missing;

None will lack its mate.

For His mouth has commanded,

And His Spirit has gathered them.

17He has cast the lot for them,

And His hand has divided it to them by line.

They shall possess it forever;

From generation to generation they will dwell in it.

Thanksgiving for Faith and Perseverance

1Paul and Silvanus and Timothy,

To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: 2Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brethren, as is only fitting, because your faith is greatly enlarged, and the love of each one of you toward one another grows ever greater; 4therefore, we ourselves speak proudly of you among the churches of God for your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure. 5This is a plain indication of God’s righteous judgment so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering. 6For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, 7and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, 8dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, 10when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed—for our testimony to you was believed.

1) How does Isaiah’s prophecy of יהוה’s vengeance and Paul’s teaching on righteous judgment complement each other?

2) What hope does יהוה’s ultimate justice offer to those who suffer for His name?

3) How does the assurance of divine recompense strengthen faith and perseverance during trials?

The Torment of Separation

1“I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride;

I have gathered my myrrh along with my balsam.

I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey;

I have drunk my wine and my milk.

Eat, friends;

Drink and imbibe deeply, O lovers.”

2“I was asleep but my heart was awake.

A voice! My beloved was knocking:

‘Open to me, my sister, my darling,

My dove, my perfect one!

For my head is drenched with dew,

My locks with the damp of the night.’

3I have taken off my dress,

How can I put it on again?

I have washed my feet,

How can I dirty them again?

4My beloved extended his hand through the opening,

And my feelings were aroused for him.

5I arose to open to my beloved;

And my hands dripped with myrrh,

And my fingers with liquid myrrh,

On the handles of the bolt.

6I opened to my beloved,

But my beloved had turned away and had gone!

My heart went out to him as he spoke.

I searched for him but I did not find him;

I called him but he did not answer me.

7The watchmen who make the rounds in the city found me,

They struck me and wounded me;

The guardsmen of the walls took away my shawl from me.

8I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,

If you find my beloved,

As to what you will tell him:

For I am lovesick.”

9“What kind of beloved is your beloved,

O most beautiful among women?

What kind of beloved is your beloved,

That thus you adjure us?”

Admiration by the Bride

10“My beloved is dazzling and ruddy,

Outstanding among ten thousand.

11His head is like gold, pure gold;

His locks are like clusters of dates

And black as a raven.

12His eyes are like doves

Beside streams of water,

Bathed in milk,

And reposed in their setting.

13His cheeks are like a bed of balsam,

Banks of sweet-scented herbs;

His lips are lilies

Dripping with liquid myrrh.

14His hands are rods of gold

Set with beryl;

His abdomen is carved ivory

Inlaid with sapphires.

15His legs are pillars of alabaster

Set on pedestals of pure gold;

His appearance is like Lebanon

Choice as the cedars.

16His mouth is full of sweetness.

And he is wholly desirable.

This is my beloved and this is my friend,

O daughters of Jerusalem.”

God’s Promise concerning His Servant

1“Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold;

My chosen one in whom My soul delights.

I have put My Spirit upon Him;

He will bring forth justice to the nations.

2He will not cry out or raise His voice,

Nor make His voice heard in the street.

3A bruised reed He will not break

And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish;

He will faithfully bring forth justice.

4He will not be disheartened or crushed

Until He has established justice in the earth;

And the coastlands will wait expectantly for His law.”

5Thus says God the Lord,

Who created the heavens and stretched them out,

Who spread out the earth and its offspring,

Who gives breath to the people on it

And spirit to those who walk in it,

6“I am the Lord, I have called You in righteousness,

I will also hold You by the hand and watch over You,

And I will appoint You as a covenant to the people,

As a light to the nations,

7To open blind eyes,

To bring out prisoners from the dungeon

And those who dwell in darkness from the prison.

8I am the Lord, that is My name;

I will not give My glory to another,

Nor My praise to graven images.

9Behold, the former things have come to pass,

Now I declare new things;

Before they spring forth I proclaim them to you.”

10Sing to the Lord a new song,

Sing His praise from the end of the earth!

You who go down to the sea, and all that is in it.

You islands, and those who dwell on them.

11Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voices,

The settlements where Kedar inhabits.

Let the inhabitants of Sela sing aloud,

Let them shout for joy from the tops of the mountains.

12Let them give glory to the Lord

And declare His praise in the coastlands.

13The Lord will go forth like a warrior,

He will arouse His zeal like a man of war.

He will utter a shout, yes, He will raise a war cry.

He will prevail against His enemies.

The Blindness of the People

14“I have kept silent for a long time,

I have kept still and restrained Myself.

Now like a woman in labor I will groan,

I will both gasp and pant.

15I will lay waste the mountains and hills

And wither all their vegetation;

I will make the rivers into coastlands

And dry up the ponds.

16I will lead the blind by a way they do not know,

In paths they do not know I will guide them.

I will make darkness into light before them

And rugged places into plains.

These are the things I will do,

And I will not leave them undone.”

17They will be turned back and be utterly put to shame,

Who trust in idols,

Who say to molten images,

“You are our gods.”

18Hear, you deaf!

And look, you blind, that you may see.

19Who is blind but My servant,

Or so deaf as My messenger whom I send?

Who is so blind as he that is at peace with Me,

Or so blind as the servant of the Lord?

20You have seen many things, but you do not observe them;

Your ears are open, but none hears.

21The Lord was pleased for His righteousness’ sake

To make the law great and glorious.

22But this is a people plundered and despoiled;

All of them are trapped in caves,

Or are hidden away in prisons;

They have become a prey with none to deliver them,

And a spoil, with none to say, “Give them back!”

23Who among you will give ear to this?

Who will give heed and listen hereafter?

24Who gave Jacob up for spoil, and Israel to plunderers?

Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned,

And in whose ways they were not willing to walk,

And whose law they did not obey?

25So He poured out on him the heat of His anger

And the fierceness of battle;

And it set him aflame all around,

Yet he did not recognize it;

And it burned him, but he paid no attention.