A Life That Pleases God

1 Thessalonians 4 Finally, our friends, you learned from us how you should live in order to please God. This is, of course, the way you have been living. And now we beg and urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus to do even more. ²For you know the instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. ³God wants you to be holy and completely free from sexual immorality. ⁴Each of you should know how to live with your wife in a holy and honorable way, ⁵not with a lustful desire, like the heathen who do not know God. ⁶In this matter, then, none of you should do wrong to other Christians or take advantage of them. We have told you this before, and we strongly warned you that the Lord will punish those who do that. ⁷God did not call us to live in immorality, but in holiness. ⁸So then, whoever rejects this teaching is not rejecting a human being, but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.
⁹There is no need to write you about love for each other. You yourselves have been taught by God how you should love one another. ¹⁰And you have, in fact, behaved like this toward all the believers in all of Macedonia. So we beg you, our friends, to do even more. ¹¹Make it your aim to live a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to earn your own living, just as we told you before. ¹²In this way you will win the respect of those who are not believers, and you will not have to depend on anyone for what you need.

The Lord's Coming

¹³Our friends, we want you to know the truth about those who have died, so that you will not be sad, as are those who have no hope. ¹⁴We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will take back with Jesus those who have died believing in him.
¹⁵W_ hat we are teaching you now is the Lord's teaching: we who are alive on the day the Lord comes will not go ahead of those who have died. ¹⁶There will be the shout of command, the archangel's voice, the sound of God's trumpet, and the Lord himself will come down from heaven. Those who have died believing in Christ will rise to life first; ¹⁷then we who are living at that time will be gathered up along with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. ¹⁸So then, encourage one another with these words.

The Sign of the Naked Prophet

Isaiah 20 Under the orders of Emperor Sargon of Assyria, the commander-in-chief of the Assyrian army attacked the Philistine city of Ashdod. ²Three years earlier the LORD had told Isaiah son of Amoz to take off his sandals and the sackcloth he was wearing. He obeyed and went around naked and barefoot. ³When Ashdod was captured, the LORD said, "My servant Isaiah has been going around naked and barefoot for three years. This is a sign of what will happen to Egypt and Ethiopia. ⁴The emperor of Assyria will lead away naked the prisoners he captures from those two countries. Young and old, they will walk barefoot and naked, with their buttocks exposed, bringing shame on Egypt. ⁵Those who have put their trust in Ethiopia and have boasted about Egypt will be disillusioned, their hopes shattered. ⁶When that time comes, the people who live along the coast of Philistia will say, 'Look at what has happened to the people we relied on to protect us from the emperor of Assyria! How will we ever survive?'"

A Vision of the Fall of Babylon

Isaiah 21 This is a message about Babylonia.
Like a whirlwind sweeping across the desert, disaster will come from a terrifying land. ²I have seen a vision of cruel events, a vision of betrayal and destruction.
Army of Elam, attack! Army of Media, lay siege to the cities! God will put an end to the suffering which Babylon has caused.
³What I saw and heard in the vision has filled me with terror and pain, pain like that of a woman in labor. ⁴My head is spinning, and I am trembling with fear. I had been longing for evening to come, but it has brought me nothing but terror.
⁵In the vision a banquet is ready; rugs are spread for the guests to sit on. They are eating and drinking. Suddenly the command rings out: "Officers! Prepare your shields!"
⁶Then the Lord said to me, "Go and post a sentry, and tell him to report what he sees. ⁷If he sees riders coming on horseback, two by two, and riders on donkeys and camels, he is to observe them carefully."
⁸The sentry calls out, "Sir, I have been standing guard at my post day and night."
⁹Suddenly, here they come! Riders on horseback, two by two. The sentry gives the news, "Babylon has fallen! All the idols they worshiped lie shattered on the ground."
¹⁰My people Israel, you have been threshed like wheat, but now I have announced to you the good news that I have heard from the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel.

A Message about Edom

¹¹This is a message about Edom.
Someone calls to me from Edom, "Sentry, how soon will the night be over? Tell me how soon it will end."
¹²I answer, "Morning is coming, but night will come again. If you want to ask again, come back and ask."

A Message about Arabia

¹³This is a message about Arabia.
People of Dedan, you whose caravans camp in the barren country of Arabia, ¹⁴give water to the thirsty people who come to you. You people of the land of Tema, give food to the refugees. ¹⁵People are fleeing to escape from swords that are ready to kill them, from bows that are ready to shoot, from all the dangers of war.
¹⁶Then the Lord said to me, "In exactly one year the greatness of the tribes of Kedar will be at an end. ¹⁷The archers are the bravest warriors of Kedar, but few of them will be left. I, the LORD God of Israel, have spoken."

A Message about Jerusalem

Isaiah 22 This is a message about the Valley of Vision.
What is happening? Why are all the people of the city celebrating on the roofs of the houses? ²The whole city is in an uproar, filled with noise and excitement.
Your people who died in this war did not die fighting. ³All your leaders ran away and were captured before they shot a single arrow. ⁴Now leave me alone to weep bitterly over all those of my people who have died. Don't try to comfort me. ⁵This is a time of panic, defeat, and confusion in the Valley of Vision, and the Sovereign LORD Almighty has sent it on us. The walls of our city have been battered down, and cries for help have echoed among the hills.
⁶The soldiers from the land of Elam came riding on horseback, armed with bows and arrows. Soldiers from the land of Kir had their shields ready. ⁷The fertile valleys of Judah were filled with chariots; soldiers on horseback stood in front of Jerusalem's gates. ⁸All of Judah's defenses crumbled.
When that happened, you brought weapons out of the arsenal. ^9-10You found the places where the walls of Jerusalem needed repair. You inspected all the houses in Jerusalem and tore some of them down to get stones to repair the city walls. In order to store water, ¹¹you built a reservoir inside the city to hold the water flowing down from the old pool. But you paid no attention to God, who planned all this long ago and who caused it to happen.
¹²The Sovereign LORD Almighty was calling you then to weep and mourn, to shave your heads and wear sackcloth. ¹³Instead, you laughed and celebrated. You killed sheep and cattle to eat, and you drank wine. You said, "We might as well eat and drink! Tomorrow we'll be dead."
¹⁴The Sovereign LORD Almighty himself spoke to me and said, "This evil will never be forgiven them as long as they live. I, the Sovereign LORD Almighty, have spoken."

A Warning to Shebna

¹⁵The Sovereign LORD Almighty told me to go to Shebna, the manager of the royal household, and say to him, ¹⁶"Who do you think you are? What right do you have to carve a tomb for yourself out of the rocky hillside? ¹⁷You may be important, but the LORD will pick you up and throw you away. ¹⁸He will pick you up like a ball and throw you into a much larger country. You will die there beside the chariots you were so proud of. You are a disgrace to your master's household. ¹⁹The LORD will remove you from office and bring you down from your high position."
²⁰The LORD said to Shebna, "When that happens, I will send for my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah. ²¹I will put your official robe and belt on him and give him all the authority you have had. He will be like a father to the people of Jerusalem and Judah. ²²I will give him complete authority under the king, the descendant of David. He will have the keys of office; what he opens, no one will shut, and what he shuts, no one will open. ²³I will fasten him firmly in place like a peg, and he will be a source of honor to his whole family.
²⁴"But all his relatives and dependents will become a burden to him. They will hang on him like pots and bowls hanging from a peg! ²⁵When that happens, the peg that was firmly fastened will pull loose and fall. And that will be the end of everything that was hanging on it." The LORD has spoken.

The One True God

Psalm 115 To you alone, O LORD, to you alone,
and not to us, must glory be given
because of your constant love and faithfulness.

²Why should the nations ask us,
"Where is your God?"
³Our God is in heaven;
he does whatever he wishes.
⁴Their gods are made of silver and gold,
formed by human hands.
⁵They have mouths, but cannot speak,
and eyes, but cannot see.
⁶They have ears, but cannot hear,
and noses, but cannot smell.
⁷They have hands, but cannot feel,
and feet, but cannot walk;
they cannot make a sound.
⁸May all who made them and who trust in them
become like the idols they have made.

⁹Trust in the LORD, you people of Israel.
He helps you and protects you.
¹⁰Trust in the LORD, you priests of God.
He helps you and protects you.
¹¹Trust in the LORD, all you that worship him.
He helps you and protects you.

¹²The LORD remembers us and will bless us;
he will bless the people of Israel
and all the priests of God.
¹³He will bless everyone who honors him,
the great and the small alike.

¹⁴May the LORD give you children--
you and your descendants!
¹⁵May you be blessed by the LORD,
who made heaven and earth!

¹⁶Heaven belongs to the LORD alone,
but he gave the earth to us humans.
¹⁷The LORD is not praised by the dead,
by any who go down to the land of silence.
¹⁸But we, the living, will give thanks to him
now and forever.

Praise the LORD!