Paul's Work in Thessalonica

1 Thessalonians 2 My friends, you know that our time with you wasn't wasted. ²As you remember, we had been mistreated and insulted at Philippi. But God gave us the courage to tell you the good news about him, even though many people caused us trouble. ³We didn't have any hidden motives when we won you over, and we didn't try to fool or trick anyone. ⁴God was pleased to trust us with his message. We didn't speak to please people, but to please God who knows our motives.
⁵You also know that we didn't try to flatter anyone. God himself knows that what we did wasn't a cover-up for greed. ⁶We were not trying to get you or anyone else to praise us. ⁷But as apostles, we could have demanded help from you. After all, Christ is the one who sent us. We chose to be like children or like a mother nursing her baby. ⁸We cared so much for you, and you became so dear to us, that we were willing to give our lives for you when we gave you God's message.
⁹My dear friends, you surely haven't forgotten our hard work and hardships. You remember how night and day we struggled to make a living, so that we could tell you God's message without being a burden to anyone. ¹⁰Both you and God are witnesses that we were pure and honest and innocent in our dealings with you followers of the Lord. ¹¹You also know we did everything for you that parents would do for their own children. ¹²We begged, encouraged, and urged each of you to live in a way that would honor God. He is the one who chose you to share in his own kingdom and glory.
¹³We always thank God that you believed the message we preached. It came from him, and it isn't something made up by humans. You accepted it as God's message, and now he is working in you. ¹⁴My friends, you did just like God's churches in Judea and like the other followers of Christ Jesus there. And so, you were mistreated by your own people, in the same way they were mistreated by their people.
¹⁵Those evil people killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and they even chased us away. God doesn't like what they do and neither does anyone else. ¹⁶They keep us from speaking his message to the Gentiles and from leading them to be saved. They have always gone too far with their sins. Now God has finally become angry and will punish them.

The LORD's People Will Come Home

Isaiah 14 The LORD will have mercy on Israel and will let them be his chosen people once again. He will bring them back to their own land, and foreigners will join them as part of Israel. ²Other nations will lead them home, and Israel will make slaves of them in the land that belongs to the Lord. Israel will rule over those who once governed and mistreated them.

Death to the King of Babylonia!

³The LORD will set you free from your sorrow, suffering, and slavery. ⁴Then you will make fun of the King of Babylonia by singing this song:
That cruel monster is done for! He won't attack us again.
⁵The LORD has crushed the power of those evil kings,
⁶who were furious and never stopped abusing
the people of other nations.

⁷Now all the world is at peace; its people are celebrating
with joyful songs.
⁸King of Babylonia, even the cypress trees
and the cedars of Lebanon celebrate and say,
"Since you were put down, no one comes along
to chop us down."

⁹The world of the dead eagerly waits for you.
With great excitement, the spirits of ancient rulers
hear about your coming.
¹⁰Each one of them will say,
"Now you are just as weak as any of us!
¹¹Your pride and your music have ended here
in the world of the dead.
Worms are your blanket, maggots are your bed."

¹²You, the bright morning star, have fallen from the sky!
You brought down other nations;
now you are brought down.
¹³You said to yourself, "I'll climb to heaven
and place my throne above the highest stars.
I'll sit there with the gods far away in the north.
¹⁴I'll be above the clouds, just like God Most High."

¹⁵But now you are deep in the world of the dead.
¹⁶Those who see you will stare and wonder,
"Is this the man who made the world tremble
and shook up kingdoms?
¹⁷Did he capture every city and make earth a desert?
Is he the one who refused to let prisoners go home?"

¹⁸When kings die, they are buried in glorious tombs.
¹⁹But you will be left unburied, just another dead body
lying underfoot like a broken branch.
You will be one of many killed in battle
and gone down to the deep rocky pit.
²⁰You won't be buried with kings;
you ruined your country and murdered your people.

You evil monster! We hope that your family
will be forgotten forever.
²¹We will slaughter your sons to make them pay
for the crimes of their ancestors.
They won't take over the world or build cities
anywhere on this earth.
²²The LORD All-Powerful has promised to attack Babylonia and destroy everyone there, so that none of them will ever be remembered again. ²³The LORD will sweep out the people, and the land will become a swamp for wild animals.

Assyria Will Be Punished

²⁴The LORD All-Powerful has made this promise:
Everything I have planned will happen just as I said.
²⁵I will wipe out every Assyrian in my country,
and I will crush those on my mountains.
I will free my people from slavery to the Assyrians.
²⁶I have planned this for the whole world,
and my mighty arm controls every nation.
²⁷I, the LORD All-Powerful, have made these plans.
No one can stop me now!

The Philistines Will Be Punished

²⁸This message came from the LORD
in the year King Ahaz died:
²⁹Philistines, don't be happy just because the rod
that punished you is broken.
That rod will become a poisonous snake,
and then a flying fiery dragon.

³⁰The poor and needy will find pastures for their sheep
and will live in safety.
But I will starve some of you, and others will be killed.

³¹Cry and weep in the gates of your towns, you Philistines!
Smoke blows in from the north,
and every soldier is ready.
³²If a messenger comes from a distant nation, you must say:
"The LORD built Zion. Even the poorest of his people
will find safety there."

Moab Will Be Punished

Isaiah 15 This is a message about Moab:
The towns of Ar and Kir were destroyed in a night.
Moab is left in ruins!
²Everyone in Dibon has gone up
to the temple and the shrines to cry and weep.
All of Moab is crying.
Heads and beards are shaved
because of what happened at Nebo and Medeba.
³In the towns and at home, everyone wears sackcloth
and cries loud and long.
⁴From Heshbon and Elealeh, weeping is heard in Jahaz;
Moab's warriors scream while trembling with fear.

Pity Moab

⁵I pity Moab! Its people are running to Zoar
and to Eglath-Shelishiyah.
They cry on their way up to the town of Luhith;
on the road to Horonaim they tell of disasters.
⁶The streams of Nimrim and the grasslands have dried up.
Every plant is parched.

⁷The people of Moab are leaving,
crossing over Willow Creek,
taking everything they own and have worked for.
⁸In the towns of Eglaim and of Beerelim
and everywhere else in Moab
mournful cries are heard.
⁹The streams near Dimon are flowing with blood.
But the Lord will bring even worse trouble to Dimon,
because all in Moab who escape
will be attacked by lions.

More Troubles for Moab

Isaiah 16 Send lambs as gifts to the ruler of the land.
Send them across the desert from Sela to Mount Zion.
²The women of Moab crossing the Arnon River
are like a flock of birds scattered from their nests.
³Moab's messengers say to the people of Judah,
"Be kind and help us! Shade us from the heat
of the noonday sun.
Hide our refugees! Don't turn them away.
⁴Let our people live in your country
and find safety here."

Moab, your cruel enemies will disappear;
they will no longer attack and destroy your land.
⁵Then a kingdom of love will be set up,
and someone from David's family
will rule with fairness.
He will do what is right and quickly bring justice.

Moab's Pride Is Destroyed

⁶We have heard of Moab's pride. Its people strut and boast,
but without reason.
⁷Tell everyone in Moab to mourn for their nation.
Tell them to cry and weep
for those fancy raisins of Kir-Hareseth.

⁸Vineyards near Heshbon and Sibmah have turned brown.
The rulers of nations used to get drunk on wine
from those vineyards that spread to Jazer,
then across the desert and beyond the sea.

⁹Now I mourn like Jazer for the vineyards of Sibmah.
I shed tears for Heshbon and for Elealeh.
There will be no more harvest celebrations
¹⁰or joyful and happy times, while bringing in the crops.
Singing and shouting are gone from the vineyards.
There are no joyful shouts where grapes were pressed.
God has silenced them all.

¹¹Deep in my heart I hurt for Moab and Kir-Heres.
¹²It's useless for Moab's people to wear themselves out
by going to their altars to worship and pray.
¹³The LORD has already said all of this about Moab. ¹⁴Now he says, "The contract of a hired worker is good for three years, but Moab's glory and greatness won't last any longer than that. Only a few of its people will survive, and they will be left helpless."

Psalm 113
The LORD Helps People in Need

¹Shout praises to the LORD!
Everyone who serves him, come and praise his name.

²Let the name of the LORD be praised now and forever.
³From dawn until sunset
the name of the LORD deserves to be praised.
⁴The LORD is far above all of the nations;
he is more glorious than the heavens.

⁵No one can compare with the LORD our God.
His throne is high above,
⁶and he looks down to see the heavens and the earth.
⁷God lifts the poor and needy from dust and ashes,
⁸and he lets them take part in ruling his people.
⁹When a wife has no children,
he blesses her with some, and she is happy.
Shout praises to the LORD!