Pray for Us

2 Thessalonians 3 Finally, our friends, please pray for us. This will help the message about the Lord to spread quickly, and others will respect it, just as you do. ²Pray that we may be kept safe from worthless and evil people. After all, not everyone has faith. ³But the Lord can be trusted to make you strong and protect you from harm. ⁴He has made us sure that you are obeying what we taught you and that you will keep on obeying. ⁵I pray that the Lord will guide you to be as loving as God and as patient as Christ.

Warnings against Laziness

⁶My dear friends, in the name of the Lord Jesus, I beg you not to have anything to do with any of your people who loaf around and refuse to obey the instructions we gave you. ⁷You surely know that you should follow our example. We didn't waste our time loafing, ⁸and we didn't accept food from anyone without paying for it. We didn't want to be a burden to any of you, so night and day we worked as hard as we could.
⁹We had the right not to work, but we wanted to set an example for you. ¹⁰We also gave you the rule that if you don't work, you don't eat. ¹¹Now we learn that some of you just loaf around and won't do any work, except the work of a busybody. ¹²So, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, we ask and beg these people to settle down and start working for a living. ¹³Dear friends, you must never become tired of doing right.
¹⁴Be on your guard against any followers who refuse to obey what we have written in this letter. Put them to shame by not having anything to do with them. ¹⁵Don't consider them your enemies, but speak kindly to them as you would to any other follower.

Final Prayer

¹⁶I pray that the Lord, who gives peace, will always bless you with peace. May the Lord be with all of you.
¹⁷I always sign my letters as I am now doing: PAUL.
¹⁸I pray that our Lord Jesus Christ will be kind to all of you.

Jerusalem Will Suffer

The LORD said:
Isaiah 29 Jerusalem, city of David, the place of my altar,
you are in for trouble!
Celebrate your festivals year after year.
²I will still make you suffer,
and your people will cry when I make an altar of you.
³I will surround you and prepare to attack from all sides.
⁴From deep in the earth, you will call out for help
with only a faint whisper.

⁵Then your cruel enemies will suddenly be swept away
like dust in a windstorm.
⁶I, the LORD All-Powerful, will come to your rescue
with a thundering earthquake and a fiery whirlwind.

⁷Every brutal nation that attacks Jerusalem
and makes it suffer will disappear like a dream
when night is over.
⁸Those nations that attack Mount Zion
will suffer from hunger and thirst.
They will dream of food and drink
but wake up weary and hungry and thirsty as ever.

Prophets Who Fool Themselves

⁹Be shocked and stunned, you prophets! Refuse to see.
Get drunk and stagger, but not from wine.
¹⁰The LORD has made you drowsy;
he put you into a deep sleep and covered your head.
¹¹Now his message is like a sealed letter to you. Some of you say, "We can't read it, because it's sealed." ¹²Others say, "We can't read it, because we don't know how to read."
¹³The Lord has said:
"These people praise me with their words,
but they never really think about me.
They worship me by repeating rules
made up by humans.
¹⁴So once again I will do things
that shock and amaze them,
and I will destroy the wisdom
of those who claim to know and understand."

¹⁵You are in for trouble, if you try to hide your plans
from the LORD!
Or if you think what you do in the dark can't be seen.
¹⁶You have it all backwards.
A clay dish doesn't say to the potter,
"You didn't make me. You don't even know how."

Hope for the Future

¹⁷Soon the forest of Lebanon will become a field with crops,
thick as a forest.
¹⁸The deaf will be able to hear whatever is read to them;
the blind will be freed from a life of darkness.
¹⁹The poor and the needy will celebrate and shout
because of the LORD, the holy God of Israel.

²⁰All who are cruel and arrogant will be gone forever.
Those who live by crime will disappear,
²¹together with everyone who tells lies in court
and keeps innocent people from getting a fair trial.

²²The LORD who rescued Abraham has this to say
about Jacob's descendants:
"They will no longer be ashamed and disgraced.
²³When they see how great I have made their nation,
they will praise and honor me, the holy God of Israel.
²⁴Everyone who is confused will understand,
and all who have complained will obey my teaching."

Don't Expect Help from Egypt

Isaiah 30 This is the LORD's message for his rebellious people:
"You follow your own plans instead of mine;
you make treaties without asking me,
and you keep on sinning.
²You trust Egypt for protection. So you refuse my advice
and send messengers to Egypt to beg their king for help.

³You will be disappointed, completely disgraced
for trusting Egypt.
⁴The king's power reaches from the city of Zoan
as far south as Hanes.
⁵But Egypt can't protect you, and to trust that nation
is useless and foolish.

⁶This is a message about the animals
of the Southern Desert:
You people carry treasures on donkeys and camels.
You travel to a feeble nation through a troublesome desert
filled with lions and flying fiery dragons.
⁷Egypt can't help you! That's why I call that nation
a helpless monster.

Israel Refuses To Listen

⁸The LORD told me to write down his message for his people, so that it would be there forever. ⁹They have turned against the LORD and can't be trusted. They have refused his teaching ¹⁰and have said to his messengers and prophets:

Don't tell us what God has shown you and don't preach the truth. Just say what we want to hear, even if it's false. ¹¹Stop telling us what God has said! We don't want to hear any more about the holy God of Israel.

¹²Now this is the answer of the holy God of Israel:
"You rejected my message,
and you trust in violence and lies.
¹³This sin is like a crack that makes a high wall
quickly crumble ¹⁴and shatter like a crushed bowl.
There's not a piece left big enough to carry hot coals
or to dip out water."

Trust the LORD

¹⁵The holy LORD God of Israel had told all of you,
"I will keep you safe
if you turn back to me and calm down.
I will make you strong if you quietly trust me."

Then you stubbornly ¹⁶said,
"No! We will safely escape on speedy horses."

But those who chase you will be even faster.
¹⁷As few as five of them, or even one,
will be enough to chase a thousand of you.
Finally, all that will be left will be a few survivors
as lonely as a flag pole on a barren hill.

The LORD Will Show Mercy

¹⁸The LORD God is waiting to show how kind he is
and to have pity on you.
The LORD always does right;
he blesses those who trust him.
¹⁹People of Jerusalem, you don't need to cry anymore. The Lord is kind, and as soon as he hears your cries for help, he will come. ²⁰The Lord has given you trouble and sorrow as your food and drink. But now you will again see the Lord, your teacher, and he will guide you. ²¹Whether you turn to the right or to the left, you will hear a voice saying, "This is the road! Now follow it." ²²Then you will treat your idols of silver and gold like garbage; you will throw them away like filthy rags.
²³The Lord will send rain to water the seeds you have planted--your fields will produce more crops than you need, and your cattle will graze in open pastures. ²⁴Even the oxen and donkeys that plow your fields will be fed the finest grain.
²⁵On that day people will be slaughtered and towers destroyed, but streams of water will flow from high hills and towering mountains. ²⁶Then the LORD will bandage his people's injuries and heal the wounds he has caused. The moon will shine as bright as the sun, and the sun will shine seven times brighter than usual. It will be like the light of seven days all at once.

Assyria Will Be Punished

²⁷The LORD is coming from far away with his fiery anger
and thick clouds of smoke.
His angry words flame up like a destructive fire;
²⁸he breathes out a flood that comes up to the neck.
He sifts the nations and destroys them.
Then he puts a bridle in every foreigner's mouth
and leads them to doom.
²⁹The LORD's people will sing as they do when they celebrate a religious festival at night. The LORD is Israel's mighty rock, and his people will be as happy as they are when they follow the sound of flutes to the mountain where he is worshiped.
³⁰The LORD will get furious. His fearsome voice will be heard, his arm will be seen ready to strike, and his anger will be like a destructive fire, followed by thunderstorms and hailstones. ³¹When the Assyrians hear the LORD's voice and see him striking with his iron rod, they will be terrified. ³²He will attack them in battle, and each time he strikes them, it will be to the music of tambourines and harps.
³³Long ago the LORD got a place ready for burning the body of the dead king. The place for the fire is deep and wide, the wood is piled high, and the LORD will start the fire by breathing out flaming sulfur.

Psalm 119
In Praise of the Law of the LORD

¹Our LORD, you bless everyone
who lives right and obeys your Law.
²You bless all of those
who follow your commands from deep in their hearts
³and who never do wrong or turn from you.
⁴You have ordered us always to obey your teachings;
⁵I don't ever want to stray from your laws.
⁶Thinking about your commands
will keep me from doing some foolish thing.
⁷I will do right and praise you
by learning to respect your perfect laws.
⁸I will obey all of them! Don't turn your back on me.

⁹Young people can live a clean life
by obeying your word.
¹⁰I worship you with all my heart.
Don't let me walk away from your commands.
¹¹I treasure your word above all else;
it keeps me from sinning against you.
¹²I praise you, LORD! Teach me your laws.
¹³With my own mouth,
I tell others the laws that you have spoken.
¹⁴Obeying your instructions brings as much happiness
as being rich.
¹⁵I will study your teachings and follow your footsteps.
¹⁶I will take pleasure in your laws and remember your words.

¹⁷Treat me with kindness, LORD,
so that I may live and do what you say.
¹⁸Open my mind
and let me discover the wonders of your Law.
¹⁹I live here as a stranger.
Don't keep me from knowing your commands.
²⁰What I want most of all and at all times
is to honor your laws.
²¹You punish those boastful, worthless nobodies
who turn from your commands.
²²Don't let them sneer and insult me for following you.
²³I keep thinking about your teachings, LORD,
even if rulers plot against me.
²⁴Your laws are my greatest joy! I follow their advice.

²⁵I am at the point of death.
Let your teachings breathe new life into me.
²⁶When I told you my troubles, you answered my prayers.
Now teach me your laws.
²⁷Help me to understand your teachings,
and I will think about your marvelous deeds.
²⁸I am overcome with sorrow.
Encourage me, as you have promised to do.
²⁹Keep me from being deceitful,
and be kind enough to teach me your Law.
³⁰I am determined to be faithful and to respect your laws.
³¹I follow your rules, LORD. Don't let me be ashamed.
³²I am eager to learn all that you want me to do;
help me to understand more and more.