Be Ready for the Lord's Coming

1 Thessalonians 5 There is no need to write you, friends, about the times and occasions when these things will happen. ²For you yourselves know very well that the Day of the Lord will come as a thief comes at night. ³When people say, "Everything is quiet and safe," then suddenly destruction will hit them! It will come as suddenly as the pains that come upon a woman in labor, and people will not escape. ⁴But you, friends, are not in the darkness, and the Day should not take you by surprise like a thief. ⁵All of you are people who belong to the light, who belong to the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. ⁶So then, we should not be sleeping like the others; we should be awake and sober. ⁷It is at night when people sleep; it is at night when they get drunk. ⁸But we belong to the day, and we should be sober. We must wear faith and love as a breastplate, and our hope of salvation as a helmet. ⁹God did not choose us to suffer his anger, but to possess salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁰who died for us in order that we might live together with him, whether we are alive or dead when he comes. ¹¹And so encourage one another and help one another, just as you are now doing.

Final Instructions and Greetings

¹²We beg you, our friends, to pay proper respect to those who work among you, who guide and instruct you in the Christian life. ¹³Treat them with the greatest respect and love because of the work they do. Be at peace among yourselves.
¹⁴We urge you, our friends, to warn the idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. ¹⁵See that no one pays back wrong for wrong, but at all times make it your aim to do good to one another and to all people.
¹⁶Be joyful always, ¹⁷pray at all times, ¹⁸be thankful in all circumstances. This is what God wants from you in your life in union with Christ Jesus.
¹⁹Do not restrain the Holy Spirit; ²⁰do not despise inspired messages. ²¹Put all things to the test: keep what is good ²²and avoid every kind of evil.
²³May the God who gives us peace make you holy in every way and keep your whole being--spirit, soul, and body--free from every fault at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴He who calls you will do it, because he is faithful.
²⁵Pray also for us, friends.
²⁶Greet all the believers with the kiss of peace.
²⁷I urge you by the authority of the Lord to read this letter to all the believers.
²⁸The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

A Message about Phoenicia

Isaiah 23 This is a message about Tyre.
Howl with grief, you sailors out on the ocean! Your home port of Tyre has been destroyed; its houses and its harbor are in ruins. As your ships return from Cyprus, you learn the news. ²Wail, you merchants of Sidon! You sent agents ³across the sea to buy and sell the grain that grew in Egypt and to do business with all the nations.
⁴City of Sidon, you are disgraced! The sea and the great ocean depths disown you and say, "I never had any children. I never raised sons or daughters."
⁵Even the Egyptians will be shocked and dismayed when they learn that Tyre has been destroyed.
⁶Howl with grief, you people of Phoenicia! Try to escape to Spain! ⁷Can this be the joyful city of Tyre, founded so long ago? Is this the city that sent settlers across the sea to establish colonies? ⁸Who was it that planned to bring all this on Tyre, that imperial city, whose merchant princes were the most honored men on earth? ⁹The LORD Almighty planned it. He planned it in order to put an end to their pride in what they had done and to humiliate their honored ones.
¹⁰Go and farm the land, you people in the colonies in Spain! There is no one to protect you any more. ¹¹The LORD has stretched out his hand over the sea and overthrown kingdoms. He has commanded that the Phoenician centers of commerce be destroyed. ¹²City of Sidon, your happiness has ended, and your people are oppressed. Even if they escape to Cyprus, they will still not be safe.
( ¹³ It was the Babylonians, not the Assyrians, who let the wild animals overrun Tyre. It was the Babylonians who put up siege towers, tore down the fortifications of Tyre, and left the city in ruins. )
¹⁴Howl with grief, you sailors out on the ocean! The city you relied on has been destroyed.
¹⁵A time is coming when Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, the lifetime of a king. When those years are over, Tyre will be like the prostitute in the song:
¹⁶Take your harp, go round the town,
you poor forgotten whore!
Play and sing your songs again
to bring men back once more.
¹⁷When the seventy years are over, the LORD will let Tyre go back to her old trade, and she will hire herself out to all the kingdoms of the world. ¹⁸The money she earns by commerce will be dedicated to the LORD. She will not store it away, but those who worship the LORD will use her money to buy the food and the clothing they need.

The LORD Will Punish the Earth

Isaiah 24 The LORD is going to devastate the earth and leave it desolate. He will twist the earth's surface and scatter its people. ²Everyone will meet the same fate--the priests and the people, slaves and masters, buyers and sellers, lenders and borrowers, rich and poor. ³The earth will lie shattered and ruined. The LORD has spoken and it will be done.
⁴The earth dries up and withers; the whole world grows weak; both earth and sky decay. ⁵The people have defiled the earth by breaking God's laws and by violating the covenant he made to last forever. ⁶So God has pronounced a curse on the earth. Its people are paying for what they have done. Fewer and fewer remain alive. ⁷The grapevines wither, and wine is becoming scarce. Everyone who was once happy is now sad, ⁸and the joyful music of their harps and drums has ceased. ⁹There is no more happy singing over wine; no one enjoys its taste any more. ¹⁰In the city everything is in chaos, and people lock themselves in their houses for safety. ¹¹People shout in the streets because there is no more wine. Happiness is gone forever; it has been banished from the land. ¹²The city is in ruins, and its gates have been broken down. ¹³This is what will happen in every nation all over the world. It will be like the end of harvest, when the olives have been beaten off every tree and the last grapes picked from the vines.
¹⁴Those who survive will sing for joy. Those in the West will tell how great the LORD is, ¹⁵and those in the East will praise him. The people who live along the sea will praise the LORD, the God of Israel. ¹⁶From the most distant parts of the world we will hear songs in praise of Israel, the righteous nation.
But there is no hope for me! I am wasting away! Traitors continue to betray, and their treachery grows worse and worse. ¹⁷Listen to me, everyone! There are terrors, pits, and traps waiting for you. ¹⁸Anyone who tries to escape from the terror will fall in a pit, and anyone who escapes from the pit will be caught in a trap. Torrents of rain will pour from the sky, and earth's foundations will shake. ¹⁹The earth will crack and shatter and split open. ²⁰The earth itself will stagger like a drunk, sway like a hut in a storm. The world is weighed down by its sins; it will collapse and never rise again.
²¹A time is coming when the LORD will punish the powers above and the rulers of the earth. ²²God will crowd kings together like prisoners in a pit. He will shut them in prison until the time of their punishment comes. ²³The moon will grow dark, and the sun will no longer shine, for the LORD Almighty will be king. He will rule in Jerusalem on Mount Zion, and the leaders of the people will see his glory.

Someone Saved from Death Praises God

Psalm 116 I love the LORD, because he hears me;
he listens to my prayers.
²He listens to me
every time I call to him.
³The danger of death was all around me;
the horrors of the grave closed in on me;
I was filled with fear and anxiety.
⁴Then I called to the LORD,
"I beg you, LORD, save me!"

⁵The LORD is merciful and good;
our God is compassionate.
⁶The LORD protects the helpless;
when I was in danger, he saved me.
⁷Be confident, my heart,
because the LORD has been good to me.

⁸The LORD saved me from death;
he stopped my tears
and kept me from defeat.
⁹And so I walk in the presence of the LORD
in the world of the living.
¹⁰I kept on believing, even when I said,
"I am completely crushed,"
¹¹even when I was afraid and said,
"No one can be trusted."

¹²What can I offer the LORD
for all his goodness to me?
¹³I will bring a wine offering to the LORD,
to thank him for saving me.
¹⁴In the assembly of all his people
I will give him what I have promised.

¹⁵How painful it is to the LORD
when one of his people dies!
¹⁶I am your servant, LORD;
I serve you just as my mother did.
You have saved me from death.
¹⁷I will give you a sacrifice of thanksgiving
and offer my prayer to you.
^18-19In the assembly of all your people,
in the sanctuary of your Temple in Jerusalem,
I will give you what I have promised.

Praise the LORD!