Nancy: Welcome To Immerse: The Daily Bible Reading Experience.
Day 200 and 53
what sorrow awaits the proud city of Samaria, the glorious
crown of the drunks of Israel.
It sits at the head of a fertile valley, but its glorious
beauty will fade like a flower.
It is the pride of a people brought down by wine.
For the Lord will send a mighty army against it.
A mighty hailstorm and a torrential rain, they will burst upon it like a
surging flood and smash it to the ground.
The proud city of Samaria, the glorious crown of the drunks of Israel will
be trampled beneath its enemy's feet.
It sits at the head of a fertile valley, but its glorious
beauty will fade like a flower.
Whoever sees it will snatch it up as an early fig is quickly picked and eaten.
Then at last, the Lord of Heaven's armies will himself be Israel's glorious crown.
He will be the pride and joy of the remnant of his people.
He will give a longing for justice to their judges.
He will give great courage to their warriors who stand at the gates.
Now.
However, Israel is led by drunks who reel with wine and stagger with alcohol.
The priests and prophets stagger with alcohol and lose themselves in wine.
They reel when they see visions and stagger as they render decisions.
Their tables are covered with vomit.
Filth is everywhere.
Who does the Lord think we are?
They ask, why does he speak to us like this?
Are we little children just recently weaned?
He tells us everything over and over.
One line at a time, one line at a time, a little here and a little there.
So now God will have to speak to his people through foreign oppressors
who speak a strange language.
God has told his people, here is a place of rest.
Let the weary rest here.
This is a place of quiet rest.
They would not listen, so the Lord will spell out his message for them again.
One line at a time, one line at a time, a little here and a little there,
so that they will stumble and fall.
They will be injured, trapped, and captured.
Therefore, listen to this message from the Lord.
You scoffing rulers in Jerusalem.
You boast.
We have struck a bargain to cheat death and have made a deal to dodge the grave.
The coming destruction can never touch us for we have built a strong
refuge, made of lies and deception.
Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says.
Look, I am placing a foundation stone in Jerusalem, a firm and tested stone.
It is a precious cornerstone that is safe to build on.
Whoever believes need never be shaken.
I will test you with the measuring line of justice and
the plum line of righteousness.
Since your refuge is made of lies, a hailstorm will knock it down.
Since it is made of deception, a flood will sweep it away.
I will cancel the bargain you made to cheat death, and I will overturn
your deal to dodge the grave.
When the terrible enemy sweeps through, you will be trampled
into the ground again and again.
That flood will come morning after morning, day and night
until you are carried away.
This message will bring terror to your people.
The bed you have made is too short to lie on.
The blankets are too narrow to cover you.
The Lord will come as he did against the Philistines at Mount Perm.
And against the Amorites.
At Gibeon, he will come to do a strange thing.
He will come to do an unusual deeded for the Lord.
The Lord of heaven's armies has plainly said that he is
determined to crush the whole land.
So scoff, no more or your punishment will be even greater.
Listen to me listen and pay close attention.
Does a farmer always plow and never sow?
Is he forever cultivating the soil and never planting?
Does he not finely plant his seeds?
Black, common, common wheat, barley, and er wheat, each in its proper
way and each in its proper place.
The farmer knows just what to do for God has given him understanding.
A heavy sledge is never used to thresh black common.
Rather, it is beaten with a light stick.
A threshing wheel is never rolled on coming.
Instead, it is beaten lightly with a flail grain for bread is easily crushed
so he doesn't keep on pounding it.
He threshes it under the wheels of a cart, but he doesn't pulverize it.
The Lord of Heaven's armies is a wonderful teacher and he
gives the farmer great wisdom.
What sorrow awaits Ariel, the city of David.
Year after year, you celebrate your feasts, yet I will bring disaster upon you
and there will be much weeping and sorrow for Jerusalem will become what her name,
Ariel means, an altar covered with blood.
I will be your enemy surrounding Jerusalem and attacking its walls.
I will build siege towers and destroy it.
Then deep from the earth.
You will speak from low in the dust.
Your words will come.
Your voice will whisper from the ground like a ghost conjured up from the grave,
but suddenly your ruthless enemies will be crushed like the finest of dust.
Your many attackers will be driven away like chaff before the wind.
Suddenly in an instant, I, the Lord of heaven's armies will act for
you with thunder and earthquake and great noise with whirlwind
and storm and consuming fire.
All the nations fighting against Jerusalem will vanish like a dream.
Those who are attacking her walls will vanish like a vision in the night.
A hungry person dreams of eating, but wakes up still hungry.
A thirsty person, dreams of drinking, but is still faint
from thirst when morning comes.
So it will be with your enemies with those who attack Mount Zion.
Are you amazed and incredulous?
Don't you believe it, then go ahead and be blind.
You are stupid, but not from wine.
You stagger, but not from liquor.
For the Lord has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep.
He has closed the eyes of your prophets and visionaries.
All the future events in this vision are like a sealed book to them.
When you give it to those who can read, they will say, we can't
read it because it is sealed.
When you give it to those who cannot read, they will say, we don't know how to read.
And so the Lord says, these people say they are mine.
They honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me,
and their worship of me is nothing but manmade rules learned by rote.
Because of this, I will once again astound these hypocrites with amazing wonders.
The wisdom of the wise will pass away.
The intelligence of the intelligent will disappear.
What sorrow awaits those who try to hide their plans from the
Lord who do their evil deeds in the dark, the Lord can't see us.
They say he doesn't know what's going on.
How foolish can you be?
He is the potter and he is certainly greater than you.
The clay should The created thing say of the one who made it, he didn't make me.
Does a jar ever say, the potter who made me is stupid Soon
and it will not be very long.
The forests of Lebanon will become a fertile field, and the fertile field
will yield bountiful crops in that day.
The deaf will hear words read from a book, and the blind will see
through the gloom and darkness.
The humble will be filled with fresh joy from the Lord.
The poor will rejoice in the holy one of Israel.
The scoffer will be gone.
The arrogant will disappear, and those who plot evil will be killed.
Those who convict the innocent by their false testimony will disappear.
A similar fate awaits those who use trickery to pervert justice and who
tell lies to destroy the innocent.
That is why the Lord who redeemed Abraham says to the people of Israel,
My people will no longer be ashamed or turn pale with fear for when
they see their many children and all the blessings I have given them.
They will recognize the holiness of the holy one of Jacob.
They will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
Then the wayward will gain understanding and complainers will accept instruction.
What sorrow awaits my rebellious children says the Lord.
You make plans that are contrary to mine.
You make alliances not directed by my spirit, thus piling up your
sins for without consulting me.
You have gone down to Egypt for help.
You have put your trust in Pharaoh's protection.
You have tried to hide in his shade, but by trusting Pharaoh, you will
be humiliated and by depending on him, you will be disgraced.
For though his power extends to zone and his officials have arrived in hees,
all who trust in him will be ashamed.
He will not help you.
Instead, he will disgrace you.
This message came to me concerning the animals in the negative.
The caravan moves slowly across the terrible desert to Egypt.
Donkeys weighed down with riches and camels loaded with treasure.
All to pay for Egypt's protection.
They travel through the wilderness, a place of lioness and lions, a place
where vipers and poisonous snakes live.
All this and Egypt will give you nothing in return.
Egypt's promises are worthless.
Therefore, I call her Rahab the harmless dragon.
Now go and write down these words.
Write them in a book.
They will stand until the end of time as a witness that these people are
stubborn rebels who refuse to pay attention to the Lord's instructions,
they tell the seers, stop seeing visions.
They tell the prophets, don't tell us what is right.
Tell us nice things.
Tell us lies.
Forget all this gloom.
Get off your narrow path.
Stop telling us about your holy one of Israel.
This is the reply of the holy one of Israel because you despise
what I tell you and trust.
Instead in oppression and lies, calamity will come upon you suddenly like a bulging
wall that bursts and falls in an instant, it will collapse and come crashing down.
You will be smashed like a piece of pottery shattered so completely that
there won't be a piece big enough to carry coals from a fireplace
or a little water from the well.
This is what the sovereign Lord, the holy one of Israel says, only in returning to
me and resting in me will you be saved in quietness and confidence is your
strength, but you would have none of it.
You said no.
We will get our help from Egypt.
They will give us swift horses for riding into battle.
But the only swiftness you are going to see is the swiftness
of your enemies chasing you.
One of them will chase a thousand of you.
Five of them will make all of you flee.
You will be left like a lonely flagpole on a hill or a tattered
banner on a distant mountaintop.
So the Lord must wait for you to come to him so he can show
you his love and compassion.
For the Lord is a faithful God.
Blessed are those who wait for his help.
Oh, people of Zion who live in Jerusalem, you will weave no more.
He will be gracious if you ask for help.
He will surely respond to the sound of your cries.
Though the Lord gave you adversity for food and suffering for drink, he
will still be with you to teach you.
You will see your teacher with your own eyes.
Your own ears will hear him right behind you.
A voice will say, this is the way you should go, whether
to the right or to the left.
Then you will destroy all your silver idols and your precious gold images.
You will throw them out like filthy rags, saying to them, good riddance.
Then the Lord will bless you with rain at planting time, there will
be wonderful harvests and plenty of pasture land for your livestock.
The oxen and donkeys that till the ground will eat good grain.
It's chaff blown away by the wind.
In that day when your enemies are slaughtered and the towers fall,
there will be streams of water flowing down every mountain and hill.
The moon will be as bright as the sun, and the sun will be seven times brighter
like the light of seven days in one.
So it will be when the Lord begins to heal his people and
cure the wounds he gave them.
Look, the Lord is coming from far away burning with anger.
Surrounded by thick rising smoke.
His lips are filled with fury.
His words consume like fire.
His hot breath pours out like a flood up to the neck of his enemies.
He will sift out the proud nations for destruction.
He will bridle them and lead them away to ruin.
But the people of God will sing a song of joy like the songs at the Holy Festivals.
You will be filled with joy as when a flutist leads a group of pilgrims to
Jerusalem, the mountain of the Lord to the Rock of Israel, and the Lord
will make his majestic voice heard.
He will display the strength of his mighty arm.
It will descend with devouring flames.
With bursts, thunderstorms, and huge hailstones at the Lord's command,
the Assyrians will be shattered.
He will strike them down with his royal scepter.
And as the Lord strikes them with his rod of punishment, his people will celebrate.
With tambourines and harps lifting his mighty arm, he
will fight the Assyrians tophi.
The place of burning has long been ready for the Assyrian king.
The pyre is piled high with wood.
The breath of the Lord like fire from a volcano will set it ablaze.
What sorrow awaits those who look to Egypt for help trusting their horses,
chariots and charioteers, and depending on the strength of human armies,
instead of looking to the Lord, the holy one of Israel, in his wisdom,
the Lord will send great disaster.
He will not change his mind.
He will rise against the wicked and against their helpers.
For these Egyptians are mere humans, not God.
Their horses are puny, flesh, not mighty spirits.
When the Lord raises his fist against them, those who help will stumble
and those being helped will fall.
They will all fall down and die together.
But this is what the Lord has told me.
When a strong young lion stands growling over a sheep it has killed,
it is not frightened by the shouts and noise of a whole crowd of shepherds.
In the same way, the Lord of heaven's armies will come
down and fight on Mount Zion.
The Lord of heaven's armies will hover over Jerusalem and protect it
like a bird, protecting its nest.
He will defend and save the city.
He will pass over it and rescue it.
Though you are such wicked rebels, my people come and return to the Lord.
I know the glorious day will come when each of you will throw away
the gold idols and silver images your sinful hands have made.
The Assyrians will be destroyed, but not by the swords of men.
The sword of God will strike them and they will panic and flee.
The strong young Assyrians will be taken away as captives.
Even the strongest will quake with terror and princes will flee when
they see your battle flags says the Lord whose fire burns in Zion,
whose flame blazes from Jerusalem, look, a righteous king is coming and
honest princes will rule under him.
Each one will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm.
Streams of water in the desert and the shadow of a great rock in a parched
land, then everyone who has eyes will be able to see the truth and everyone
who has ears will be able to hear it.
Even the hotheads will be full of sense and understanding.
Those who stammer will speak out plainly in that day.
Ungodly fools will not be heroes.
Scoundrels will not be respected.
For fools speak foolishness and make evil plans.
They practice ungodliness and spread false teachings about the Lord.
They deprive the hungry of food and give no water to the thirsty.
The smooth tricks of scoundrels are evil.
They plot crooked schemes.
They lie to convict the poor even when the cause of the poor is just.
Generous people plan to do what is generous and they
stand firm in their generosity.
Listen, you women who lie around in ease, listen to me, you who are so smug
in a short time, just a little more than a year, you careless ones will
suddenly begin to care for your fruit.
Crops will fail and the harvest will never take place.
Tremble you women of ease.
Throw off your complacency, strip off your pretty clothes and put
on burlap to show your grief.
Beat your breasts in sorrow for your bountiful farms and your fruitful grape
vines for your land will be overgrown.
With thorns and briars, your joyful homes and happy towns will be gone.
The palace and the city will be deserted and busy.
Towns will be empty.
Wild donkeys will frolic and flocks will graze in the empty forts and
watchtowers until at last the spirit is poured out on us from heaven.
Then the wilderness will become a fertile field, and the fertile
field will yield bountiful crops.
Justice will rule in the wilderness and righteousness in the fertile field.
This righteousness will bring peace.
Yes, it will bring quietness and confidence forever.
My people will live in safety quietly at home.
They will be at rest.
Even if the forest should be destroyed and the city torn down, the Lord will greatly
bless his people wherever they plant.
Seed bountiful crops will spring up.
Their cattle and donkeys will graze freely.
What sorrow awaits you.
Assyrians who have destroyed others but have never been destroyed
yourselves, you betray others, but you have never been betrayed.
When you are done destroying, you will be destroyed.
When you are done betraying, you will be betrayed.
But Lord be merciful to us for we have waited for you.
Be our strong arm each day and our salvation in times of trouble.
The enemy runs at the sound of your voice when you stand up.
The nations flee just as caterpillars and locusts strip the fields and vines so the
fallen army of Assyria will be stripped.
Though the Lord is very great and lives in heaven, he will make Jerusalem his home
of justice and righteousness in that day.
He will be your sure foundation, providing a rich store of
salvation, wisdom, and knowledge.
The fear of the Lord will be your treasure.
But now your brave warriors weep in public.
Your ambassadors of peace cry in bitter disappointment.
Your roads are deserted.
No one travels them anymore.
The Assyrians have broken their peace treaty and care nothing for the
promises they made before witnesses.
They have no respect for anyone.
The land of Israel wilts in mourning Lebanon withers with shame.
The plane of Sharon is now a wilderness.
Basian and caramel have been plundered, but the Lord says, now I will stand up.
Now I will show my power, and might you Assyrians produce nothing but
dry grass and stubble your own breath will turn to fire and consume you.
Your people will be burned up completely like thorn bushes,
cut down and tossed in a fire.
Listen to what I have done.
You nations far away and you that are near acknowledge my might the
sinners in Jerusalem shake with fear, terror, seizes, the godless who
can live with this devouring fire.
They cry.
Who can survive this all consuming fire?
Those who are honest and fair, who refuse to profit by fraud, who stay far away
from bribes, who refuse to listen to those who plot murder, who shut their
eyes to all enticement to do wrong, these are the ones who will dwell on high.
The rocks of the mountains will be their fortress.
Food will be supplied to them, and they will have water in abundance.
Your eyes will see the king in all his splendor, and you will see a land
that stretches into the distance.
You will think back to this time of terror asking, where are the Assyrian
officers who counted our towers?
Where are the bookkeepers who recorded the plunder taken from our fallen city?
You will no longer see these fierce, violent people with
their strange unknown language.
Instead, you will see Zion as a place of holy festivals.
You will see Jerusalem a city quiet and secure.
It will be like a tent whose ropes are taught and whose stakes are firmly fixed.
The Lord will be our mighty one.
He will be like a wide river of protection that no enemy can cross,
that no enemy ship can sail upon.
For the Lord is our judge, our law giver, and our king.
He will care for us and save us.
The enemy's sail.
Hang loose on broken mast with useless tackle.
Their treasure will be divided by the people of God.
Even the lame will take their share.
The people of Israel will no longer say we are sick and helpless.
For the Lord will forgive their sins.
This concludes today's immerse reading experience.
Thank you for joining us.