Today's Readings and Stuff -- Saturday, 08 September 2018

So, we shall try again.
We see on the weather maps a huge storm that extends from central Pennsylvania to central Missouri, from the lower peninsula of Michigan down through Tennessee, with predictions of as much as 5" of rain in places and lots of flash flooding, as well as mudslides in the hillier parts of Pennsylvania.  We have some areas not too far from here that flood quite regularly in far more moderate rain events (though, oddly, the "official experts" paid by tax money, haven't troubled themselves to address the matter).  So we expect to have a day of doing inside stuff, like even more laundry and such.  Wife felt good enough (and hungry as well) to concoct a coffee cake when we got up, so coffee and coffee cake (with lots of cinnamon in it) isn't such a bad way to start the day.

Tomorrow's "high" is predicted to be around 59° with lots of rain, and today's at 68° so, despite the official season, it's not feeling all that "summery" around.  Our "day" is now down to 12 hours 48 minutes and losing another 2 minutes 41 seconds by tomorrow.  I can hear the Winter winds howl already.


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Today's reading is chapters 17 and 18 in Isaiah.  Yes, Syria, and Damascus in particular, has been a den of iniquity just about forever, and that is likely to continue until the End.  Saying that upsets some people, including some of my lefty lib friends, but it's still true.
The text is from the New King James version.


Isaiah 17

Proclamation Against Syria and Israel

1The burden against Damascus.

“Behold, Damascus will cease from being a city,

And it will be a ruinous heap.

2The cities of Aroer are forsaken;

They will be for flocks

Which lie down, and no one will make them afraid.

3The fortress also will cease from Ephraim,

The kingdom from Damascus,

And the remnant of Syria;

They will be as the glory of the children of Israel,”

Says the Lord of hosts.

4“In that day it shall come to pass

That the glory of Jacob will wane,

And the fatness of his flesh grow lean.

5It shall be as when the harvester gathers the grain,

And reaps the heads with his arm;

It shall be as he who gathers heads of grain

In the Valley of Rephaim.

6Yet gleaning grapes will be left in it,

Like the shaking of an olive tree,

Two or three olives at the top of the uppermost bough,

Four or five in its most fruitful branches,”

Says the Lord God of Israel.

7In that day a man will look to his Maker,

And his eyes will have respect for the Holy One of Israel.

8He will not look to the altars,

The work of his hands;

He will not respect what his fingers have made,

Nor the wooden images nor the incense altars.

9In that day his strong cities will be as a forsaken bough

And an uppermost branch,

Which they left because of the children of Israel;

And there will be desolation.

10Because you have forgotten the God of your salvation,

And have not been mindful of the Rock of your stronghold,

Therefore you will plant pleasant plants

And set out foreign seedlings;

11In the day you will make your plant to grow,

And in the morning you will make your seed to flourish;

But the harvest will be a heap of ruins

In the day of grief and desperate sorrow.

12Woe to the multitude of many people

Who make a noise like the roar of the seas,

And to the rushing of nations

That make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!

13The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters;

But God will rebuke them and they will flee far away,

And be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind,

Like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.

14Then behold, at eventide, trouble!

And before the morning, he is no more.

This is the portion of those who plunder us,

And the lot of those who rob us.

Isaiah 18

Proclamation Against Ethiopia

1Woe to the land shadowed with buzzing wings,

Which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,

2Which sends ambassadors by sea,

Even in vessels of reed on the waters, saying,

“Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth ofskin,

To a people terrible from their beginning onward,

A nation powerful and treading down,

Whose land the rivers divide.”

3All inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth:

When he lifts up a banner on the mountains, you see it;

And when he blows a trumpet, you hear it.

4For so the Lord said to me,

“I will take My rest,

And I will look from My dwelling place

Like clear heat in sunshine,

Like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”

5For before the harvest, when the bud is perfect

And the sour grape is ripening in the flower,

He will both cut off the sprigs with pruning hooks

And take away and cut down the branches.

6They will be left together for the mountain birds of prey 

And for the beasts of the earth;

The birds of prey will summer on them,

And all the beasts of the earth will winter on them.

7In that time a present will be brought to the Lord of hosts

From a people tall and smooth of skin,

And from a people terrible from their beginning onward,

A nation powerful and treading down,

Whose land the rivers divide—

To the place of the name of the Lord of hosts,

To Mount Zion.

Today's Readings and Stuff --- Friday, 07 September 2018

This is VERY late and Very brief.  This has been another of "those" days, with little chance for reflection and thought, and most of the hours taken up by "doing the necessary".    Not what I'd planned for, but some things got ahead of me.  Happens.
I'm putting the day's texts below.  Every single one deserves much more attention and study than I can do right now, and Wife is making noises about taking the "night meds" and going to bed.  Sounds good.  I'm feeling less than Herculean right now myself.


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Isaiah 15

1The burden of Moab. Because in the night Ar of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence; because in the night Kir of Moab is laid waste, and brought to silence;

2He is gone up to Bajith, and to Dibon, the high places, to weep: Moab shall howl over Nebo, and over Medeba: on all their heads shall be baldness, and every beard cut off.

3In their streets they shall gird themselves with sackcloth: on the tops of their houses, and in their streets, every one shall howl, weeping abundantly.

4And Heshbon shall cry, and Elealeh: their voice shall be heard even unto Jahaz: therefore the armed soldiers of Moab shall cry out; his life shall be grievous unto him.

5My heart shall cry out for Moab; his fugitives shall flee unto Zoar, an heifer of three years old: for by the mounting up of Luhith with weeping shall they go it up; for in the way of Horonaim they shall raise up a cry of destruction.

6For the waters of Nimrim shall be desolate: for the hay is withered away, the grass faileth, there is no green thing.

7Therefore the abundance they have gotten, and that which they have laid up, shall they carry away to the brook of the willows.

8For the cry is gone round about the borders of Moab; the howling thereof unto Eglaim, and the howling thereof unto Beer–elim.

9For the waters of Dimon shall be full of blood: for I will bring more upon Dimon, lions upon him that escapeth of Moab, and upon the remnant of the land.

Isaiah 16

1Send ye the lamb to the ruler of the land from Sela to the wilderness, unto the mount of the daughter of Zion.

2For it shall be, that, as a wandering bird cast out of the nest, so the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of Arnon.

3Take counsel, execute judgment; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of the noonday; hide the outcasts; bewray not him that wandereth.

4Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab; be thou a covert to them from the face of the spoiler: for the extortioner is at an end, the spoiler ceaseth, the oppressors are consumed out of the land.

5And in mercy shall the throne be established: and he shall sit upon it in truth in the tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness.

6We have heard of the pride of Moab; he is very proud: even of his haughtiness, and his pride, and his wrath: but his lies shall not be so.

7Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab, every one shall howl: for the foundations of Kir–hareseth shall ye mourn; surely they are stricken.

8For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah: the lords of the heathen have broken down the principal plants thereof, they are come even unto Jazer, they wandered through the wilderness: her branches are stretched out, they are gone over the sea.

9Therefore I will bewail with the weeping of Jazer the vine of Sibmah: I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon, and Elealeh: for the shouting for thy summer fruits and for thy harvest is fallen.

10And gladness is taken away, and joy out of the plentiful field; and in the vineyards there shall be no singing, neither shall there be shouting: the treaders shall tread out no wine in their presses; I have made their vintage shouting to cease.

11Wherefore my bowels shall sound like an harp for Moab, and mine inward parts for Kir–heres.

12And it shall come to pass, when it is seen that Moab is weary on the high place, that he shall come to his sanctuary to pray; but he shall not prevail.

13This is the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning Moab since that time.

14But now the Lord hath spoken, saying, Within three years, as the years of an hireling, and the glory of Moab shall be contemned, with all that great multitude; and the remnant shall be very small and feeble.

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Proverbs 9

1Wisdom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven pillars:

2She hath killed her beasts; she hath mingled her wine; she hath also furnished her table.

3She hath sent forth her maidens: she crieth upon the highest places of the city,

4Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him,

5Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled.

6Forsake the foolish, and live; and go in the way of understanding.

7He that reproveth a scorner getteth to himself shame: and he that rebuketh a wicked man getteth himself a blot.

8Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.

9Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.

10The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

11For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased.

12If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.

13A foolish woman is clamorous: she is simple, and knoweth nothing.

14For she sitteth at the door of her house, on a seat in the high places of the city,

15To call passengers who go right on their ways:

16Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: and as for him that wanteth understanding, she saith to him,

17Stolen waters are sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.

18But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell.

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Colossians 1

1Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

2To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

3We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,

4Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints,

5For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel;

6Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world; and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you, since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth:

7As ye also learned of Epaphras our dear fellowservant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ;

8Who also declared unto us your love in the Spirit.

9For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

10That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;

11Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;

12Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:

13Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

14In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:

15Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

16For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

17And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

18And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

19For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;

20And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

21And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled

22In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

23If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;

24Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church:

25Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;

26Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:

27To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

28Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:

29Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.