Today's Readings and Stuff -- Thursday, 03 September 2020

 Welcome.  Let's try this again, ok?

Only to spend 2-1/2 hours fighting with the computer system, not helped by the insistence of installing a number of "updates" that could not be forestalled, delayed, or interrupted.  Hasn't improved my general take on the world.  About ready to ditch the electronics, pack a moving van full of books and parchments, (and some food I guess), and relocate with Dear Wife to some mountain hermitage.  Ain't gonna happen, of course, but it's terribly tempting.

Had to run an errand Across The Line yesterday, part of the routine to get meds for Wife from the pharmacy.  Drove by a group of four (white) guys waving Black Lives Matter signs.  Sigh.

A good song for the day:  Call Upon The Name Of  The Lord.

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ISAIAH 7

The Message to Ahaz

1This took place during the reign of Ahaz, son of Jotham, son of Uzziah king of Judah:  Rezin king of Aram, along with Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, waged war against Jerusalem,  but he could not succeed. 2When it became known to the house of David  that Aram had occupied Ephraim,  the heart of Ahaz  and the hearts of his people trembled like trees of a forest shaking in the wind.

3Then the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out with your son Shear-jashub  to meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the upper pool,  by the road to the Fuller’s Field. 4Say to him: Calm down and be quiet. Don’t be afraid or cowardly  because of these two smoldering stubs of firebrands, the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram, and the son of Remaliah. 5For Aram, along with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has plotted harm against you. They say, 6‘Let us go up against Judah, terrorize it, and conquer it for ourselves. Then we can install Tabeel’s son as king in it.’ ”

7This is what the Lord God says:

It will not happen; it will not occur. 

8The  head of Aram is Damascus,

the head of Damascus is Rezin

(within 65 years

Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people),

9the head of Ephraim is Samaria,

and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.

If you do not stand firm in your faith,

then you will not stand at all.

The Immanuel Prophecy

10Then the Lord spoke again to Ahaz: 11“Ask for a sign  from the Lord your God — from the depths of Sheol to the heights of heaven.”

12But Ahaz replied, “I will not ask. I will not test the Lord.”

13Isaiah  said, “Listen, house of David! Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men? Will you also try the patience of my God?  14Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you  a sign: The virgin will conceive,  have a son, and name him Immanuel.   15By the time he learns to reject what is bad and choose what is good,  he will be eating butter  and honey.  16For before the boy knows to reject what is bad and choose what is good, the land of the two kings you dread will be abandoned. 17The Lord will bring on you, your people, and the house of your father, such a time as has never been since Ephraim separated from Judah  — the king of Assyria  is coming.”

18On that day 

the Lord will whistle  to the fly

that is at the farthest streams of the Nile

and to the bee that is in the land of Assyria.

19All of them will come and settle

in the steep ravines, in the clefts of the rocks, 

in all the thornbushes, and in all the water holes.

20On that day the Lord will use a razor  hired from beyond the Euphrates River — the king of Assyria  — to shave the head, the hair on the legs, and to remove the beard as well.

21On that day

a man will raise a young cow and two sheep,

22and from the abundant milk they give

he will eat butter,

for every survivor in the land will eat butter and honey. 

23And on that day

every place where there were 1,000 vines,

worth 1,000 pieces of silver,

will become thorns and briers. 

24A man will go there with bow and arrows

because the whole land will be thorns and briers.

25You will not go to all the hills

that were once tilled with a hoe,

for fear of the thorns and briers.

Those hills will be places for oxen to graze

and for sheep to trample.

ISAIAH 8

The Coming Assyrian Invasion

1Then the Lord said to me, “Take a large piece of parchment  and write on it with an ordinary pen:   Maher-shalal-hash-baz.  2I have appointed  trustworthy witnesses — Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah.” 

3I was then intimate with the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. The Lord said to me, “Name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz, 4for before the boy knows how to call out father or mother,  the wealth of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria will be carried off to the king of Assyria.” 

5The Lord spoke to me again:

6Because these people rejected

the slowly flowing waters of Shiloah

and rejoiced with  Rezin

and the son of Remaliah, 

7the Lord will certainly bring against them

the mighty rushing waters of the Euphrates River —

the king of Assyria and all his glory.

It will overflow its channels

and spill over all its banks.

8It will pour into Judah,

flood over it, and sweep through,

reaching up to the neck; 

and its spreading streams 

will fill your entire land, Immanuel! 

9Band together, peoples, and be broken;

pay attention, all you distant lands;

prepare for war, and be broken;

prepare for war, and be broken.

10Devise a plan; it will fail. 

Make a prediction; it will not happen.

For God is with us.  

The Lord of Hosts, the Only Refuge

11For this is what the Lord said to me with great power, to keep  me from going the way of this people: 

12Do not call everything an alliance

these people say is an alliance. 

Do not fear what they fear; 

do not be terrified.

13You are to regard only the Lord of Hosts as holy. 

Only He should be feared; 

only He should be held in awe.

14He will be a sanctuary; 

but for the two houses of Israel,

He will be a stone  to stumble over

and a rock to trip over, 

and a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

15Many will stumble over these; 

they will fall and be broken;

they will be snared and captured.

16Bind up the testimony. 

Seal up the instruction  among my disciples.

17I will wait for the Lord, 

who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob. 

I will wait for Him.

18Here I am with the children the Lord has given me  to be signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of Hosts who dwells on Mount Zion. 19When they say to you, “Consult the spirits of the dead and the spiritists who chirp and mutter,”  shouldn’t a people consult their God?  Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?  20To the law and to the testimony!  If they do not speak according to this word, there will be no dawn for them.

21They will wander through the land, dejected and hungry. When they are famished, they will become enraged, and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God. 22They will look toward the earth  and see only distress, darkness, and the gloom of affliction, and they will be driven into thick darkness.

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PROVERBS 6

Financial Entanglements

1My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor 

or entered into an agreement with  a stranger,  

2you have been trapped by the words of your lips  —

ensnared by the words of your mouth.

3Do this, then, my son, and free yourself,

for you have put yourself in your neighbor’s power:

Go, humble yourself, and plead with your neighbor.

4Don’t give sleep to your eyes

or slumber to your eyelids. 

5Escape like a gazelle from a hunter, 

like a bird from a fowler’s trap.  

Laziness

6Go to the ant,  you slacker! 

Observe its ways and become wise.

7Without leader, administrator, or ruler,

8it prepares its provisions in summer;

it gathers its food during harvest. 

9How long will you stay in bed, you slacker?

When will you get up from your sleep?

10A little sleep, a little slumber,

a little folding of the arms to rest, 

11and your poverty will come like a robber,

your need, like a bandit. 

The Malicious Man

12A worthless person,  a wicked man

goes around speaking dishonestly, 

13winking  his eyes, signaling with his feet,

and gesturing with his fingers.

14He always plots evil  with perversity in his heart —

he stirs up trouble. 

15Therefore calamity will strike him suddenly;

he will be shattered instantly — beyond recovery. 

What the Lord Hates

16The Lord hates six things;

in fact, seven are detestable to Him:

17arrogant eyes,  a lying tongue, 

hands that shed innocent blood, 

18a heart that plots wicked schemes, 

feet eager to run to evil, 

19a lying witness who gives false testimony, 

and one who stirs up trouble among brothers. 

Warning against Adultery

20My son, keep your father’s command,

and don’t reject your mother’s teaching. 

21Always bind them to your heart;

tie them around your neck. 

22When you walk here and there, they will guide you;

when you lie down, they will watch over you;

when you wake up, they will talk to you.

23For a command is a lamp, teaching is a light, 

and corrective discipline is the way to life. 

24They will protect you from an evil woman, 

from the flattering  tongue of a stranger. 

25Don’t lust in your heart for her beauty 

or let her captivate you with her eyelashes. 

26For a prostitute’s fee is only a loaf of bread, 

but an adulteress  goes after a precious life. 

27Can a man embrace fire 

and his clothes not be burned?

28Can a man walk on burning coals

without scorching his feet?

29So it is with the one who sleeps with

another man’s wife;

no one who touches her will go unpunished. 

30People don’t despise the thief if he steals

to satisfy himself when he is hungry. 

31Still, if caught, he must pay seven times as much; 

he must give up all the wealth in his house.

32The one who commits adultery  lacks sense;

whoever does so destroys himself. 

33He will get a beating  and dishonor,

and his disgrace will never be removed.

34For jealousy enrages a husband, 

and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.

35He will not be appeased by anything

or be persuaded by lavish gifts.

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PHILIPPIANS 3

Knowing Christ

1Finally, my brothers, rejoice  in the Lord. To write to you again about this is no trouble for me and is a protection for you.

2Watch out for “dogs,”  watch out for evil  workers, watch out for those who mutilate the flesh. 3For we are the circumcision,  the ones who serve by the Spirit  of God, boast in Christ Jesus,  and do not put confidence in the flesh — 4although I once also had confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5circumcised the eighth day;  of the nation of Israel,  of the tribe of Benjamin,  a Hebrew born of Hebrews; regarding the law,  a Pharisee; 6regarding zeal,  persecuting  the church; regarding the righteousness that is in the law,  blameless. 

7But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ. 8More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value  of knowing Christ  Jesus my Lord. Because of Him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them filth, so that I may gain Christ  9and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law,  but one that is through faith in Christ  — the righteousness from God based on faith.  10My goal is to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings,  being conformed to His death,  11assuming that I will somehow reach the resurrection from among the dead.

Reaching Forward to God’s Goal

12Not that I have already reached the goal or am already fully mature, but I make every effort to take hold  of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus. 13Brothers, I do not  consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind  and reaching forward to what is ahead, 14I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly  call in Christ Jesus.  15Therefore, all who are mature should think this way. And if you think differently about anything, God will reveal  this also to you. 16In any case, we should live up to whatever truth we have attained. 17Join in imitating me, brothers, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. 18For I have often told you, and now say again with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross  of Christ. 19Their end is destruction; their god is their stomach; their glory  is in their shame. They are focused on earthly things, 20but our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. 21He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of His glorious  body,  by the power that enables Him to subject everything to Himself.