Today's Readings and Stuff -- Thursday, 07 November 2013

running a bit late.  Just got done -- I hope  --  repairing the latest plumbing issue in our modest dwelling.  One of those in a series of issues that were both caused and complicated by truly bad handiwork by some nameless choom.  ( a term popularized by the late Robert A. Heinlein, not necessarily a reference to the dope-smoking crowd Obumble ran with).

Dear Wife is crashed on the recliner under a blanket with a space heater aimed at her, with the TV turned to some channel that has an unbroken line of these really awful crime stories.  Hate it.  So I've taken refuge at the kitchen table, swilling coffee from the local discount store (bad, real bad, but has caffeine in it) as a form of refuge.

Just having a "meh" morning.  Had a call a short while ago from an executive recruiter, has a nice-sounding job, but one with a 2-hour commute each way.  Have to pass on that.

The Old Testament passage for the day is chapters 46, 47, 48 of Jeremiah.  Pretty stern stuff.  Recall these passages the next time you hear someone proclaiming that the Lord does not execute judgment for determined sin.  It ain't so, and this section of the Bible shows that  -- read it with that in mind.

Jeremiah 46

1	The word of the LORD which came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Gentiles;
2	Against Egypt, against the army of Pharaohnecho king of Egypt, which was by the river Euphrates in Carchemish, which Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon smote in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah.
3	Order ye the buckler and shield, and draw near to battle.
4	Harness the horses; and get up, ye horsemen, and stand forth with your helmets; furbish the spears, and put on the brigandines.
5	Wherefore have I seen them dismayed and turned away back? and their mighty ones are beaten down, and are fled apace, and look not back: for fear was round about, saith the LORD.
6	Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they shall stumble, and fall toward the north by the river Euphrates.
7	Who is this that cometh up as a flood, whose waters are moved as the rivers?
8	Egypt riseth up like a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers; and he saith, I will go up, and will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof.
9	Come up, ye horses; and rage, ye chariots; and let the mighty men come forth; the Ethiopians and the Libyans, that handle the shield; and the Lydians, that handle and bend the bow.
10	For this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord GOD of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.
11	Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt: in vain shalt thou use many medicines; for thou shalt not be cured.
12	The nations have heard of thy shame, and thy cry hath filled the land: for the mighty man hath stumbled against the mighty, and they are fallen both together.
13	The word that the LORD spake to Jeremiah the prophet, how Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon should come and smite the land of Egypt.
14	Declare ye in Egypt, and publish in Migdol, and publish in Noph and in Tahpanhes: say ye, Stand fast, and prepare thee; for the sword shall devour round about thee.
15	Why are thy valiant men swept away? they stood not, because the LORD did drive them.
16	He made many to fall, yea, one fell upon another: and they said, Arise, and let us go again to our own people, and to the land of our nativity, from the oppressing sword.
17	They did cry there, Pharaoh king of Egypt is but a noise; he hath passed the time appointed.
18	As I live, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts, Surely as Tabor is among the mountains, and as Carmel by the sea, so shall he come.
19	O thou daughter dwelling in Egypt, furnish thyself to go into captivity: for Noph shall be waste and desolate without an inhabitant.
20	Egypt is like a very fair heifer, but destruction cometh; it cometh out of the north.
21	Also her hired men are in the midst of her like fatted bullocks; for they also are turned back, and are fled away together: they did not stand, because the day of their calamity was come upon them, and the time of their visitation.
22	The voice thereof shall go like a serpent; for they shall march with an army, and come against her with axes, as hewers of wood.
23	They shall cut down her forest, saith the LORD, though it cannot be searched; because they are more than the grasshoppers, and are innumerable.
24	The daughter of Egypt shall be confounded; she shall be delivered into the hand of the people of the north.
25	The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, saith; Behold, I will punish the multitude of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with their gods, and their kings; even Pharaoh, and all them that trust in him:
26	And I will deliver them into the hand of those that seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants: and afterward it shall be inhabited, as in the days of old, saith the LORD.
27	But fear not thou, O my servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel: for, behold, I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.
28	Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the LORD: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.

Jeremiah 47

1	The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet against the Philistines, before that Pharaoh smote Gaza.
2	Thus saith the LORD; Behold, waters rise up out of the north, and shall be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land, and all that is therein; the city, and them that dwell therein: then the men shall cry, and all the inhabitants of the land shall howl.
3	At the noise of the stamping of the hoofs of his strong horses, at the rushing of his chariots, and at the rumbling of his wheels, the fathers shall not look back to their children for feebleness of hands;
4	Because of the day that cometh to spoil all the Philistines, and to cut off from Tyrus and Zidon every helper that remaineth: for the LORD will spoil the Philistines, the remnant of the country of Caphtor.
5	Baldness is come upon Gaza; Ashkelon is cut off with the remnant of their valley: how long wilt thou cut thyself?
6	O thou sword of the LORD, how long will it be ere thou be quiet? put up thyself into thy scabbard, rest, and be still.
7	How can it be quiet, seeing the LORD hath given it a charge against Ashkelon, and against the sea shore? there hath he appointed it.

Jeremiah 48

1	Against Moab thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Woe unto Nebo! for it is spoiled: Kiriathaim is confounded and taken: Misgab is confounded and dismayed.
2	There shall be no more praise of Moab: in Heshbon they have devised evil against it; come, and let us cut it off from being a nation. Also thou shalt be cut down, O Madmen; the sword shall pursue thee.
3	A voice of crying shall be from Horonaim, spoiling and great destruction.
4	Moab is destroyed; her little ones have caused a cry to be heard.
5	For in the going up of Luhith continual weeping shall go up; for in the going down of Horonaim the enemies have heard a cry of destruction.
6	Flee, save your lives, and be like the heath in the wilderness.
7	For because thou hast trusted in thy works and in thy treasures, thou shalt also be taken: and Chemosh shall go forth into captivity with his priests and his princes together.
8	And the spoiler shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape: the valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed, as the LORD hath spoken.
9	Give wings unto Moab, that it may flee and get away: for the cities thereof shall be desolate, without any to dwell therein.
10	Cursed be he that doeth the work of the LORD deceitfully, and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood.
11	Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed.
12	Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will send unto him wanderers, that shall cause him to wander, and shall empty his vessels, and break their bottles.
13	And Moab shall be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel their confidence.
14	How say ye, We are mighty and strong men for the war?
15	Moab is spoiled, and gone up out of her cities, and his chosen young men are gone down to the slaughter, saith the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.
16	The calamity of Moab is near to come, and his affliction hasteth fast.
17	All ye that are about him, bemoan him; and all ye that know his name, say, How is the strong staff broken, and the beautiful rod!
18	Thou daughter that dost inhabit Dibon, come down from thy glory, and sit in thirst; for the spoiler of Moab shall come upon thee, and he shall destroy thy strong holds.
19	O inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way, and espy; ask him that fleeth, and her that escapeth, and say, What is done?
20	Moab is confounded; for it is broken down: howl and cry; tell ye it in Arnon, that Moab is spoiled,
21	And judgment is come upon the plain country; upon Holon, and upon Jahazah, and upon Mephaath,
22	And upon Dibon, and upon Nebo, and upon Bethdiblathaim,
23	And upon Kiriathaim, and upon Bethgamul, and upon Bethmeon,
24	And upon Kerioth, and upon Bozrah, and upon all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near.
25	The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, saith the LORD.
26	Make ye him drunken: for he magnified himself against the LORD: Moab also shall wallow in his vomit, and he also shall be in derision.
27	For was not Israel a derision unto thee? was he found among thieves? for since thou spakest of him, thou skippedst for joy.
28	O ye that dwell in Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock, and be like the dove that maketh her nest in the sides of the hole's mouth.
29	We have heard the pride of Moab, (he is exceeding proud) his loftiness, and his arrogancy, and his pride, and the haughtiness of his heart.
30	I know his wrath, saith the LORD; but it shall not be so; his lies shall not so effect it.
31	Therefore will I howl for Moab, and I will cry out for all Moab; mine heart shall mourn for the men of Kirheres.
32	O vine of Sibmah, I will weep for thee with the weeping of Jazer: thy plants are gone over the sea, they reach even to the sea of Jazer: the spoiler is fallen upon thy summer fruits and upon thy vintage.
33	And joy and gladness is taken from the plentiful field, and from the land of Moab, and I have caused wine to fail from the winepresses: none shall tread with shouting; their shouting shall be no shouting.
34	From the cry of Heshbon even unto Elealeh, and even unto Jahaz, have they uttered their voice, from Zoar even unto Horonaim, as an heifer of three years old: for the waters also of Nimrim shall be desolate.
35	Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab, saith the LORD, him that offereth in the high places, and him that burneth incense to his gods.
36	Therefore mine heart shall sound for Moab like pipes, and mine heart shall sound like pipes for the men of Kirheres: because the riches that he hath gotten are perished.
37	For every head shall be bald, and every beard clipped: upon all the hands shall be cuttings, and upon the loins sackcloth.
38	There shall be lamentation generally upon all the housetops of Moab, and in the streets thereof: for I have broken Moab like a vessel wherein is no pleasure, saith the LORD.
39	They shall howl, saying, How is it broken down! how hath Moab turned the back with shame! so shall Moab be a derision and a dismaying to all them about him.
40	For thus saith the LORD; Behold, he shall fly as an eagle, and shall spread his wings over Moab.
41	Kerioth is taken, and the strong holds are surprised, and the mighty men's hearts in Moab at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.
42	And Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because he hath magnified himself against the LORD.
43	Fear, and the pit, and the snare, shall be upon thee, O inhabitant of Moab, saith the LORD.
44	He that fleeth from the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that getteth up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for I will bring upon it, even upon Moab, the year of their visitation, saith the LORD.
45	They that fled stood under the shadow of Heshbon because of the force: but a fire shall come forth out of Heshbon, and a flame from the midst of Sihon, and shall devour the corner of Moab, and the crown of the head of the tumultuous ones.
46	Woe be unto thee, O Moab! the people of Chemosh perisheth: for thy sons are taken captives, and thy daughters captives.
47	Yet will I bring again the captivity of Moab in the latter days, saith the LORD. Thus far is the judgment of Moab.

=========

The New Testament passage is chapter 4 in the Hebrews

Hebrews 4

1	Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.
2	For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
3	For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
4	For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.
5	And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.
6	Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:
7	Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
8	For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.
9	There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
10	For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.
11	Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
12	For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
13	Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
14	Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
15	For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
16	Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.