Moab Rebels Against Israel

¹fIn the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned twelve years. ²He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, though not like his father and mother, for he put away the gpillar of Baal hthat his father had made. ³Nevertheless, he clung to ithe sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, jwhich he made Israel to sin; he did not depart from it.

⁴Now Mesha king of Moab was a sheep breeder, kand he had to deliver to the king of Israel 100,000 lambs and the wool of 100,000 rams. ⁵But lwhen Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel. ⁶So King Jehoram marched out of Samaria at that time and mustered all Israel. ⁷And he went and sent word to Jehoshaphat king of Judah: “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to battle against Moab?” And he said, “I will go. mI am as you are, my people as your people, my horses as your horses.” ⁸Then he said, “By which way shall we march?” Jehoram answered, “By the way of the wilderness of Edom.”

⁹So the king of Israel went with the king of Judah and nthe king of Edom. And when they had made a circuitous march of seven days, there was no water for the army or for the animals that followed them. ¹⁰Then the king of Israel said, “Alas! oThe Lord has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab.” ¹¹pAnd Jehoshaphat said, “Is there no prophet of the Lord here, through whom we may inquire of the Lord?” Then one of the king of Israel's servants answered, q“Elisha the son of Shaphat is here, rwho poured water on the hands of Elijah.” ¹²And Jehoshaphat said, “The word of the Lord is with him.” So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom went down to him.

¹³And Elisha said to the king of Israel, s“What have I to do with you? Go to tthe prophets of your father and to uthe prophets of your mother.” But the king of Israel said to him, “No; it is othe Lord who has called these three kings to give them into the hand of Moab.” ¹⁴And Elisha said, v“As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, were it not that I have regard for Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would neither look at you nor see you. ¹⁵But now wbring me a musician.” And when the musician played, xthe hand of the Lord came upon him. ¹⁶And he said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘I will make this dry streambed full of pools.’ ¹⁷For thus says the Lord, ‘You shall not see wind or rain, but that streambed shall be filled with water, so that you shall drink, you, your livestock, and your animals.’ ¹⁸This is a light thing in the sight of the Lord. He will also give the Moabites into your hand, ¹⁹and you shall attack every fortified city and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree and stop up all springs of water yand ruin every good piece of land with stones.” ²⁰The next morning, about the time of zoffering the sacrifice, behold, water came from the direction of Edom, till the country was filled with water.

²¹When all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight against them, all who were able to put on armor, from the youngest to the oldest, were called out and were drawn up at the border. ²²And when they rose early in the morning and the sun shone on the water, the Moabites saw the water opposite them as red as blood. ²³And they said, “This is blood; the kings have surely fought together and struck one another down. Now then, Moab, to the spoil!” ²⁴But when they came to the camp of Israel, the Israelites rose and struck the Moabites, till they fled before them. And they went forward, striking the Moabites as they went.1 ²⁵And they overthrew the cities, and aon every good piece of land every man threw a stone until it was covered. They stopped every spring of water and felled all the good trees, till only its stones were left in bKir-hareseth, and the slingers surrounded and attacked it. ²⁶When the king of Moab saw that the battle was going against him, he took with him 700 cswordsmen to break through, opposite the king of Edom, but they could not. ²⁷Then he took his oldest son who was to reign in his place dand offered him for a burnt offering on the wall. And there came great wrath against Israel. And they withdrew from him and returned to their own land.

Pray for Us

¹Finally, brothers,1 jpray for us, that kthe word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored,2 as happened among you, ²and lthat we may be delivered from wicked and evil men. For mnot all have faith. ³But nthe Lord is faithful. He will establish you and oguard you against pthe evil one.3 ⁴And qwe have confidence in the Lord about you, that you are doing and will do the things that we command. ⁵May the Lord rdirect your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.

Warning Against Idleness

⁶Now we command you, brothers, sin the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, tthat you keep away from any ubrother vwho is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us. ⁷For you yourselves know whow you ought to imitate us, because xwe were not idle when we were with you, ⁸nor did we eat anyone's bread without paying for it, but ywith toil and labor we worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you. ⁹It was znot because we do not have that right, but to give you in ourselves aan example to imitate. ¹⁰For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: bIf anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat. ¹¹For we hear that some among you cwalk in idleness, not busy at work, but dbusybodies. ¹²Now such persons we command and encourage in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living.4

¹³As for you, brothers, edo not grow weary in doing good. ¹⁴If anyone does not obey what we say in this letter, take note of that person, and fhave nothing to do with him, that he may be ashamed. ¹⁵gDo not regard him as an enemy, but hwarn him as a brother.

Benediction

¹⁶Now may ithe Lord of peace himself jgive you peace at all times in every way. kThe Lord be with you all.

¹⁷I, Paul, write lthis greeting with my own hand. This is the sign of genuineness in every letter of mine; it is the way I write. ¹⁸mThe grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

Daniel's Vision of the Four Beasts

¹In the first year of pBelshazzar king of Babylon, qDaniel saw a dream and rvisions of his head as he lay in his bed. Then he wrote down the dream and told the sum of the matter. ²Daniel declared,1 “I saw in my vision by night, and behold, sthe four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. ³And four great beasts tcame up out of the sea, different from one another. ⁴The first was like a lion and had eagles' wings. Then as I looked its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man, and the mind of a man was given to it. ⁵And behold, uanother beast, a second one, like a bear. It was raised up on one side. It had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth; and it was told, ‘Arise, devour much flesh.’ ⁶After this I looked, and behold, another, like a vleopard, with four wings of a bird on its back. And the beast had four heads, and wdominion was given to it. ⁷After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, xterrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth; xit devoured and broke in pieces xand stamped what was left with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that were before it, and yit had ten horns. ⁸I considered the horns, and behold, zthere came up among them another horn, a little one, zbefore which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots. And behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and aa mouth speaking great things.

The Ancient of Days Reigns

⁹“As I looked,

bthrones were placed,

and the cAncient of Days took his seat;

dhis clothing was white as snow,

and ethe hair of his head like pure wool;

his throne was fiery flames;

fits wheels were burning fire.

¹⁰gA stream of fire issued

and came out from before him;

ha thousand thousands iserved him,

hand ten thousand times ten thousand jstood before him;

the kcourt sat in judgment,

and lthe books were opened.

¹¹“I looked then because of the sound of athe great words that the horn was speaking. And as I looked, mthe beast was killed, and its body destroyed mand given over to be burned with fire. ¹²As for the rest of the beasts, ntheir dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.

The Son of Man Is Given Dominion

¹³“I saw in the night visions,

and obehold, with the clouds of heaven

there came one like a son of man,

and he came to the cAncient of Days

and was presented before him.

¹⁴pAnd to him was given dominion

and glory and a kingdom,

that all qpeoples, nations, and languages

should serve him;

rhis dominion is an everlasting dominion,

which shall not pass away,

and his kingdom one

that shall not be destroyed.

Daniel's Vision Interpreted

¹⁵“As for me, Daniel, my spirit within me2 was anxious, and sthe visions of my head alarmed me. ¹⁶I approached one of those who stood there and asked him the truth concerning all this. So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of the things. ¹⁷t‘These four great beasts are four kings who shall arise out of the earth. ¹⁸But uthe saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, forever and ever.’

¹⁹“Then I desired to know the truth about vthe fourth beast, which was different from all the rest, exceedingly terrifying, with its teeth of iron and claws of bronze, and which devoured and broke in pieces and stamped what was left with its feet, ²⁰wand about the ten horns that were on its head, and the other horn that came up and before which three of them fell, the horn that had eyes and a mouth that spoke great things, and that seemed greater than its companions. ²¹As I looked, this horn xmade war with the saints and prevailed over them, ²²until the yAncient of Days came, and ujudgment was given for the saints of the Most High, and the time came when uthe saints possessed the kingdom.

²³“Thus he said: ‘As for vthe fourth beast,

there shall be a fourth kingdom on earth,

which shall be different from all the kingdoms,

and it shall devour the whole earth,

and trample it down, and break it to pieces.

²⁴As for the ten horns,

out of this kingdom ten kings shall arise,

and another shall arise after them;

he shall be different from the former ones,

and shall put down three kings.

²⁵zHe shall speak words against the Most High,

and shall wear out the saints of the Most High,

and shall think to achange the times and the law;

and they shall be given into his hand

for ba time, times, and half a time.

²⁶cBut the court shall sit in judgment,

and dhis dominion shall be taken away,

to be consumed and destroyed eto the end.

²⁷fAnd the kingdom and the dominion

and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven

shall be given to the people of fthe saints of the Most High;

ghis kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom,

and all dominions shall serve and obey him.’3

²⁸“Here is the end of the matter. hAs for me, Daniel, my ithoughts greatly alarmed me, jand my color changed, but kI kept the matter in my heart.”

Psalm 114

Tremble at the Presence of the Lord

¹When pIsrael went out from Egypt,

the house of Jacob from qa people of strange language,

²Judah became his rsanctuary,

Israel his dominion.

³sThe sea looked and fled;

tJordan turned back.

⁴uThe mountains skipped like rams,

the hills like lambs.

⁵What vails you, O sea, that you flee?

O Jordan, that you turn back?

⁶O mountains, that you skip like rams?

O hills, like lambs?

⁷wTremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,

at the presence of the God of Jacob,

⁸who turns xthe rock into ya pool of water,

zthe flint into a spring of water.

Psalm 115

To Your Name Give Glory

¹aNot to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory,

bfor the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!

²Why should the nations say,

c“Where is their God?”

³dOur God is in the heavens;

ehe does all that he pleases.

⁴fTheir idols are silver and gold,

gthe work of human hands.

⁵They have mouths, hbut do not speak;

eyes, but do not see.

⁶They have ears, but do not hear;

noses, but do not smell.

⁷They have hands, but do not feel;

feet, but do not walk;

and they do not make a sound in their throat.

⁸iThose who make them become like them;

so do all who trust in them.

⁹O jIsrael,1 ktrust in the Lord!

He is their lhelp and their shield.

¹⁰O jhouse of Aaron, trust in the Lord!

He is their help and mtheir shield.

¹¹You nwho fear the Lord, trust in the Lord!

He is their help and their shield.

¹²The Lord has remembered us; he will bless us;

he will bless othe house of Israel;

he will bless othe house of Aaron;

¹³he will pbless those who fear the Lord,

qboth the small and the great.

¹⁴May the Lord rgive you increase,

you and your children!

¹⁵May syou be blessed by the Lord,

twho made heaven and earth!

¹⁶The heavens are the Lord's heavens,

but the earth he has given to the children of man.

¹⁷uThe dead do not praise the Lord,

nor do any who go down into vsilence.

¹⁸But wwe will bless the Lord

from this time forth and forevermore.

xPraise the Lord!