November 16: Lamentations 4–5; Revelation 8:6–9:21; Psalm 119:65–72; Proverbs 28:1

Lamentations 4–5 (Listen)

The Holy Stones Lie Scattered

4   How the gold has grown dim,
    how the pure gold is changed!
  The holy stones lie scattered
    at the head of every street.
2   The precious sons of Zion,
    worth their weight in fine gold,
  how they are regarded as earthen pots,
    the work of a potter’s hands!
3   Even jackals offer the breast;
    they nurse their young;
  but the daughter of my people has become cruel,
    like the ostriches in the wilderness.
4   The tongue of the nursing infant sticks
    to the roof of its mouth for thirst;
  the children beg for food,
    but no one gives to them.
5   Those who once feasted on delicacies
    perish in the streets;
  those who were brought up in purple
    embrace ash heaps.
6   For the chastisement¹ of the daughter of my people has been greater
    than the punishment² of Sodom,
  which was overthrown in a moment,
    and no hands were wrung for her.³
7   Her princes were purer than snow,
    whiter than milk;
  their bodies were more ruddy than coral,
    the beauty of their form⁴ was like sapphire.⁵
8   Now their face is blacker than soot;
    they are not recognized in the streets;
  their skin has shriveled on their bones;
    it has become as dry as wood.
9   Happier were the victims of the sword
    than the victims of hunger,
  who wasted away, pierced
    by lack of the fruits of the field.
10   The hands of compassionate women
    have boiled their own children;
  they became their food
    during the destruction of the daughter of my people.
11   The LORD gave full vent to his wrath;
    he poured out his hot anger,
  and he kindled a fire in Zion
    that consumed its foundations.
12   The kings of the earth did not believe,
    nor any of the inhabitants of the world,
  that foe or enemy could enter
    the gates of Jerusalem.
13   This was for the sins of her prophets
    and the iniquities of her priests,
  who shed in the midst of her
    the blood of the righteous.
14   They wandered, blind, through the streets;
    they were so defiled with blood
  that no one was able to touch
    their garments.
15   “Away! Unclean!” people cried at them.
    “Away! Away! Do not touch!”
  So they became fugitives and wanderers;
    people said among the nations,
    “They shall stay with us no longer.”
16   The LORD himself⁶ has scattered them;
    he will regard them no more;
  no honor was shown to the priests,
    no favor to the elders.
17   Our eyes failed, ever watching
    vainly for help;
  in our watching we watched
    for a nation which could not save.
18   They dogged our steps
    so that we could not walk in our streets;
  our end drew near; our days were numbered,
    for our end had come.
19   Our pursuers were swifter
    than the eagles in the heavens;
  they chased us on the mountains;
    they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.
20   The breath of our nostrils, the LORD’s anointed,
    was captured in their pits,
  of whom we said, “Under his shadow
    we shall live among the nations.”
21   Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom,
    you who dwell in the land of Uz;
  but to you also the cup shall pass;
    you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare.
22   The punishment of your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, is accomplished;
    he will keep you in exile no longer;⁷
  but your iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he will punish;
    he will uncover your sins.

Restore Us to Yourself, O Lord

5   Remember, O LORD, what has befallen us;
    look, and see our disgrace!
2   Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers,
    our homes to foreigners.
3   We have become orphans, fatherless;
    our mothers are like widows.
4   We must pay for the water we drink;
    the wood we get must be bought.
5   Our pursuers are at our necks;
    we are weary; we are given no rest.
6   We have given the hand to Egypt, and to Assyria,
    to get bread enough.
7   Our fathers sinned, and are no more;
    and we bear their iniquities.
8   Slaves rule over us;
    there is none to deliver us from their hand.
9   We get our bread at the peril of our lives,
    because of the sword in the wilderness.
10   Our skin is hot as an oven
    with the burning heat of famine.
11   Women are raped in Zion,
    young women in the towns of Judah.
12   Princes are hung up by their hands;
    no respect is shown to the elders.
13   Young men are compelled to grind at the mill,
    and boys stagger under loads of wood.
14   The old men have left the city gate,
    the young men their music.
15   The joy of our hearts has ceased;
    our dancing has been turned to mourning.
16   The crown has fallen from our head;
    woe to us, for we have sinned!
17   For this our heart has become sick,
    for these things our eyes have grown dim,
18   for Mount Zion which lies desolate;
    jackals prowl over it.
19   But you, O LORD, reign forever;
    your throne endures to all generations.
20   Why do you forget us forever,
    why do you forsake us for so many days?
21   Restore us to yourself, O LORD, that we may be restored!
    Renew our days as of old—
22   unless you have utterly rejected us,
    and you remain exceedingly angry with us.

(ESV)

Revelation 8:6–9:21 (Listen)

The Seven Trumpets

6 Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.

7 The first angel blew his trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mixed with blood, and these were thrown upon the earth. And a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.

8 The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. 9 A third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

10 The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. 11 The name of the star is Wormwood.¹ A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the water, because it had been made bitter.

12 The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light might be darkened, and a third of the day might be kept from shining, and likewise a third of the night.

13 Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew directly overhead, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!”

9 And the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.²2 He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and from the shaft rose smoke like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened with the smoke from the shaft. 3 Then from the smoke came locusts on the earth, and they were given power like the power of scorpions of the earth. 4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any green plant or any tree, but only those people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 They were allowed to torment them for five months, but not to kill them, and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings someone. 6 And in those days people will seek death and will not find it. They will long to die, but death will flee from them.

7 In appearance the locusts were like horses prepared for battle: on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold; their faces were like human faces, 8 their hair like women’s hair, and their teeth like lions’ teeth; 9 they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots with horses rushing into battle. 10 They have tails and stings like scorpions, and their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails. 11 They have as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he is called Apollyon.³

12 The first woe has passed; behold, two woes are still to come.

13 Then the sixth angel blew his trumpet, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar before God, 14 saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15 So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour, the day, the month, and the year, were released to kill a third of mankind. 16 The number of mounted troops was twice ten thousand times ten thousand; I heard their number. 17 And this is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode them: they wore breastplates the color of fire and of sapphire⁴ and of sulfur, and the heads of the horses were like lions’ heads, and fire and smoke and sulfur came out of their mouths. 18 By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths. 19 For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents with heads, and by means of them they wound.

20 The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, 21 nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

(ESV)

Psalm 119:65–72 (Listen)

Teth

65   You have dealt well with your servant,
    O LORD, according to your word.
66   Teach me good judgment and knowledge,
    for I believe in your commandments.
67   Before I was afflicted I went astray,
    but now I keep your word.
68   You are good and do good;
    teach me your statutes.
69   The insolent smear me with lies,
    but with my whole heart I keep your precepts;
70   their heart is unfeeling like fat,
    but I delight in your law.
71   It is good for me that I was afflicted,
    that I might learn your statutes.
72   The law of your mouth is better to me
    than thousands of gold and silver pieces.

(ESV)

Proverbs 28:1 (Listen)

28   The wicked flee when no one pursues,
    but the righteous are bold as a lion.

(ESV)