1 ‘On the first day of the seventh month, you shall have a holy [summoned] assembly; you shall do no laborious work. It will be for you a day of blowing the trumpets (the shophar, ram’s horn). 2 You shall offer a burnt offering as a sweet and soothing aroma to the Lord: one bull, one ram, and seven male lambs one year old without blemish; 3 also their grain offering, fine flour mixed with oil, three-tenths [of an ephah] for the bull, two-tenths for the ram, 4 and one-tenth [of an ephah] for each of the seven lambs, 5 and one male goat as a sin offering to make atonement for you. 6 These are in addition to the burnt offering of the New Moon and its grain offering, and the continual burnt offering and its grain offering, and their drink offerings, according to the ordinance for them, as a sweet and soothing aroma, an offering by fire to the Lord.
7 ‘Then on the tenth day of this seventh month you shall have a holy [summoned] assembly [for the Day of Atonement]; and you shall humble yourselves; you shall not do any work. 8 You shall present a burnt offering to the Lord as a sweet and soothing aroma: one bull, one ram, and seven male lambs one year old, which are without blemish; 9 and their grain offering, fine flour mixed with oil, three-tenths [of an ephah] for the bull, two-tenths for the one ram, 10 a tenth [of an ephah] for each of the seven lambs, 11 one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the sin offering of atonement, and the continual burnt offering and its grain offering, and their drink offerings.
12 ‘Then on the fifteenth day of the seventh month you shall have a holy [summoned] assembly; you shall do no laborious work, and you shall observe a Feast [of Booths] to the Lord for seven days. 13 You shall present a burnt offering, an offering by fire as a sweet and soothing aroma to the Lord: thirteen bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs one year old, which are without blemish; 14 and their grain offering, fine flour mixed with oil, three-tenths [of an ephah] for each of the thirteen bulls, two-tenths for each of the two rams, 15 and a tenth [of an ephah] for each of the fourteen lambs; 16 also one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering, its grain offering and its drink offering.
17 ‘Then on the second day [of the Feast of Booths]: twelve bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs one year old without blemish, 18 with their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, the rams, and the lambs, by their number according to the ordinance, 19 also one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering, its grain offering, and their drink offerings.
20 ‘Then on the third day [of the Feast of Booths]: eleven bulls, two rams, fourteen male lambs one year old without blemish, 21 with their grain offering and drink offerings for the bulls, the rams, and the lambs, by their number according to the ordinance, 22 and one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering.
23 ‘Then on the fourth day [of the Feast of Booths]: ten bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs one year old without blemish; 24 their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, the rams, and the lambs, by their number according to the ordinance, 25 and one male goat as a sin offering, besides the continual burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering.
26 ‘Then on the fifth day [of the Feast of Booths]: nine bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs one year old without blemish, 27 and their grain offering and drink offerings for the bulls, the rams, and the lambs, by their number according to the ordinance; 28 and one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering, and its grain offering, and its drink offering.
29 ‘Then on the sixth day [of the Feast of Booths]: eight bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs one year old without blemish; 30 and their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, the rams, and the lambs, by their number according to the ordinance, 31 and one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offerings.
32 ‘Then on the seventh day [of the Feast of Booths]: seven bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs one year old without blemish, 33 and their grain offering and drink offerings for the bulls, the rams, and the lambs, by their number according to the ordinance; 34 and one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering, and its grain offering, and its drink offering.
35 ‘On the eighth day you shall have a solemn assembly [to mark the end of the feast]; you shall do no laborious work. 36 You shall present a burnt offering, an offering by fire, as a sweet and soothing aroma to the Lord: one bull, one ram, seven male lambs one year old without blemish; 37 their grain offering and drink offerings for the bull, the ram, and the lambs, by their number according to the ordinance, 38 and one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the continual burnt offering, and its grain offering, and its drink offering.
39 ‘You shall present these to the Lord at your appointed times, in addition the offerings you have vowed and your freewill offerings, as your burnt offerings, grain offerings, drink offerings, and as your peace offerings.’” 40 So Moses spoke to the Israelites in accordance with everything that the Lord had commanded him.
1 Truly God is good to Israel,
To those who are pure in heart.
2
But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling,
My steps had almost slipped.
3
For I was envious of the arrogant
As I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4
For there are no pains in their death,
Their body is fat and pampered.
5
They are not in trouble as other men,
Nor are they plagued like mankind.
6
Therefore pride is their necklace;
Violence covers them like a garment [like a long, luxurious robe].
7
Their eye bulges from fatness [they have more than the heart desires];
The imaginations of their mind run riot [with foolishness].
8
They mock and wickedly speak of oppression;
They speak loftily [with malice].
9
They set their mouth against the heavens,
And their tongue swaggers through the earth.
10
Therefore his people return to this place,
And waters of abundance [offered by the irreverent] are [blindly] drunk by them.
11
They say, “How does God know?
Is there knowledge [of us] with the Most High?”
12
Behold, these are the ungodly,
Who always prosper and are at ease [in the world]; they have increased in wealth.
13
Surely then in vain I have cleansed my heart
And washed my hands in innocence.
14
For all the day long have I been stricken,
And punished every morning.
15
If I had said, “I will say this,” [and expressed my feelings],
I would have betrayed the generation of Your children.
16
When I considered how to understand this,
It was too great an effort for me and too painful
17
Until I came into the sanctuary of God;
Then I understood [for I considered] their end.
18
Surely You set the wicked-minded and immoral on slippery places;
You cast them down to destruction.
19
How they are destroyed in a moment!
They are completely swept away by sudden terrors!
20
Like a dream [which seems real] until one awakens,
O Lord, when stirred, [You observe the wicked], You will despise their image.
21
When my heart was embittered
And I was pierced within [as with the fang of an adder],
22
Then I was senseless and ignorant;
I was like a beast before You.
23
Nevertheless I am continually with You;
You have taken hold of my right hand.
24
You will guide me with Your counsel,
And afterward receive me to honor and glory.
25
Whom have I in heaven [but You]?
And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.
26
My flesh and my heart may fail,
But God is the rock and strength of my heart and my portion forever.
27
For behold, those who are far from You will perish;
You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful and have abandoned You.
28
But as for me, it is good for me to draw near to God;
I have made the Lord God my refuge and placed my trust in Him,
That I may tell of all Your works.
1 The [mournful, inspired] oracle (a burden to be carried) concerning the Desert of the Sea (the seasonally flooded plains just south of Babylon):
As windstorms in the Negev (the South) sweep through,
So it (God’s judgment) comes from the desert, from [the hostile armies of] a terrifying land.
2
A harsh vision has been shown to me;
The treacherous one deals treacherously, and the destroyer destroys.
Go up, Elam! Lay siege, Media!
All the groaning [caused by Babylon’s ruthless oppressions] I [the Lord] have brought to an end.
3
Therefore [continues Isaiah] my loins are filled with anguish;
Pains have seized me like the pains of a woman in childbirth;
I am so bent and bewildered that I cannot hear, I am so terrified that I cannot see.
4
My mind reels, horror overwhelms me;
The twilight I longed for has been turned into fear and trembling for me.
5
They set the table [for the doomed banquet], they spread out the cloth, they eat, they drink;
“Rise up, captains [of Belshazzar’s court], oil your shields [for battle, for your enemy is at the gates]!”
6 This is what the Lord says to me,
“Go, station the lookout, let him report what he sees.
7
“When he sees a chariot, horsemen in pairs,
A train of donkeys and a train of camels,
Let him pay attention and listen closely, very closely.”
8 And the lookout called like a lion,
“O Lord, I stand continually on the watchtower by day,
And I am stationed every night at my guard post.
9
“Now look! Here comes a troop of riders, horsemen in pairs.”
And one said, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon;
And all the carved images of her gods are shattered on the ground.”
10
O my threshed people [Judah, who must be judged and trampled down by Babylon], my afflicted of the threshing floor.
What I have heard from the Lord of hosts,
The God of Israel, I have [joyfully] announced to you [that Babylon is to fall].
11 The [mournful, inspired] oracle (a burden to be carried) concerning Dumah (Edom):
Someone keeps calling to me from Seir (Edom),
“Watchman, what is left of the night [of Assyrian oppression]?
Watchman, what is left of the night? [How long until morning?]”
12
The watchman says,
“The morning comes [only briefly], but also [comes] the night [of Babylonian oppression].
If you would ask [of me then], ask [again, if Edom really wishes to know];
Come back again.”
13 The [mournful, inspired] oracle (a burden to be carried) concerning Arabia:
In the thickets of Arabia you must spend the night,
Caravans of Dedanites.
14
Bring water for the thirsty [Dedanites],
O inhabitants of the land of Tema [in Arabia];
Meet the fugitive with bread.
15
For they have fled from the swords,
From the drawn sword, from the bent bow
And from the press of battle and grief of war.
16 For the Lord has said this to me, “Within a year, according to the years of a hired man [who will work no longer than was agreed], all the splendor of [the tribe of] Kedar will end; 17 and the remainder of the number of archers, the mighty men of the sons of Kedar, will be few; for the Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.”
1 But [in those days] false prophets arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will subtly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2 Many will follow their shameful ways, and because of them the way of truth will be maligned. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false arguments and twisted doctrine. Their sentence [of condemnation which God has decreed] from a time long ago is not idle [but is still in force], and their destruction and deepening misery is not asleep [but is on its way].
4 For if God did not [even] spare angels that sinned, but threw them into hell and sent them to pits of gloom to be kept [there] for judgment; 5 and if He did not spare the ancient world, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought [the judgment of] a flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6 and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter; 7 and if He rescued righteous Lot, who was tormented by the immoral conduct of unprincipled and ungodly men 8 (for that just man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by what he saw and heard of their lawless acts), 9 then [in light of the fact that all this is true, be sure that] the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial, and how to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, 10 and especially those who indulge in the corrupt passions of the sin nature, and despise authority.
Presumptuous and reckless, self-willed and arrogant [creatures, despising the majesty of the Lord], they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties, 11 whereas even angels who are superior in might and power do not bring a reviling (defaming) accusation against them before the Lord. 12 But these [false teachers], like unreasoning animals, [mere] creatures of instinct, born to be captured and destroyed, reviling things they do not understand, will also perish in their own corruption [in their destroying they will be destroyed], 13 suffering wrong [destined for punishment] as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a delight to revel in the daytime [living luxuriously]. They are stains and blemishes [on mankind], reveling in their deceptions even as they feast with you. 14 They have eyes full of adultery, constantly looking for sin, enticing and luring away unstable souls. Having hearts trained in greed, [they are] children of a curse. 15 Abandoning the straight road [that is, the right way to live], they have gone astray; they have followed the way of [the false teacher] Balaam the son of Beor, who loved the reward of wickedness; 16 but he was rebuked for his own transgression: a mute donkey spoke with a man’s voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.
17 These [false teachers] are springs without water and mists driven by a tempest, for whom is reserved the gloom of black darkness. 18 For uttering arrogant words of vanity [pompous words disguised to sound scholarly or profound, but meaning nothing and containing no spiritual truth], they beguile and lure using lustful desires, by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error. 19 They promise them liberty, when they themselves are the slaves of depravity—for by whatever anyone is defeated and overcome, to that [person, thing, philosophy, or concept] he is continually enslaved. 20 For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world by [personal] knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, their last condition has become worse for them than the first. 21 For it would have been better for them not to have [personally] known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to have turned back from the holy commandment [verbally] handed on to them. 22 The thing spoken of in the true proverb has happened to them, “The dog returns to his own vomit,” and, “A sow is washed only to wallow [again] in the mire.”