1 Then Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes of the sons of Israel, saying, “This is the word which the Lord has commanded: 2 If a man makes a vow to the Lord, or takes an oath to put himself under a binding obligation, he shall not break his word; he shall act in accordance with everything that comes out of his mouth.
3 “And if a woman makes a vow to the Lord, and puts herself under a binding obligation in her father’s house in her youth, 4 and her father hears her vow and her obligation under which she has put herself, and her father says nothing to her, then all her vows shall remain valid and every binding obligation under which she has put herself shall remain valid. 5 But if her father expresses disapproval to her on the day he hears of it, none of her vows or her obligations under which she has put herself shall remain valid; and the Lord will forgive her because her father has expressed disapproval to her.
6 “However, if she happens to marry while under her vows or the impulsive statement of her lips by which she has obligated herself, 7 and her husband hears of it and says nothing to her on the day he hears it, then her vows shall remain valid and her binding obligations under which she has put herself shall remain valid. 8 But if on the day her husband hears of it, he expresses disapproval to her, then he will annul her vow which she is under and the impulsive statement of her lips by which she has obligated herself; and the Lord will forgive her.
9 “But as for the vow of a widow or of a divorced woman, every binding obligation under which she has put herself, shall remain valid against her. 10 However, if a married woman vowed in her husband’s house, or put herself under a binding obligation with an oath, 11 and her husband heard it, but said nothing to her and did not express disapproval to her, then all her vows shall remain valid and every binding obligation under which she put herself shall remain valid. 12 But if her husband actually annuls them on the day he hears them, then no utterance from her lips concerning her vows or the obligation she put on herself shall remain valid; her husband has annulled them, and the Lord will forgive her.
13 “Every vow and every binding oath to humble herself, her husband may confirm it or her husband may annul it. 14 But if her husband in fact says nothing to her from day to day, then he confirms all her vows or all her binding obligations which are on her; he has confirmed them, because he said nothing to her on the day he heard them. 15 However, if he actually annuls them after he has heard them, then he shall bear the responsibility for her guilt.”
16 These are the statutes which the Lord commanded Moses concerning matters between a man and his wife, and between a father and his daughter while she is in her youth in her father’s house.
1 God, why have You rejected us forever?
Why does Your anger smoke against the sheep of Your pasture?
2 Remember Your congregation, which You purchased of old,
Which You have redeemed to be the tribe of Your inheritance;
And this Mount Zion, where You have dwelt.
3 Step toward the irreparable ruins;
The enemy has damaged everything in the sanctuary.
4 Your adversaries have roared in the midst of Your meeting place;
They have set up their own signs as signs.
5 It seems like one bringing up
His axe into a forest of trees.
6 And now they break down all its carved work
With axe and hammers.
7 They have burned Your sanctuary to the ground;
They have defiled the dwelling place of Your name.
8 They said in their heart, “Let’s completely subdue them.”
They have burned all the meeting places of God in the land.
9 We do not see our signs;
There is no longer any prophet,
Nor is there anyone among us who knows how long.
10 How long, God, will the enemy taunt You?
Shall the enemy treat Your name disrespectfully forever?
11 Why do You withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand?
Extend it from Your chest and destroy them!
12 Yet God is my King from long ago,
Who performs acts of salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 You divided the sea by Your strength;
You broke the heads of the sea monsters in the waters.
14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
You gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
15 You broke open springs and torrents;
You dried up ever-flowing streams.
16 Yours is the day, Yours also is the night;
You have prepared the light and the sun.
17 You have established all the boundaries of the earth;
You have created summer and winter.
18 Remember this, Lord, that the enemy has taunted You,
And a foolish people has treated Your name disrespectfully.
19 Do not give the soul of Your turtledove to the wild animal;
Do not forget the life of Your afflicted forever.
20 Consider the covenant;
For the dark places of the land are full of the places of violence.
21 May the oppressed person not return dishonored;
May the afflicted and the needy praise Your name.
22 Arise, God, and plead Your own cause;
Remember how the foolish person taunts You all day long.
23 Do not forget the voice of Your adversaries,
The uproar of those who rise against You, which ascends continually.
1 The pronouncement concerning the valley of vision:
What is the matter with you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops?
2 You who were full of noise,
You tumultuous town, you jubilant city;
Your dead were not killed with the sword,
Nor did they die in battle.
3 All your rulers have fled together,
And have been captured without the bow;
All of you who were found were taken captive together,
Though they had fled far away.
4 Therefore I say, “Look away from me,
Let me weep bitterly,
Do not try to comfort me concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
5 For the Lord God of armies has a day of panic, subjugation, and confusion
In the valley of vision,
A breaking down of walls
And a crying to the mountain.
6 Elam picked up the quiver,
With the chariots, infantry, and horsemen;
And Kir uncovered the shield.
7 Then your choicest valleys were full of chariots,
And the horsemen took positions at the gate.
8 And He removed the defense of Judah.
On that day you depended on the weapons of the house of the forest,
9 And you saw that the breaches
In the wall of the city of David were many;
And you collected the waters of the lower pool.
10 Then you counted the houses of Jerusalem
And tore down houses to fortify the wall.
11 And you made a reservoir between the two walls
For the waters of the old pool.
But you did not depend on Him who made it,
Nor did you take into consideration Him who planned it long ago.
12 Therefore on that day the Lord God of armies called you to weeping, to wailing,
To shaving the head, and to wearing sackcloth.
13 Instead, there is joy and jubilation,
Killing of cattle and slaughtering of sheep,
Eating of meat and drinking of wine:
“Let’s eat and drink, for tomorrow we may die.”
14 But the Lord of armies revealed Himself to me:
“Certainly this wrongdoing will not be forgiven you
Until you die,” says the Lord God of armies.
15 This is what the Lord God of armies says:
“Come, go to this steward,
To Shebna who is in charge of the royal household,
16 ‘What right do you have here,
And whom do you have here,
That you have cut out a tomb for yourself here,
You who cut out a tomb on the height,
You who carve a resting place for yourself in the rock?
17 Behold, the Lord is about to hurl you violently, you strong man.
And He is about to grasp you firmly
18 And wrap you up tightly like a ball,
To be driven into a vast country;
There you will die,
And there your splendid chariots will be,
You shame of your master’s house!’
19 I will depose you from your office,
And I will pull you down from your position.
20 Then it will come about on that day,
That I will summon My servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah,
21 And I will clothe him with your tunic
And tie your sash securely around him.
I will hand your authority over to him,
And he will become a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.
22 Then I will put the key of the house of David on his shoulder;
When he opens, no one will shut,
When he shuts, no one will open.
23 I will drive him like a peg in a firm place,
And he will become a throne of glory to his father’s house.
24 So they will hang on him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the descendants, all the least of vessels, from bowls to all the jars. 25 On that day,” declares the Lord of armies, “the peg driven into a firm place will give way; it will even break off and fall, and the load that is hanging on it will be cut off, for the Lord has spoken.”
1 Beloved, this is now the second letter I am writing to you in which I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of a reminder, 2 to remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior spoken by your apostles.
3 Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue just as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, 6 through which the world at that time was destroyed by being flooded with water. 7 But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly people.
8 But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. 9 The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance.
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be discovered.
11 Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! 13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.
14 Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found spotless and blameless by Him, at peace, 15 and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, 16 as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which there are some things that are hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. 17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unscrupulous people and lose your own firm commitment, 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.