December 17, 2024 PORTALS OF PRAYER READINGS

 

Isaiah 33

O Lord, Be Gracious to Us

33 Ah, you destroyer,
    who yourself have not been destroyed,
you traitor,
    whom none has betrayed!
When you have ceased to destroy,
    you will be destroyed;
and when you have finished betraying,
    they will betray you.

² O Lord, be gracious to us; we wait for you.
    Be our arm every morning,
    our salvation in the time of trouble.
³ At the tumultuous noise peoples flee;
    when you lift yourself up, nations are scattered,
⁴ and your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers;
    as locusts leap, it is leapt upon.

⁵ The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high;
    he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness,
⁶ and he will be the stability of your times,
    abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge;
    the fear of the Lord is Zion's^[a] treasure.

⁷ Behold, their heroes cry in the streets;
    the envoys of peace weep bitterly.
⁸ The highways lie waste;
    the traveler ceases.
Covenants are broken;
    cities^[b] are despised;
    there is no regard for man.
⁹ The land mourns and languishes;
    Lebanon is confounded and withers away;
Sharon is like a desert,
    and Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.

¹⁰ “Now I will arise,” says the Lord,
    “now I will lift myself up;
    now I will be exalted.
¹¹ You conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble;
    your breath is a fire that will consume you.
¹² And the peoples will be as if burned to lime,
    like thorns cut down, that are burned in the fire.”

¹³ Hear, you who are far off, what I have done;
    and you who are near, acknowledge my might.
¹⁴ The sinners in Zion are afraid;
    trembling has seized the godless:
“Who among us can dwell with the consuming fire?
    Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?”
¹⁵ He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly,
    who despises the gain of oppressions,
who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe,
    who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed
    and shuts his eyes from looking on evil,
¹⁶ he will dwell on the heights;
    his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks;
    his bread will be given him; his water will be sure.

¹⁷ Your eyes will behold the king in his beauty;
    they will see a land that stretches afar.
¹⁸ Your heart will muse on the terror:
    “Where is he who counted, where is he who weighed the tribute?
    Where is he who counted the towers?”
¹⁹ You will see no more the insolent people,
    the people of an obscure speech that you cannot comprehend,
    stammering in a tongue that you cannot understand.
²⁰ Behold Zion, the city of our appointed feasts!
    Your eyes will see Jerusalem,
    an untroubled habitation, an immovable tent,
whose stakes will never be plucked up,
    nor will any of its cords be broken.
²¹ But there the Lord in majesty will be for us
    a place of broad rivers and streams,
where no galley with oars can go,
    nor majestic ship can pass.
²² For the Lord is our judge; the Lord is our lawgiver;
    the Lord is our king; he will save us.

²³ Your cords hang loose;
    they cannot hold the mast firm in its place
    or keep the sail spread out.
Then prey and spoil in abundance will be divided;
    even the lame will take the prey.
²⁴ And no inhabitant will say, “I am sick”;
    the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.

Footnotes

1. Isaiah 33:6 Hebrew his
2. Isaiah 33:8 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scroll witnesses

Psalm 40:1-5, 16-17

My Help and My Deliverer

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

40 I waited patiently for the Lord;
    he inclined to me and heard my cry.
² He drew me up from the pit of destruction,
    out of the miry bog,
and set my feet upon a rock,
    making my steps secure.
³ He put a new song in my mouth,
    a song of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear,
    and put their trust in the Lord.

⁴ Blessed is the man who makes
    the Lord his trust,
who does not turn to the proud,
    to those who go astray after a lie!
⁵ You have multiplied, O Lord my God,
    your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us;
    none can compare with you!
I will proclaim and tell of them,
    yet they are more than can be told.

¹⁶ But may all who seek you
    rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation
    say continually, “Great is the Lord!”
¹⁷ As for me, I am poor and needy,
    but the Lord takes thought for me.
You are my help and my deliverer;
    do not delay, O my God!

 

ESV® - The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.

Source for Bible text - www.biblegateway.com