Dubbisa Har'aa: September 11

[1] The LORD reigns, let the earth rejoice;
let the many coastlands be glad!
[2] Clouds and thick darkness are all around him;
righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
[3] Fire goes before him
and burns up his adversaries all around.
[4] His lightnings light up the world;
the earth sees and trembles.
[5] The mountains melt like wax before the LORD,
before the Lord of all the earth.


[6] The heavens proclaim his righteousness,
and all the peoples see his glory.
[7] All worshipers of images are put to shame,
who make their boast in worthless idols;
worship him, all you gods!


[8] Zion hears and is glad,
and the daughters of Judah rejoice,
because of your judgments, O LORD.
[9] For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth;
you are exalted far above all gods.


[10] O you who love the LORD, hate evil!
He preserves the lives of his saints;
he delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
[11] Light is sown for the righteous,
and joy for the upright in heart.
[12] Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous,
and give thanks to his holy name!

[1] For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and will set them in their own land, and sojourners will join them and will attach themselves to the house of Jacob. [2] And the peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them in the LORD’s land as male and female slaves. They will take captive those who were their captors, and rule over those who oppressed them.

[3] When the LORD has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve, [4] you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon:

“How the oppressor has ceased,
the insolent fury ceased!
[5] The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked,
the scepter of rulers,
[6] that struck the peoples in wrath
with unceasing blows,
that ruled the nations in anger
with unrelenting persecution.
[7] The whole earth is at rest and quiet;
they break forth into singing.
[8] The cypresses rejoice at you,
the cedars of Lebanon, saying,
‘Since you were laid low,
no woodcutter comes up against us.’
[9] Sheol beneath is stirred up
to meet you when you come;
it rouses the shades to greet you,
all who were leaders of the earth;
it raises from their thrones
all who were kings of the nations.
[10] All of them will answer
and say to you:
‘You too have become as weak as we!
You have become like us!’
[11] Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,
the sound of your harps;
maggots are laid as a bed beneath you,
and worms are your covers.


[12] “How you are fallen from heaven,
O Day Star, son of Dawn!
How you are cut down to the ground,
you who laid the nations low!
[13] You said in your heart,
‘I will ascend to heaven;
above the stars of God
I will set my throne on high;
I will sit on the mount of assembly
in the far reaches of the north;
[14] I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
I will make myself like the Most High.’
[15] But you are brought down to Sheol,
to the far reaches of the pit.
[16] Those who see you will stare at you
and ponder over you:
‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
who shook kingdoms,
[17] who made the world like a desert
and overthrew its cities,
who did not let his prisoners go home?’
[18] All the kings of the nations lie in glory,
each in his own tomb;
[19] but you are cast out, away from your grave,
like a loathed branch,
clothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword,
who go down to the stones of the pit,
like a dead body trampled underfoot.
[20] You will not be joined with them in burial,
because you have destroyed your land,
you have slain your people.


“May the offspring of evildoers
nevermore be named!
[21] Prepare slaughter for his sons
because of the guilt of their fathers,
lest they rise and possess the earth,
and fill the face of the world with cities.”


[22] “I will rise up against them,” declares the LORD of hosts, “and will cut off from Babylon name and remnant, descendants and posterity,” declares the LORD. [23] “And I will make it a possession of the hedgehog, and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” declares the LORD of hosts.

[24] The LORD of hosts has sworn:
“As I have planned,
so shall it be,
and as I have purposed,
so shall it stand,
[25] that I will break the Assyrian in my land,
and on my mountains trample him underfoot;
and his yoke shall depart from them,
and his burden from their shoulder.”


[26] This is the purpose that is purposed
concerning the whole earth,
and this is the hand that is stretched out
over all the nations.
[27] For the LORD of hosts has purposed,
and who will annul it?
His hand is stretched out,
and who will turn it back?


[28] In the year that King Ahaz died came this oracle:

[29] Rejoice not, O Philistia, all of you,
that the rod that struck you is broken,
for from the serpent’s root will come forth an adder,
and its fruit will be a flying fiery serpent.
[30] And the firstborn of the poor will graze,
and the needy lie down in safety;
but I will kill your root with famine,
and your remnant it will slay.
[31] Wail, O gate; cry out, O city;
melt in fear, O Philistia, all of you!
For smoke comes out of the north,
and there is no straggler in his ranks.


[32] What will one answer the messengers of the nation?
“The LORD has founded Zion,
and in her the afflicted of his people find refuge.”

[1] I am the man who has seen affliction
under the rod of his wrath;
[2] he has driven and brought me
into darkness without any light;
[3] surely against me he turns his hand
again and again the whole day long.


[4] He has made my flesh and my skin waste away;
he has broken my bones;
[5] he has besieged and enveloped me
with bitterness and tribulation;
[6] he has made me dwell in darkness
like the dead of long ago.


[7] He has walled me about so that I cannot escape;
he has made my chains heavy;
[8] though I call and cry for help,
he shuts out my prayer;
[9] he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones;
he has made my paths crooked.


[10] He is a bear lying in wait for me,
a lion in hiding;
[11] he turned aside my steps and tore me to pieces;
he has made me desolate;
[12] he bent his bow and set me
as a target for his arrow.


[13] He drove into my kidneys
the arrows of his quiver;
[14] I have become the laughingstock of all my people,
the object of their taunts all day long.
[15] He has filled me with bitterness;
he has sated me with wormwood.


[16] He has made my teeth grind on gravel,
and made me cower in ashes;
[17] my soul is bereft of peace;
I have forgotten what happiness is;
[18] so I say, “My endurance has perished;
so has my hope from the LORD.”


[19] Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
the wormwood and the gall!
[20] My soul continually remembers it
and is bowed down within me.
[21] But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:


[22] The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
[23] they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
[24] “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”


[25] The LORD is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul who seeks him.
[26] It is good that one should wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.
[27] It is good for a man that he bear
the yoke in his youth.


[28] Let him sit alone in silence
when it is laid on him;
[29] let him put his mouth in the dust—
there may yet be hope;
[30] let him give his cheek to the one who strikes,
and let him be filled with insults.


[31] For the Lord will not
cast off forever,
[32] for, though he cause grief, he will have compassion
according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
[33] for he does not afflict from his heart
or grieve the children of men.


[34] To crush underfoot
all the prisoners of the earth,
[35] to deny a man justice
in the presence of the Most High,
[36] to subvert a man in his lawsuit,
the Lord does not approve.


[37] Who has spoken and it came to pass,
unless the Lord has commanded it?
[38] Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that good and bad come?
[39] Why should a living man complain,
a man, about the punishment of his sins?


[40] Let us test and examine our ways,
and return to the LORD!
[41] Let us lift up our hearts and hands
to God in heaven:
[42] “We have transgressed and rebelled,
and you have not forgiven.


[43] “You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us,
killing without pity;
[44] you have wrapped yourself with a cloud
so that no prayer can pass through.
[45] You have made us scum and garbage
among the peoples.


[46] “All our enemies
open their mouths against us;
[47] panic and pitfall have come upon us,
devastation and destruction;
[48] my eyes flow with rivers of tears
because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.


[49] “My eyes will flow without ceasing,
without respite,
[50] until the LORD from heaven
looks down and sees;
[51] my eyes cause me grief
at the fate of all the daughters of my city.


[52] “I have been hunted like a bird
by those who were my enemies without cause;
[53] they flung me alive into the pit
and cast stones on me;
[54] water closed over my head;
I said, ‘I am lost.’


[55] “I called on your name, O LORD,
from the depths of the pit;
[56] you heard my plea, ‘Do not close
your ear to my cry for help!’
[57] You came near when I called on you;
you said, ‘Do not fear!’


[58] “You have taken up my cause, O Lord;
you have redeemed my life.
[59] You have seen the wrong done to me, O LORD;
judge my cause.
[60] You have seen all their vengeance,
all their plots against me.


[61] “You have heard their taunts, O LORD,
all their plots against me.
[62] The lips and thoughts of my assailants
are against me all the day long.
[63] Behold their sitting and their rising;
I am the object of their taunts.


[64] “You will repay them, O LORD,
according to the work of their hands.
[65] You will give them dullness of heart;
your curse will be on them.
[66] You will pursue them in anger and destroy them
from under your heavens, O LORD.”

[1] Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. [2] And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

[3] But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. [4] Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. [5] For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. [6] Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. [7] Therefore do not become partners with them; [8] for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light [9] (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), [10] and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. [11] Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. [12] For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. [13] But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, [14] for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,

“Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”


[15] Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, [16] making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. [17] Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. [18] And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, [19] addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, [20] giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, [21] submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

[22] Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. [23] For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. [24] Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

[25] Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, [26] that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, [27] so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. [28] In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. [29] For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, [30] because we are members of his body. [31] “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” [32] This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. [33] However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.