Something Spiritual For Today: Day 194 - 2 Chronicles 27; Isaiah 9-12

2 Chronicles 27

Jotham King of Judah

¹ Jotham was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. His mother's name was Jerusha daughter of Zadok. ² He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father Uzziah had done, but unlike him he did not enter the temple of the LORD. The people, however, continued their corrupt practices. ³ Jotham rebuilt the Upper Gate of the temple of the LORD and did extensive work on the wall at the hill of Ophel. ⁴ He built towns in the Judean hills and forts and towers in the wooded areas.

⁵ Jotham made war on the king of the Ammonites and conquered them. That year the Ammonites paid him a hundred talents ^a]">[a] of silver, ten thousand cors ^b]">[b] of wheat and ten thousand cors of barley. The Ammonites brought him the same amount also in the second and third years.

⁶ Jotham grew powerful because he walked steadfastly before the LORD his God.

⁷ The other events in Jotham's reign, including all his wars and the other things he did, are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. ⁸ He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. ⁹ Jotham rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of David. And Ahaz his son succeeded him as king.

Footnotes:

2 Chronicles 27:5 That is, about 3 3/4 tons (about 3.4 metric tons)
2 Chronicles 27:5 That is, probably about 62,000 bushels (about 2,200 kiloliters)

Isaiah 9

To Us a Child Is Born

¹ Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan-

² The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death ^a]">[a]
a light has dawned.

³ You have enlarged the nation
and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you
as people rejoice at the harvest,
as men rejoice
when dividing the plunder.

⁴ For as in the day of Midian's defeat,
you have shattered
the yoke that burdens them,
the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor.

⁵ Every warrior's boot used in battle
and every garment rolled in blood
will be destined for burning,
will be fuel for the fire.

⁶ For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, ^b]">[b] Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

⁷ Of the increase of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David's throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the LORD Almighty
will accomplish this.

The Lord 's Anger Against Israel

⁸ The Lord has sent a message against Jacob;
it will fall on Israel.

⁹ All the people will know it—
Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria—
who say with pride
and arrogance of heart,

¹⁰ "The bricks have fallen down,
but we will rebuild with dressed stone;
the fig trees have been felled,
but we will replace them with cedars."

¹¹ But the LORD has strengthened Rezin's foes against them
and has spurred their enemies on.

¹² Arameans from the east and Philistines from the west
have devoured Israel with open mouth.
Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,
his hand is still upraised.

¹³ But the people have not returned to him who struck them,
nor have they sought the LORD Almighty.

¹⁴ So the LORD will cut off from Israel both head and tail,
both palm branch and reed in a single day;

¹⁵ the elders and prominent men are the head,
the prophets who teach lies are the tail.

¹⁶ Those who guide this people mislead them,
and those who are guided are led astray.

¹⁷ Therefore the Lord will take no pleasure in the young men,
nor will he pity the fatherless and widows,
for everyone is ungodly and wicked,
every mouth speaks vileness.
Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,
his hand is still upraised.

¹⁸ Surely wickedness burns like a fire;
it consumes briers and thorns,
it sets the forest thickets ablaze,
so that it rolls upward in a column of smoke.

¹⁹ By the wrath of the LORD Almighty
the land will be scorched
and the people will be fuel for the fire;
no one will spare his brother.

²⁰ On the right they will devour,
but still be hungry;
on the left they will eat,
but not be satisfied.
Each will feed on the flesh of his own offspring ^c]">[c] :

²¹ Manasseh will feed on Ephraim, and Ephraim on Manasseh;
together they will turn against Judah.
Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,
his hand is still upraised.

Isaiah 10

¹ Woe to those who make unjust laws,
to those who issue oppressive decrees,

² to deprive the poor of their rights
and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people,
making widows their prey
and robbing the fatherless.

³ What will you do on the day of reckoning,
when disaster comes from afar?
To whom will you run for help?
Where will you leave your riches?

⁴ Nothing will remain but to cringe among the captives
or fall among the slain.
Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,
his hand is still upraised.

God's Judgment on Assyria

⁵ "Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of my anger,
in whose hand is the club of my wrath!

⁶ I send him against a godless nation,
I dispatch him against a people who anger me,
to seize loot and snatch plunder,
and to trample them down like mud in the streets.

⁷ But this is not what he intends,
this is not what he has in mind;
his purpose is to destroy,
to put an end to many nations.

⁸ 'Are not my commanders all kings?' he says.

⁹ 'Has not Calno fared like Carchemish?
Is not Hamath like Arpad,
and Samaria like Damascus?

¹⁰ As my hand seized the kingdoms of the idols,
kingdoms whose images excelled those of Jerusalem and Samaria-

¹¹ shall I not deal with Jerusalem and her images
as I dealt with Samaria and her idols?' "

¹² When the Lord has finished all his work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, he will say, "I will punish the king of Assyria for the willful pride of his heart and the haughty look in his eyes. ¹³ For he says:
" 'By the strength of my hand I have done this,
and by my wisdom, because I have understanding.
I removed the boundaries of nations,
I plundered their treasures;
like a mighty one I subdued ^d]">[d] their kings.

¹⁴ As one reaches into a nest,
so my hand reached for the wealth of the nations;
as men gather abandoned eggs,
so I gathered all the countries;
not one flapped a wing,
or opened its mouth to chirp.' "

¹⁵ Does the ax raise itself above him who swings it,
or the saw boast against him who uses it?
As if a rod were to wield him who lifts it up,
or a club brandish him who is not wood!

¹⁶ Therefore, the Lord, the LORD Almighty,
will send a wasting disease upon his sturdy warriors;
under his pomp a fire will be kindled
like a blazing flame.

¹⁷ The Light of Israel will become a fire,
their Holy One a flame;
in a single day it will burn and consume
his thorns and his briers.

¹⁸ The splendor of his forests and fertile fields
it will completely destroy,
as when a sick man wastes away.

¹⁹ And the remaining trees of his forests will be so few
that a child could write them down.

The Remnant of Israel

²⁰ In that day the remnant of Israel,
the survivors of the house of Jacob,
will no longer rely on him
who struck them down
but will truly rely on the LORD,
the Holy One of Israel.

²¹ A remnant will return, ^e]">[e] a remnant of Jacob
will return to the Mighty God.

²² Though your people, O Israel, be like the sand by the sea,
only a remnant will return.
Destruction has been decreed,
overwhelming and righteous.

²³ The Lord, the LORD Almighty, will carry out
the destruction decreed upon the whole land.

²⁴ Therefore, this is what the Lord, the LORD Almighty, says:
"O my people who live in Zion,
do not be afraid of the Assyrians,
who beat you with a rod
and lift up a club against you, as Egypt did.

²⁵ Very soon my anger against you will end
and my wrath will be directed to their destruction."

²⁶ The LORD Almighty will lash them with a whip,
as when he struck down Midian at the rock of Oreb;
and he will raise his staff over the waters,
as he did in Egypt.

²⁷ In that day their burden will be lifted from your shoulders,
their yoke from your neck;
the yoke will be broken
because you have grown so fat. ^f]">[f]

²⁸ They enter Aiath;
they pass through Migron;
they store supplies at Micmash.

²⁹ They go over the pass, and say,
"We will camp overnight at Geba."
Ramah trembles;
Gibeah of Saul flees.

³⁰ Cry out, O Daughter of Gallim!
Listen, O Laishah!
Poor Anathoth!

³¹ Madmenah is in flight;
the people of Gebim take cover.

³² This day they will halt at Nob;
they will shake their fist
at the mount of the Daughter of Zion,
at the hill of Jerusalem.

³³ See, the Lord, the LORD Almighty,
will lop off the boughs with great power.
The lofty trees will be felled,
the tall ones will be brought low.

³⁴ He will cut down the forest thickets with an ax;
Lebanon will fall before the Mighty One.

Isaiah 11

The Branch From Jesse

¹ A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

² The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of power,
the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD -

³ and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
or decide by what he hears with his ears;

⁴ but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.

⁵ Righteousness will be his belt
and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

⁶ The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling ^g]">[g] together;
and a little child will lead them.

⁷ The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

⁸ The infant will play near the hole of the cobra,
and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest.

⁹ They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea.

¹⁰ In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious. ¹¹ In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, ^h]">[h] from Cush, ^i]">[i] from Elam, from Babylonia, ^j]">[j] from Hamath and from the islands of the sea.

¹² He will raise a banner for the nations
and gather the exiles of Israel;
he will assemble the scattered people of Judah
from the four quarters of the earth.

¹³ Ephraim's jealousy will vanish,
and Judah's enemies ^k]">[k] will be cut off;
Ephraim will not be jealous of Judah,
nor Judah hostile toward Ephraim.

¹⁴ They will swoop down on the slopes of Philistia to the west;
together they will plunder the people to the east.
They will lay hands on Edom and Moab,
and the Ammonites will be subject to them.

¹⁵ The LORD will dry up
the gulf of the Egyptian sea;
with a scorching wind he will sweep his hand
over the Euphrates River. ^l]">[l]
He will break it up into seven streams
so that men can cross over in sandals.

¹⁶ There will be a highway for the remnant of his people
that is left from Assyria,
as there was for Israel
when they came up from Egypt.

Isaiah 12

Songs of Praise

¹ In that day you will say:
"I will praise you, O LORD.
Although you were angry with me,
your anger has turned away
and you have comforted me.

² Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust and not be afraid.
The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song;
he has become my salvation."

³ With joy you will draw water
from the wells of salvation.

⁴ In that day you will say:
"Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name;
make known among the nations what he has done,
and proclaim that his name is exalted.

⁵ Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things;
let this be known to all the world.

⁶ Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion,
for great is the Holy One of Israel among you."