Along The Way (November 17th - November 23rd)

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  • Ezekiel 25

    Proclamation against Ammon

    The word of the Lord came to me: Mortal, set your face toward the Ammonites and prophesy against them. Say to the Ammonites: Hear the word of the Lord God: Thus says the Lord God: Because you said, “Aha!” over my sanctuary when it was profaned and over the land of Israel when it was made desolate and over the house of Judah when it went into exile, therefore I am handing you over to the people of the East for a possession. They shall set their encampments among you and pitch their tents in your midst; they shall eat your fruit, and they shall drink your milk. I will make Rabbah a pasture for camels and Ammon a fold for flocks. Then you shall know that I am the Lord. For thus says the Lord God: Because you have clapped your hands and stamped your feet and rejoiced with all the malice within you against the land of Israel, therefore I have stretched out my hand against you and will hand you over as plunder to the nations. I will cut you off from the peoples and will make you perish out of the countries; I will destroy you. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.

    Proclamation against Moab

    Thus says the Lord God: Because Moab said, “The house of Judah is like all the other nations,” therefore I will lay open the flank of Moab from the towns on its frontier, the glory of the country, Beth-jeshimoth, Baal-meon, and Kiriathaim. I will give it along with Ammon to the people of the East as a possession. Thus Ammon shall be remembered no more among the nations, and I will execute judgments upon Moab. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.

    Proclamation against Edom

    Thus says the Lord God: Because Edom acted revengefully against the house of Judah and has grievously offended in taking vengeance upon them, therefore thus says the Lord God: I will stretch out my hand against Edom and cut off from it humans and animals, and I will make it desolate; from Teman even to Dedan they shall fall by the sword. I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel, and they shall act in Edom according to my anger and according to my wrath, and they shall know my vengeance, says the Lord God.

    Proclamation against Philistia

    Thus says the Lord God: Because with unending hostilities the Philistines acted in vengeance and with malice of heart took revenge in destruction, therefore thus says the Lord God: I will stretch out my hand against the Philistines, cut off the Cherethites, and destroy the rest of the seacoast. I will execute great vengeance on them with wrathful punishments. Then they shall know that I am the Lord, when I lay my vengeance on them.

  • Ezekiel 26

    Proclamation against Tyre

    In the twelfth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: Mortal, because Tyre said concerning Jerusalem,

    “Aha, broken is the gateway of the peoples;

    it has swung open to me;

    I shall be replenished,

    now that it is wasted,”

    therefore, thus says the Lord God:

    See, I am against you, O Tyre!

    I will hurl many nations against you,

    as the sea hurls its waves.

    They shall destroy the walls of Tyre

    and break down its towers.

    I will scrape its soil from it

    and make it a bare rock.

    It shall become, in the midst of the sea,

    a place for spreading nets.

    I have spoken, says the Lord God.

    It shall become plunder for the nations,

    and its daughter towns inland

    shall be killed by the sword.

    Then they shall know that I am the Lord.

    For thus says the Lord God: I will bring against Tyre from the north King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, king of kings, together with horses, chariots, cavalry, and a great and powerful army.

    Your daughter towns inland

    he shall put to the sword.

    He shall set up a siege wall against you,

    cast up a ramp against you,

    and raise a roof of shields against you.

    He shall direct the shock of his battering rams against your walls

    and break down your towers with his axes.

    His horses shall be so many

    that their dust shall cover you.

    At the noise of cavalry, wheels, and chariots

    your very walls shall shake

    when he enters your gates

    like those entering a breached city.

    With the hoofs of his horses

    he shall trample all your streets.

    He shall put your people to the sword,

    and your strong pillars shall fall to the ground.

    They will take your riches

    and plunder your merchandise;

    they shall break down your walls

    and destroy your fine houses.

    Your stones and timber and soil

    they shall cast into the water.

    I will silence the music of your songs;

    the sound of your lyres shall be heard no more.

    I will make you a bare rock;

    you shall be a place for spreading nets.

    You shall never again be rebuilt,

    for I the Lord have spoken,

    says the Lord God.

    Thus says the Lord God to Tyre: Shall not the coastlands shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan, when slaughter goes on within you? Then all the princes of the sea shall step down from their thrones; they shall remove their robes and strip off their embroidered garments. They shall clothe themselves with trembling and shall sit on the ground; they shall tremble every moment and be appalled at you. And they shall raise a lamentation over you and say to you:

    “How you have vanished from the seas,

    O city renowned,

    once mighty on the sea,

    you and your inhabitants,

    who imposed your terror

    on all the mainland!

    Now the coastlands tremble

    on the day of your fall;

    the coastlands by the sea

    are dismayed at your passing.”

    For thus says the Lord God: When I make you a city laid waste, like cities that are not inhabited, when I bring up the deep over you and the great waters cover you, then I will thrust you down with those who descend into the Pit, to the people of long ago, and I will make you live in the world below, among primeval ruins, with those who go down to the Pit, so that you will not be inhabited or have a place in the land of the living. I will bring you to a dreadful end, and you shall be no more; though sought for, you will never be found again, says the Lord God.

  • Ezekiel 27

    Lamentation over Tyre

    The word of the Lord came to me: Now you, mortal, raise a lamentation over Tyre, and say to Tyre, which sits at the entrance to the sea, merchant of the peoples on many coastlands: Thus says the Lord God:

    O Tyre, you have said,

    “I am perfect in beauty.”

    Your borders are in the heart of the seas;

    your builders made perfect your beauty.

    They made all your planks

    of fir trees from Senir;

    they took a cedar from Lebanon

    to make a mast for you.

    From oaks of Bashan

    they made your oars;

    they made your deck of pines

    from the coasts of Cyprus,

    inlaid with ivory.

    Of fine embroidered linen from Egypt

    was your sail,

    serving as your ensign;

    blue and purple from the coasts of Elishah

    was your awning.

    The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad

    were your rowers;

    skilled men of Zemer were within you;

    they were your pilots.

    The elders of Gebal and its artisans were within you,

    caulking your seams;

    all the ships of the sea with their sailors were within you,

    to barter for your wares.

    Paras and Lud and Put

    were in your army,

    your mighty warriors;

    they hung shield and helmet in you;

    they gave you splendor.

    Men of Arvad and Helech

    were on your walls all around;

    men of Gamad were at your towers.

    They hung their quivers all around your walls;

    they made perfect your beauty.

    Tarshish did business with you out of the abundance of your great wealth; silver, iron, tin, and lead they exchanged for your wares. Javan, Tubal, and Meshech traded with you; they exchanged human beings and vessels of bronze for your merchandise. Beth-togarmah exchanged for your wares horses, war horses, and mules. The Rhodians traded with you; many coastlands were your own special markets; they brought you in payment ivory tusks and ebony. Edom did business with you because of your abundant goods; they exchanged for your wares turquoise, purple, embroidered work, fine linen, coral, and rubies. Judah and the land of Israel traded with you; they exchanged for your merchandise wheat from Minnith, millet, honey, oil, and balm. Damascus traded with you for your abundant goods — because of your great wealth of every kind — wine of Helbon and wool of Zahar. Vedan and Javan from Uzal entered into trade for your wares; wrought iron, cassia, and sweet cane were bartered for your merchandise. Dedan traded with you in saddlecloths for riding. Arabia and all the princes of Kedar were your favored dealers in lambs, rams, and goats; in these they did business with you. The merchants of Sheba and Raamah traded with you; they exchanged for your wares the best of all kinds of spices and all precious stones and gold. Haran, Canneh, Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad traded with you. These traded with you in choice garments, in clothes of blue and embroidered work, and in carpets of colored material, bound with cords and made secure; in these they traded with you. The ships of Tarshish traveled for you in your trade.

    So you were filled and heavily laden

    in the heart of the seas.

    Your rowers have brought you

    into the high seas.

    The east wind has wrecked you

    in the heart of the seas.

    Your riches, your wares, your merchandise,

    your sailors and your pilots,

    your caulkers, your dealers in merchandise,

    and all your warriors within you,

    with all the company

    that is with you,

    sink into the heart of the seas

    on the day of your ruin.

    At the sound of the cry of your pilots

    the pasturelands shake,

    and down from their ships

    come all who handle the oar.

    The sailors and all the pilots of the sea

    stand on the shore

    and wail aloud over you

    and cry bitterly.

    They throw dust on their heads

    and wallow in ashes;

    they make themselves bald for you

    and put on sackcloth,

    and they weep over you in bitterness of soul,

    with bitter mourning.

    In their wailing they raise a lamentation for you

    and lament over you:

    “Who was ever destroyed like Tyre

    in the midst of the sea?

    When your wares came from the seas,

    you satisfied many peoples;

    with your abundant wealth and merchandise

    you enriched the kings of the earth.

    Now you are wrecked by the seas,

    in the depths of the waters;

    your merchandise and all your crew

    have sunk with you.

    All the inhabitants of the coastlands

    are appalled at you,

    and their kings are horribly afraid;

    their faces are convulsed.

    The merchants among the peoples hiss at you;

    you have come to a dreadful end

    and shall be no more forever.”

  • Ezekiel 28

    Proclamation against the King of Tyre

    The word of the Lord came to me: Mortal, say to the prince of Tyre: Thus says the Lord God:

    Because your heart is proud

    and you have said, “I am a god;

    I sit in the seat of the gods,

    in the heart of the seas,”

    yet you are but a mortal and no god,

    though you compare your mind

    with the mind of a god.

    You are indeed wiser than Daniel;

    no secret is hidden from you;

    by your wisdom and your understanding

    you have amassed wealth for yourself

    and have gathered gold and silver

    into your treasuries.

    By your great wisdom in trade

    you have increased your wealth,

    and your heart has become proud in your wealth.

    Therefore thus says the Lord God:

    Because you compare your mind

    with the mind of a god,

    therefore, I will bring strangers against you,

    the most terrible of the nations;

    they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom

    and defile your splendor.

    They shall thrust you down to the Pit,

    and you shall die a violent death

    in the heart of the seas.

    Will you still say, “I am a god,”

    in the presence of those who kill you,

    though you are but a mortal and no god,

    in the hands of those who pierce you?

    You shall die the death of the uncircumcised

    by the hand of foreigners,

    for I have spoken, says the Lord God.

    Lamentation over the King of Tyre

    Moreover the word of the Lord came to me: Mortal, raise a lamentation over the king of Tyre, and say to him: Thus says the Lord God:

    You were the signet of perfection,

    full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.

    You were in Eden, the garden of God;

    every precious stone was your covering,

    carnelian, chrysolite, and moonstone,

    beryl, onyx, and jasper,

    sapphire, turquoise, and emerald;

    and worked in gold were your settings

    and your engravings.

    On the day that you were created

    they were prepared.

    You were a cherub;

    I placed you on the holy mountain of God;

    you walked among the stones of fire.

    You were blameless in your ways

    from the day that you were created,

    until iniquity was found in you.

    In the abundance of your trade

    you were filled with violence, and you sinned,

    so I cast you as a profane thing from the mountain of God,

    and I drove you out, O guardian cherub,

    from among the stones of fire.

    Your heart was proud because of your beauty;

    you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor.

    I cast you to the ground;

    I exposed you before kings,

    to feast their eyes on you.

    By the multitude of your iniquities,

    in the unrighteousness of your trade,

    you profaned your sanctuaries.

    So I brought out fire from within you;

    it consumed you,

    and I turned you to ashes on the earth

    in the sight of all who saw you.

    All who know you among the peoples

    are appalled at you;

    you have come to a dreadful end

    and shall be no more forever.

    Proclamation against Sidon

    The word of the Lord came to me: Mortal, set your face toward Sidon, and prophesy against it, and say: Thus says the Lord God:

    I am against you, O Sidon,

    and I will gain glory in your midst.

    They shall know that I am the Lord

    when I execute judgments in it

    and manifest my holiness in it;

    for I will send pestilence into it,

    and bloodshed into its streets;

    and the dead shall fall in its midst,

    by the sword that is against it on every side.

    And they shall know that I am the Lord.

    The house of Israel shall no longer find a pricking brier or a piercing thorn among all their neighbors who have treated them with contempt. And they shall know that I am the Lord God.

    Future Blessing for Israel

    Thus says the Lord God: When I gather the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they are scattered and manifest my holiness in them in the sight of the nations, then they shall settle on their own soil that I gave to my servant Jacob. They shall live in safety in it and shall build houses and plant vineyards. They shall live in safety when I execute judgments upon all their neighbors who have treated them with contempt. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God.

  • Ezekiel 29

    Proclamation against Egypt

    In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: Mortal, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt; speak and say: Thus says the Lord God:

    I am against you,

    Pharaoh king of Egypt,

    the great dragon sprawling

    in the midst of its channels,

    saying, “My Nile is my own;

    I made it for myself.”

    I will put hooks in your jaws

    and make the fish of your channels stick to your scales.

    I will draw you up from your channels,

    with all the fish of your channels

    sticking to your scales.

    I will fling you into the wilderness,

    you and all the fish of your channels;

    you shall fall in the open field

    and not be gathered or picked up.

    To the animals of the earth and to the birds of the air

    I have given you as food.

    Then all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know

    that I am the Lord,

    because you were a staff of reed

    to the house of Israel;

    when they grasped you with the hand, you broke

    and tore all their shoulders,

    and when they leaned on you, you broke

    and made all their legs give way.

    Therefore, thus says the Lord God: I will bring a sword upon you and will cut off from you human and animal, and the land of Egypt shall be a desolation and a waste. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.

    Because you said, “The Nile is mine, and I made it,” therefore, I am against you and against your channels, and I will make the land of Egypt an utter waste and desolation, from Migdol to Syene, as far as the border of Cush. No human foot shall pass through it, and no animal foot shall pass through it; it shall be uninhabited forty years. I will make the land of Egypt a desolation among desolated countries, and her cities shall be a desolation forty years among cities that are laid waste. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among the countries.

    Further, thus says the Lord God: At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom they were scattered, and I will restore the fortunes of Egypt and bring them back to the land of Pathros, the land of their origin, and there they shall be a lowly kingdom. It shall be the most lowly of the kingdoms and never again exalt itself above the nations, and I will make them so small that they will never again rule over the nations. The Egyptians shall never again be the reliance of the house of Israel; they will recall their iniquity when they turned to them for aid. Then they shall know that I am the Lord God.

    Babylonia Will Plunder Egypt

    In the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: Mortal, King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon made his army labor hard against Tyre; every head was made bald and every shoulder was rubbed bare, yet neither he nor his army got anything from Tyre to pay for the labor that he had expended against it. Therefore thus says the Lord God: I will give the land of Egypt to King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, and he shall carry off its wealth and despoil it and plunder it, and it shall be the wages for his army. I have given him the land of Egypt as his payment for which he labored, because they worked for me, says the Lord God.

    On that day I will cause a horn to sprout up for the house of Israel, and I will open your lips among them. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.

  • Ezekiel 30

    Lamentation for Egypt

    The word of the Lord came to me: Mortal, prophesy, and say: Thus says the Lord God:

    Wail, “Alas for the day!”

    For a day is near,

    the day of the Lord is near;

    it will be a day of clouds,

    a time of doom for the nations.

    A sword shall come upon Egypt,

    and anguish shall be in Cush,

    when the slain fall in Egypt,

    and its wealth is carried away,

    and its foundations are torn down.

    Cush and Put and Lud and all the mixed populations and Libya and the people of the allied land shall fall with them by the sword.

    Thus says the Lord:

    Those who support Egypt shall fall,

    and its proud might shall come down;

    from Migdol to Syene

    they shall fall within it by the sword,

    says the Lord God.

    They shall be desolated among other desolated countries,

    and their cities shall lie among cities laid waste.

    Then they shall know that I am the Lord,

    when I have set fire to Egypt,

    and all who help it are broken.

    On that day, messengers shall go out from me in ships to terrify the secure Cushites, and anguish shall come upon them on the day of Egypt’s doom, for it is coming!

    Thus says the Lord God:

    I will put an end to the hordes of Egypt,

    by the hand of King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon.

    He and his people with him, the most terrible of the nations,

    shall be brought in to destroy the land,

    and they shall draw their swords against Egypt

    and fill the land with the slain.

    I will dry up the channels of the Nile

    and will sell the land into the hand of evildoers;

    I will bring desolation upon the land and everything in it

    by the hand of foreigners;

    I the Lord have spoken.

    Thus says the Lord God:

    I will destroy the idols

    and put an end to the images in Memphis;

    there shall no longer be a prince in the land of Egypt,

    so I will put fear in the land of Egypt.

    I will make Pathros a desolation

    and will set fire to Zoan

    and will execute acts of judgment on Thebes.

    I will pour my wrath upon Pelusium,

    the stronghold of Egypt,

    and will cut off the hordes of Thebes.

    I will set fire to Egypt;

    Pelusium shall be in great agony;

    Thebes shall be breached

    and Memphis face adversaries by day.

    The young men of On and of Pi-beseth shall fall by the sword,

    and the cities themselves shall go into captivity.

    At Tehaphnehes the day shall be dark,

    when I break there the dominion of Egypt,

    and its proud might shall come to an end;

    the city shall be covered by a cloud,

    and its daughter towns shall go into captivity.

    Thus I will execute acts of judgment on Egypt.

    Then they shall know that I am the Lord.

    Proclamation against Pharaoh

    In the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: Mortal, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt; it has not been bound up for healing or wrapped with a bandage, so that it may become strong to wield the sword. Therefore thus says the Lord God: I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt and will break his arms, both the strong arm and the one that was broken, and I will make the sword fall from his hand. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them throughout the lands. I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and put my sword in his hand, but I will break the arms of Pharaoh, and he will groan before him with the groans of one mortally wounded. I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh shall fall. And they shall know that I am the Lord when I put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon. He shall stretch it out against the land of Egypt, and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them throughout the countries. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.

  • Ezekiel 31

    The Lofty Cedar

    In the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came to me: Mortal, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his hordes:

    Whom are you like in your greatness?

    Consider Assyria, a cedar of Lebanon,

    with fair branches and forest shade,

    and of great height,

    its top among the clouds.

    The waters nourished it;

    the deep made it grow tall,

    flowing with its rivers

    around the place it was planted,

    sending forth its streams

    to all the trees of the field.

    So it towered high

    above all the trees of the field;

    its boughs grew large

    and its branches long,

    from abundant water in its shoots.

    All the birds of the air

    made their nests in its boughs;

    under its branches all the animals of the field

    gave birth to their young,

    and in its shade

    all great nations lived.

    It was beautiful in its greatness,

    in the length of its branches,

    for its roots went down

    to abundant water.

    The cedars in the garden of God could not rival it

    nor the fir trees equal its boughs;

    the plane trees were as nothing

    compared with its branches;

    no tree in the garden of God

    was like it in beauty.

    I made it beautiful

    with its mass of branches,

    the envy of all the trees of Eden

    that were in the garden of God.

    Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because it towered high and set its top among the clouds and its heart was proud of its height, I gave it into the hand of the prince of the nations; he has dealt with it as its wickedness deserves. I have cast it out. Foreigners from the most terrible of the nations have cut it down and left it. On the mountains and in all the valleys its branches have fallen, and its boughs lie broken in all the watercourses of the land, and all the peoples of the earth went away from its shade and left it.

    On its fallen trunk settle

    all the birds of the air,

    and among its boughs lodge

    all the wild animals.

    All this is in order that no trees by the waters may grow to lofty height or set their tops among the clouds and that no trees that drink water may reach up to them in height.

    For all of them are handed over to death,

    to the world below;

    along with mortals,

    with those who go down to the Pit.

    Thus says the Lord God: On the day it went down to Sheol I closed the deep over it and covered it; I restrained its rivers, and its mighty waters were checked. I clothed Lebanon in gloom for it, and all the trees of the field fainted because of it. I made the nations quake at the sound of its fall, when I cast it down to Sheol with those who go down to the Pit, and all the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that were well watered, were consoled in the world below. They also went down to Sheol with it, to those killed by the sword, along with its allies, those who lived in its shade among the nations.

    Which among the trees of Eden was like you in glory and in greatness? Now you shall be brought down with the trees of Eden to the world below; you shall lie among the uncircumcised, with those who are killed by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his horde, says the Lord God.

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Bethlehem News - November 17th, 2023