Monday in Advent

1Verse 1. Behold, the LORD lays waste the earth and leaves it in ruins. He will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants— 2Verse 2. people and priest alike, servant and master, maid and mistress, buyer and seller, lender and borrower, creditor and debtor. 3Verse 3. The earth will be utterly laid waste and thoroughly plundered. 4Verse 4. The earth mourns and withers; the world languishes and fades; the exalted of the earth waste away. 5Verse 5. The earth is defiled by its people; they have transgressed the laws; they have overstepped the decrees and broken the everlasting covenant. 6Verse 6. Therefore a curse has consumed the earth, and its inhabitants must bear the guilt; the earth’s dwellers have been burned, and only a few survive. 7Verse 7. The new wine dries up, the vine withers. All the merrymakers now groan. 8Verse 8. The joyful tambourines have ceased; the noise of revelers has stopped; the joyful harp is silent. 9Verse 9. They no longer sing and drink wine; strong drink is bitter to those who consume it. 10Verse 10. The city of chaos is shattered; every house is closed to entry. 11Verse 11. In the streets they cry out for wine. All joy turns to gloom; rejoicing is exiled from the land. 12Verse 12. The city is left in ruins; its gate is reduced to rubble. 13Verse 13. So will it be on the earth and among the nations, like a harvested olive tree, like a gleaning after a grape harvest. 14Verse 14. They raise their voices, they shout for joy; from the west they proclaim the majesty of the LORD. 15Verse 15. Therefore glorify the LORD in the east. Extol the name of the LORD, the God of Israel in the islands of the sea. 16Verse 16. From the ends of the earth we hear singing: “Glory to the Righteous One.” But I said, “I am wasting away!

1Verse 1. Finally, brothers, we ask and encourage you in the Lord Jesus to live in a way that is pleasing to God, just as you have received from us. This is how you already live, so you should do so all the more. 2Verse 2. For you know the instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. 3Verse 3. For it is God’s will that you should be holy: You must abstain from sexual immorality; 4Verse 4. each of you must know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, 5Verse 5. not in lustful passion like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6Verse 6. and no one should ever violate or exploit his brother in this regard, because the Lord will avenge all such acts, as we have already told you and solemnly warned you. 7Verse 7. For God has not called us to impurity, but to holiness. 8Verse 8. Anyone, then, who rejects this command does not reject man but God, the very One who gives you His Holy Spirit. 9Verse 9. Now about brotherly love, you do not need anyone to write to you, because you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another. 10Verse 10. And you are indeed showing this love to all the brothers throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers, to excel more and more 11Verse 11. and to aspire to live quietly, to attend to your own matters, and to work with your own hands, as we instructed you. 12Verse 12. Then you will behave properly toward outsiders, without being dependent on anyone.