Friday in Epiphany

1Verse 1. Woe to you, O Ariel, the city of Ariel where David camped! Year upon year let your festivals recur. 2Verse 2. And I will constrain Ariel, and there will be mourning and lamentation; she will be like an altar hearth before Me. 3Verse 3. I will camp in a circle around you; I will besiege you with towers and set up siege works against you. 4Verse 4. You will be brought low, you will speak from the ground, and out of the dust your words will be muffled. Your voice will be like a spirit from the ground; your speech will whisper out of the dust. 5Verse 5. But your many foes will be like fine dust, the multitude of the ruthless like blowing chaff. Then suddenly, in an instant, 6Verse 6. you will be visited by the LORD of Hosts with thunder and earthquake and loud noise, with windstorm and tempest and consuming flame of fire. 7Verse 7. All the many nations going out to battle against Ariel— even all who war against her, laying siege and attacking her— will be like a dream, like a vision in the night, 8Verse 8. as when a hungry man dreams he is eating, then awakens still hungry; as when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking, then awakens faint and parched. So will it be for all the many nations who go to battle against Mount Zion. 9Verse 9. Stop and be astonished; blind yourselves and be sightless; be drunk, but not with wine; stagger, but not from strong drink. 10Verse 10. For the LORD has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep. He has shut your eyes, O prophets; He has covered your heads, O seers. 11Verse 11. And the entire vision will be to you like the words sealed in a scroll. If it is handed to someone to read, he will say, “I cannot, because it is sealed.” 12Verse 12. Or if the scroll is handed to one unable to read, he will say, “I cannot read.”

13Verse 13. Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good conduct, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14Verse 14. But if you harbor bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast in it or deny the truth. 15Verse 15. Such wisdom does not come from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16Verse 16. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every evil practice. 17Verse 17. But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peace-loving, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere. 18Verse 18. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap the fruit of righteousness.