Page 1332 - The MacArthur Daily Bible

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DECEMBER 29
11 Open your doors, O Lebanon, 12 against Israel. Thus says the LORD, who
The burden of the word of the LORD
That fire may devour your cedars.
2 Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen, stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation
Because the mighty trees are ruined. of the earth, and forms the spirit of man with-
Wail, O oaks of Bashan, in him: “Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup
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For the thick forest has come down. of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples,
3 There is the sound of wailing shepherds! when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusa-
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For their glory is in ruins. lem. And it shall happen in that day that I will
There is the sound of roaring lions! make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peo-
For the pride of the Jordan is in ruins. ples; all who would heave it away will surely be
cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth
4 Thus says the LORD my God, “Feed the 4
flock for slaughter, whose owners slaughter are gathered against it. In that day,” says the
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them and feel no guilt; those who sell them LORD, “I will strike every horse with confusion,
and its rider with madness; I will open My eyes
say, ‘Blessed be the LORD, for I am rich’; and on the house of Judah, and will strike every
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their shepherds do not pity them. For I will no horse of the peoples with blindness. And the
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longer pity the inhabitants of the land,” says governors of Judah shall say in their heart,
the LORD. “But indeed I will give everyone into ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength
his neighbor’s hand and into the hand of his in the LORD of hosts, their God.’ In that day I
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king. They shall attack the land, and I will not will make the governors of Judah like a
deliver them from their hand.”
7 So I fed the flock for slaughter, in particular firepan in the woodpile, and like a fiery torch
the poor of the flock. I took for myself two in the sheaves; they shall devour all the sur-
rounding peoples on the right hand and on the
staffs: the one I called Beauty, and the other I left, but Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in
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called Bonds; and I fed the flock. I dismissed her own place—Jerusalem.
the three shepherds in one month. My soul 7 “The LORD will save the tents of Judah first,
loathed them, and their soul also abhorred me.
9 Then I said, “I will not feed you. Let what is so that the glory of the house of David and the
dying die, and what is perishing perish. Let glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall not
become greater than that of Judah. In that
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those that are left eat each other’s flesh.” And
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I took my staff, Beauty, and cut it in two, that I day the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Je-
rusalem; the one who is feeble among them in
might break the covenant which I had made that day shall be like David, and the house of
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with all the peoples. So it was broken on that David shall be like God, like the Angel of the
day. Thus the poor of the flock, who were watch- LORD before them. It shall be in that day that
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ing me, knew that it was the word of the LORD.
12 Then I said to them, “If it is agreeable to you, I will seek to destroy all the nations that come
give me my wages; and if not, refrain.” So they against Jerusalem.
“And I will pour on the house of David and
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weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver.
13 And the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the
potter”—that princely price they set on me. So
I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw
them into the house of the LORD for the potter. 12:10 I will pour.God,in His own perfect time
14 Then I cut in two my other staff, Bonds, that and by His own power, will sovereignly act to
I might break the brotherhood between Judah save Israel. This was prophesied by other
and Israel. prophets (Ezek.39:29;Joel 2:28–32) and by the
15 And the LORD said to me, “Next, take for apostle Paul (Rom. 11:25–27). Spirit of grace
yourself the implements of a foolish shepherd. and supplication. The Holy Spirit is so identi-
16 For indeed I will raise up a shepherd in the land fied because He brings saving grace and
who will not care for those who are cut off, nor because that grace produces sorrow that will
seek the young, nor heal those that are broken, result in repentant prayer to God for forgive-
nor feed those that still stand. But he will eat the ness (Matt.5:4; Heb.10:29).look on Me whom
flesh of the fat and tear their hooves in pieces. they pierced. Israel’s repentance will come
because they look to Jesus, the One whom
17 “Woe to the worthless shepherd, they rejected and crucified (Is. 53:5; John
Who leaves the flock! 19:37), in faith at the Second Advent (Rom.
A sword shall be against his arm 11:25–27). When God says they pierced “Me,”
And against his right eye; He is certainly affirming the incarnation of
His arm shall completely wither, Deity—Jesus was God.
And his right eye shall be totally blinded.”
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