The LORD Is Exalted

¹Woe to you, O destroyer never destroyed,O traitor never betrayed!When you have finished destroying,you will be destroyed.When you have finished betraying,you will be betrayed.

²O LORD, be gracious to us!We wait for You.Be our strength every morningand our salvation in time of trouble.

³The peoples flee the thunder of Your voice;the nations scatter when You rise.

⁴Your spoil, O nations,is gathered as by locusts;like a swarm of locusts men sweep over it.

⁵The LORD is exalted, for He dwells on high;He has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.

⁶He will be the sure foundation for your times,a storehouse of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge.The fear of the LORD is Zion’s treasure.

⁷Behold, their valiant ones cry aloud in the streets;the envoys of peace weep bitterly.

⁸The highways are deserted;travel has ceased.The treatyhas been broken,the witnessesare despised,and human life is disregarded.

⁹The land mourns and languishes;Lebanon is ashamed and decayed.Sharon is like a desert;Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.

¹⁰“Now I will arise,” says the LORD.“Now I will lift Myself up. Now I will be exalted.

¹¹You conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble.Your breath is a fire that will consume you.

¹²The peoples will be burned to ashes,like thorns cut down and set ablaze.

¹³You who are far off, hear what I have done;you who are near, acknowledge My might.”

¹⁴The sinners in Zion are afraid;trembling grips the ungodly:“Who of us can dwell with a consuming fire?Who of us can dwell with everlasting flames?”

¹⁵He who walks righteouslyand speaks with sincerity,who refuses gain from extortion,whose hand never takes a bribe,who stops his ears against murderous plotsand shuts his eyes tightly against evil—

¹⁶he will dwell on the heights;the mountain fortress will be his refuge;his food will be providedand his water assured.

¹⁷Your eyes will see the King in His beautyand behold a land that stretches afar.

¹⁸Your mind will ponder the former terror:“Where is he who tallies? Where is he who weighs?Where is he who counts the towers?”

¹⁹You will no longer see the insolent,a people whose speech is unintelligible,who stammer in a language you cannot understand.

²⁰Look upon Zion,the city of our appointed feasts.Your eyes will see Jerusalem,a peaceful pasture, a tent that does not wander;its tent pegs will not be pulled up,nor will any of its cords be broken.

²¹But there the Majestic One, our LORD,will be for us a place of rivers and wide canals,where no galley with oars will row,and no majestic vessel will pass.

²²For the LORD is our Judge,the LORD is our lawgiver,the LORD is our King.It is He who will save us.

²³Your ropes are slack;they cannot secure the mast or spread the sail.Then an abundance of spoils will be divided,and even the lame will carry off plunder.

²⁴And no resident of Zion will say, “I am sick.”The people who dwell therewill be forgiven of iniquity.

Elijah Flees from Jezebel

¹Now Ahab told Jezebel everything that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.

²So Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “May the gods deal with me, and ever so severely, if by this time tomorrow I have not made your life like the lives of those you killed!”

³And Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there,

⁴while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He sat down under a broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”

⁵Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep.Suddenly an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.”

⁶And he looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again.

⁷A second time the angel of the LORD returned and touched him, saying, “Get up and eat, or the journey will be too much for you.”

⁸So he got up and ate and drank. And strengthened by that food, he walked forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb,the mountain of God.

The LORD Speaks to Elijah at Horeb

⁹There Elijah entered a cave and spent the night. And the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

¹⁰“I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of Hosts,” he replied, “but the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I am the only one left, and they are seeking my life as well.”

¹¹Then the LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD. Behold, the LORD is about to pass by.”And a great and mighty wind tore into the mountains and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind.After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake.

¹²After the earthquake there was a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire.And after the fire came a still, small voice.

¹³When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

¹⁴“I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of Hosts,” he replied, “but the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I am the only one left, and they are seeking my life as well.”

¹⁵Then the LORD said to him, “Go back by the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you arrive, you are to anoint Hazael as king over Aram.

¹⁶You are also to anoint Jehu sonof Nimshi as king over Israel and Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel-meholah to succeed you as prophet.

¹⁷Then Jehu will put to death whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death whoever escapes the sword of Jehu.

¹⁸Nevertheless, I have reserved seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed to Baaland whose mouths have not kissed him.”

The Call of Elisha

¹⁹So Elijah departed and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve teams of oxen, and he was with the twelfth team. Elijah passed by him and threw his cloak around him.

²⁰So Elisha left the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said, “Please let me kiss my father and mother goodbye, and then I will follow you.”“Go on back,” Elijah replied, “for what have I done to you?”

²¹So Elisha turned back from him, took his pair of oxen, and slaughtered them. Using the oxen’s equipment for fuel, he cooked the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow and serve Elijah.

Isaac Blesses Jacob

¹When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.”“Here I am,” Esau replied.

²“Look,” said Isaac, “I am now old, and I do not know the day of my death.

³Take your weapons—your quiver and bow—and go out into the field to hunt some game for me.

⁴Then prepare a tasty dish that I love and bring it to me to eat, so that I may bless you before I die.”

⁵Now Rebekah was listening to what Isaac told his son Esau. So when Esau went into the field to hunt game and bring it back,

⁶Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Behold, I overheard your father saying to your brother Esau,

⁷‘Bring me some game and prepare me a tasty dish to eat, so that I may bless you in the presence of the LORD before I die.’

⁸Now, my son, listen to my voice and do exactly as I tell you.

⁹Go out to the flock and bring me two choice young goats, so that I can make them into a tasty dish for your father—the kind he loves.

¹⁰Then take it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.”

¹¹Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, “Look, my brother Esau is a hairy man, but I am smooth-skinned.

¹²What if my father touches me? Then I would be revealed to him as a deceiver, and I would bring upon myself a curse rather than a blessing.”

¹³His mother replied, “Your curse be on me, my son. Just obey my voice and go get them for me.”

¹⁴So Jacob went and got two goats and brought them to his mother, who made the tasty food his father loved.

¹⁵And Rebekah took the finest clothes in the house that belonged to her older son Esau, and she put them on her younger son Jacob.

¹⁶She also put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.

¹⁷Then she handed her son Jacob the tasty food and bread she had made.

¹⁸So Jacob went to his father and said, “My father.”“Here I am!” he answered. “Which one are you, my son?”

¹⁹Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau, your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please sit up and eat some of my game, so that you may bless me.”

²⁰But Isaac asked his son, “How did you ever find it so quickly, my son?”“Because the LORD your God brought it to me,” he replied.

²¹Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come closer so I can touch you, my son. Are you really my son Esau, or not?”

²²So Jacob came close to his father Isaac, who touched him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.”

²³Isaac did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like those of his brother Esau; so he blessed him.

²⁴Again he asked, “Are you really my son Esau?”And he replied, “I am.”

²⁵“Serve me,” said Isaac, “and let me eat some of my son’s game, so that I may bless you.”Jacob brought it to him, and he ate; then he brought him wine, and he drank.

²⁶Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come near and kiss me, my son.”

²⁷So he came near and kissed him. When Isaac smelled his clothing, he blessed him and said:“Ah, the smell of my sonis like the smell of a fieldthat the LORD has blessed.

²⁸May God give to you the dew of heavenand the richness of the earth—an abundance of grain and new wine.

²⁹May peoples serve youand nations bow down to you.May you be the master of your brothers,and may the sons of your mother bow down to you.May those who curse you be cursed,and those who bless you be blessed.”

Esau’s Lost Hope

³⁰As soon as Isaac had finished blessing him and Jacob had left his father’s presence, his brother Esau returned from the hunt.

³¹He too made some tasty food, brought it to his father, and said to him, “My father, sit up and eat of your son’s game, so that you may bless me.”

³²But his father Isaac replied, “Who are you?”“I am Esau, your firstborn son,” he answered.

³³Isaac began to tremble violently and said, “Who was it, then, who hunted the game and brought it to me? Before you came in, I ate it all and blessed him—and indeed, he will be blessed!”

³⁴When Esau heard his father’s words, he let out a loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me too, O my father!”

³⁵But Isaac replied, “Your brother came deceitfully and took your blessing.”

³⁶So Esau declared, “Is he not rightly named Jacob?For he has cheated me twice. He took my birthright, and now he has taken my blessing.” Then he asked, “Haven’t you saved a blessing for me?”

³⁷But Isaac answered Esau: “Look, I have made him your master and given him all his relatives as servants; I have sustained him with grain and new wine. What is left that I can do for you, my son?”

³⁸Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, O my father!” Then Esau wept aloud.

³⁹His father Isaac answered him:“Behold, your dwelling place shall beaway from the richness of the land,away from the dew of heaven above.

⁴⁰You shall live by the swordand serve your brother.But when you rebel,you will tear his yoke from your neck.”

⁴¹Esau held a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. And Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are at hand; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”

⁴²When the words of her older son Esau were relayed to Rebekah, she sent for her younger son Jacob and told him, “Look, your brother Esau is consoling himself by plotting to kill you.

⁴³So now, my son, obey my voice and flee at once to my brother Laban in Haran.

⁴⁴Stay with him for a while, until your brother’s fury subsides—

⁴⁵until your brother’s rage against you wanes and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send for you and bring you back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?”

⁴⁶Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of these Hittite women.If Jacob takes a Hittite wife from among them, what good is my life?”

The LORD Reigns!

¹The LORD reigns;let the nations tremble!He is enthroned above the cherubim;let the earth quake!

²Great is the LORD in Zion;He is exalted above all the peoples.

³Let them praise Your great and awesome name—He is holy!

⁴The mighty King loves justice.You have established equity;You have exercised justiceand righteousness in Jacob.

⁵Exalt the LORD our God,and worship at His footstool;He is holy!

⁶Moses and Aaron were among His priests;Samuel was among those who called on His name.They called to the LORD and He answered.

⁷He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud;they kept His decrees and the statutes He gave them.

⁸O LORD our God, You answered them.You were a forgiving God to them,yet an avenger of their misdeeds.

⁹Exalt the LORD our Godand worship at His holy mountain,for the LORD our God is holy.