LHC Midday Word

Thursday, 19 August 2021

The Book of ECCLESIASTES - Chapter One

The Book of ECCLESIASTES

- Overview - “The Bible Project”

Everything is meaningless

1 The words of the Teacher,

son of David, king of Jerusalem:

‘Meaningless! Meaningless!’

says the Teacher.

‘Utterly meaningless!

Everything is meaningless.’

What do people gain from all their labours

at which they toil under the sun?

Generations come and generations go,

but the earth remains for ever.

The sun rises and the sun sets,

and hurries back to where it rises.

The wind blows to the south

and turns to the north;

round and round it goes,

ever returning on its course.

All streams flow into the sea,

yet the sea is never full.

To the place the streams come from,

there they return again.

All things are wearisome,

more than one can say.

The eye never has enough of seeing,

nor the ear its fill of hearing.

What has been will be again,

what has been done will be done again;

there is nothing new under the sun.

Is there anything of which one can say,

‘Look! This is something new’?

It was here already, long ago;

it was here before our time.

No one remembers the former generations,

and even those yet to come

will not be remembered

by those who follow them.

Wisdom is meaningless

I, the Teacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.

I applied my mind to study and to explore by wisdom

all that is done under the heavens.

What a heavy burden God has laid on mankind!

I have seen all the things that are done under the sun;

all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

What is crooked cannot be straightened;

what is lacking cannot be counted.

I said to myself, ‘Look, I have increased in wisdom more than anyone

who has ruled over Jerusalem before me;

I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge.’

Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom,

and also of madness and folly,

but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind.

For with much wisdom comes much sorrow;

the more knowledge, the more grief.

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The Book of ECCLESIASTES

- Chapter 1 -

- Read by David Suchet -

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The Book of ECCLESIASTES

- Wisdom - “The Bible Project”

STUDY - LINKS

The Book of ECCLESIASTES

by David Pawson

https://youtu.be/mExfn1kAxLE

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(1) Hevel (The Divine Disconnect/Ecclesiastes)

By Tim Mackie(The Bible Project)

https://youtu.be/a0wWB8YEDiA

(2) Gift (The Divine Disconnect/Ecclesiastes)

By Tim Mackie(The Bible Project)

https://youtu.be/zAbpygDZcwc

(3) The Limits of Labor (The Divine Disconnect/Ecclesiastes)

By Tim Mackie(The Bible Project)

https://youtu.be/-X1MxFLqnjg

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Wednesday, 18 August 2021

The Book of ISAIAH - Chapter Thirty Nine

Envoys from Babylon

1 At that time Marduk-Baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent Hezekiah letters and a gift, because he had heard of his illness and recovery. 2 Hezekiah received the envoys gladly and showed them what was in his storehouses – the silver, the gold, the spices, the fine olive oil – his entire armoury and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.

3 Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked, ‘What did those men say, and where did they come from?’

‘From a distant land,’ Hezekiah replied. ‘They came to me from Babylon.’

4 The prophet asked, ‘What did they see in your palace?’

‘They saw everything in my palace,’ Hezekiah said. ‘There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.’

5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, ‘Hear the word of the Lord Almighty: 6 the time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord. 7 And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’

8 ‘The word of the Lord you have spoken is good,’ Hezekiah replied. For he thought, ‘There will be peace and security in my lifetime.’

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The Book of ISAIAH- Chapter 39

- Read by David Suchet -

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ISAIAH Chapter 1 to 39

- Overview -by The Bible Project

https://youtu.be/d0A6Uchb1F8

STUDY - LINKS

The Book of ISAIAH

Part 1 by David Pawson

https://youtu.be/XqNzGrYbFWg

The Book of ISAIAH

Part 2 by David Pawson

https://youtu.be/1VLLZ_6ZjiE

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Tuesday, 17 August 2021

The Book of ISAIAH - Chapter Thirty Eight

Hezekiah’s illness

1 In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to him and said, ‘This is what the Lord says: put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.’

2 Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3 ‘Remember, Lord, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes.’ And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

4 Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: 5 ‘Go and tell Hezekiah, “This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life. 6 And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city.

7 ‘“This is the Lord’s sign to you that the Lord will do what he has promised: 8 I will make the shadow cast by the sun go back the ten steps it has gone down on the stairway of Ahaz.”’ So the sunlight went back the ten steps it had gone down.

9 A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery:

I said, ‘In the prime of my life

must I go through the gates of death

and be robbed of the rest of my years?’

I said, ‘I will not again see the Lord himself

in the land of the living;

no longer will I look on my fellow man,

or be with those who now dwell in this world.

Like a shepherd’s tent my house

has been pulled down and taken from me.

Like a weaver I have rolled up my life,

and he has cut me off from the loom;

day and night you made an end of me.

I waited patiently till dawn,

but like a lion he broke all my bones;

day and night you made an end of me.

I cried like a swift or thrush,

I moaned like a mourning dove.

My eyes grew weak as I looked to the heavens.

I am being threatened; Lord, come to my aid!’

But what can I say?

He has spoken to me, and he himself has done this.

I will walk humbly all my years

because of this anguish of my soul.

Lord, by such things people live;

and my spirit finds life in them too.

You restored me to health

and let me live.

Surely it was for my benefit

that I suffered such anguish.

In your love you kept me

from the pit of destruction;

you have put all my sins

behind your back.

For the grave cannot praise you,

death cannot sing your praise;

those who go down to the pit

cannot hope for your faithfulness.

The living, the living – they praise you,

as I am doing today;

parents tell their children

about your faithfulness.

The Lord will save me,

and we will sing with stringed instruments

all the days of our lives

in the temple of the Lord.

21 Isaiah had said, ‘Prepare a poultice of figs and apply it to the boil, and he will recover.’

22 Hezekiah had asked, ‘What will be the sign that I will go up to the temple of the Lord?’

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The Book of ISAIAH- Chapter 38

- Read by David Suchet -

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ISAIAH Chapter 1 to 39 - Overview

The Bible Project

https://youtu.be/d0A6Uchb1F8

STUDY - LINKS

The Book of ISAIAH

Part 1 by David Pawson

https://youtu.be/XqNzGrYbFWg

The Book of ISAIAH

Part 2 by David Pawson

https://youtu.be/1VLLZ_6ZjiE

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Monday, 16 August 2021

The Book of Isaiah - Chapter Thirty Seven

Jerusalem’s deliverance foretold

1 When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and went into the temple of the Lord. 2 He sent Eliakim the palace administrator, Shebna the secretary, and the leading priests, all wearing sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. 3 They told him, ‘This is what Hezekiah says: this day is a day of distress and rebuke and disgrace, as when children come to the moment of birth and there is no strength to deliver them. 4 It may be that the Lord your God will hear the words of the field commander, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to ridicule the living God, and that he will rebuke him for the words the Lord your God has heard. Therefore pray for the remnant that still survives.’

5 When King Hezekiah’s officials came to Isaiah, 6 Isaiah said to them, ‘Tell your master, “This is what the Lord says: do not be afraid of what you have heard – those words with which the underlings of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. 7 Listen! When he hears a certain report, I will make him want to return to his own country, and there I will have him cut down with the sword.”’

8 When the field commander heard that the king of Assyria had left Lachish, he withdrew and found the king fighting against Libnah.

9 Now Sennacherib received a report that Tirhakah, the king of Cush, was marching out to fight against him. When he heard it, he sent messengers to Hezekiah with this word: 10 ‘Say to Hezekiah king of Judah: do not let the god you depend on deceive you when he says, “Jerusalem will not be given into the hands of the king of Assyria.” 11 Surely you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the countries, destroying them completely. And will you be delivered? 12 Did the gods of the nations that were destroyed by my predecessors deliver them – the gods of Gozan, Harran, Rezeph and the people of Eden who were in Tel Assar? 13 Where is the king of Hamath or the king of Arpad? Where are the kings of Lair, Sepharvaim, Hena and Ivvah?’

Hezekiah’s prayer

14 Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it. Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. 15 And Hezekiah prayed to the Lord: 16 ‘Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. 17 Give ear, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see; listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God.

18 ‘It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste all these peoples and their lands. 19 They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. 20 Now, Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, Lord, are the only God.’

Sennacherib’s fall

21 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent a message to Hezekiah: ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria, 22 this is the word the Lord has spoken against him:

‘Virgin Daughter Zion

despises and mocks you.

Daughter Jerusalem

tosses her head as you flee.

Who is it you have ridiculed and blasphemed?

Against whom have you raised your voice

and lifted your eyes in pride?

Against the Holy One of Israel!

By your messengers

you have ridiculed the Lord.

And you have said,

“With my many chariots

I have ascended the heights of the mountains,

the utmost heights of Lebanon.

I have cut down its tallest cedars,

the choicest of its junipers.

I have reached its remotest heights,

the finest of its forests.

I have dug wells in foreign lands

and drunk the water there.

With the soles of my feet

I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.”

‘Have you not heard?

Long ago I ordained it.

In days of old I planned it;

now I have brought it to pass,

that you have turned fortified cities

into piles of stone.

Their people, drained of power,

are dismayed and put to shame.

They are like plants in the field,

like tender green shoots,

like grass sprouting on the roof,

scorched before it grows up.

‘But I know where you are

and when you come and go

and how you rage against me.

Because you rage against me

and because your insolence has reached my ears,

I will put my hook in your nose

and my bit in your mouth,

and I will make you return

by the way you came.

30 ‘This will be the sign for you, Hezekiah:

‘This year you will eat what grows by itself,

and the second year what springs from that.

But in the third year sow and reap,

plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

Once more a remnant of the kingdom of Judah

will take root below and bear fruit above.

For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant,

and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors.

The zeal of the Lord Almighty

will accomplish this.

33 ‘Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria:

‘He will not enter this city

or shoot an arrow here.

He will not come before it with shield

or build a siege ramp against it.

By the way that he came he will return;

he will not enter this city,’

declares the Lord.

‘I will defend this city and save it,

for my sake and for the sake of David my servant!’

36 Then the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning – there were all the dead bodies! 37 So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.

38 One day, while he was worshipping in the temple of his god Nisrok, his sons Adrammelek and Sharezer killed him with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king.

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