If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein you trusted, they wearied you, then how will you do in the swelling of Jordan?
As we know, the above is the LORD, in Jeremiah 12:5, responding to Jeremiah’s complaint in the prior verses. There he seemingly laments the heathen succeeding, saying in verse 1, “Wherefore does the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?”
I say “seeming” referring to the fact it is the LORD speaking through Jeremiah in both persons, of “judgment,” which he says in verse 1 just before the above quote, saying, “Righteous are you, O LORD, when I plead with you: yet let me talk with you of your judgments.”
In the following verses (2 thru 4) the LORD is (actually) telling of his plan, which he begins in verse 1 where he speaks of allowing the wicked to (also seemingly) prosper. He concludes in verse 4 by telling of these enemies mixed among us thinking the LORD doesn’t see the end that comes and are saying, “He shall not see our last end.” What they aren’t seeing is that, by leaving them to their own reins, He is pulling “them out like sheep for the slaughter,’ and preparing “them for the day of slaughter.”
As we know, this time of preparation is of us and them, us when we are (proverbially) taught to run with these “footmen,” and them, ignorantly, seemingly prospering. For us, it is to our expected end, when we run with horses. For them, it’s to shame and disappointment when the end, toward which they think they are prospering, is never reached. These ends come in the “swelling of Jordan,” which we know tells of when these wicked men’s hubris, their pride in their ability to use lies and deception to manipulate and control the masses, results in the fire in which they and their ideas melt away.
The LORD continues in the chapter telling of the reality leading up to the Jordan swelling, (now) in this time of the locusts when all is made desolate.
Jeremiah 12
1 Righteous are you, O LORD, when I plead with you: yet let me talk with you of your judgments: Wherefore does the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?
2 You have planted them, yea, they have taken root: they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit: you are near in their mouth, and far from their reins.
3 But you, O LORD, know me: you have seen me, and tried mine heart toward you: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter.
4 How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of every field wither, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein? the beasts are consumed, and the birds; because they said, He shall not see our last end.
5 If you have run with the footmen, and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein you trustedst, they wearied you, then how will you do in the swelling [ga’own] of Jordan?
6 For even your brethren, and the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you; yea, they have called a multitude after you: believe them not, though they speak fair words unto you.
7 I have forsaken mine house, I have left mine heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies.
8 Mine heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest; it crieth out against me: therefore have I hated it.
9 Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird, the birds round about are against her; come you, assemble all the beasts of the field, come to devour.
10 Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.
11 They have made it desolate, and being desolate it mourn unto me; the whole land is made desolate, because no man laid it to heart [because none of the leaders accepted the report and none believes this is the time – because you are those from whose hand the LORD has come to pluck His people].
12 The spoilers are come upon all high places through the wilderness: for the sword of the LORD shall devour from the one end of the land even to the other end of the land: no flesh shall have peace.
13 They have sown wheat, but shall reap thorns: they have put themselves to pain, but shall not profit: and they shall be ashamed [disappointed in the end that comes] of your revenues because of the fierce anger of the LORD.
14 Thus says the LORD against all mine evil neighbors [the enemies mixed among us], that touch the inheritance which I have caused my people Israel to inherit; Behold, I will pluck them out of their land, and pluck out the house of Judah from among them.
15 And it shall come to pass, after that I have plucked them out I will return, and have compassion on them, and will bring them again, every man to his heritage, and every man to his land.
16 And it shall come to pass, if they will diligently learn the ways of my people, to swear by my name, The LORD lives; as they taught my people to swear by Baal; then shall they be built in the midst of my people.
17 But if they will not obey, I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, says the LORD.
Friends, I tell you the truth, no man that believes in the false doctrine of an off the planet rapture can be saved. Logically, it is because they do and will continually reject the LORD when He comes as a man, to pull (harpazo) them from the fires created by the same false prophets and misleaders who have taught them this and other false doctrines. These men are the “many pastors” spoken of above, who have trodden the LORD’s portion, His people, under their feet, and (like locust) made them a desolate wilderness.
Again, the plucking out, the catching up, is above, in Hebrew, the nathash, and in Greek, it is harpazo, which we know is best describes by Jude in Jude 1:23. As we’ve often discussed, there we are told to save some by making them aware of the fire about to burn them up, and with this warning, the LORD in us, from it pulls (harpazo) them. Jude continues by saying, “hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.”
As we know, “spotted” is referring us to earlier verses where it’s first (verse 10) mentioned when describing those speaking “evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.” And then (in verse 12 & 13) saying of these misleading pastors, “These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water [clouds wherein understanding {the elements} never comes together], carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withers, without fruit, twice dead, plucked [as are the enemies mixed among us – in Jeremiah 12:14 above] up by the roots; Raging waves of the sea [men and their word swelled with pride and agitating the masses], foaming out their own shame [bringing an end in which they are disappointed]; wandering stars [planets – deceivers and if followed in the darkness, misleaders], to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.”
These are those Jude, quoting Enoch, tells of the LORD coming against, as now, to convince and convict them “of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”
Jude
12 These are spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withers, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;
13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
14 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the LORD comes with ten thousands of his saints,
15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.
16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaks great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.
17 But, beloved, remember you the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our LORD Jesus Christ;
18 How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts.
19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.
20 But you, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost,
21 Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our LORD Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
22 And of some have compassion, making a difference:
23 And others save with fear, pulling [harpazo – caught up to the LORD] them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
25 To the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
As is the chronology above, the LORD comes rebuking these men, to awaken His people who are held in this sleep, to pull them from the hand of these men who’ve spotted them. The body of Christ, those now awake and sleeping, will not be, cannot be joined together into one body, until these men sitting in God’s seat opposing Him are taken out of the way. Then will we all be joined together with the LORD, in the kingdom of heaven, where there is full understanding.
1 Corinthians 15
34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.
35 But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?
36 You fool, that which you sow is not quickened, except it die [except sleeping realized they are the dead, the grain, in human flesh, and as is Christ, planted here in the earth]:
37 And that which you sow, you sow not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:
38 But God gives it a body as it has pleased him, and to every seed his own body.
39 All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.
40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differs from another star in glory.
42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit [the LORD unknown to us, until He awakens us to life].
46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
47 The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the LORD from heaven.
48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither does corruption inherit incorruption.
51 Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?
56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law [if we are dead, there is no law].
57 But thanks be to God, which gives us the victory through our LORD Jesus Christ.
The LORD began today in Ezekiel 36:9 – 11, a chapter wherein He is speaking to “the mountains of Israel,” the leaders (governments on earth) He has raised among His people. The verses, speaking of His planting, say, “For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and you shall be tilled and sown: And I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it: and the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall be built: And I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings: and you shall know that I am the LORD.”
In the chapter before, the LORD speaks against “mount Seir,” which we know is the mountain of Esau (Edom and Idumea), who are the enemies (governing) now mixed among us. Of them verse 5 & 6 speak, saying they are those “prepared,” “Because you have had a perpetual hatred, and have shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force [of your lies and deception] of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time that their iniquity had an end: Therefore, as I live, says the LORD God, I will prepare [have prepared] you unto blood, and blood shall pursue you: sith [since] you have not hated blood, even blood shall pursue you.”
Seir is from the Hebrew word sa’iyr, the word we know is rendered “devils” in 2 Chronicles 11:15, saying, “And he ordained him priests for the high places, and for the devils, and for the calves which he had made.” This is when Jeroboam made idol he put in God’s place, and ordained priests, devils, misleading he-goats, who told God’s people these idols were Him, and thereby kept them, held them back (‘atsar), from meeting with the LORD in Jerusalem where He said he would manifest His presence, above the mercy seat. It is also the word rendered “hairy” to describe Esau, as a he-goat mixed among the flock misleading away from the LORD.
Ezekiel 35
1 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set your face against mount Seir, and prophesy against it,
3 And say unto it, Thus says the LORD God; Behold, O mount Seir, I am against you, and I will stretch out mine hand against you, and I will make you most desolate.
4 I will lay your cities waste, and you shall be desolate, and you shall know that I am the LORD.
5 Because you have had a perpetual hatred, and have shed the blood of the children of Israel by the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time that their iniquity had an end:
6 Therefore, as I live, says the LORD God, I will prepare you unto blood, and blood shall pursue you: sith [since] you have not hated blood, even blood shall pursue you.
7 Thus will I make mount Seir most desolate, and cut off from it him that passeth out and him that returneth.
8 And I will fill his mountains with his slain men: in your hills, and in your valleys, and in all your rivers, shall they fall that are slain with the sword.
9 I will make you perpetual desolations, and your cities shall not return: and you shall know that I am the LORD.
10 Because you have said, These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess it; whereas the LORD was there:
11 Therefore, as I live, says the LORD God, I will even do according to your anger, and according to your envy which you have used out of your hatred against them; and I will make myself known among them, when I have judged you.
12 And you shall know that I am the LORD, and that I have heard all your blasphemies which you have spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, They are laid desolate, they are given us to consume.
13 Thus with your mouth you have boasted against me, and have multiplied your words against me: I have heard them.
14 Thus says the LORD God; When the whole earth rejoices, I will make you desolate.
15 As you did rejoice at the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do unto you: you shall be desolate, O mount Seir, and all Idumea, even all of it: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
Ezekiel 36
1 Also, you son of man, prophesy unto the mountains of Israel, and say, You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD:
2 Thus says the LORD God; Because the enemy has said against you, Aha, even the ancient high places are ours in possession:
3 Therefore prophesy and say, Thus says the LORD God; Because they have made you desolate, and swallowed you up on every side, that you might be a possession unto the residue of the heathen, and you are taken up in the lips of talkers, and are an infamy of the people:
4 Therefore, you mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD God; Thus says the LORD God to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes, and to the cities that are forsaken, which became a prey and derision to the residue of the heathen that are round about;
5 Therefore thus says the LORD God; Surely in the fire of my jealousy have I spoken against the residue of the heathen, and against all Idumea, which have appointed my land into their possession with the joy of all their heart, with despiteful minds, to cast it out for a prey.
6 Prophesy therefore concerning the land of Israel, and say unto the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, Thus says the LORD God; Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury, because you have borne the shame of the heathen:
7 Therefore thus says the LORD God; I have lifted up mine hand, Surely the heathen that are about you, they shall bear their shame.
8 But you, O mountains of Israel, you shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit to my people of Israel; for they are at hand to come.
9 For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and you shall be tilled and sown:
10 And I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it: and the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall be built:
11 And I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings: and you shall know that I am the LORD.
12 Yea, I will cause men to walk upon you, even my people Israel; and they shall possess you, and you shall be their inheritance, and you shall no more henceforth bereave them of men.
13 Thus says the LORD God; Because they say unto you, You land devours up men, and have bereaved your nations:
14 Therefore you shall devour men no more, neither bereave your nations any more, says the LORD God.
15 Neither will I cause men to hear in you the shame of the heathen any more, neither shall you bear the reproach of the people any more, neither shall you cause your nations to fall any more, says the LORD God.
16 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
17 Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own way and by their doings: their way was before me as the uncleanness of a removed woman.
18 Wherefore I poured my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols wherewith they had polluted it:
19 And I scattered them among the heathen, and they were dispersed through the countries: according to their way and according to their doings I judged them.
20 And when they entered unto the heathen, whither they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the LORD, and are gone forth out of his land.
21 But I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the heathen, whither they went.
22 Therefore say unto the house of Israel, thus says the LORD God; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the heathen, whither you went.
23 And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which you have profaned in the midst of them; and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, says the LORD God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.
24 For I will take you from among the heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into your own land.
25 Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.
27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and you shall keep my judgments, and do them.
28 And you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
29 I will also save you from all your uncleanness: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you.
30 And I will multiply the fruit of the tree, and the increase of the field, that you shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen.
31 Then shall you remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.
32 Not for your sakes do I this, says the LORD God, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel.
33 Thus says the LORD God; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be built.
34 And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by.
35 And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited.
36 Then the heathen that are left round about you shall know that I the LORD build the ruined places, and plant that that was desolate: I the LORD have spoken it, and I will do it.
37 Thus says the LORD God; I will yet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will increase them with men like a flock.
38 As the holy flock, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts; so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men: and they shall know that I am the LORD.
Friends, until God’s people realize these posts are Him (the one and only LORD and GOD) speaking to them, and these words are His way into His kingdom, there is no salvation, no rescue, in any other (this is Jehovah’s Salvation – JESUS).
2 Corinthians 4
1 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;
2 But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
4 In whom the god of this world [who sit in God’s place opposing Him] have blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light [understanding] of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them [these men are standing in the way of the light, understanding, and will do so until they are taken out of the way].
5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the LORD; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.
6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7 But we have this treasure [Jesus – Jehovah’s Salvation] in earthen vessels [in our flesh bodies planted here in the earth], that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
8 We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the LORD Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
11 For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
12 So then death works in us, but life in you.
13 We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;
14 Knowing that he which raised up the LORD Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
15 For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.
16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal [the man in us, in the earthen vessel, is immortal].
John 10
1 Truly, truly, I say unto you, He that enters not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
2 But he that enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
3 To him the porter opens; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calls his own sheep by name, and leads them out.
4 And when he puts forth his own sheep, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice.
5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.
6 This parable spoke Jesus unto them: but they understood not what things they were which he spoke unto them.
7 Then said Jesus unto them again, Truly, truly, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.
8 All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.
9 I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
10 The thief comes not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep.
12 But he that is a hireling [sa’iyr – the misleaders mixed among God’s people], and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and flees: and the wolf catches [harpazo – plucks them away from the voice of the good shepherd] them, and scatters the sheep.
13 The hireling flees, because he is a hireling, and cares not for the sheep.
14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
15 As the Father knows me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.
16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one-fold, and one shepherd [this voice is the only voice leading to salvation].
17 Therefore does my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
18 No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
19 There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings.
20 And many of them said, He has a devil, and is mad; why hear you him?
21 Others said, These are not the words of him that has a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?
22 And it was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.
23 And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch.
24 Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long do you make us to doubt? If you be the Christ, tell us plainly.
25 Jesus answered them, I told you, and you believed not: the works that I do in my Father’s name, they bear witness of me.
26 But you believe not, because you are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck [harpazo] them out of my hand.
29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck [harpazo] them out of my Father’s hand.
30 I and my Father are one.
31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.
32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do you stone me?
33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone you not; but for blasphemy; and because that you, being a man, make yourself God.
34 Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, You are gods [see Psalms 82:6 below]?
35 If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken;
36 Say you of him, whom the Father has sanctified, and sent into the world, You blaspheme; because I said, I am the Son of God?
37 If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not.
38 But if I do, though you believe not me, believe the works: that you may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.
39 Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand,
40 And went away again beyond Jordan into the place where John at first baptized; and there he abode.
41 And many resorted unto him, and said, John did no miracle: but all things that John spoke of this man were true.
42 And many believed on him there.
Psalms 59
1 Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God: defend me from them that rise up against me.
2 Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloody men.
3 For, lo, they lie in wait for my soul: the mighty are gathered against me; not for my transgression, nor for my sin, O LORD.
4 They run and prepare themselves without my fault: awake to help me, and behold.
5 You therefore, O LORD God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to visit all the heathen: be not merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah.
6 They return at evening: they make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.
7 Behold, they belch out with their mouth: swords are in their lips: for who, say they, does hear?
8 But you, O LORD, shall laugh at them; you shall have all the heathen in derision.
9 Because of his strength will I wait upon you: for God is my defense.
10 The God of my mercy shall prevent me: God shall let me see my desire upon mine enemies.
11 Slay them not, lest my people forget: scatter them by your power; and bring them down, O LORD our shield.
12 For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips let them even be taken in their pride [ga’own – their swelling]: and for cursing and lying which they speak.
13 Consume them in wrath, consume them, that they may not be: and let them know that God rules in Jacob unto the ends of the earth. Selah.
14 And at evening let them return; and let them make a noise like a dog, and go round about the city.
15 Let them wander up and down for meat, and grudge if they be not satisfied.
16 But I will sing of your power; yea, I will sing aloud of your mercy in the morning: for you have been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble.
17 Unto you, O my strength, will I sing: for God is my defense, and the God of my mercy.
Psalms 82
1 God stands in the congregation of the mighty; he judges among the gods.
2 How long will you judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah.
3 Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy.
4 Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked [which is the point].
5 They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course.
6 I have said, You are gods; and all of you are children of the Most High.
7 But you shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes [of this you should fear].
8 Arise, O God, judge the earth: for you shall inherit all nations.
