Will you not from this time cry unto me, My father, you are the guide of my youth? Will He reserve his anger forever? will He keep it to the end? Behold, you have spoken and done evil things as you could.

Will you not from this time cry unto me, My father, you are the guide of my youth? Will He reserve his anger forever? will He keep it to the end? Behold, you have spoken and done evil things as you could.

The last part of the above verses, Jeremiah 3:4 & 5, the evil spoken and done, is speaking of the mark of the beast as we have seen it: ideas revealed in words spoken and works done, which show who you are listening to and following (the masters who own you). Verse 3 prefaces this saying, “Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain; and you have a whore’s forehead, you refused to be ashamed.”

As we know, the shame that should be acknowledged is related to unfaithfulness to God, leaving Him to follow the ideas and advice of others. This results in disappointment when the unfaithful no longer “refuse” the evidence they’re experiencing and realize what was foretold by false prophets and false teachers has misled and deceived the world into chaos and mass misery. This is the context of the chapter: the unfaithfulness, the call to return and receive this latter rain, and the shame that inevitably occurs.

Hear the word of the LORD to His people (there is no salvation possible for those who refuse to hear it as it is, The Extemporaneous Word of God):

Jeremiah 3
1 They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man’s, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but you have played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, says the LORD.
2 Lift up your eyes unto the high places, and see where you have not been lien with. In the ways have you sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and you have polluted the land with your whoredoms and with your wickedness.
3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain; and you have a whore’s forehead [a mind marked by unfaithfulness], you refused to be ashamed.
4 Will you not from this time cry unto me, My father, you are the guide of my youth?
5 Will he reserve his anger forever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, you have spoken and done evil things as you could.
6 The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there has played the harlot.
7 And I said after she had done all these things, Turn you unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah [all her leaders] saw it.
8 And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.
9 And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.
10 And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned unto me with her whole heart, but feignedly [“near in their mouth, and far from their reins” and “why call you me, LORD, LORD, and do not the things which I say?”], says the LORD.
11 And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel has justified herself more than treacherous Judah.
12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, you backsliding Israel, says the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, says the LORD, and I will not keep anger forever.
13 Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the LORD your God, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed my voice, says the LORD.
14 Turn, O backsliding children, says the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:
15 And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
16 And it shall come to pass, when you be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, says the LORD, they shall say no more, The ark of the covenant of the LORD: neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more.
17 At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart.
18 In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.
19 But I said, How shall I put you among the children, and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, You shall call me, My father; and shall not turn away from me.
20 Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so have you dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, says the LORD.
21 A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the LORD their God.
22 Return, you backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto you; for you are the LORD our God.
23 Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.
24 For shame has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
25 We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covers us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.

Friends, there is no healthy shame among God’s people because they have all been told the idols they’ve followed are their God and that they are the faithful. Faithfulness to fables, the misleading and the deception you have been led into, isn’t salvation, logically and rationally because you are listing to and following someone other than Him, and you bear their mark, not His.

The word telling of this refusal to be ashamed, rendered “refused” in verse 3 above, in the Hebrew word ma’en, which next appears twice in Jeremiah 5:3.

Jeremiah 5
1 Run you to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem [to gather information, and you will see the undeniable evidence], and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if you can find a man, if there be any that executes judgment, that seeks the truth [they all seek to be accepted by those who have the mark of unfaithfulness]; and I will pardon it.
2 And though they say, The LORD lives; surely they swear falsely. [Because “they committed adultery with stones and with stocks,” verse 9 above and referring back to Jeremiah 2:27, saying, “Saying to a stock, You are my father; and to a stone, You have brought me forth: for they have turned their back unto me, and not their face: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us.”]
3 O LORD, are not your eyes upon the truth? you have stricken them, but they have not grieved; you have consumed them, but they have refused [ma’em] to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused [ma’en] to return.
4 Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the judgment of their God.
5 I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.
6 Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.
7 How shall I pardon you for this? your children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.
8 They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbor’s wife.
9 Shall I not visit for these things? says the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
10 Go you up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they are not the LORD’s.
11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, says the LORD.
12 They have belied the LORD, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine:
13 And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them.
14 Wherefore thus says the LORD God of hosts, Because you speak this word, behold, I will make my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
15 Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, says the LORD: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you know not, neither understands what they say.
16 Their quiver is as an open sepulcher, they are all mighty men.
17 And they shall eat up your harvest, and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat: they shall eat up your flocks and your herds: they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees: they shall impoverish your fenced cities, wherein you trusted, with the sword.
18 Nevertheless in those days, says the LORD, I will not make a full end with you.
19 And it shall come to pass, when you shall say, Wherefore does the LORD our God all these things unto us? then shall you answer them, Like as you have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall you serve strangers in a land that is not yours.
20 Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,
21 Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:
22 Fear you not me? says the LORD: will you not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?
23 But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.
24 Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that gives rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserves unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.
25 Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good things from you.
26 For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that sets snares; they set a trap, they catch men.
27 As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich.
28 They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.
29 Shall I not visit for these things? says the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
30 A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land;
31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will you do in the end thereof?

So, His question to you is, “How long will you refuse to return? How long will you keep the mask of your mark covering up His presence in the man of God, who is the voice of His presence? When will you reveal His salvation to the world?”

1 Kings 20
34 And Ben-hadad [the children of the mighty – whose ways and ideas have deceived God’s people and the world] said unto him, The cities, which my father took from your father, I will restore; and you shall make streets for you in Damascus, as my father made in Samaria. Then said Ahab, I will send you away with this covenant. So he made a covenant with him, and sent him away. [He made a deal with the devil who showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and said, “All these things will I give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” This is the devil loosed, the son of perdition, who the LORD has “appointed to utter destruction.”]
35 And a certain man of the sons of the prophets said unto his neighbor in the word of the LORD, Smite me, I pray you. And the man refused [ma’en] to smite him [this is the smiting of the Rock, the word nakah used in Exodus 17:6 & 7 telling of when Moses “smote” the rivers of Egypt and turned them to blood, and then when he was told by the LORD to “smite the rock” from where His word flowed].
36 Then said he unto him, Because you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, behold, as soon as you are departed from me, a lion shall slay you. And as soon as he was departed from him, a lion found him, and slew him [because he refuse the word, the advice of the LORD].
37 Then he found another man, and said, Smite [nakah] me, I pray you. And the man smote [nakah] him, so that in smiting [nakah] he wounded him [the sacrifice {the cross} required to deliver the word of God as received].
38 So the prophet departed, and waited for the king by the way, and disguised himself with ashes [666 – ‘apher – the cloth covering, the mask of deception {ignorance of the word of God that came when they left Him}] upon his face.
39 And as the king passed by, he cried unto the king: and he said, Your servant went out into the midst of the battle; and, behold, a man turned aside, and brought a man unto me, and said, Keep this man [keep the son of perdition bound]: if by any means he be missing, then shall your life be for his life, or else you shall pay a talent of silver [you shall pay the price of this betrayal of trust].
40 And as your servant was busy here and there, he was gone. And the king of Israel said unto him, So shall your judgment be; yourself have decided it.
41 And he hasted, and took the ashes [He removed the mask, the mark {666} of the beast, the veil of man’s reoccurring ignorance and deception covering the LORD’s identity, and we see Him face to face] away from his face; and the king of Israel discerned him that he was of the prophets.
42 And he said unto him, Thus says the LORD, Because you have let go out of your hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction [the son of perdition, who when up into his father place], therefore your life shall go for his life, and your people for his people.

2 Corinthians 3
11 For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remains is glorious.
12 Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:
13 And not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:
14 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remains the same vail [marking confusion] untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.
15 But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.
16 Nevertheless when it shall turn to the LORD, the vail [the mask covering the LORD open face] shall be taken away.
17 Now the LORD is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the LORD is, there is liberty [freedon from these oppressors and their misleading].
18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the LORD, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the LORD.

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 has 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.
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 in earthen vessels, 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.

The word “wounded” above in 1 Kings 20:37 is the three times used word patsa’, which is referring us to it appearing in Song of Solomon 5:7.

Song of Solomon 5
1 I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse: I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.
2 I sleep, but my heart wakes: it is the voice of my beloved that knocks, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.
3 I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?
4 My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him.
5 I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock.
6 I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone: my soul failed when he spoke: I sought him, but I could not find him; I called him, but he gave me no answer.
7 The watchmen that went about the city found me, they smote me, they wounded [patsa’] me; the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me.
8 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him, that I am sick of love.
9 What is your beloved more than another beloved, O you fairest among women? what is your beloved more than another beloved, that you do so charge us?
10 My beloved is white and ruddy, the chief among ten thousand.
11 His head is as the most fine gold, his locks are bushy, and black as a raven.
12 His eyes are as the eyes of doves by the rivers of waters, washed with milk, and fitly set.
13 His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as sweet flowers: his lips like lilies, dropping sweet smelling myrrh.
14 His hands are as gold rings set with the beryl: his belly is as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires.
15 His legs are as pillars of marble, set upon sockets of fine gold: his countenance is as Lebanon, excellent as the cedars.
16 His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

The “watchmen” and the “keepers” above, those who both wounded the LORD and then take away the veil covering Him, are both from the same Hebrew word shamar, descriptively and contextually meaning, “to hedge about (as with thorns), i.e. guard; generally, to protect, attend to, etc.”

So, I ask you, “How long will you refuse to open your mouths?”

Proverbs 1
22 How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
23 Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.
24 Because I have called, and you refused [ma’en]; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
25 But you have set at naught all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear comes;
27 When your fear comes as desolation, and your destruction comes as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish comes upon you.
28 Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
29 For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:
30 They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof.
31 Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.
32 For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
33 But whoso hearkens unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

Isaiah 1
9 Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
10 Hear the word of the LORD, you rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah.
11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.
12 When you come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand, to tread my courts?
13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.
14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.
15 And when you spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
19 If you be willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land:
20 But if you refuse [ma’en] and rebel, you shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.
21 How is the faithful city become a harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.
22 Your silver is become dross, your wine mixed with water:
23 Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loves gifts, and follow after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come unto them.
24 Therefore says the LORD, the LORD of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies:
25 And I will turn my hand upon you, and purely purge away your dross, and take away all your tin:
26 And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counsellors as at the beginning: afterward you shall be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city.
27 Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.
28 And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed.
29 For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired, and you shall be confounded for the gardens that you have chosen.
30 For you shall be as an oak whose leaf fades, and as a garden that has no water.
31 And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.

The word shamar is the word, in Jeremiah 3:5, rendered “keep” when asking if the LORD will hold back His anger forever. The question is answered in Jeremiah 5:24 where shamar is translated “reserves,” saying it comes in when God’s people realize and say, “Let us now fear the LORD our God, that gives rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserves unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.”

This time of the LORD’s anger, the appointed time of the harvest, is what Paul speaks of in Ephesians 4:26 when we are to “be angry and sin not.” It is also what Jude tells of as he quotes Enoch.

Ephesians 4
9 (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?
10 He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)
11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:
16 From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
17 This I say therefore, and testify in the LORD, that you henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,
18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:
19 Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.
20 But you have not so learned Christ;
21 If so be that you have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:
22 That you put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;
23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;
24 And that you put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.
26 Be you angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
27 Neither give place to the devil.
28 Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth.
29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby you are sealed [marked] unto the day of redemption.
31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:
32 And be you kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.

Jude
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 speaketh 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] 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.

Isaiah 62
1 For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burns.
2 And the Gentiles shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory: and you shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name.
3 You shall also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
4 You shall no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall your land any more be termed Desolate: but you shall be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah: for the LORD delights in you, and your land shall be married.
5 For as a young man marries a virgin, so shall your sons marry you: and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.
6 I have set watchmen [shamar – who will call for the gate to be opened] upon your walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: you that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence,
7 And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.
8 The LORD has sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more give your corn to be meat for your enemies; and the sons of the stranger shall not drink your wine, for the which you have labored:
9 But they that have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the LORD; and they that have brought it together shall drink it in the courts of my holiness.
10 Go through, go through the gates; prepare you the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people.
11 Behold, the LORD has proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say you to the daughter of Zion, Behold, your salvation comes; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.
12 And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and you shall be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.

Psalms 2
1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying,
3 Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
4 He that sits in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision.
5 Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure.
6 Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
7 I will declare the decree: the LORD has said unto me, You are my Son; this day have I begotten you.
8 Ask of me, and I shall give you the heathen for your inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron; you shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.
10 Be wise now therefore, O you kings: be instructed, you judges of the earth.
11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

The mask (the face covering) is an open exhibition of the “mark” of the beast!

The mask (the face covering) is an open exhibition of the “mark” of the beast!

As we know, the “beast” is Babylon, a name meaning confusion, and a Biblical place noted for trying to build a tower that would take man into heaven (a man created utopia). The name is first rendered Babel (Genesis 10:10), and is from the Hebrew root word balal, meaning “to overflow (specifically with oil.); by implication, to mix; also (denominatively from 1098) to fodder.”

These meanings are telling of when the word of man, as the “swelling of Jordan,” overflow the set boundaries of propriety: when known untruths are mixed with truth and confusion results. The idea of fodder (bliyl) is as what is consumed: the messages men corrupt (defile) for their self-centered purposes, which are the cause of the confusion. The word bliyl only appears three times, Job 6:5 & 24:6 in telling of the words (as “fodder” and “corn”) that are the source of Job’s problems, and Isaiah 30:24 as the clean (undefiled) “provender” that is produced when the LORD’s latter rain, His teaching, comes. It says this is after we, God’s people, defile the “covering” of the idols put in God’s place, and put it behind us (saying “get you hence,” a phrase used {by the LORD in Matthew 4:10} to rebuke Satan).

Job 6
2 Oh that my grief were thoroughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances together [Oh that there was right judgment in the world and bring an understanding of the cause of these troubles]!
3 For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea: therefore my words are swallowed up [because there is no judgment].
4 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me [the false accusation of the wicked], the poison [from their mouths] whereof drinks up my spirit: the terrors [bi’uwthoym – only appears one other time, in Psalms 88:16, saying, “Your fierce wrath goes over me; your terrors have cut me off {from the living}] of God do set themselves in array against me.
5 Does the wild ass bray when he has grass [or when he has nothing living growing on the earth to eat, because the latter rain has been held back]? or loweth [make noise with his mouth] the ox over his fodder [bliyl]?
6 Can that which is unsavory be eaten without salt? or is there any taste in the white of an egg?
7 The things that my soul refused to touch [the unsavory and tasteless words of men who’ve consumed and speak confusion] are as my sorrowful meat.

Job 24
1 Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?
2 Some remove the landmarks [the mark that show the boundaries]; they violently [with their deceptions] take away flocks, and feed thereof [all the people of the earth, and devour them for their own self-centered reasons].
3 They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
4 They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together.
5 Behold, as wild asses in the desert [who has no life-giving {words} food to eat], go they forth to their work; rising betimes [before this time] for a prey: the wilderness yields food for them and for their children.
6 They reap everyone his corn [bliyl – the food {lies mixed with truth} of confusion] in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked.
7 They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold. [They are without the LORD’S covering, the words of His mouth, by which only does man live – Deuteronomy 8:1 All the commandments which I command you this day shall you observe to do, that you may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD swore unto your fathers. 2 And you shall remember all the way which the LORD your God led you these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you, and to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or no. 3 And he humbled you, and suffered you to hunger, and fed you with manna {meaning you know not that it is the word from God’s mouth}, which you knew not, neither did your fathers know; that he might make you know that man does not live by bread only, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD does man live.]
8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock [the false salvation – in which men in vain put their trust] for want of a shelter.
9 They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge [money] of the poor.
10 They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry;
11 Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst [this is the way of the misleaders of the world, who promise their ways will satisfy, while the result is they never produce anything, other than more false promises].
12 Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded cries out: yet God lays not folly to them.
13 They are of those that rebel against the light [God’s understanding that comes from His mouth]; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.
14 The murderer rising with the light [the liar saying he has understanding] kills the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief [by the ignorance his lies produce he robs the poor and now all the world of an abundant life]. [John 8:44 You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.]
15 The eye also of the adulterer waits for the twilight waits until all men are covering by the ignorance his lies have produced], saying, No eye shall see me: and disguises [masks] his face.
16 In the dark [ignorance] they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light [they have no understanding – and their ways of deception are lies meant to take away yours].
17 For the morning [their new day – the utopia they create] is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them [if a person understands this, he sees], they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.
18 He is swift as the waters [sinking into the earth, as into a grave]; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholds not the way of the vineyards.
19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters [these men without God’s word, without understanding, hold back the soothing waters that do come]: so does the grave those which have sinned.
20 The womb shall forget him [the wicked]; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree.
21 [Because] He evil entreats the barren that bears not: and does not good to the widow.
22 He draws also the mighty with his power: he rises up, and no man is sure of life.
23 Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he rests; yet his [the LORD’s] eyes are upon their ways.
24 They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.
25 And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?

Matthew 4
8 Again, the devil took him up into an exceeding high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
9 And said unto him, All these things will I give you, if you will fall down and worship me.
10 Then says Jesus unto him, Get you hence, Satan: for it is written, You shall worship the LORD your God, and him only shall you serve.
11 Then the devil left him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

The “mark,” from the Greek word charagma, meaning “a scratch or etching, i.e. stamp (as a badge of servitude), or sculptured figure (statue).” It is used nine times, eight or them in the book of Revelation rendered “mark.” It isn’t used to tell of the “mark” upon those faithful to God, only of those following the beast.

It is speaking of servitude, who you belong to, as displayed in words that portray whose ideas you agree with and therefore also exhibit them in the resulting actions. The mark of the beast is speaking of the ideas of Babylon (confusion – the mark in your forehead) that are inspiring your words and the things you do (confusion marking your hand). It is also a mark of blindness, a lack of foresight, unable to think in the abstract, or understand these same ideas are leading to perdition.

The one time charagma is used outside of Revelation it is in Acts 17:29 as Paul is on Mars’ hill admonishing those who are ignorant of God. It is there rendered “graven” in telling of this ignorance as a result of men thinking God is something created (‘graven) by men. They are also ignorant of the fact that He is here with us and has always been. He says this time of ignorance, which God winked at (saying “I got this”), would continue until this resurrection, now, when God’s judgment is upon the world and His word is heard from the man of His choosing (I AM).

Acts 17
22 Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, You men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are too superstitious.
23 For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, To The Unknown God. Whom therefore you ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.
24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is LORD of heaven and earth, dwells not in temples made with hands [He dwells in human flesh, eternally with us];
25 Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he gives to all life, and breath, and all things;
26 And has made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
27 That they should seek the LORD, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
29 Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven [charagma] by art and man’s device.
30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commands all men every where to repent:
31 Because he has appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained; whereof he has given assurance unto all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.
32 And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear you again of this matter.

Friends, the mark (the charagma) is following the creation of men, the confusion they use to force the world to mark itself as owned by them. The mask is just such a mark, the covering that hides the face of confusion. The LORD’s mark is the open face, understand that uncover Him and His people. Ask the wise men of this world, your preacher, your teachers, any leaders, if this is the time and if this is the way, and they will tell you absolutely not. In this, they mark themselves as confused and disqualified to lead God’s people.

Here is what Revelation says of the beast when first mentioning this mark:

Revelation 13
16 And he caused all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark [to wear a face cover to show who owns them] in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark [unless you wear the cover], or the name of the beast [confusion], or the number [arithmos – a numeric definition] of his name.
18 Here is wisdom. Let him that has understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man [Anthropos – a man’s face]; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

The definition of the “mark” is the number (airthmos – the numeric definition) of confusion that covers the man’s face. In the Strong’s Greek Dictionary, number 666 is the one time used word apousia, meaning to be absent. It’s one time use is in Philippians 2:12 as we are told this is a time when Paul is absent, during which he tells us to, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” He is speaking of when there is no man like-minded, with Him or with Christ, and we should therefore not be following other men, until Timothy, who is like-minded, comes. This time has been until now absent just leadership.

1 Corinthians 13
11 For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remains is glorious.
12 Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:
13 And not as Moses, which put a veil over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished:
14 But their minds were blinded: for until this day remains the same vail [marking confusion] untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.
15 But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart.
16 Nevertheless when it shall turn to the LORD, the vail [the mask covering the LORD open face] shall be taken away.
17 Now the LORD is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the LORD is, there is liberty [freedon from these oppressors and their misleading].
18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the LORD, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the LORD.

1 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 has 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.
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 in earthen vessels, 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.

Philippians 2
3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
9 Wherefore God also has highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is LORD, to the glory of God the Father.
12 Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence [apousia], work out [exercise – the LORD’s power in you] your own salvation with fear and trembling.
13 For it is God which works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
14 Do all things without murmurings and disputing:
15 That you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world;
16 Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain.
17 Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.
18 For the same cause also do you joy, and rejoice with me.
19 But I trust in the LORD Jesus to send Timothy shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state.
20 For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state.
21 For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.
22 But you know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he has served with me in the gospel.
23 Him therefore I hope to send presently, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me.

The Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary number 666 is ‘apher, meaning a cover (cloth bandages), from the word ‘epher, meaning worthless (ashes). The word ‘apher is only used twice, both times in telling of a mask with which a prophet disguised himself, first, in 1 Kings 17:38, put on, and then, in verse 41, removed.

Isaiah 30
1 Woe to the rebellious children, says the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin:
2 That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!
3 Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.
4 For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors came to Hanes.
5 They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be a help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach.
6 The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them.
7 For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this, Their strength is to sit still.
8 Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come forever and ever:
9 That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD:
10 Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:
11 Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.
12 Wherefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, Because you despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon:
13 Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly at an instant.
14 And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters’ vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit.
15 For thus says the LORD God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall you be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and you would not.
16 But you said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall you flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift.
17 One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall you flee: till you be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on a hill.
18 And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.
19 For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: you shall weep no more: he will be very gracious unto you at the voice [qowl] of your cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer you.
20 And though the LORD give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not your teachers be removed into a corner any more, but your eyes shall see your teachers:
21 And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, This is the way, walk you in it, when you turn to the right hand, and when you turn to the left.
22 You shall defile also the covering [mask] of your graven images of silver, and the ornament of your molten images of gold: you shall cast them away as a menstruous cloth [the mask covered in blood]; you shall say unto it, Get you hence.
23 Then shall he give the rain of your seed, that you shall sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall your cattle feed in large pastures.
24 The oxen likewise and the young asses that ear the ground shall eat clean provender [bliyl – words cleansed of their corruption], which has been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan.
25 And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.
26 Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD binds up the breach of his people, and heals the stroke of their wound.
27 Behold, the name [shem – the identifying mark] of the LORD comes from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:
28 And his breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity: and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err.
29 You shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goes with a pipe to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the mighty One of Israel.
30 And the LORD shall cause his glorious voice [qowl] to be heard, and shall show the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones.
31 For through the voice [qowl] of the LORD shall the Assyrian [the communists] be beaten down, which smote with a rod.
32 And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the LORD shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps: and in battles of shaking will he fight with it.
33 For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he has made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, does kindle it.

These ideas describe the mark as confusion (now delusion) visibly manifested (by words intentionally spoken to deceive and mislead), by which the world is now ruled.

Psalms 55
1 Give ear to my prayer, O God; and hide not yourself from my supplication.
2 Attend unto me, and hear me: I mourn in my complaint, and make a noise;
3 Because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked: for they cast iniquity upon me, and in wrath they hate me.
4 My heart is sore pained within me: and the terrors of death are fallen upon me.
5 Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror has overwhelmed me.
6 And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.
7 Lo, then would I wander far off, and remain in the wilderness. Selah.
8 I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest.
9 Destroy, O LORD, and divide their tongues: for I have seen violence and strife in the city.
10 Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof: mischief also and sorrow are in the midst of it.
11 Wickedness is in the midst thereof: deceit and guile depart not from her streets.
12 For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him:
13 But it was you, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance.
14 We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company.
15 Let death seize upon them, and let them go down quick into hell: for wickedness is in their dwellings, and among them.
16 As for me, I will call upon God; and the LORD shall save me.
17 Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.
18 He has delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me: for there were many with me.
19 God shall hear, and afflict them, even he that abides of old. Selah. Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God.
20 He has put forth his hands against such as be at peace with him: he has broken his covenant.
21 The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords.
22 Cast your burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain you: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.
23 But you, O God, shall bring them down into the pit of destruction: bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days; but I will trust in you.

In that day shall your mouth be opened to him which is escaped, and you shall speak, and be no more dumb: and you shall be a sign unto them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

In that day shall your mouth be opened to him which is escaped, and you shall speak, and be no more dumb: and you shall be a sign unto them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

Today a discussion of how the enemies mixed among us, do and have, led all the world, including God’s people in church and state, into confusion now turned mass delusion, resulting in a conundrum without a solution, because it’s not yet accepted to be chaos in hell.

As many who’ve studied along here know, I’ve often discussed the simplicity of problem-solving, reduced to three steps, which I’ve learned through experience. They are, first, accurately identify and assess the problem, second, develop a solution that appropriately addresses it, and third, implement the solution and remain vigilant to assure it doesn’t reoccur.

It is this simplicity the enemy twists and perverts, to subvert the solution because if there is a solution there is peace. In the lasting peace of a sound and well-founded mind, no agitation can be used to manipulate and control people into doing the evil will of those attempting to incite them.

The perpetrators of such incitement, the princes of agitation, with all the subtlety of a serpent in a garden, accomplish their subversion through first falsely accusing the motives of those who have properly assessed the problem. If they are unsuccessful in undermining the first step, they do it in the second (maligning the “appropriate” solution), and if failing there, they attack, discourage, and demonize the implementation, while also discouraging and degrading it’s continued success.

Of course, we think all men are endowed with sufficient intellect to recognize this (con job) as it’s occurring, which brings us to the realization of the subtle conditioning that allows it. These men, in church and state, mask their conquest in claims of caring and brotherly love, telling the victims, their future slaves, how much their lives matter to them. These controllers, whether in the NFL, NASCAR, or the church, use their redefinition of “love” to bring into, or back under, their control. These men care nothing about the condition, neither do they care about an “appropriate solution,” while covering (all their past failures in achieving such) with more of their false brotherly love.

These men, day after day, tell of all the good they see as their pawns make others momentarily comfortable in the failures and collapse caused by their past policies and practices. I give you the result of their control as the overwhelming evidence against them. I know the way of peace, and it isn’t to make you feel good in your demise.

Friends, the LORD has chosen and sent me to fix this, and in His strength and by His good judgement, I will. Understand this is the moment of decision – when all men of good faith and pure intention must repent and change. They must relinquish their control over the minds of those who follow them and with me follow only the LORD. What I know, because I also know evil and the ways of those (swelled with pride in their ability to deceive and mislead) who inflict it upon humanity, is they will not surrender it peacefully. They are going to destroy the world become without form and void, leaving only the ruin upon which the LORD will build a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness.

Today’s title verse is Ezekiel 24:27, from a passage wherein the LORD is speaking of this time of His judgment when His strength returns to men who receive Him, His assessment, and with Him implement of the appropriate solution. His strength is what will take us through the fiery darts of false accusation and demonization, by His truth exercising (working out) the blinding subtleties by which all the world has been taken captive and is enslaved. This is the time of the light overcoming the darkness, understanding removing ignorance, strength replacing weakness; when the LORD GOD Almighty supplants man as the just authority guiding the world – into eternity.

Hear the word of the LORD, His assessment of the condition, and his solution that comes with His good judgment bringing the return of His strength in those leading His people. Receive His love, His strength willing to take the fiery darts of the wicked, to show to man His good and His mercy, which are the marks (the shem, His name) that identify Him.

Revelation 19
9 And he said unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See you do it not: I am your fellow-servant, and of your brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy [is the Spirit of Jehovah’s salvation speaking through us].
11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he does judge and make war.
12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself [I know the mark of His identity and I thereby know He is alive and present in me].
13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God [this is the point, until you recognize His presence, marked by His word, and acknowledge Him and act accordingly].
14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean [those who realize the day, and His presence].
15 And out of his mouth goes a sharp sword [this Word of God], that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron [the strength of God that cannot be overcome]: and he treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God [there is no strength, no power, greater than Him].
16 And he has on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King Of Kings, And LORD Of Lords.
17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;
18 That you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.
20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

Ezekiel 24
2 Son of man, write you the name [shem – the marks that identify this day] of the day, even of this same day: the king of Babylon set himself against Jerusalem [when confusion set itself against the peace that flows from God’s teaching] this same day.
3 And utter a parable unto the rebellious house [an assessment they will not understand, because they are a rebellious people, who have refused to hear the LORD], and say unto them, Thus says the LORD God; Set on a pot, set it on, and also pour water into it:
4 Gather the pieces thereof into it, even every good piece, the thigh, and the shoulder; fill it with the choice bones.
5 Take the choice of the flock, and burn also the bones under it, and make it boil well, and let them seethe the bones of it therein.
6 Wherefore thus says the LORD God; Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose scum is therein, and whose scum is not gone out of it! bring it out piece by piece; let no lot fall upon it.
7 For her blood is in the midst of her; she set it upon the top of a rock; she poured it not upon the ground, to cover it with dust;
8 That it might cause fury to come up to take vengeance; I have set her blood upon the top of a rock, that it should not be covered.
9 Therefore thus says the LORD God; Woe to the bloody city! I will even make the pile for fire great.
10 Heap on wood, kindle the fire, consume the flesh, and spice it well, and let the bones be burned.
11 Then set it empty upon the coals thereof, that the brass of it may be hot, and may burn, and that the filthiness of it may be molten in it, that the scum of it may be consumed.
12 She has wearied herself with lies, and her great scum went not forth out of her: her scum shall be in the fire.
13 In your filthiness is lewdness: because I have purged you, and you were not purged, you shall not be purged from your filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to rest upon you.
14 I the LORD have spoken it: it shall come to pass, and I will do it; I will not go back, neither will I spare, neither will I repent; according to your ways, and according to your doings, shall they judge you, says the LORD God.
15 Also the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
16 Son of man, behold, I take away from you the desire of your eyes with a stroke: yet neither shall you mourn nor weep, neither shall your tears run down.
17 Forbear to cry, make no mourning for the dead, bind the tire of your head upon you, and put on your shoes upon your feet, and cover not your lips, and eat not the bread of men.
18 So I spoke unto the people in the morning: and at even my wife died; and I did in the morning as I was commanded.
19 And the people said unto me, Will you not tell us what these things are to us, that you do so?
20 Then I answered them, The word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
21 Speak unto the house of Israel, Thus says the LORD God; Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the excellency of your strength, the desire of your eyes, and that which your soul pities; and your sons and your daughters whom you have left shall fall by the sword.
22 And you shall do as I have done: you shall not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men.
23 And your tires shall be upon your heads, and your shoes upon your feet: you shall not mourn nor weep; but you shall pine away for your iniquities, and mourn one toward another.
24 Thus Ezekiel is unto you a sign: according to all that he has done shall you do: and when this comes, you shall know that I am the LORD God.
25 Also, you son of man, shall it not be in the day when I take from them their strength, the joy of their glory, the desire of their eyes, and that whereupon they set their minds, their sons and their daughters,
26 That he that escapes in that day shall come unto you, to cause you to hear it with your ears?
27 In that day shall your mouth be opened to him which is escaped, and you shall speak, and be no more dumb: and you shall be a sign unto them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

2 Corinthians 11
1 Would to God you could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me.
2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
3 But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety [telling you he cares for you and you matter to him, and he says God doesn’t really care], so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
4 For if he that comes preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if you receive another spirit, which you have not received, or another gospel, which you have not accepted, you might well bear with him.
5 For I suppose I was not a whit behind the very chief apostles.
6 But though I be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but we have been thoroughly made manifest among you in all things.
7 Have I committed an offense in abasing myself that you might be exalted, because I have preached to you the gospel of God freely?
8 I robbed other churches [I took from other groups], taking wages [taking wages for preaching is robbery] of them, to do you service.
9 And when I was present with you, and wanted, I was chargeable to no man: for that which was lacking to me the brethren which came from Macedonia [the houses of dead flesh – the churches mentioned above] supplied: and in all things I have kept myself from being burdensome unto you, and so will I keep myself.
10 As the truth of Christ is in me, no man shall stop me of this boasting in the regions of Achaia.
11 Wherefore? because I love you not? God knows.
12 But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we [as men through who a spirit is working and speaking – theirs evil].
13 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.
14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light [claiming understanding – to mislead you away from God and into resisting His rescue].
15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers [all the false prophets and false teachers of the world] also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

1 Thessalonians 5
1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you.
2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the LORD so comes as a thief in the night.
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction comes upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
5 You are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
9 For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our LORD Jesus Christ,
10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also you do.
12 And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you, and are over you in the LORD, and admonish you;
13 And to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. And be at peace among yourselves.
14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.
15 See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.

The marriage spoken of above is God’s people joining Him, by joining one to another, in one body. Hebrews 13 speaks of letting “brotherly love continue,” which we know is from the word Philadelphia. It goes on to say marriage is honorable, and the bed undefiled, which is referring us to Reuben, who is the pattern of the son of perdition, the bothers among us who perish, “whose end shall be according to their works,” as it is written in 2 Corinthians 11:15 above.

Hebrews 13
1 Let brotherly love continue.
2 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares [the LORD’s messengers, referring to the one speaking, whose voice Hebrews 12 ends saying is shaking the world to shake the wicked from it, who is as God {Michael}, whose words are an all-consuming fire].
3 Remember them that are in bonds [bound to the LORD by a vow of fidelity], as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.
4 Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers [those who buy and sell men’s souls] and adulterers [those who’ve been unfaithful] God will judge.
5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he has said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you.
6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
7 Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.
8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.
9 Be not carried about with [subtlety into] divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats [that which the wicked covet], which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.

This definition of Reuben in found in Genesis 49, saying he defiled his father’s bed, taking his place with his wife. As we’ve therein seen, this leads to the violence of Simeon and Levi, which we know speaks of their misleading all God’s people. We know this is, in fact and in pattern, referring to what is recorded in Genesis 34, when Simeon and Levi killed those who were at peace with them. It says it happened in Shechem (shoulder and back – a burden), where they killed Hamor (he-ass – carrying the burden) who had taken their sister Dinah (judgment) for a wife.

This telling of when the son of perdition, in the pattern of Satan in the garden, went into His father’s wife, and by subtlety led her away from the simplicity that is found in Christ (God in man, as a faithful husband and father). The resulting loss of good judgment becomes the burden that brings dishonor upon God’s people, and the murder of those wanting to live in peace.

The following is from the post of 13 December 2019:

Malachi 2
16 For the LORD, the God of Israel, says that he hates putting away: for one covers violence with his garment, says the LORD of hosts: therefore take heed to your spirit, that you deal not treacherously.
17 You have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet you say, Wherein have we wearied him? When you say, Every one that does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delights in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?

Malachi 3
1 Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the LORD, whom you seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom you delight in: behold, he shall come, says the LORD of hosts.
2 But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appears? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap:
3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.
4 Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.
5 And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, says the LORD of hosts.
6 For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed.
7 Even from the days of your fathers you are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, says the LORD of hosts. But you said, Wherein shall we return?
8 Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me. But you say, Wherein have we robbed you? In tithes and offerings.
9 You are cursed with a curse: for you have robbed me, even this whole nation.
10 Bring you all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
11 And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, says the LORD of hosts.
12 And all nations shall call you blessed: for you shall be a delightsome land, says the LORD of hosts.
13 Your words have been stout against me, says the LORD. Yet you say, What have we spoken so much against you?
14 You have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of hosts?
15 And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered.
16 Then they that feared the LORD spoke often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name [shem – thought on my identity].
17 And they shall be mine, says the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son that serves him.
18 Then shall you return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serves God and him that serves him not.

Malachi 4
1 For, behold, the day comes, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that comes shall burn them up, says the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
2 But unto you that fear my name [shem – my presence] shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and you shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.
3 And you shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, says the LORD of hosts.
4 Remember you the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.
5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:
6 And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

The Hebrew word rendered “violence,” in Malachi 2:16 above, is chamac. It is first used in Genesis 6:11 & 13 to tell of the “violence” that filled the earth and caused the flood.

Genesis 6
11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence [chamac].
12 And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence [chamac] through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
14 Make you an ark of gopher wood; rooms shall you make in the ark, and shall pitch it within and without with pitch [to keep the waters out].

The resulting event is what Peter mentions in 2 Peter 3, saying by the word of God they were overflowed and perished. He says the present heaven and earth will end by the same word, as fire, in the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. Peter says these same ungodly men are ignorant of this, and that it is the coming of the LORD as a thief in the night (in the darkness of men’s ignorance).

2 Peter 3
3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition [apoleia] of ungodly men.
8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the LORD as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
9 The LORD is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
10 But the day of the LORD will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements [stoicheion – these men’s corrupt ideas and ways] shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements [stoicheion] shall melt with fervent heat?
13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness.

The word chamac is rendered “cruelty” in Genesis 49:5, there telling of it in the habitations of Simeon and Levi.

Genesis 49
1 And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.
2 Gather yourselves together, and hear, you sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.
3 Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:
4 Unstable [pachaz – ebullition] as water [this tells of the advice of the serpent, as one of God’s children, with unbridled license, recklessly reinterpreting His word], you shall not excel; because you went up to your father’s bed [went into the women – God’s people who have His words]; then defiled you it: he went up to my couch [took God’s place].
5 Simeon and Levi are brethren [names meaning, those hearing and joining this teaching that replace God’s]; instruments of cruelty [chamac] are in their habitations.
6 O my soul, come not you into their secret [their hidden counsel]; unto their assembly, mine honor, be not you united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will they digged down a wall [by this they brought death on all man, and removed the protection found in the garden].
7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel [speaking of the continual scattering of God’s people into many sects].

The word (chamac) next appears once in Exodus, in Exodus 23:1 where it’s speaking of an “unrighteous” witness, then once in Deuteronomy, in Deuteronomy 19:16, where it is a “false” witness, and then once in Judges, in Judges 9:24, in telling of the “cruelty” done by Abimelech the son of Gideon, which was the murder of his seventy brothers so he could be king.

In this we see the violence that is covered, by those who have left the truth, their first love, spoken of in Malachi 2:15 thru 17, is false witness and the cruelty of murder, as described by the LORD in John 8:44.

Friends, I ask you, are these not as the days of Noah? They are, and therefore I ask you again to come out from among these violent men, and enter the kingdom of heaven, so I can shut the door.

Luke 17
24 For as the lightning, that lightens out of the one part under heaven, shines unto the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day.
25 But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation.
26 And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.

The word chamac is the word used in Isaiah 53:9 to tell of the LORD doing no “violence,” a passage quoted by Peter in 1 Peter 2:22.

Isaiah 52
6 Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that does speak: behold, it is I.
7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that brings good tidings, that publishes peace; that brings good tidings of good, that publishes salvation; that says unto Zion, Your God reigns!
8 Your watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye, when the LORD shall bring again Zion.
9 Break forth into joy, sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 The LORD has made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.
11 Depart you, depart you, go you out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go you out of the midst of her; be you clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD.
12 For you shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your reward.
13 Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.
14 As many were astonished at you; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:
15 So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.

Isaiah 53
1 Who has believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?
2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he has no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he opens not his mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence [chamac], neither was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief: when you shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he has poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

1 Peter 2
21 For even hereunto were you called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow his steps:
22 Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:
23 Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judges righteously:
24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes you were healed.
25 For you were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

Psalms 50
1 The mighty God, even the LORD, has spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.
2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shined.
3 Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him.
4 He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.
5 Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.
6 And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. Selah.
7 Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against you: I am God, even your God.
8 I will not reprove you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings, to have been continually before me.
9 I will take no bullock out of your house, nor he goats out of your folds.
10 For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.
11 I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.
12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you: for the world is mine, and the fullness thereof.
13 Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay your vows unto the Most High:
15 And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.
16 But unto the wicked God says, What have you to do to declare my statutes, or that you should take my covenant in your mouth?
17 Seeing you hate instruction, and cast my words behind you.
18 When you saw a thief, then you consented with him, and have been partaker with adulterers.
19 You give your mouth to evil, and your tongue frame deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother’s son.
21 These things have you done, and I kept silence; you thought that I was altogether such a one as yourself: but I will reprove you, and set them in order before your eyes.
22 Now consider this, you that forget God, lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver.
23 Whoso offers praise glorifies me: and to him that orders his conversation aright will I show the salvation of God.

He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? The LORD’s voice cries unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see your name: hear you the rod, and who has appointed it.

He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? The LORD’s voice cries unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see your name: hear you the rod, and who has appointed it.

The above passage, Micah 6:8 & 9, speaks of the simplicity of what God requires of us. The word rendered “justly” is the Hebrew word mishpat, which tells of rightly discerning the law, then acting, rightly pronouncing the right verdict (which is righteousness). This is why we are next told He requires us to have mercy, in the sentencing that must follow. Only in this way, and in humility (subordination to His Most High authority), are we in agreement with His will and able to walk with Him in His way.

This is speaking of what we’ve discussed in previous posts, of David’s conclusion on the matter of what the LORD requires of those who rule.

2 Samuel 23
1 Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said,
2 The Spirit of the LORD spoke by me, and his word was in my tongue.
3 The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me, He that rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.
4 And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun rises, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain.
5 Although my house be not so with God; yet he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he makes it not to grow.
6 But the sons of Belial [Satan – those following the advice of death] shall be all of them as thorns thrust away, because they cannot be taken with hands:
7 But the man that shall touch them must be fenced with iron and the staff of a spear; and they shall be utterly burned with fire in the same place [in hell].

Matthew 5
7 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart [clear {eyed} in reason and judgment]: for they shall see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ [your good judgment’s] sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are you, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
13 You are the salt of the earth: but if the salt has lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
14 You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.
15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it gives light unto all that are in the house.
16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.
18 For truly I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

In Micah 7:9 the word mishpat is used to describe this “judgment,” righteousness, and mercy. The chapter begins with the LORD telling of (now) when He has come looking for His first-ripe fruit and finds none. He later in verse 8 says it’s because of ignorance of His identifying characteristics, which when realized give these same fallen men understanding, light into their darkness.

Micah 7
1 Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grape-gleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the first-ripe fruit.
2 The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.
3 That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asks, and the judge asks for a reward; and the great man, he utters his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up.
4 The best of them is as a brier: the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge: the day of your watchmen and your visitation comes; now shall be their perplexity.
5 Trust you not in a friend, put you not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of your mouth from her that lies in your bosom.
6 For the son dishonors the father, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house.
7 Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.
8 Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.
9 I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment [mishpat] for me: he will bring me forth to the light [to understanding], and I shall behold his righteousness.
10 Then she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is the LORD your God? mine eyes shall behold her: now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets.
11 In the day that your walls are to be built, in that day shall the decree be far removed.
12 In that day also he shall come even to you from Assyria [from among the communists], and from the fortified cities, and from the fortress even to the river [this word flowing from the LORD, through my voice and hand], and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain.
13 Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings.
14 Feed your people with your rod, the flock of your heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel [this garden of fruit]: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead [the fruitfulness of this testimony], as in the days of old.
15 According to the days of your coming out of the land of Egypt will I show unto him marvelous things.
16 The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf.
17 They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the LORD our God, and shall fear because of you.
18 Who is a God like unto you, that pardons iniquity, and passes by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retains not his anger forever, because he delights in mercy.
19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
20 You will perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which you have sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.

By this, meeting these minimal requirements, “the LORD’s voice (qowl)” is heard from us in “the city.” The title passage then says, “the man of wisdom shall see your name: hear you the rod, and who has appointed it [its time].”

The word “wisdom” here is from the Hebrew word tuwshiyah, an eleven times used word, “probably meaning to substantiate; support or (by implication) ability, i.e. (direct) help, (in purpose) an undertaking, (intellectual) understanding.” The word “name” is from shem, meaning “an appellation, as a mark or memorial of individuality; by implication honor, authority, character.”

The deeper intended meaning of tuwshiyah is from the three times used word tav, and the one time used word shayah. Here are their definitions from the Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary:

Strong’s #8420: tav (pronounced tawv) from 8427 [tavah]; a mark; by implication, a signature:–desire, mark.

Strong’s #7876: shayah (pronounced shaw-yaw’) a primitive root; to keep in memory:–be unmindful. (Render Deuteronomy 32:18, “A Rock bore you, you must recollect; and (yet) you have forgotten,” etc.)

This “wisdom” is recognizing the LORD, by His characteristic marks, of right judgment and mercy, which all have forgotten.

Deuteronomy 32
9 For the LORD’s portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.
10 He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.
11 As an eagle stirs up her nest, flutters over her young, spreads abroad her wings, taketh them, bears them on her wings:
12 So the LORD alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.
13 He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase of the fields; and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock;
14 Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and you did drink the pure blood of the grape.
15 But Jeshurun [when God’s people were prosperous] waxed fat, and kicked: you are waxen fat, you are grown thick, you are covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
16 They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger.
17 They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.
18 Of the Rock that begat you you are unmindful [shayah], and have forgotten God that formed you.
19 And when the LORD saw it, he abhorred them, because of the provoking of his sons, and of his daughters.
20 And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation [a generation that has twisted and perverted all truth], children in whom is no faith.
21 They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God; they have provoked me to anger with their vanities: and I will move them to jealousy with those which are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
22 For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell [as it has and will continue into greater severity], and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.
23 I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon them.
24 They shall be burnt with hunger, and devoured with burning heat, and with bitter destruction: I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them, with the poison of serpents of the dust.
25 The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs.
26 I said, I would scatter them into corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men:
27 Were it not that I feared [for them] the wrath of the enemy [who shows no mercy], lest their adversaries should behave themselves strangely, and lest they should say, Our hand is high, and the LORD has not done all this.
28 For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them.
29 O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!
30 How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up?
31 For their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.
32 For their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter:
33 Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps.
34 Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures?
35 To me belongs vengeance and recompense; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.
36 For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he sees that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left.
37 And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted,
38 Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings? let them rise up and help you, and be your protection.
39 See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.
40 For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live forever.
41 If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me.
42 I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy.
43 Rejoice, O you nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.

The word tav is used twice in Ezekiel, in Ezekiel 9:4 & 6, to tell of the mark the writer is sent to put upon the head of those who sigh at the abomination done in the city. This continues, Ezekiel 10:5 saying the sound (qowl) heard was as the voice (qowl) of the Almighty (Shadday). Verse 8 then tells of appearing a man’s hand (of the writer) under the wings of the chrubims.

These passages are describing the written word of God, as a wheel within a wheel, which we know tells of circuit (events and understanding) of a time recorded. In this form they are kept and sent forward to those in a future time, to be read, understood, and then, by the LORD’s inspiration, further explained, thereby shining greater light on events occurring in the present.

Ezekiel 9
1 He cried also in mine ears with a loud voice [qowl], saying, Cause them that have charge over the city to draw near, even every man with his destroying weapon in his hand.
2 And, behold, six men came from the way of the higher gate, which lies toward the north, and every man a slaughter weapon in his hand; and one man among them was clothed with linen, with a writer’s inkhorn by his side: and they went in, and stood beside the brazen altar.
3 And the glory of the God of Israel was gone up from the cherub, whereupon he was, to the threshold of the house. And he called to the man clothed with linen, which had the writer’s inkhorn by his side;
4 And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark [tav] upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.
5 And to the others he said in mine hearing, Go you after him through the city, and smite: let not your eye spare [judge rightly], neither have you pity:
6 Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark [tav]; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house.
7 And he said unto them, Defile the house [all the corrupt churches, where the abomination have been put in God’s place], and fill the courts with the slain: go you forth. And they went forth, and slew in the city.
8 And it came to pass, while they were slaying them, and I was left, that I fell upon my face, and cried, and said, Ah LORD God! will you destroy all the residue of Israel in your pouring out of your fury upon Jerusalem?
9 Then said he unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah [all God’s people] is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they say, The LORD has forsaken the earth, and the LORD sees not.
10 And as for me also, mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, but I will recompense their way upon their head.
11 And, behold, the man clothed with linen, which had the inkhorn by his side, reported the matter, saying, I have done as you have commanded me.

Ezekiel 10
1 Then I looked, and, behold, in the firmament [the expanse, where the word of God is rightly separated from the creation of men {their abominations}] that was above the head of the cherubims there appeared over them as it were a sapphire stone, as the appearance of the likeness of a throne.
2 And he spoke unto the man clothed with linen, and said, Go in between the wheels [the written word of God], even under the cherub, and fill your hand with coals of fire from between the cherubims, and scatter them over the city. And he went in in my sight.
3 Now the cherubims stood on the right side of the house, when the man went in; and the cloud filled the inner court.
4 Then the glory of the LORD went up from the cherub, and stood over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud [wherein understanding is held as a vapor, when it left the earth. Elements held there until now, to be assembled and sent again as this latter rain upon the earth], and the court was full of the brightness [understanding] of the LORD’s glory.
5 And the sound [qowl – the voice of the LORD’s messenger] of the cherubims’ wings was heard even to the outer court, as the voice [qowl] of the Almighty [Shadday] God when he speaks.
6 And it came to pass, that when he had commanded the man clothed with linen, saying, Take fire from between the wheels, from between the cherubims; then he went in, and stood beside the wheels.
7 And one cherub stretched forth his hand from between the cherubims unto the fire that was between the cherubims, and took thereof, and put it into the hands of him that was clothed with linen: who took it, and went out.
8 And there appeared in the cherubims the form of a man’s hand under their wings.
9 And when I looked, behold the four wheels by the cherubims, one wheel by one cherub, and another wheel by another cherub: and the appearance of the wheels was as the color of a beryl stone.
10 And as for their appearances, they four had one likeness, as if a wheel had been in the midst of a wheel.

The mark of understanding, remembering the ways of the LORD, His character and manner, is what Paul writes about and explains to the Corinthians, in 1 Corinthians 10. There he speaks of the Rock who has always followed God’s people, from whom these waters of baptism have always flowed.

1 Corinthians 10
1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that you should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
3 And did all eat the same spiritual meat;
4 And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.
5 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.
6 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
7 Neither be you idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
8 Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
9 Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents.
10 Neither murmur you, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
11 Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
12 Wherefore let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.
13 There has no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it.
14 Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.
15 I speak as to wise men; judge you what I say.
16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?
17 For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.
18 Behold Israel after the flesh: are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar?
19 What say I then? that the idol is anything, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is anything?
20 But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that you should have fellowship with devils.
21 You cannot drink the cup of the LORD, and the cup of devils: you cannot be partakers of the LORD’s table, and of the table of devils [the misleaders among God people, who’ve told you their calves are God. These idols they’ve created and put in God’s place, are abominations that keep you from meeting Him where He said he would meet us, in peace {Jerusalem}, above the mercy seat].

Here are several of the places where the word tuwshiyah is used, speaking of the wisdom that marks us as knowing the LORD, recognizing His presence manifested in His character and manner. “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand; 2 By which also you are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain. 3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:” “25 Now to him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began, 26 But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: 27 To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen.”

Proverbs 2
1 My son, if you will receive my words, and hide my commandments with you;
2 So that you incline your ear unto wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding;
3 Yea, if you cry after knowledge, and lift up your voice for understanding;
4 If you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hid treasures;
5 Then shall you understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
6 For the LORD gives wisdom: out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.
7 He lays up sound wisdom [tuwshiyah] for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.
8 He keeps the paths of judgment, and preserves the way of his saints.
9 Then shall you understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.
10 When wisdom enters into your heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto your soul;
11 Discretion shall preserve you, understanding shall keep you:
12 To deliver you from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaks froward things [twisted and perverted words];
13 Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;
14 Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;
15 Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:
16 To deliver you from the strange woman [the unfaith], even from the stranger which flatters with her words;
17 Which forsake the guide of her youth, and forget the covenant of her God.
18 For her house inclines unto death, and her paths unto the dead.
19 None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.
20 That you may walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.
21 For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.
22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it.

Isaiah 28
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, you scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because you have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell [Sheol] are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus says the LORD God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believes shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell [Sheol] shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then you shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goes forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
20 For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.
21 For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim [has risen up as great waters, His word, upon the enemies of David], he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon [The LORD has sent his word as great hailstones from heaven, where it was reserved in secret, frozen, until this time] that he may do his work, his strange work [strange only because God’s people have forgotten Him and His ways – therefore, as John 1:5 says, “the light shined in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not”]; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.
22 Now therefore be you not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the LORD God of hosts a consumption [an end], even determined upon the whole earth.
23 Give you ear, and hear my voice [qowl – hear the voice of the LORD]; hearken, and hear my speech.
24 Does the plowman plow all day to sow? does he open and break the clods of his ground?
25 When he has made plain the face thereof, does he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rie in their place?
26 For his God does instruct him to discretion, and does teach him.
27 For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.
28 Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen.
29 This also comes forth from the LORD of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working [tuwshiyah – the mark of which we are mindful, the wisdom and understanding that flows from the Rock].

Psalms 18
25 With the merciful you will show yourself merciful; with an upright man you will show yourself upright;
26 With the pure you will show yourself pure; and with the froward you will show yourself froward.
27 For you will save the afflicted people; but will bring down high looks.
28 For you will light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.
29 For by you I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall.
30 As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.
31 For who is God save the LORD? or who is a rock save our God?
32 It is God that girds me with strength, and makes my way perfect.
33 He makes my feet like hinds’ feet, and sets me upon my high places.
34 He teaches my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.
35 You have also given me the shield of your salvation: and your right hand has held me up, and your gentleness has made me great.
36 You have enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip.
37 I have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them: neither did I turn again till they were consumed.
38 I have wounded them that they were not able to rise: they are fallen under my feet.
39 For you have girded me with strength unto the battle: you have subdued under me those that rose up against me.
40 You have also given me the necks of mine enemies; that I might destroy them that hate me.
41 They cried, but there was none to save them: even unto the LORD, but he answered them not.
42 Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind: I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets.
43 You have delivered me from the strivings of the people; and you have made me the head of the heathen: a people whom I have not known shall serve me.
44 As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall submit themselves unto me.
45 The strangers shall fade away, and be afraid out of their close places.
46 The LORD lives; and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted.
47 It is God that avenges me, and subdues the people under me.
48 He delivers me from mine enemies: yea, you lifts me up above those that rise up against me: you have delivered me from the violent man.
49 Therefore will I give thanks unto you, O LORD, among the heathen, and sing praises unto your name.
50 Great deliverance gives he to his king; and shows mercy to his anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore.

A fire devours before them; and behind them a flame burns: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.

A fire devours before them; and behind them a flame burns: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.

The above, Joel 2:3, is speaking of the time and season we are living, the time of the locust (May thru September), which doesn’t end until all is devoured. The following verse tells us it is also the when we must run with horses: when lies and deception, the manipulations that carry men to death, cover the land as the “swelling [ga’own – pride] of Jordan.”

Friends, no one wants to believe the worst, but the worst is coming. People say God can stop it, and they are right. He has been showing the way, explaining, precept upon precept, line upon line, the way into rest and refreshing, but none have listened.

The LORD, in John 3:19, tells of the “condemnation” that comes, not from Him but from the choice of whose advice is listened to and followed. As we know, the word rendered “condemnation” the Greek word krisis (crisis), which speaks of the crisis point, when a decision must be made about which way we go. Now is a time of continuing manipulation by manufactured crises, and the culture whose minds were prepared by confusion is now unable to escape the bad advice of all its misleaders. These misleaders all, in church and state, refuse to listen, because they are swelling with pride in their positions: their power to manipulate and control the masses. They refuse to repent: refuse to admit their ignorance (darkness) and refuse to lead people into the light (understanding), because their deeds are evil.

John 3
11 Truly, truly, I say unto you, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and you receive not our witness.
12 If I have told you earthly things, and you believe not, how shall you believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?
13 And no man has ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
15 That whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 He that believes on him is not condemned: but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For every one that does evil hate the light, neither comes to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
21 But he that does truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

These men whose deeds are evil, are the “drunkards of Ephraim,” intoxicated by power and position, who’ve made a covenant with death, and are in agreement with hell. This is speaking of the reality we see, the use of the crisis to force bad choices upon us, now driving us progressively forward into chaos and the unquenchable fires of hell. These men have led, and will lead, the world into mass misery and total desolation, until they are taken out of the way. I am not just speaking of those actively working to destroy us, the known enemy, but also of leaders, who are supposed to be on our side, who sit back and do nothing (subtle misleading the does it with a smile and a prayer).

Isaiah 28
1 Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!
2 Behold, the LORD has a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing [see verse 21 below], shall cast down to the earth with the hand.
3 The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet:
4 And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looks upon it sees, while it is yet in his hand he eats it up.
5 In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem [tsphiyrah – a crown] of beauty, unto the residue of his people,
6 And for a spirit of judgment to him that sits in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.
7 But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
8 For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.
9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine [shmuwah - the report, teaching, the rumor of Ezekiel 7:26 below]? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts. 10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little: 11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. 12 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith you may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear. 13 But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken. 14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, you scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. 15 Because you have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: 16 Therefore thus says the LORD God Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believes shall not make haste. 17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place. 18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then you shall be trodden down by it. 19 From the time that it goes forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report [shmuwah – the sound doctrine, teaching, the rumor of Ezekiel 7:26 below].
20 For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.
21 For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim [2 Samuel 5:20 – as water from His throne, breaking forth upon His enemies], he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon [Joshua 10:10 & 11 – His word reserved {frozen} in heaven, sent as great hailstones upon the wicked], that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.
22 Now therefore be you not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the LORD GOD of hosts a consumption [kalah – a full end, as in Daniel 9:27], even determined upon the whole earth.
23 Give you ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.

Ezekiel 7
1 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Also, you son of man, thus says the LORD God unto the land of Israel; An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land.
3 Now is the end come upon you, and I will send mine anger upon you, and will judge you according to your ways, and will recompense upon you all your abominations.
4 And mine eye shall not spare you, neither will I have pity: but I will recompense your ways upon you, and your abominations shall be in the midst of you: and you shall know that I am the LORD.
5 Thus says the LORD God; An evil, an only evil, behold, is come.
6 An end [qets] is come, the end [qets] is come: it watches [quwts – awakens] for you; behold, it is come.
7 The morning [tsphiyrah – the crown, the crowning of the LORD’s chosen, the man of God, as was David] is come unto you, O you that dwells in the land: the time is come, the day of trouble is near, and not the sounding again of the mountains.
8 Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon you, and accomplish mine anger upon you: and I will judge you according to your ways, and will recompense you for all your abominations.
9 And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will recompense you according to your ways and your abominations that are in the midst of you; and you shall know that I am the LORD that smites.
10 Behold the day, behold, it is come: the morning [tsphiyrah – the crowning] is gone forth; the rod has blossomed, pride has budded.
11 Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness: none of them shall remain, nor of their multitude, nor of any of theirs: neither shall there be wailing for them.
12 The time is come, the day draw near: let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn: for wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.
13 For the seller shall not return to that which is sold, although they were yet alive: for the vision is touching the whole multitude thereof, which shall not return; neither shall any strengthen himself in the iniquity of his life.
14 They have blown the trumpet, even to make all ready; but none goes to the battle: for my wrath is upon all the multitude thereof.
15 The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within: he that is in the field shall die with the sword; and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him.
16 But they that escape of them shall escape, and shall be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them mourning, every one for his iniquity.
17 All hands shall be feeble, and all knees shall be weak as water.
18 They shall also gird themselves with sackcloth, and horror shall cover them; and shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all their heads.
19 They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the LORD: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumbling-block of their iniquity.
20 As for the beauty of his ornament, he set it in majesty: but they made the images of their abominations and of their detestable things therein: therefore have I set it far from them.
21 And I will give it into the hands of the strangers for a prey, and to the wicked of the earth for a spoil; and they shall pollute it.
22 My face will I turn also from them, and they shall pollute my secret place: for the robbers shall enter into it, and defile it.
23 Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence.
24 Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses: I will also make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled.
25 Destruction comes; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none.
26 Mischief shall come upon mischief, and rumor [shmuw’ah – teaching sound doctrine, and reporting truth] shall be upon rumor [shmuw’ah – teaching and reporting that isn’t believed, and the man of God reporting it is still unknown – because of the lies and misleading of those who’ve blinded the world by drunkenness]; then shall they seek a vision of the prophet; but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the ancients.
27 The king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with desolation, and the hands of the people of the land shall be troubled: I will do unto them after their way, and according to their deserts will I judge them; and they shall know that I am the LORD.

Below is the full book of Joel, which tells of the locust and the continual crises that come in this time of darkness, when ignorance rules the world. It speaks of when the sun is turned to darkness and the moon into blood, which describe the church and states governments, the church in ignorance (darkness) and the civil governments, as now, draining the life (blood) from those they mislead. Joel 2:32 follows this description by saying, “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion [the minds wherein the LORD reigns] and in Jerusalem [in the resulting peace and understanding] shall be deliverance, as the LORD has said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.”

As we know from Isaiah 34:8 thru 10, this is “the day of the LORD’s vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion.” We understand the “controversy,” from the Hebrew word riyb, is the LORD pleading His case, for our deliverance from the misleaders, as to why He is the most qualified to rule. As we know this comes through the qowl, His voice spoken from the man of His choosing, which is known to be His. This knowing comes, as David describes in 2 Samuel 23:3, as He speaks just rule, as God rules through enlightenment. These are the ideas of the sun and moon, shining and reflecting God’s justice on earth, ruling as He rules in heaven (where there is full understanding and thereby sustainably extreme liberty).

The opposite of God’s rule is hell, where the unrepentant dead remain, which is described in Isaiah 34:9 & 10, saying, “And the streams thereof shall be turned into pitch [darkness], and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch [the fires of ignorance]. It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it forever and ever.”

As Joel then says, this is the time when all must make the decision who will rule in their minds, those who’ve led them into darkness and hell, or the LORD who has come to save the world, and deliver as many as will come to the light (the understanding He is shining upon all).

2 Samuel 23
1 Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said,
2 The Spirit of the LORD spoke by me, and his word was in my tongue.
3 The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me, He that rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.
4 And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun rises, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain.
5 Although my house be not so with God; yet he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow.
6 But the sons of Belial [Satan – those following the advice of death] shall be all of them as thorns thrust away, because they cannot be taken with hands:
7 But the man that shall touch them must be fenced with iron and the staff of a spear; and they shall be utterly burned with fire in the same place [in hell].

Joel 1
1 The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel [vison of God – opened by God].
2 Hear this, you old men, and give ear, all you inhabitants of the land. Has this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?
3 Tell you your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation.
4 That which the palmerworm has left has the locust eaten; and that which the locust has left has the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm has left has the caterpillar eaten.
5 Awake, you drunkards, and weep; and howl, all you drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.
6 For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he has the cheek teeth of a great lion.
7 He has laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he has made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.
8 Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
9 The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests, the LORD’s ministers, mourn.
10 The field is wasted, the land mourns; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languishes.
11 Be you ashamed, O you husbandmen [ba’al]; howl, O you vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.
12 The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languishes; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.
13 Gird yourselves, and lament, you priests: howl, you ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withheld from the house of your God.
14 Sanctify you a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD,
15 Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
16 Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God?
17 The seed is rotten under their clods, the garners are laid desolate, the barns are broken down; for the corn is withered.
18 How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.
19 O LORD, to you will I cry: for the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame has burned all the trees of the field.
20 The beasts of the field cry also unto you: for the rivers of waters are dried up, and the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.

Joel 2
1 Blow you the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD comes, for it is nigh at hand;
2 A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there has not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.
3 A fire devours before them; and behind them a flame burns: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
4 The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run.
5 Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devours the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.
6 Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness.
7 They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks:
8 Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded.
9 They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.
10 The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:
11 And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executes his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?
12 Therefore also now, says the LORD, turn you even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:
13 And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repents him of the evil.
14 Who knows if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God?
15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly:
16 Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet.
17 Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare your people, O LORD, and give not your heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?
18 Then will the LORD be jealous for his land, and pity his people.
19 Yea, the LORD will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and you shall be satisfied therewith: and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen:
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savor shall come up, because he has done great things.
21 Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the LORD will do great things.
22 Be not afraid, you beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree bears her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength.
23 Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he has given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.
24 And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.
26 And you shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that has dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.
27 And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.
28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.
30 And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD come.
32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD has said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.

Joel 3
1 For, behold, in those days, and in that time, when I shall bring again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem,
2 I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land.
3 And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for a harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.
4 Yea, and what have you to do with me, O Tyre [false rock in which people mistakenly put the trust], and Zidon [those who hunt souls, to consume them to fulfill their lusts], and all the coasts of Palestine [the invaders {with the lying ways and deceptions} who seek to change of culture {have nationally removed it from under God} to consume us]? will you render me a recompense? and if you recompense me, swiftly and speedily will I return your recompense upon your own head;
5 Because you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried into your temples my goodly pleasant things:
6 The children also of Judah and the children of Jerusalem have you sold unto the Grecians, that you might remove them far from their border.
7 Behold, I will raise them out of the place whither you have sold them, and will return your recompense upon your own head:
8 And I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the children of Judah, and they shall sell them to the Sabeans, to a people far off: for the LORD has spoken it.
9 Proclaim you this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up:
10 Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning-hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong.
11 Assemble yourselves, and come, all you heathen, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause your mighty ones to come down, O LORD.
12 Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.
13 Put you in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.
14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
15 The sun and the moon shall be darkened, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
16 The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.
17 So shall you know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.
18 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth out of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim.
19 Egypt shall be a desolation, and Edom shall be a desolate wilderness, for the violence against the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.
20 But Judah shall dwell forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.
21 For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed: for the LORD dwells in Zion.

Psalms 18
1 I will love you, O LORD, my strength.
2 The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
3 I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies.
4 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid.
5 The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented me.
6 In my distress I called upon the LORD [see Jonah 2:2, David here does as Jonah, as does the son of David, the son of man, when He comes from the belly of the earth], and cried unto my God: he heard my voice [qowl] out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.
7 Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth.
8 There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.
9 He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet.
10 And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind.
11 He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.
12 At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire.
13 The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice [qowl – the voice of understanding]; hail stones and coals of fire.
14 Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.
15 Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at your rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath [neshamah] of your nostrils.
16 He sent from above, he took me, he drew me out of many waters.
17 He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me.
18 They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay.
19 He brought me forth also into a large place; he delivered me, because he delighted in me.
20 The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands has he recompensed me.
21 For I have kept the ways of the LORD, and have not wickedly departed from my God.
22 For all his judgments were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me.
23 I was also upright before him, and I kept myself from mine iniquity.
24 Therefore has the LORD recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.
25 With the merciful you will show yourself merciful; with an upright man you will show yourself upright;
26 With the pure you will show yourself pure; and with the froward you will show yourself froward.
27 For you will save the afflicted people; but will bring down high looks.
28 For you will light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.
29 For by you I have run through a troop; and by my God have I leaped over a wall.
30 As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.
31 For who is God save the LORD? or who is a rock save our God?
32 It is God that girds me with strength, and makes my way perfect.
33 He makes my feet like hinds’ feet, and sets me upon my high places.
34 He teaches my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.
35 You have also given me the shield of your salvation: and your right hand has held me up, and your gentleness has made me great.
36 You have enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip.
37 I have pursued mine enemies, and overtaken them: neither did I turn again till they were consumed.
38 I have wounded them that they were not able to rise: they are fallen under my feet.
39 For you have girded me with strength unto the battle: you have subdued under me those that rose up against me.
40 You have also given me the necks of mine enemies; that I might destroy them that hate me.
41 They cried, but there was none to save them: even unto the LORD, but he answered them not.
42 Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind: I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets.
43 You have delivered me from the strivings of the people; and you have made me the head of the heathen: a people whom I have not known shall serve me.
44 As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall submit themselves unto me.
45 The strangers shall fade away, and be afraid out of their close places.
46 The LORD lives; and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted.
47 It is God that avenges me, and subdues the people under me.
48 He delivers me from mine enemies: yea, you lifts me up above those that rise up against me: you have delivered me from the violent man.
49 Therefore will I give thanks unto you, O LORD, among the heathen, and sing praises unto your name.
50 Great deliverance gives he to his king; and shows mercy to his anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore.

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?

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.

“If you be come peaceably unto me to help me, mine heart shall be knit unto you: but if you be come to betray me to mine enemies, seeing there is no wrong in mine hands, the God of our fathers look thereon, and rebuke it.”

“If you be come peaceably unto me to help me, mine heart shall be knit unto you: but if you be come to betray me to mine enemies, seeing there is no wrong in mine hands, the God of our fathers look thereon, and rebuke it.”

The above is from 1 Chronicles 12:17 and is David speaking, in a pattern of this day, to the men of Benjamin, Gad, and Judah, his first fruits who’ve come to join with him in the wilderness. Verse 15 says, “These are they that went over Jordan in the first month, when it had overflown all his banks; and they put to flight all them of the valleys, both toward the east, and toward the west.”

As we’ve often discussed, the Jordan going over its banks is the “swelling [ga’own] of the Jordan” mentioned three times by Jeremiah. It’s referring to the words of wicked men (lies and deceptions) that carry all into death (the Jordan River into the Dead Sea), the above speaking of now, when these lies have covered the land (in darkness – ignorance) and put all to flight (retreat caused by fear and mass delusion).

1 Chronicles 12
18 Then the spirit came upon Amasai, who was chief of the captains, and he said, “Yours are we, David, and on your side, you son of Jesse: peace, peace be unto you, and peace be to your helpers; for your God helps you.” Then David received them, and made them captains of the band.

In verse 1 of 1 Chronicles 12, we are told this is when these men came to David in Ziklag (Tsiqlag), from the Hebrew word tsiqlon, meaning “to wind; a sack (as tied at the mouth).” It says it is “while he [David] yet kept himself close because of Saul the son of Kish.” The word “close” is the Hebrew word ‘atsar, meaning “to inclose; by analogy, to hold back; also to maintain, rule, assemble.” The pattern is of this time, when this word is, when I am, held back, from what the LORD says, by His anointing, is my right to rule, to assemble all His people into His one body. AMEN!

Above we see the Spirit of the LORD moves one named Amasai, to go to David, to confirm they agree to what He says in the title quote. Amasai is from the word ‘amac, meaning “to load, i.e. impose a burden,” showing he is one upon who the Spirit of the LORD puts this burden, to approach David.

We are told of the burden in Isaiah 41:1, the “heavy laden” that the idols can’t deliver, meaning the creation they’ve put in God’s place, which can never get anyone to this place of understanding. It then appears in verse 3 as the LORD speaks to His people, as He does now, telling us, we are those “which are born [‘amac] by Me from the belly, which are carried from the womb.”

Do you see it? This is and has always been the plan.

Matthew 13
9 Who has ears to hear, let him hear.
10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speak you unto them in parables?
11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
12 For whosoever has, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever has not, from him shall be taken away even that he has.
13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which says, By hearing you shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing you shall see, and shall not perceive:
15 For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.
17 For truly I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which you see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which you hear, and have not heard them.

Friends, this is the return of the one-tenth to the LORD: those who’ve loved and kept His word and by it see Him, now when the world sees nothing except darkness.

Isaiah 6
3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
4 And the posts of the door moved at the voice [qowl – the voice of the LORD heard from His archangel to His elect remnant who now understand] of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke [to chase out the vermin].
5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
6 Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar:
7 And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this has touched your lips; and your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.
8 Also I heard the voice of the LORD, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.
9 And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear you indeed, but understand not; and see you indeed, but perceive not.
10 Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and convert, and be healed.
11 Then said I, LORD, how long? And he answered, Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate,
12 And the LORD has removed men far away, and there be a great forsaking in the midst of the land.
13 But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves: so the holy seed shall be the substance thereof.

The tenth, the elect remnant, those outside the existing church orders and thereby are undefiled by the wandering away into the creations of the men who’ve led them, are the virgin from where is born the child (the living body of Christ).

Isaiah 7
13 And he said, Hear you now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will you weary my God also?
14 Therefore the LORD himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel [God with us].
15 Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.

Revelation 14
1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Zion, and with him a hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.
2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder [this voice of understanding]: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:
3 And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
4 These are they which were not defiled with women [by the unfaithful church]; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes. These were redeemed from among men, being the first-fruits unto God and to the Lamb.
5 And in their mouth was found no guile [no deception]: for they are without fault before the throne of God.
6 And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
8 And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon [the confusion that has ruled the world into darkness and mass delusion] is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
9 And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead [the ideas of confusion marking their words and thoughts], or in his hand [the works that follow],
10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
11 And the smoke of their torment ascends up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receives the mark of his name.
12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the LORD from henceforth: Yea, says the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them.
14 And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.
15 And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in your sickle, and reap: for the time is come for you to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.
16 And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.
17 And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.
18 And another angel came out from the altar, which had power over fire; and cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in your sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth; for her grapes are fully ripe.
19 And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God.
20 And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.

Isaiah 46
1 Bel bows down [the idols, the ideas men create, which led the world into darkness and delusion], Nebo stoops [the false prophets that have caused the blindness and ignorance of the age], their idols were upon the beasts, and upon the cattle: your carriages were heavy laden [‘amac]; they are a burden to the weary beast.
2 They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity.
3 Hearken unto me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, which are borne [‘amac] by me from the belly, which are carried from the womb:
4 And even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.
5 To whom will you liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like?
6 They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver in the balance, and hire a goldsmith; and he makes it a god: they fall down, yea, they worship.
7 They bear him upon the shoulder, they carry him, and set him in his place, and he stands; from his place shall he not remove: yea, one shall cry unto him, yet can he not answer, nor save him out of his trouble.
8 Remember this, and show yourselves men: bring it again to mind, O you transgressors [pasha’ – those who have left the LORD to follow men, and have trespassed, fallen away, into apostasy].
9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,
10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:
11 Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executes my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.
12 Hearken unto me, you stouthearted, that are far from righteousness:
13 I bring near my righteousness; it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry [shall not be delayed any longer]: and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.

The LORD uses the word ‘atsar one time in Isaiah, in Isaiah 66:9, to ask if we think that once He has opened the womb He will “shut” it without bringing to life all His children. How the womb was shut until now is describe in Job 12:15, (using ‘atsar) when the LORD “withheld” the waters, His word and understanding (light), it was dried up (yabesh – confused and disappointed). The passage goes on to say that when He sends them out (water and light) they overturn the earth. The word rendered “overturn” is haphak, the same word used three times in Genesis 19 to tell of when the LORD “overthrew” Sodom (burning), Gomorrah (ruin), and the cities of the plain (as it is in a pattern this day).

As we well know, these are the same fire and water Peter speaks in 2 Peter 3, in which the elements (the stoicheion): the corrupt foundational ideas that have deluded the age, melt away in the tumult they (their ideas) have caused. As above, we are there told the waters are the word of the LORD, reserved unto fire, which, when released from heaven as now, overthrown the world, this age of ignorance.

Job 12
2 No doubt but you are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.
3 But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: yea, who knows not such things as these?
4 I am as one mocked of his neighbor, who calls upon God, and he answers him: the just upright man is laughed to scorn.
5 He that is ready to slip with his feet is as a lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease.
6 The tabernacles of robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure; into whose hand God brings abundantly.
7 But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach you; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell you:
8 Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach you: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto you.
9 Who know not in all these that the hand of the LORD has wrought this?
10 In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.
11 Does not the ear try words? and the mouth taste his meat?
12 With the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days understanding.
13 With him is wisdom and strength, he has counsel and understanding.
14 Behold, he breaks down, and it cannot be built again: he shuts up a man, and there can be no opening.
15 Behold, he withholds [‘astar] the waters, and they dry up: also he sends them out, and they overturn [haphak] the earth.
16 With him is strength and wisdom: the deceived and the deceiver are his.
17 He leads counselors away spoiled, and makes the judges fools.
18 He looses the bond of kings, and girds their loins with a girdle.
19 He leads princes away spoiled, and overthrows the mighty.
20 He removes away the speech of the trusty, and taketh away the understanding of the aged.
21 He pours contempt upon princes, and weakens the strength of the mighty.
22 He discovers deep things out of darkness, and brings out to light the shadow of death.
23 He increases the nations, and destroys them: he enlarges the nations, and straitens them again.
24 He taketh away the heart of the chief of the people of the earth, and causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.
25 They grope in the dark without light, and he makes them to stagger like a drunken man.

2 Peter 3
1 This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:
2 That you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the LORD and Savior:
3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers [mocker as are spoken of in Job 12:4 above, with whom wisdom has died], walking after their own lusts,
4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God [this same word of God] the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition [apoleia] of ungodly men.
8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the LORD as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
9 The LORD is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
10 But the day of the LORD will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements [stoicheion – the corrupt foundational ideas and ways of men] shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements [stoicheion] shall melt with fervent heat?
13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness.
14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
15 And account that the longsuffering of our LORD is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him has written unto you;
16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrestle, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction [apoleia – perdition].
17 You therefore, beloved, seeing you know these things before, beware lest you also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness.
18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen.

Isaiah 66
1 Thus says the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that you build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?
2 For all those things has mine hand made, and all those things have been, says the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembles at my word.
3 He that kills an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrifices a lamb, as if he cut off a dog’s neck; he that offers an oblation, as if he offered swine’s blood; he that burns incense, as if he blessed an idol. Yea, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations.
4 I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spoke, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.
5 Hear the word of the LORD, you that tremble at his word; Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, Let the LORD be glorified: but he shall appear to your joy, and they shall be ashamed.
6 A voice [qowl] of noise from the city, a voice [qowl] from the temple, a voice [qowl] of the LORD that renders recompense to his enemies.
7 Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child.
8 Who has heard such a thing? who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.
9 Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? says the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut [‘atsar] the womb? says your God.
10 Rejoice you with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all you that mourn for her:
11 That you may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that you may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory.
12 For thus says the LORD, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream: then shall you suck, you shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled upon her knees.
13 As one whom his mother comforter, so will I comfort you; and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
14 And when you see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb: and the hand of the LORD shall be known toward his servants, and his indignation toward his enemies.
15 For, behold, the LORD will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16 For by fire and by his sword will the LORD plead with all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many.
17 They that sanctify themselves, and purify themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine’s flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, says the LORD.
18 For I know their works and their thoughts: it shall come, that I will gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come, and see my glory.
19 And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles.
20 And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the LORD out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the LORD, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the LORD.
21 And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites, says the LORD.
22 For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, says the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain.
23 And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, says the LORD.
24 And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.

The “noise” spoken of above in verse 6, is the “tumult” we’ve seen in Amos 2, both from the Hebrew word sha’own, meaning “uproar (as of rushing); by implication, destruction” It is telling of it as what results from the qowl, the voice of the LORD against the voices opposing Him and leading the world into hell. It comes through the one described as the archangel, meaning he is the chief messenger (author and finisher of our faith, who brings the expected end).

Amos 2
1 Thus says the LORD; For three transgressions of Moab [the gates of hell, the ever-open mouths of deceivers], and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime:
2 But I will send a fire upon Moab [upon these gates of hell], and it shall devour the palaces of Kirioth [their walled city]: and Moab [the deceivers] shall die with tumult [sha’own], with shouting, and with the sound [qowl – the voice of the archangel] of the trumpet:
3 And I will cut off the judge from the midst thereof, and will slay all the princes thereof with him, says the LORD.
4 Thus says the LORD; For three transgressions of Judah [the misleaders of God’s people], and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have despised the law of the LORD, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers have walked:
5 But I will send a fire upon Judah, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem.
6 Thus says the LORD; For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes;
7 That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father will go in unto the same maid, to profane my holy name:
8 And they lay themselves down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their god.

Friends, this tumult is the delusion caused by the lies of the false prophets and the enemies among us, who are (knowingly or not) opposing God. As we have often seen, their lies are the proud (ga’own) wave that rise and cause the storms in the sea, meaning they put their trust in their power to deceive, because by it they have risen among the masses. They agitate the people into overturning the liberty of republics, beginning demagogues they end as tyrants.

When, in Job 12:19, the LORD tells of leading these men away spoiled, and of when He “overthrows” the mighty, He uses the seven-times used Hebrew word calaph, which is referring us to its other six uses.

Proverbs 13
1 A wise son hears his father’s instruction: but a scorner hears not rebuke.
2 A man shall eat good by the fruit of his mouth: but the soul of the transgressors shall eat violence.
3 He that keeps his mouth keeps his life: but he that opens wide his lips shall have destruction.
4 The soul of the sluggard desires, and has nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.
5 A righteous man hates lying: but a wicked man is loathsome, and comes to shame.
6 Righteousness keeps him that is upright in the way: but wickedness overthrows [calaph] the sinner.

Proverbs 19
1 Better is the poor that walks in his integrity, than he that is perverse in his lips, and is a fool.
2 Also, that the soul be without knowledge, it is not good; and he that hastes with his feet sins.
3 The foolishness of man perverts [calaph – overthrows] his way: and his heart frets against the LORD.
4 Wealth makes many friends; but the poor is separated from his neighbor.
5 A false witness shall not be unpunished, and he that speaks lies shall not escape.

Proverbs 21
11 When the scorner is punished, the simple is made wise: and when the wise is instructed, he receives knowledge.
12 The righteous man wisely considers the house of the wicked: but God overthrows [calaph] the wicked for their wickedness.

Proverbs 22
10 Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out; yea, strife and reproach shall cease.
11 He that loves pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend.
12 The eyes of the LORD preserve knowledge, and he overthrows [calaph] the words of the transgressor.

Exodus 23
6 You shall not wrest [natah – to bend away from – pervert] the judgment of your poor in his cause.
7 Keep you far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay you not: for I will not justify the wicked.
8 And you shall take no gift: for the gift blinds the wise, and perverts [calaph – overthrows] the words of the righteous.

Deuteronomy 16
16 Three times in a year shall all your males appear before the LORD your God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty:
17 Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God which he has given you.
18 Judges and officers shall you make you in all your gates, which the LORD your God gives you, throughout your tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment.
19 You shall not wrest [natah – pervert] judgment; you shall not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift does blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert [calaph – overthrow] the words of the righteous.
20 That which is altogether just shall you follow, that you may live, and inherit the land which the LORD your God gives you.

Psalm 118
1 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: because his mercy endures forever.
2 Let Israel now say, that his mercy endures forever.
3 Let the house of Aaron now say, that his mercy endures forever.
4 Let them now that fear the LORD say, that his mercy endures forever.
5 I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place.
6 The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?
7 The LORD taketh my part with them that help me: therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me.
8 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.
9 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes.
10 All nations compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD will I destroy them.
11 They compassed me about; yea, they compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.
12 They compassed me about like bees: they are quenched as the fire of thorns: for in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.
13 You have thrust sore at me that I might fall: but the LORD helped me.
14 The LORD is my strength and song, and is become my salvation.
15 The voice [qowl] of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous: the right hand of the LORD does valiantly.
16 The right hand of the LORD is exalted: the right hand of the LORD does valiantly.
17 I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD.
18 The LORD has chastened me sore: but he has not given me over unto death.
19 Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the LORD:
20 This gate of the LORD, into which the righteous shall enter.
21 I will praise you: for you have heard me, and are become my salvation.
22 The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.
23 This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
24 This is the day which the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
25 Save now, I beseech you, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech you, send now prosperity.
26 Blessed be he that comes in the name of the LORD: we have blessed you out of the house of the LORD.
27 God is the LORD, which has shown us light [understanding]: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.
28 You are my God, and I will praise you: you are my God, I will exalt you.
29 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endure forever.

I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.

I will cause the arrogance of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.

The word “arrogance” above is from the forty-nine times used Hebrew word ga’own, a word used to tell of the “majesty” of the LORD and of when the “pride” of man “swells,” like a river over its banks covers the land. It is also the “excellency” of God seen when He overthrows these men. Each different rendering is describing the manifestations that become apparent through words, the ideas that affect those hearing, and following them, which produces fruit.

The word “precious” in the title (from Isaiah 13:11 & 12) is the eleven times used Hebrew word yaqar, meaning “to be heavy, i.e. (figuratively) valuable; causatively, to make rare (figuratively, to inhibit).” The passage is telling of the man in whom the LORD’s ideas become apparent, which is His “excellency” and “majesty,” His presence realized in the culminating destruction of those who’ve risen against Him and His people. The mention of “Ophir” is referring to the place where Solomon’s gold was mined, a name meaning “reduced to ashes [dust].” It is where he dug deep into God’s word, and by the LORD’s leading, in the ashes found wisdom and understanding (life), which when revealed are recognized to be the truest and most valued riches.

Isaiah 13
6 Howl you; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.
7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt:
8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travail: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames.
9 Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.
10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light [there is no understanding seen in God’s people]: the sun shall be darkened [now when the church is in ignorance] in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine [and because of the darkened state of God’s people and the established churches, neither does the civil government reflect any enlightenment].
11 And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogance [ga’own] of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.
12 I will make a man more precious [yaqar] than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.

Isaiah only uses the word yaqar one other time, in Isaiah 43:4 where it is also rendered “precious,” as the LORD is speaking of His sons and daughters who He redeems from their blind and deaf state.

Isaiah 42
5 Thus says God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which comes out of it; he that gives breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:
6 I the LORD have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand, and will keep you, and give you for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;
7 To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.
8 I am the LORD: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.
9 Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.
10 Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, you that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; the isles, and the inhabitants thereof.
11 Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar [darkness – ignorance] does inhabit: let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains.
12 Let them give glory unto the LORD, and declare his praise in the islands.
13 The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies.
14 I have long time held my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once.
15 I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools.
16 And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.
17 They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed [disappointed, when the end they have seen doesn’t come], that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, You are our gods.
18 Hear, you deaf; and look, you blind, that you may see.
19 Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect [only seeing and hearing the LORD], and blind as the LORD’s servant?
20 Seeing many things, but you observe not; opening the ears, but he hears not.
21 The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness’ sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honorable.
22 But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none deliver; for a spoil, and none say, Restore.
23 Who among you will give ear to this? who will hearken and hear for the time to come?
24 Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the LORD, he against whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient unto his law.
25 Therefore he has poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it has set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he laid it not to heart. [These aren’t seeing and hearing this word as the LORD’s voice, His majesty, excellence, and manifested presence.]

Isaiah 43
1 But now thus says the LORD that created you, O Jacob, and he that formed you, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed you, I have called you by your name; you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you: when you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon you.
3 For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior: I gave Egypt [those who’ve held you captive] for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba [those whose words covered you in darkness] for you.
4 Since you were precious [yaqar] in my sight, you have been honorable, and I have loved you: therefore will I give men for you, and people for your life.
5 Fear not: for I am with you: I will bring your seed from the east, and gather you from the west;
6 I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth;
7 Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.
8 Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears.
9 Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and show us former things? let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified: or let them hear, and say, It is truth.
10 You are my witnesses, says the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that you may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.
11 I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no savior.
12 I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore you are my witnesses, says the LORD, that I am God.
13 Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?
14 Thus says the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships.
15 I am the LORD, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your King.
16 Thus says the LORD, which makes a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters;
17 Which brings forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as tow.
18 Remember you not the former things, neither consider the things of old.
19 Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

The word yaqar is again rendered precious in Psalms 139:17, a Psalm of David, wherein verse 4 he speaks of not having any of his own words in his tongue. We know this is referring to His saying, in 2 Samuel 23:2, the Spirit of the LORD spoke by him and His word was in his tongue. He continues there saying this is reflecting the just rule on God in him, which is also as light (understanding sent into the darkness) of the morning, when the sun rises. He says this morning is without clouds (when understanding has returned to earth), as the tender grass springs out of the earth, (by) a clear shining after rain.

Zechariah 9
12 Turn you to the strong hold [Ariel, where David dwelt], you prisoners of hope: even today do I declare that I will render double unto you [this second blessing, of things, ideas, you were once blessed with and have forgotten];
13 When I have bent Judah [My elect remnant] for me, filled the bow with Ephraim [My people at large], and raised up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece [Yavan – yayin, against those intoxicated, wallowing, in their dregs, the mire of their own ignorance and corruption], and made you as the sword [the mouth of the LORD speaking this word] of a mighty man.
14 And the LORD shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning [Ephraim with understanding]: and the LORD God shall blow the trumpet [give His voice from His archangel], and shall go with whirlwinds [ca’ar – from where His voice is heard] of the south.
15 The LORD of hosts shall defend them; and they shall devour, and subdue with sling stones; and they shall drink, and make a noise as through [new] wine [yayin]; and they shall be filled like bowls [with the blood of the sacrifice], and as the corners of the altar.
16 And the LORD their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his people: for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon his land.
17 For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids.

Zechariah 10
1 Ask you of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field [which speaks of it coming to every person, as does the light of the sunrise, which together {His word and understanding from the cloud} bring new life to the earth {the field}.
2 For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd.
3 Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats: for the LORD of hosts has visited his flock the house of Judah, and has made them as his goodly horse in the battle.
4 Out of him came forth the corner, out of him the nail, out of him the battle bow, out of him every oppressor together.
5 And they shall be as mighty men, which tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle: and they shall fight, because the LORD is with them, and the riders on horses shall be confounded.
6 And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the LORD their God, and will hear them.

2 Samuel 23
1 Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said,
2 The Spirit of the LORD spoke by me, and his word was in my tongue.
3 The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me, He that rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.
4 And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun rises, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain.
5 Although my house be not so with God; yet he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow.
6 But the sons of Belial [Satan – those following the advice of death] shall be all of them as thorns thrust away, because they cannot be taken with hands:
7 But the man that shall touch them must be fenced with iron and the staff of a spear; and they shall be utterly burned with fire in the same place.

Psalms 139 A Psalm of David
1 O LORD, you have searched me, and known me.
2 You know my down-sitting and mine uprising, you understand my thought afar off.
3 You compass my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, you know it altogether.
5 You have beset me behind and before, and laid your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.
7 Whither shall I go from your spirit? or whither shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend up into heaven, you are there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, you are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
10 Even there shall your hand lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.
12 Yea, the darkness hides not from you; but the night shines as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to you.
13 For you have possessed my reins: you have covered me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise you; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are your works; and that my soul know right well.
15 My substance was not hid from you, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes did see my substance, yet being un-perfect; and in your book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
17 How precious [yaqar] also are your thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with you.
19 Surely you will slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, you bloody men.
20 For they speak against you wickedly, and your enemies take your name in vain.
21 Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate you? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against you?
22 I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Romans 9
13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau [the enemies mixed among God’s people, as serpents destroying them] have I hated.
14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
15 For he says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
16 So then it is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy.
17 For the scripture says unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.
18 Therefore has he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardens.
19 You will say then unto me, Why does he yet find fault? For who has resisted his will?
20 Nay but, O man, who are you that replies against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why have you made me thus?
21 Has not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?
22 What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
24 Even us, whom he has called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
25 As he says also in Hosea, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.
26 And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, You are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.
27 Isaiah also cries concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:
28 For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the LORD make upon the earth.
29 And as Isaiah said before, Except the LORD of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodom, and been made like unto Gomorrah.
30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.
31 But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness.
32 Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling-stone;
33 As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumbling-stone and rock of offence: and whosoever believes on him shall not be ashamed [shall not be disappointed, because they will reach the expect end, into which He is leading].

Isaiah 28
5 In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people,
6 And for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.
7 But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
8 For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.
9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine [shmuw’ah – the report, that is as a rumor heard from {stammering} lips, word that are as foreign language and not understood, because it is sound doctrine spoken to men who only know their own creations {fables and molten images – from which they must first be drawn away}]? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
12 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith you may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
13 But the word of the LORD was unto them [sound doctrine taught] precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, you scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because you have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus says the LORD God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believes shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then you shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goes forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report [the shmuw’ah – which is the arm {work} of the LORD revealed before the eyes of all the world].

Exodus 15
6 Your right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: your right hand, O LORD, has dashed in pieces the enemy.
7 And in the greatness of your excellency [ga’own] you have overthrown them that rose up against you: you sent forth your wrath, which consumed them as stubble.
8 And with the blast of your nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.
9 The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.
10 You did blow with your wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters.
11 Who is like unto you, O LORD, among the gods? who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?
12 You stretched out your right hand, the earth swallowed them.
13 You in your mercy have led forth the people which you have redeemed: you have guided them in your strength unto your holy habitation.

Leviticus 26
9 For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you.
10 And you shall eat old store, and bring forth the old because of the new.
11 And I set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you.
12 And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be my people.
13 I am the LORD your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their bondmen; and I have broken the bands of your yoke, and made you go upright.
14 But if you will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments;
15 And if you shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that you will not do all my commandments, but that you break my covenant:
16 I also will do this unto you; I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague [qaddechath – a burning fever], that shall consume the eyes, and cause sorrow of heart: and you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
17 And I will set my face against you, and you shall be slain before your enemies: they that hate you shall reign over you; and you shall flee when none pursueth you.
18 And if you will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins.
19 And I will break the pride [ga’oqn] of your power; and I will make your heaven as iron, and your earth as brass:
20 And your strength shall be spent in vain: for your land shall not yield her increase, neither shall the trees of the land yield their fruits.
21 And if you walk contrary unto me, and will not hearken unto me; I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins.

Job 35
9 By reason of the multitude of oppressions they make the oppressed to cry: they cry out by reason of the arm of the mighty.
10 But none say, Where is God my maker, who gives songs in the night;
11 Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth, and makes us wiser than the fowls of heaven?
12 There they cry, but none gives answer, because of the pride [ga’own] of evil men.
13 Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it.
14 Although you say you shall not see him, yet judgment is before him; therefore trust you in him.
15 But now, because it is not so, he has visited in his anger; yet he knows it not in great extremity:

Job 37
2 Hear attentively the noise of his voice [qowl – the voice of His archangel, His messenger and presence], and the sound that goes out of his mouth.
3 He directs it under the whole heaven, and his lightning unto the ends of the earth.
4 After it a voice [qowl] roars: he thunders [the sound of understanding] with the voice [qowl – the voice that ends the controversy] of his excellency [ga’own]; and he will not stay them [He will not hold back understanding from those who know it’s His voice] when his voice [qowl] is heard.
5 God thunders [speaks understanding] marvelously with his voice [qowl]; great things does he, which we cannot comprehend.
6 For he says to the snow [this word that has been frozen in heaven, held there in the cloud until now], Be you on the earth; likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength.
7 He seals up the hand [His understanding marks the works as good or evil] of every man; that all men may know his work.

Job 38
1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind [ca’ar – from where His voice is heard], and said,
2 Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
3 Gird up now your loins like a man; for I will demand of you, and answer you me.
4 Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if you have understanding.
5 Who has laid the measures thereof, if you knows? or who has stretched the line upon it?
6 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;
7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8 Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?
9 When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddling-band for it,
10 And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors,
11 And said, Hitherto shall you come, but no further: and here shall your proud [ga’own – the mark] waves be stayed?
12 Have you commanded the morning since your days; and caused the dayspring to know his place;
13 That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it?
14 It is turned as clay to the seal [it is His signature, marking it as His work]; and they stand as a garment.
15 And from the wicked their light [understanding] is withheld, and the high arm shall be broken.
16 Have you entered into the springs of the sea? or have you walked in the search of the depth?
17 Have the gates of death been opened unto you? or have you seen the doors of the shadow of death?
18 Have you perceived the breadth of the earth? declare if you know it all.
19 Where is the way where light dwells [do you know understanding is held in the cloud, in heaven with the LORD]? and as for darkness [ignorance], where is the place thereof [it is in the earth, held in the wise men of the world who are too proud to receive God’s word],
20 That you should take it to the bound thereof [to know where ignorance and understanding reside and with this revelation bring the end – the kalah], and that you should know the paths to the house thereof [the end of the house built upon sand and molten images the wise and proud have created]?
21 Know you it, because you were then born? or because the number of your days is great?
22 Have you entered into the treasures of the snow? or have you seen the treasures of the hail,
23 Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?
24 By what way is the light parted, which scattereth the east wind upon the earth?
25 Who has divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder [qowl – the voice of understanding from the LORD];
26 To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man;
27 To satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?
28 Has the rain a father? or who has begotten the drops of dew?
29 Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who has gendered it?
30 The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.
31 Can you bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?
32 Can you bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or can you guide Arcturus with his sons?
33 Know you the ordinances of heaven? can you set the dominion thereof in the earth?
34 Can you lift up your voice [qowl] to the cloud [can you send your voice as the LORD sends His], that abundance of waters may cover you?
35 Can you send lightning [understanding], that they may go and say unto you, Here we are?
36 Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? or who has given understanding to the heart?
37 Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay the bottles of heaven [can you stop the voice of the LORD, can you stay understanding when He sends it],
38 When the dust grows into hardness, and the clods cleave fast together [when there is no life on earth because the waters are, when the word of God is, withheld from the proud and wicked, from the wise men who all the world follow]?

Job 40
6 Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind [ca’ar], and said,
7 Gird up your loins now like a man: I will demand of you, and declare you unto me.
8 Will you also disannul my judgment? will you condemn me [as you have], that you may be righteous?
9 Have you an arm like God? or can you thunder with a voice [qowl] like him?
10 Deck yourself now [as the LORD has] with majesty [ga’own] and excellency; and array yourself with glory and beauty [as He has].
11 Cast abroad the rage of your wrath: and behold every one that is proud, and abase him [as He does].
12 Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place [as does the LORD].
13 Hide them in the dust [the ashes of their own ruin] together; and bind their faces in secret [of all these things they are ignorant, even of their own ignorance and end].
14 Then will I also confess unto you that your own right hand can save you. [By this we understand HOW the LORD saves us.]

Psalms 122
1 I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD.
2 Our feet shall stand within your gates, O Jerusalem.
3 Jerusalem is built as a city that is compact together:
4 Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of The LORD [Yah – Jah], unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the LORD.
5 For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David.
6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love you.
7 Peace be within your walls, and prosperity within your palaces.
8 For my brethren and companions’ sakes, I will now say, Peace be within you.
9 Because of the house of the LORD our God I will seek your good.

Ask you of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.

Ask you of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.

The title, Zechariah 10:1, comes in a chapter that tells of when the LORD appears again, now, as verse 3 says, when His “anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats: for the LORD of hosts has visited his flock the house of Judah, and has made them as his goodly horse in the battle.”

As we understand, as verse 2 says, the “shepherds” are the idols who have spoken vanity, the diviners who have seen lies, false dreams with which they comfort in vain. It says, “therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd.”

The title tells of the LORD appearing into the drought and darkness, with understanding (light) returning from the cloud where it’s been held as if vapor. This latter rain is said to come “to every one grass in the field,” which speaks of it coming to every person, as does the light of the sunrise, which together (His word and understanding) bring new life to the earth (the field).

This passage begins earlier in Zechariah 9 as the LORD tells of His arrival, lowly, unknown, riding upon an ass, and upon a foal the colt of an ass. This is telling of His coming to His people, Jew and Christian, Judah and Israel, His elect remnant and then to His people at large. These are those He, through the latter rain, makes His “goodly horse in the battle,” who, in Revelation 19:14, are said to be clothed in fine linen, white and clean (pure), and riding white horses, as is the LORD.

This latter part, when God’s people at large awaken into the moment, realizing He is with us and Has raised us to ride with Him into the battle, is where, in Zechariah 10:10, the LORD began today.

We will begin below in Zechariah 9:8, which speaks of the “army,” because of which the LORD will encamp about His house: the “siege” He speaks of in Isaiah 29. Zechariah 8 ends telling of these days, when many join with us because they’ve heard “God is with us,” Zechariah 9:1 then saying it is, “when the eyes of man, as of all the tribes of Israel, shall be toward the LORD.”

He next speaks of Tyrus and Zidon, names we know describe the false rock (the false anointing of the misleading shepherds (Tyrus) in who men put their trust, and men who hunt souls as their prey (Zidon). He says, in verse 4, “Behold, the LORD will cast her out, and he will smite her power in the sea [the power they have over the masses]; and she shall be devoured with fire.” And, in verse 7, of the purifying following, saying, “And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth: but he that remains, even he, shall be for our God, and he shall be as a governor in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite [and the others {misleaders among us} as those rooted out in this threshing].”

Zechariah 9
8 And I will encamp about mine house because of the army [the garrison, those who refuse to leave their erroneous positions, their corrupt ideas], because of him that passes by, and because of him that returns: and no oppressor shall pass through them any more: for now have I seen with mine eyes.
9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, your King comes unto you: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.
10 And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem [chariots and horses of the {Egyptians} oppressors who pass through, enforcing their rule], and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth.
11 As for you also, by the blood of your covenant [this word of God sent as the seal of the sacrifice required to deliver it as received] I have sent forth your prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water [to those whose prison is the ignorance that’s come without God’s authentic word].
12 Turn you to the strong hold [Ariel, where David dwelt], you prisoners of hope: even today do I declare that I will render double unto you [this second blessing, of things, ideas, you were once blessed with and have forgotten];
13 When I have bent Judah [My elect remnant] for me, filled the bow with Ephraim [My people at large], and raised up your sons, O Zion, against your sons, O Greece [Yavan – yayin, against those intoxicate, wallowing, in their dregs, the mire of their own ignorance and corruption], and made you as the sword [the mouth of the LORD speaking this word] of a mighty man.
14 And the LORD shall be seen over them, and his arrow shall go forth as the lightning [Ephraim with understanding]: and the LORD God shall blow the trumpet [give His voice from His archangel], and shall go with whirlwinds [ca’ar – from where His voice is heard] of the south.
15 The LORD of hosts shall defend them; and they shall devour, and subdue with sling stones; and they shall drink, and make a noise as through [new] wine [yayin]; and they shall be filled like bowls [with the blood of the sacrifice], and as the corners of the altar.
16 And the LORD their God shall save them in that day as the flock of his people: for they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon his land.
17 For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids.

Zechariah 10
1 Ask you of the LORD rain in the time of the latter rain; so the LORD shall make bright clouds, and give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field.
2 For the idols have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie, and have told false dreams; they comfort in vain: therefore they went their way as a flock, they were troubled, because there was no shepherd.
3 Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats: for the LORD of hosts has visited his flock the house of Judah, and has made them as his goodly horse in the battle.
4 Out of him came forth the corner, out of him the nail, out of him the battle bow, out of him every oppressor together.
5 And they shall be as mighty men, which tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle: and they shall fight, because the LORD is with them, and the riders on horses shall be confounded.
6 And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the LORD their God, and will hear them.
7 And they of Ephraim shall be like a mighty man, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine: yea, their children shall see it, and be glad; their heart shall rejoice in the LORD.
8 I will hiss for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them: and they shall increase as they have increased.
9 And I will sow them among the people: and they shall remember me in far countries; and they shall live with their children, and turn again.
10 I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt [from the oppressors who rule them unjustly], and gather them out of Assyria from; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and place shall not be found for them.
11 And he shall pass through the sea with affliction, and shall smite the waves in the sea, and all the deeps of the river shall dry up: and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt shall depart away.
12 And I will strengthen them in the LORD; and they shall walk up and down in his name, says the LORD.

Zechariah 11
1 Open your doors, O Lebanon [the place of purifying], that the fire may devour your cedars [the self-righteous among you].
2 Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled: howl, O you oaks of Bashan [whose fruit testifies against them]; for the forest of the vintage is come down.
3 There is a voice [qowl – the voices that have resisted and opposed the LORD] of the howling of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a voice [qowl – the voices of those misleading God’s people into self-destruction] of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan [the word of these men that have led into death] is spoiled.
4 Thus says the LORD my God; Feed the flock of the slaughter;
5 Whose possessors [oppressors] slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed be the LORD; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not.
6 For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, says the LORD: but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbor’s hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them.
7 And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock.
8 Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul loathed them, and their soul also abhorred me.
9 Then said I, I will not feed you: that that dies, let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another.
10 And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people.
11 And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the LORD.
12 And I said unto them, If you think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.
13 And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was priced at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.
14 Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
15 And the LORD said unto me, Take unto you yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd.
16 For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that stands still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces.
17 Woe to the idol shepherd that leaves the flock! the sword shall be upon his ar [their works], and upon his right eye [their understanding]: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened [they have become ignorant].

Revelation 19
1 And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the LORD our God:
2 For true and righteous are his judgments: for he has judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and has avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.
3 And again they said, Alleluia And her smoke rose up forever and ever.
4 And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.
5 And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all you his servants, and you that fear him, both small and great.
6 And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings [the voice of understanding, the sound that comes with the lightning], saying, Alleluia: for the LORD God omnipotent reign.
7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife has made herself ready.
8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
9 And he said unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See you do it not: I am your fellow-servant, and of your brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he does judge and make war.
12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
15 And out of his mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
16 And he has on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King Of Kings, And LORD Of Lords.
17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;
18 That you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.
20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

From 22 January 2020:

The fire that reveals the worth of men’s works, what they have built upon the foundation of Jehovah’s Salvation (JESUS) Christ, is what is spoken of in Zechariah 12:6. There we are told the governors of Judah (the leaders of God’s elect remnant, His first-fruits {as are those in the House and Senate}) will be as a fire among the wood (‘ets). Zechariah only uses the word ‘ets one other time, in Zechariah 5:4, each use adding the necessary context to the other.

Zechariah 5
1 Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll [the written word of God, carried away into Shinar – Daniel 1:1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon {the lies of the false prophets and false teachers, the abominations that cause the desolation, and caused the confusion and delusions that now rule the world} unto Jerusalem, and besieged it. 2 And the LORD gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God: which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god.].
2 And he said unto me, What see you? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits.
3 Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goes forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one that steals shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that swears shall be cut off as on that side according to it.
4 I will bring it forth, says the LORD of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that swears falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber [‘ets] thereof and the stones thereof.
5 Then the angel that talked with me went forth, and said unto me, Lift up now your eyes, and see what is this that goes forth.
6 And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an ephah [a measuring weight] that goes forth. He said moreover, This is their resemblance through all the earth.
7 And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and this is a woman [unfaithful woman of the house] that sit in the midst of the ephah [unjustly weighing – judging].
8 And he said, This is wickedness. And he cast it into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof.
9 Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven.
10 Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah?
11 And he said unto me, To build it an house [the house that is consumed in verse 4, where now are thieves who swear falsely by God’s name] in the land of Shinar [from yashen – sleep, the dead]: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base [a foundation – of sand].

Zechariah 12
1 The burden of the word of the LORD for Israel, says the LORD, which stretches forth the heavens, and lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him.
2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem.
3 And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.
4 In that day, says the LORD, I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the people with blindness.
5 And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem shall be my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.
6 In that day will I make the governors of Judah like a hearth of fire among the wood [‘ets], and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the left: and Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place, even in Jerusalem.
7 The LORD also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem do not magnify themselves against Judah.
8 In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the LORD before them.
9 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
10 And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
11 In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. [The reference in the two previous verses are, first to Josiah {founded of Jehovah}, the one pierced when he was in the battle in disguise {the LORD unknown among us as the Holy Spirit – see 2 Chronicles 35:22 – 24}. The second is when God’s people mourn, realizing they have been following false prophets and idol they’ve raised into God’s place, thereby causing them to not recognize the LORD among them. Hadad-Rimmon are names of idols, meaning the fruit of the mighty. Megiddon is Armageddon, the battle, at this planed {scripted} time, when the LORD manifests His presence and power in us, by His Spirit, to vanquish the many enemies, shepherds and false prophet, who have scattered His sheep, His family, the little ones He is now gathering to Himself.]
12 And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart;
13 The family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of Shimei apart, and their wives apart;
14 All the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.

Ezekiel 31
1 And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the third month, in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, speak unto Pharaoh [you know who she is – the unfaithful woman of the great house that falls in her hand] king of Egypt [captivity], and to his multitude; Whom are you like in your greatness?
3 Behold, the Assyrian [the communists before them] was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of a high stature; and his top was among the thick boughs.
4 The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high with her rivers running round about his plants, and sent her little rivers unto all the trees [‘ets] of the field.
5 Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees [‘ets] of the field, and his boughs were multiplied, and his branches became long because of the multitude of waters, when he shot forth.
6 All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations.
7 Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches: for his root was by great waters.
8 The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him: the fir trees [‘ets] were not like his boughs, and the chestnut trees [‘ets] were not like his branches; nor any tree [‘ets] in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty.
9 I have made him fair by the multitude of his branches: so that all the trees [‘ets] of Eden, that were in the garden of God, envied him.
10 Therefore thus says the LORD God; Because you have lifted up yourself in height, and he has shot up his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height;
11 I have therefore delivered him into the hand of the mighty one of the heathen; he shall surely deal with him: I have driven him out for his wickedness.
12 And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off, and have left him: upon the mountains and in all the valleys his branches are fallen, and his boughs are broken by all the rivers of the land; and all the people of the earth are gone down from his shadow, and have left him.
13 Upon his ruin shall all the fowls of the heaven remain, and all the beasts of the field shall be upon his branches:
14 To the end that none of all the trees [‘ets] by the waters exalt themselves for their height, neither shoot up their top among the thick boughs, neither their trees [‘ets] stand up in their height, all that drink water: for they are all delivered unto death, to the nether parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with them that go down to the pit.
15 Thus says the LORD God; In the day when he went down to the grave I caused a mourning: I covered the deep for him, and I restrained the floods thereof, and the great waters were stayed: and I caused Lebanon to mourn for him, and all the trees [‘ets] of the field fainted for him.
16 I made the nations to shake at the sound [qowl – at the voice of the LORD, speaking] of his fall, when I cast him down to hell with them that descend into the pit: and all the trees [‘ets] of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth.
17 They also went down into hell with him unto them that be slain with the sword; and they that were his arm, that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the heathen.
18 To whom are you thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees [‘ets] of Eden? yet shall you be brought down with the trees [‘ets] of Eden unto the nether parts of the earth: you shall lie in the midst of the uncircumcised [in the midst of hell in flesh bodies – the dead who have no idea they are dead and in hell] with them that be slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, says the LORD God.

The word used in Zachariah 5:4 to tell of the house that is “consumed” is the Hebrew word kalah, meaning to end. It is the word that appears in Hosea 11:6, and an identical word appears as “riddance” in Zephaniah 1:18 and as “consummation” in Daniel 9:27, all describing the rendezvous (Megiddon, this appointed time, of the end).

Hosea 11
1 When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
2 As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images.
3 I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them.
4 I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them.
5 He shall not return into the land of Egypt, and the Assyrian shall be his king, because they refused to return.
6 And the sword shall abide on his cities, and shall consume [kalah – end] his branches, and devour them, because of their own counsels.
7 And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though they called them to the Most High, none at all would exalt him.

Zephaniah 1
14 The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hastens greatly, even the voice [qowl – the voice of the archangel, His voice from His messenger] of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.
15 That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,
16 A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers.
17 And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung.
18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD’s wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance [kalah – end] of all them that dwell in the land.

Zephaniah 2
1 Gather yourselves together, yea, gather together, O nation not desired;
2 Before the decree bring forth, before the day pass as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD come upon you, before the day of the LORD’s anger come upon you.
3 Seek you the LORD, all you meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be you shall be hid in the day of the LORD’s anger.

Daniel 9
24 Seventy weeks are determined upon your people and upon your holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27 And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation [kalah – end], and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

Psalm 45
1 My heart is inditing [My mind is running over with] a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.
2 You are fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into your lips: therefore God has blessed you forever.
3 Gird your sword upon your thigh, O most mighty, with your glory and your majesty.
4 And in your majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and your right hand shall teach you terrible things.
5 Your arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies; whereby the people fall under you.
6 Your throne, O God, is forever and ever: the scepter of your kingdom is a right scepter.
7 You love righteousness, and hate wickedness: therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.
8 All your garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made you glad.
9 Kings’ daughters were among your honorable women: upon your right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.
10 Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear; forget also your own people, and your father’s house;
11 So shall the king greatly desire your beauty: for he is your LORD; and worship you him.
12 And the daughter of Tyre [who were before a false rock] shall be there with a gift; even the rich among the people shall entreat your favor.
13 The king’s daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold.
14 She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto you.
15 With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into the king’s palace.
16 Instead of your fathers shall be your children, whom you may make princes in all the earth.
17 I will make your name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise you forever and ever.

Hear you now what the LORD says; Arise, contend you before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice.

Hear you now what the LORD says; Arise, contend you before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice.

Continuing: As we saw in the previous post, the mountains and hills are the high places, seats of power in church and state, that have risen up and loom over the inhabitants of the earth. The word rendered “contend” in the title, Micah 6:1, is the Hebrew word riyb, meaning “properly, to toss, i.e. grapple; mostly figuratively, to wrangle, i.e. hold a controversy; (by implication) to defend.”

It (riyb) is telling of presenting God’s side of the argument, the LORD in us speaking for Himself, pleading (riyb) His cause, which is the controversy of Zion. As we know, the controversy (riyb) is about whose ideas and ways are best suited to rule the world, man’s evil, or God’s good?

Isaiah 34
1 Come near, you nations, to hear; and hearken, you people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it.
2 For the indignation of the LORD is upon all nations [gowy – the masses who don’t know God], and his fury upon all their armies [tsaba’ – these masses gathered to make war]: he has utterly destroyed them, he has delivered them to the slaughter.
3 Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up out of their carcasses, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood.
4 And all the host [tsaba’ – those gathered there to make war against the LORD] of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host [tsaba’ – all those gathered to make war against God’s people] shall fall down, as the leaf falls off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree.
5 For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea [Esau and Edom, the enemies mixed among us], and upon the people of my curse, to judgment.
6 The sword [this word from His mouth] of the LORD is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah [among the sheep fold], and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea [of the enemies among us].
7 And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.
8 For it is the day of the LORD’s vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy [riyb] of Zion.
9 And the streams [the reports and advice broadcast to the inflamed masses] thereof shall be turned into pitch [blackness – ignorance], and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch [flaming darkness – ignorance].
10 It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up forever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it forever and ever.
11 But the cormorant and the bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in it: and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the stones of emptiness [as we know, here are the words tohuw bohuw, which only appear elsewhere in Genesis 1:2 and Jeremiah 4:24, both rendered “without form and void” in telling of the condition the earth “became” before the new creation].
12 They shall call the nobles thereof to the kingdom, but none shall be there, and all her princes shall be nothing.
13 And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be a habitation of dragons, and a court for owls.
14 The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place of rest.
15 There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow: there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate.
16 Seek you out of the book of the LORD, and read: no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate: for my mouth it has commanded, and his spirit it has gathered them.
17 And he has cast the lot for them, and his hand has divided it unto them by line: they shall possess it forever, from generation to generation shall they dwell therein.

We are told of these aspects, of the controversy and how the LORD pleads His case, as riyb is rendered “chide” in Exodus 17:2 describing when God’s people tempted Him as they murmured against Moses. As we know, the temptation (trial) was God’s people doubting His presence among them manifested by Him speaking through Moses, as Christ, the Rock from whom the waters, God’s word, flow. When the event is repeated in Numbers 20 the LORD says it’s when the people strove (riyb) against Him. In this occurrence, the LORD tells Moses to speak to the Rock in the presence of the people. Moses instead struck the rock a second time, for which the LORD says, “Because you believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.”

Moses’ unbelief (denying it was the LORD in Him) is revealed in the Hebrew words qadash ‘ayin, rendered “sanctify in the eyes.” Qadash means to be (or declare) clean, and ‘ayin also means fountain. The LORD was telling Moses, as He told me and I did, to tell the people plainly He is the fountain from where the pure (clean) word of God is flowing (as His voice).

Amos 5
6 Seek the LORD, and you shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel [the houses of God, where they have replaced Him with idols they’ve made].
7 You who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,
8 Seek him that makes the seven stars and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night: that calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name:
9 That strengthens the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.
10 They hate him that rebukes in the gate, and they abhor him that speaks uprightly.
11 Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and you take from him burdens of wheat: you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink wine of them.
12 For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right.
13 Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.
14 Seek good, and not evil, that you may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as you have spoken.
15 Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.
16 Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the LORD, says thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skillful of lamentation to wailing.
17 And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pass through you, says the LORD.
18 Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.
19 As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.
20 Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it?
21 I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.
22 Though you offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.
23 Take you away from me the noise of your songs; for I will not hear the melody of your viols.
24 But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.
25 Have you offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?
26 But you have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which you made to yourselves.
27 Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, says the LORD, whose name is The God of hosts.

Micah 5
1 Now gather yourself in troops, O daughter of troops: he has laid siege against us: they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.
2 But you, Bethlehem Ephratah, though you be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
3 Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travails has brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.
4 And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.
5 And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian [communists] shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.
6 And they shall waste the land of Assyria [communists] with the sword, and the land of Nimrod [the rebellion] in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian, when he comes into our land, and when he treads within our borders.
7 And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the LORD, as the showers upon the grass, that tarried not for man, nor waited for the sons of men.
8 And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both treads down, and tears in pieces, and none can deliver.
9 Your hand shall be lifted up upon your adversaries, and all your enemies shall be cut off.
10 And it shall come to pass in that day, says the LORD, that I will cut off your horses out of the midst of you, and I will destroy your chariots:
11 And I will cut off the cities of your land, and throw down all your strong holds:
12 And I will cut off witchcrafts out of your hand; and you shall have no more soothsayers [deceiving false prophets]:
13 Your graven images also will I cut off, and your standing images out of the midst of you; and you shall no more worship the work of your hands.
14 And I will pluck up your groves out of the midst of you: so will I destroy your cities.
15 And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen, such as they have not heard.

Micah 6
1 Hear you now what the LORD says; Arise, contend [riyb] you before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice [qowl – the LORD’s voice from us].
2 Hear you, O mountains, the LORD’s controversy [riyb], and you strong foundations of the earth: for the LORD has a controversy [riyb] with his people, and he will plead with Israel.
3 O my people, what have I done unto you? and wherein have I wearied you? testify against me.
4 For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of servants; and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
5 O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that you may know the righteousness of the LORD [when He turned the curse of the false prophets into a blessing upon His people].
6 Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old?
7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly WITH your God?
9 The LORD’s voice [qowl – Pleading His case through us] cries unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see your name [shem – meaning His presence realized, “the idea of definite and conspicuous position; an appellation, as a mark or memorial of individuality; by implication honor, authority, character”]: hear you the rod, and who has appointed it.
10 Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable?
11 Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?
12 For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

Friends, I began this post several days ago, each day not understanding (not seeing) where the LORD was going. This morning, after waiting on Him, I understand.

Jeremiah 4
1 If you will return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: and if you will put away your abominations out of my sight, then shall you not remove.
2 And you shall swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.
3 For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.
4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
5 Declare you in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow you the trumpet in the land: cry, gather together, and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defenced cities.
6 Set up the standard toward Zion: retire, stay not: for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.
7 The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make your land desolate; and your cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant.
8 For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us.
9 And it shall come to pass at that day, says the LORD, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder.
10 Then said I, Ah, LORD God! surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, You shall have peace; whereas the sword reaches unto the soul.
11 At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse,
12 Even a full wind from those places shall come unto me: now also will I give sentence against them.
13 Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us! for we are spoiled.
14 O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long shall your vain thoughts lodge within you?
15 For a voice [qowl – the LORD’s speaking to His people, through His archangel] declares from Dan, and publishes affliction from mount Ephraim.
16 Make you mention to the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, that watchers [natsar – only used elsewhere by Jeremiah in Jeremiah 31:6 in telling of the “watchmen,” the elect remnant with the LORD, saying, “Arise you, and let us go up to Zion unto the LORD our God.”] come from a far country, and give out their voice [qowl – the LORD’s voice heard from them] against the cities of Judah.
17 As keepers of a field, are they against her round about; because she has been rebellious against me, says the LORD.
18 Your way and your doings have procured these things unto you; this is your wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto your heart.
19 My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because you have heard, O my soul, the sound [qowl – the voice of the archasngel] of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
20 Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment.
21 How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound [qowl – the voice] of the trumpet?
22 For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
23 I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void [hayah tohuw bohuw]; and the heavens, and they had no light [understanding].
24 I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly.
25 I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.
26 I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger.
27 For thus has the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end.
28 For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it.
29 The whole city shall flee for the noise [qowl – the voice of the LORD heard from His elect remnant] of the horsemen and bowmen; they shall go into thickets, and climb up upon the rocks: every city shall be forsaken, and not a man dwell therein.
30 And when you are spoiled, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with crimson, though you deck you with ornaments of gold, though you rent your face with painting, in vain shall you make yourself fair; your lovers will despise you, they will seek your life.
31 For I have heard a voice [qowl – the voice of those who bring forth the living body of Christ] as of a woman in travail, and the anguish as of her that bring forth her first child, the voice [qowl – the voice of the new creation of God’s people] of the daughter of Zion, that bewails herself, that spread her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers. [“And the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.” Revelation 12:4]

Jeremiah 5
1 Run you to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem [seeing what will give you understanding], and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof [which lead to destruction], if you can find a man, if there be any that executes judgment, that seeks the truth; and I will pardon it.
2 And though they say, The LORD lives; surely they swear falsely.
3 O LORD, are not your eyes upon the truth? you have stricken them, but they have not grieved; you have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.
4 Therefore I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the LORD, nor the judgment of their God.
5 I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.
6 Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goes out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased.
7 How shall I pardon you for this? your children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses.
8 They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbor’s wife.
9 Shall I not visit for these things? says the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
10 Go you up upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they are not the LORD’s.
11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, says the LORD.
12 They have belied the LORD, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine:
13 And the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them.
14 Wherefore thus says the LORD God of hosts, Because you speak this word, behold, I will make my words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.
15 Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, says the LORD: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you know not, neither understand what they say. [The enemies now mixed among us, who words are as an open grave into which they invite and advise all to follow.]
16 Their quiver is as an open sepulcher [tomb or grave], they are all mighty men.
17 And they shall eat up your harvest, and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat: they shall eat up your flocks and your herds: they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees: they shall impoverish your fenced cities, wherein you trusted, with the sword. [These are as locust, the words of men in this time of the locust, devouring all that was before them. Before them the land is as Eden, after them destruction and absolute desolation, and My people love to have it so.]
18 Nevertheless in those days, says the LORD, I will not make a full end with you.
19 And it shall come to pass, when you shall say, Wherefore does the LORD our God all these things unto us? then shall you answer them, Like as you have forsaken me, and served strange gods in your land, so shall you serve strangers in a land that is not yours.
20 Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying,
21 Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not:
22 Fear you not me? says the LORD: will you not tremble at my presence, which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it [see Job 38:11 below, and then answer Me, if you will, and let us end the controversy]: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?
23 But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone.
24 Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that gives rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserved unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.
25 Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good things from you.
26 For among my people are found wicked men: they lay wait, as he that sets snares; they set a trap, they catch men.
27 As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich.
28 They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.
29 Shall I not visit for these things? says the LORD: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
30 A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land;
31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will you do in the end thereof?

Job 38
1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind [ca’ar], and said,
2 Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
3 Gird up now your loins like a man; for I will demand of you, and answer you me.
4 Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if you have understanding.
5 Who has laid the measures thereof, if you know? or who has stretched the line upon it?
6 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;
7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8 Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?
9 When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddling-band for it,
10 And brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors,
11 And said, Hitherto shall you come, but no further: and here shall your proud waves be stayed?
12 Have you commanded the morning since your days; and caused the dayspring to know his place;
13 That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it?
14 It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment.
15 And from the wicked their light [understanding] is withheld, and the high arm shall be broken.
16 Have you entered into the springs of the sea? or have you walked in the search of the depth?
17 Have the gates of death been opened unto you? or have you seen the doors of the shadow of death?
18 Have you perceived the breadth of the earth? declare if you know it all.

Jeremiah 30
16 Therefore all they that devour you shall be devoured; and all your adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and they that spoil you shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon you will I give for a prey.
17 For I will restore health unto you, and I will heal you of your wounds, says the LORD; because they called you an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeks after.
18 Thus says the LORD; Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob’s tents, and have mercy on his dwelling-places; and the city shall be built upon her own heap, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof.
19 And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice [qowl – those from whom the LORD’s voice is heard] of them that make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.
20 Their children also shall be as aforetime, and their congregation shall be established before me, and I will punish all that oppress them.
21 And their nobles shall be of themselves, and their governor shall proceed from the midst of them; and I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach unto me: for who is this that engaged his heart to approach unto me? says the LORD.
22 And you shall be my people, and I will be your God.
23 Behold, the whirlwind [ca’ar – from where the LORD’s voice is heard] of the LORD goes forth with fury, a continuing whirlwind [ca’ar]: it shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked.
24 The fierce anger of the LORD shall not return, until he has done it, and until he have performed the intents of his heart: in the latter days you shall consider it.

Jeremiah 31
1 At the same time, says the LORD, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people.
2 Thus says the LORD, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest.
3 The LORD has appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn you.
4 Again I will build you, and you shall be built, O virgin of Israel: you shall again be adorned with your tabrets, and shall go forth in the dances of them that make merry.
5 You shall yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria: the planters shall plant, and shall eat them as common things.
6 For there shall be a day, that the watchmen [natsar] upon the mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise you, and let us go up to Zion unto the LORD our God.
7 For thus says the LORD; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations: publish you, praise you, and say, O LORD, save your people, the remnant of Israel.
8 Behold, I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child and her that travail with child together: a great company shall return thither.

Friends, the “broad” place spoken of in Jeremiah 5:1, from the Hebrew word rechob, is the “street” Jeremiah later speaks of in Jeremiah 48:39, 49:26 and 50:30. In all of these are the fires and pride that come in the swelling of Jordan, when those who’ve trusted in (are proud of) the power they have to manipulate and control people with lies are destroyed in the consequences.

Jeremiah 48
38 There shall be lamentation generally upon all the housetops of Moab [the open mouths of the misleaders and deceivers, which are the gates that hold God’s people in hell], and in the streets [rechob – the broad way that leads to perdition] thereof: for I have broken Moab like a vessel wherein is no pleasure, says the LORD.
39 They shall howl, saying, How is it broken down! how has Moab turned the back with shame! so shall Moab be a derision and a dismaying to all them about him.
40 For thus saith the LORD; Behold, he shall fly as an eagle, and shall spread his wings over Moab.
41 Kerioth is [their cities are] taken, and the strong holds are surprised, and the mighty men’s hearts in Moab at that day shall be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.
42 And Moab shall be destroyed from being a people, because he has magnified himself against the LORD.
43 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, shall be upon you, O inhabitant of Moab, says the LORD.
44 He that flees from the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that gets up out of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for I will bring upon it, even upon Moab, the year of their visitation, says the LORD.

Jeremiah 49
21 The earth is moved at the noise [qowl – the voice of the LORD] of their fall, at the cry the noise [qowl – His archangel rightly dividing the waters {correctly interpreting God’s word}] thereof was heard in the Red sea.
22 Behold, he shall come up and fly as the eagle, and spread his wings over Bozrah [protecting and restoring the strength of His sheepfold]: and at that day shall the heart of the mighty men of Edom [the enemies mixed among us] be as the heart of a woman in her pangs.
23 Concerning Damascus [where the word of the LORD has been silenced and the work stopped]. Hamath [their stronghold] is confounded, and Arpad [and they are scattered]: for they have heard evil tidings: they are fainthearted; there is sorrow on the sea [among the masses]; it cannot be quiet.
24 Damascus is waxed feeble, and turns herself to flee, and fear has seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail.
25 How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy!
26 Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets [rechob – shall perish in the broad way], and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, says the LORD of hosts.
27 And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus [the wall keeping God’s people in hell, in silence and not working], and it [the fire] shall consume the palaces of Benhadad [the political power of the children of the oppressors {the mighty}].

Jeremiah 50
28 The voice [qowl – the voice of the LORD heard from those who’ve escaped confusion’s rule and now understand] of them that flee and escape out of the land of Babylon [confusion], to declare in Zion [the minds wherein God’s reigns] the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance of his temple.
29 Call together the archers against Babylon [against the lies that have cause the confusion and chaos]: all you that bend the bow, camp against it round about; let none thereof escape: recompense her according to her work; according to all that she has done, do unto her: for she has been proud against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel.
30 Therefore shall her young men fall in the streets [rechob – the broad way, the lies, that leads to perdition], and all her men of war shall be cut off in that day, says the LORD.
31 Behold, I am against you, O you most proud [the swelling spoken of in verse 44 below, when the words of death {lies and confusion} overflow their banks {become delusion} and cover the land, as now], says the LORD God of hosts: for your day is come, the time that I will visit you.
32 And the most proud shall stumble and fall, and none shall raise him up: and I will [have, by not destroying them] kindle a fire in his cities, and it shall devour all round about him.
33 Thus says the LORD of hosts; The children of Israel and the children of Judah were oppressed together: and all that took them captives held them fast; they refused to let them go.
34 Their Redeemer is strong; the LORD of hosts is his name: he shall thoroughly plead [riyb] their cause [riyb – over the controversy], that he may give rest to the land, and disquiet the inhabitants of Babylon [cause fear to take hold of those who live in confusion].
35 A sword is upon the Chaldeans [those who used their word to manipulate and control people into doing their evil will], says the LORD, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men.
36 A sword is upon the liars; and they shall dote: a sword is upon her mighty men; and they shall be dismayed.
37 A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed.
38 A drought is upon her waters [their words of death]; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon [insane because of] their idols.
39 Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited forever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation.
40 As God overthrew Sodom [in flames] and Gomorrah [in ruin] and the neighbor cities thereof [set them on fire and made them a ruin], says the LORD; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.
41 Behold, a people shall come from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.
42 They shall hold the bow and the lance: they are cruel, and will not show mercy: their voice [qowl – the voice of masses that once opposed and resisted God’s word] shall roar like the sea [like the masses, as the sea closing upon the Egyptians], and they shall ride upon horses, every one put in array, like a man to the battle, against you, O daughter of Babylon [of confision].
43 The king of Babylon has heard the report of them, and his hands waxed feeble: anguish took hold of him, and pangs as of a woman in travail.
44 Behold, he shall come up like a lion [the LORD in His people, shall rise {awaken} from under the word of death that have held them in hell] from the swelling of Jordan unto the habitation of the strong: but I will make them [the mighty, the oppressors who’ve held them] suddenly run away from her: and who is a chosen man, that I may appoint over her? for who is like me? and who will appoint me the time? and who is that shepherd that will stand before me?
45 Therefore hear you the counsel of the LORD, that he has taken against Babylon; and his purposes, that he has purposed against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the least of the flock shall draw them out [as He has]: surely he shall make their habitation desolate with them.
46 At the noise [qowl – the voice of the LORD’s archangel, His messenger, the least of the flock] of the taking of Babylon the earth is moved, and the cry is heard among the nations.

Psalms 12
1 Help, LORD; for the godly man ceases; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.
2 They speak vanity every one with his neighbor: with flattering lips and with a double heart do they speak.
3 The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaks proud things:
4 Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?
5 For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, says the LORD; I will set him in safety from him that puffs at him.
6 The words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
7 You shall keep them, O LORD, you shall preserve [natsar – be a watchmen over] them from this generation forever.
8 The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.

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