september 11

⁴⁴But I say to you: Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. And pray for those who persecute and slander you.

⁸In that day, the Lord will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and even he who will have offended from them, in that day, will be like David, and the house of David will be like that of God, just like an angel of the Lord in their sight. ⁹And this shall be in that day: I will seek to crush all the Gentiles that come against Jerusalem.

¹⁹Do not defend yourselves, dearest ones. Instead, step aside from wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is mine. I shall give retribution, says the Lord.”

³I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you, and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”

¹Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will raise up, over Babylon and over its inhabitants, who have lifted up their heart against me, something like a pestilent wind. ²And I will send winnowers into Babylon, and they will winnow her, and they will demolish her land. For they will overwhelm her from every side in the day of her affliction. ³Let him who draws the bow, not draw his bow. And let him who wears armor, not rise up. Do not spare her young men. Destroy her entire military. ⁴And the slain will fall in the land of the Chaldeans, and the wounded in its regions. ⁵Yet Israel and Judah have not been widowed by their God, the Lord of hosts, though their land has been filled with transgression against the Holy One of Israel. ⁶Flee from the midst of Babylon! And let each one save his own life. Do not be silent about her iniquity. For it is the time of revenge from the Lord. He himself will repay her, in her turn.

¹The burden of Babylon which Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw. ²Over the foggy mountain lift up a sign! Raise the voice, lift up the hand, and let the rulers enter through the gates! ³In my wrath, I commanded my sanctified ones, and I called my strong ones, those who exult in my glory. ⁴On the mountains, there is the voice of a multitude, as if of a numerous people, a voice with the sound of kings, of nations gathered together. For the Lord of hosts has given orders to soldiers of war, ⁵to those who are arriving from a far off land, from the heights of the heavens. It is the Lord and the instruments of his fury, so that he may bring ruin to all the earth. ⁶Wail aloud! For the day of the Lord draws near! It will arrive like a devastation from the Lord.

³¹But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will take up wings like eagles. They will run and not struggle. They will walk and not tire.

²⁵And there will be, on every lofty mountain, and on every elevated hill, rivers of running water, in the day of the slaughter of many, when the tower will fall.

¹⁶For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, so that all who believe in him may not perish, but may have eternal life.

¹And after these things, I saw another Angel, descending from heaven, having great authority. And the earth was illuminated by his glory. ²And he cried out with strength, saying: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great. And she has become the habitation of demons, and the keepsake of every unclean spirit, and the possession of every unclean and hateful flying thing. ³For all the nations have imbibed the wine of the wrath of her fornication. And the kings of the earth have fornicated with her. And the merchants of the earth have become wealthy by the power of her pleasures.” ⁴And I heard another voice from heaven, saying: “Go away from her, my people, so that you may not be participants in her pleasures, and so that you may not be recipients of her afflictions. ⁵For her sins have pierced through even to heaven, and the Lord has remembered her iniquities. ⁶Render to her, as she has also rendered to you. And repay her doubly, according to her works. Mix for her a double portion, in the cup with which she mixed.

¹In the earlier time, the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali were lifted up. But in the later time, the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, the Galilee of the Gentiles, was weighed down. ²The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. A light has risen for the inhabitants of the region of the shadow of death. ³You have increased the nation, but you have not increased the rejoicing. They will rejoice before you, like those who rejoice at the harvest, like the victorious exulting after capturing the prey, when they divide the spoils. ⁴For you have prevailed over the yoke of their burden, and over the rod of their shoulder, and over the scepter of their oppressor, as in the day of Midian. ⁵For every violent plunder with a tumult, and every garment mixed with blood, will be burned up and will become fuel for the fire. ⁶For unto us a child is born, and unto us a son is given. And leadership is placed upon his shoulder. And his name shall be called: wonderful Counselor, mighty God, father of the future age, Prince of Peace.

¹¹For I know the thoughts that I think over you, says the Lord: thoughts of peace and not of affliction, so that I may give you patience and an end.

⁴BETH. My skin and my flesh, he has made old; he has crushed my bones.

⁷The Lord guards you from all evil. May the Lord guard your soul.