Isaiah 2:1-5
The Mountain of the Lord
2 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 lIt shall come to pass in the latter days
that
mthe mountain of the house of the
Lord
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be lifted up above the hills;
and
nall the nations shall flow to it,
3 and
omany peoples shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the
Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
For
pout of Zion shall go the law,
and the word of the
Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He shall judge between the nations,
and shall decide disputes for many peoples;
qand they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
rnation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war anymore.
in
sthe light of the
Lord.
Psalm 122
Let Us Go to the House of the Lord
A Song of mAscents. Of David.
122 I was glad when they said to me,
g“Let us go to the house of the
Lord!”
2 Our feet have been standing
within your gates, O Jerusalem!
3 Jerusalem—
hbuilt as a city
that is
ibound firmly together,
4 to which the tribes
jgo up,
as was
kdecreed for Israel,
to give thanks to the name of the
Lord.
5 There
lthrones for judgment were set,
the thrones of the house of David.
6 mPray for the peace of Jerusalem!
“May they be secure who love you!
7 Peace be within your
nwalls
and security within your
ntowers!”
8 For my brothers and companions' sake
I will say,
o“Peace be within you!”
9 For the sake of the house of the
Lord our God,
I think the most lovely part of the selected passages is the line,
ReplyDelete"and they shall beat their swords into plowshears and their spears into pruning hooks."
how wonderful that a tool used to divide, to intimidate, to conquer is now being molded into a tool for creation... for a return to TOV. I love it.
This is easy to think about when we think nation against nation. War on a grand scale is easy and trendy to criticize... but what about individual conflicts or divisions. We are at times too filled with fear or anxiety to make right that broken relationship, thus keeping the sword. We won't say whats needed to reassure our spouse that everything is safe and fine within our marriage, thus wielding a sword. WE don't have the boldness or the courage to love and create new holy moments and new memories... we need the humility needed to beat our swords into plowshears. may God grant it to us indeed.
praying for you guys.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/scrufidog/8225320999/
ReplyDeleteboth of these passages are astonishingly beautiful, i don't know how many times i've read them today.
ReplyDeletein the tniv, psalm 122:6 says "may those who love you be secure." when i first read this i didn't realize the prayer was for Jerusalem the city, but read it as Jerusalem the people. it struck me. i want to pray that prayer and i want others to pray that over me. that those who love me are secure. that the ones who care about me can rest easy at night not worrying about my health or safety or whatever. i want that to be the way i pray for others because it seems like a very backwards way of praying--rather than praying for a person, you pray for the ones who love them--and there seems to be something beautiful in that.