Day 160 · Part 9: Exile

The Writing on the Wall · Comfort My People

Jer 50:1–3, 51:6–8, 51:59–64 · Dan 5 · Isa 40:1–12, 40:15, 40:18–22, 40:25–31, 41:10, 42:1–9, 43:1–3, 43:18–19, 44:9–20, 44:24–45:7, 46:3–4, 48:17–18 · 111 verses

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In the Story

In context

At Belshazzar’s feast the king drinks from the vessels taken from the temple in Jerusalem, and the fingers of a man’s hand write on the wall: “MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN” (Daniel 5:1–5, 25). Daniel reads it: God has counted the kingdom and ended it, the king is “weighed in the balances” and “found wanting,” and the kingdom is given to the Medes and Persians. “In that night Belshazzar the Chaldean King was slain” (5:26–30). Babylon fell to the Persians about 539 BC. Years before, Jeremiah had sent a book of words against Babylon to be read there and sunk in the Euphrates: “Thus will Babylon sink” (Jeremiah 51:59–64).

Isaiah 40 begins the words of comfort: “Comfort, comfort my people,” and a voice calls, “Prepare the way of Yahweh in the wilderness,” words the Gospels use of John the Baptist (Isaiah 40:1–3; Matthew 3:3). “The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God stands forever,” and “those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength” (Isaiah 40:8, 31).

The Lord calls Cyrus of Persia “my shepherd” and “his anointed,” and says of Jerusalem, “She will be built” (44:28–45:1). To the people carried from birth he says, “even to gray hairs I will carry you” (46:4).

A word of hope

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, through the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

2 Corinthians 1:3–4 · Isaiah’s words begin, “Comfort, comfort my people”; Paul calls him “God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction.”

For families

The Lord tells his people he has carried them “from the womb” and adds, “even to gray hairs I will carry you” (Isaiah 46:3–4). Isaiah also pictures him as a shepherd who will “gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom” (40:11).

What is something your family remembers about you as a baby?

In the Bible

World English Bible, as published by eBible.org (public domain).

A hymn for today

How Firm a Foundation · words by “K” in John Rippon’s Selection of Hymns

Organ and orchestra: an introduction, then each of the 7 verses. Tap a verse’s number to start there.

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,Is laid for your faith in His excellent word!What more can He say than to you He hath said,You who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?
In every condition, in sickness, in health,In poverty's vale, or abounding in wealth,At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea,As thy days may demand shall thy strength ever be.
Fear not, I am with thee; O be not dismayed,For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid;I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.
When through the deep waters I call thee to go,The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow;For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.
When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,My grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply;The flame shall not hurt thee; I only designThy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.
E'en down to old age all My people shall proveMy sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love;And when hoary hairs shall their temples adorn,Like lambs they shall still in My bosom be borne.
The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose,I will not, I will not desert to his foes;That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,I'll never, no never, no never forsake.

The Writing on the Wall · Comfort My People

In the Story

In context

For families

In the Bible

Jeremiah 50:1–3

Jeremiah 51:6–8

Jeremiah 51:59–64

Daniel 5

Isaiah 40:1–12

Isaiah 40:15

Isaiah 40:18–22

Isaiah 40:25–31

Isaiah 41:10

Isaiah 42:1–9

Isaiah 43:1–3

Isaiah 43:18–19

Isaiah 44:9–20

Isaiah 44:24–28

Isaiah 45:1–7

Isaiah 46:3–4

Isaiah 48:17–18

A hymn for today