Read the Bible with Me!

Welcome to the Pauline Family's "Year of the Bible"! I'm reading the Bible clear through this year, and I invite you to read along with me. But first, let us pray: 

Everlasting Father,

All time belongs to you, and all the ages. In signs, in songs, in words of promise, you reassured your chosen ones, “I am with you; fear not.” You taught them through the prophets to trust that your saving deeds were not limited to the past.

When Jesus came, he fulfilled “all that was written in the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms.”

The Church has found him everywhere in these same holy books.

Help me to find Jesus in my reading today, to listen to him, and to follow him with all my heart.

Amen.

Today's chapters are Isaiah 13-15.

Shifting gears, we move from the prophecies about a future Emmanuel-child to a long series (10 chapters!) of prophecies of judgments against the pagan nations, judgments that will widen to encompass the whole earth. It is a lead-up to some of the most spectacular prophecies of all: prophecies whose complete fulfillment we are still awaiting.

Judgment starts with Israel's dreaded foe, Babylon (which will again receive oracles of judgment in Chapter 21). Notice the apocalyptic language: "the sun will be dark at its rising and the moon will not give its light." This is not a prophecy of solar or lunar eclipse: It is a symbol of the most secure and established forms of order, day and night, giving way to "the Day of the Lord." (Isaiah is the first biblical writer to introduce this expression.)

Start reading here.

If you are looking for a solid but approachable companion to the Bible, I can wholeheartedly recommend A Catholic Introduction to the Bible: The Old Testament by John Bergsma and Brant Pitre. Although the authors are top-level Scripture scholars, they write for "real" readers. Notes include recent findings from archaeology and ancient manuscripts, and how each book of the Bible has been understood by the Church Fathers and used in Liturgy.