Bible Study: May 14 2025

Prayer

As always, we start with prayer. Is there anything we can pray for this evening that is on your heart for yourself or for someone you know?

Praise

God of This City

You're the God of this city

You're the King of these people

You're the Lord of this nation

You are

You're the light in this darkness

You're the hope to the hopeless

You're the peace to the restless

You are

There is no one like our God

There is no one like our God

For greater things have yet to come

And greater things are still to be done in this city

Greater things have yet to come

And greater things are still to be done in this city

Passage

Isaiah 5:8-17

8 Woe to those who join house to house,    

who add field to field,

until there is room for no one,    

and you are left to live alone    

in the midst of the land!

9 The Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing:

Surely many houses shall be desolate,   

 large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.

10 For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath,   

 and a homer of seed shall yield a mere ephah.

11 Woe to those who rise early in the morning   

 in pursuit of strong drink,

who linger in the evening   

 to be inflamed by wine,

12 whose feasts consist of lyre and harp, 

   tambourine and flute and wine,

but who do not regard the deeds of the Lord 

   or see the work of his hands!

13 Therefore my people go into exile for lack of knowledge;

their nobles are dying of hunger,   

 and their multitude is parched with thirst.

14 Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite

    and opened its mouth beyond measure;

the nobility of Jerusalem and her multitude go down, 

   her throng and all who exult in her.

15 People are bowed down,

everyone is brought low,  

  and the eyes of the haughty are humbled.

16 But the Lord of hosts is exalted by justice, 

   and the Holy God shows himself holy by righteousness.

17 Then the lambs shall graze as in their pasture;  

  fatted calves and kids shall feed among the ruins.

Ponder

1)      As always, is there a part of the song lyrics or Bible verses this evening that touch your heart; maybe in a way that you never noticed in some of the words before?

2)      What are some of the reasons you find reading through prophetic literature so difficult? (There are no wrong answers here).

3)      The passage seems to focus on the idea that ‘joining house to house and field to field’ is not only an exploitative thing to others… but that it breaks down God’s original intent for land. What was God’s original intent for the land that’s now being ‘joined’ in the text, belonging to just one person?

4)      The passage then seems to take (what appears at first to be) a sharp corner to the world of ‘idolatry’—thinking locally, what do you think is an example of this at work in our lives where we think might be worshiping God, but our actions might say otherwise?

5)      What do you think are some of the best ways to discern if a biblical prophecy is for us to be ‘called out’… and what’s the best way to discern if a prophecy is for us to be ‘called up’ to deliver a message from the LORD to others?

6)      Part of the formula for an oracle is that it always ends with a message of hope/return from God. What does that tell us about God—and what should that tell us about the messages we give to others in God’s Name?  

Pray & Part