Isaiah 1
1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw against Judah and Jerusalem in the kingdom of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.†
2 Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth. For the Lord has spoken: “I have begotten and brought up sons, but they rejected Me.
3 The ox knows its owner and the donkey its master’s crib; but Israel does not know Me, and the people do not understand Me.”
4 Alas, sinful nation, a people full of sins, an evil seed, lawless children. They forsook the Lord; they provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel.†
5 Why should you still be struck as you continue in lawlessness? The whole head is in pain, and the whole heart in sadness.
6 From the feet all the way to the head, there is no soundness in them, only wounds and bruises and festering sores. They have not been closed or bandaged, or soothed with ointment.
7 Your land is desolate; your cities are burned with fire. Strangers take over your land in your presence and it is made desolate, overthrown by foreign people.
8 So the daughter of Zion is forsaken, like a tent in a vineyard, like a hut in a garden of cucumbers, like a besieged city.
9 Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom and been made like Gomorrah.†
10 Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom. Give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah:
11 “What is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?” says the Lord. “I am full of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of lambs. I do not desire the blood of bulls and he-goats.†
12 When you come to appear before Me, who required these things from your hands to tread My court?
13 Although you should bring fine wheat flour, it is vain. Incense is an abomination to Me. I cannot endure your new moons, and Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies, and fasting and holy day.
14 Your new moons and feasts My soul hates. You have become a dissatisfaction to Me; I will not forgive your sins.
15 When you stretch forth your hands to Me, I will turn My eyes from you. Although you make many prayers, I will not listen to you. Your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean. Put away the evils from your souls before My eyes. Cease from your evils.
17 Learn to do good. Seek judgment and redeem the wronged. Defend the orphan and justify the widow.
18 Come now, and let us reason together,” says the Lord, “although your sins are like crimson, I shall make them white like snow, and although they are as scarlet, I shall make them white like wool.
19 If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good things of the land.
20 But if you are unwilling and disobedient, you shall be devoured by the sword,” for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
21 How the faithful city of Zion has become a prostitute! It was full of judgment. Righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers.†
22 Your silver is worthless; your tavern-keepers mix wine with water.†
23 Your rulers are disobedient and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes and follows after rewards. They do not defend the orphans, nor do they regard the cause of the widow.†
24 Therefore says the Master, the Lord of hosts: “Woe to the mighty ones of Israel, for My anger against the adversaries will not cease; and I will execute judgment on My enemies.†
25 I will bring My hand upon you and purge you completely. I will destroy those who disobey and remove all the lawless from you; I will humble all the arrogant.
26 I will establish your judges as at the first and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward, you shall be called the city of righteousness, Zion, the faithful mother-city.”
27 For her captives shall be saved with judgment and with mercy.
28 The lawless and sinners shall be destroyed together. Those who forsake the Lord shall come to an end.
29 For they shall be ashamed of the idols they desired and the gardens they longed for.
30 For they shall be as a terebinth tree that has lost its leaves; like a garden with no water.
31 Their strength shall be as broken fiber and their works as sparks of fire. The lawless and the sinners will burn together, and no one shall quench them.
Psalms 59
1 For the End; for things yet to be changed; for a pillar inscription; by David; for teaching, †
2 when he burned Mesopotamia of Syria, and Syrian Soba, and Joab returned and struck twelve thousand in the Valley of Salt.
3 O God, You drove us off and destroyed us; You were angry, and had mercy on us.
4 You made the earth quake, and You troubled it; Repair its ruins, for it was shaken.
5 You showed Your people difficult things; You made us drink the wine of bewilderment.
6 You gave a sign to those who fear You, So they may flee from the face of the bow. (Pause)
7 That Your beloved may be rescued, Save with Your right hand, and hear me.
8 God spoke in His holy place: I will greatly rejoice, and divide Shechem, And I will measure out the valley of the tabernacles.
9 Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine, And Ephraim is the strength of my head; Judah is my king.
10 Moab is the cauldron of my hope; Over Edom I will extend my shoe; Foreign tribes were subjected to me.
11 Who will bring me into a fortified city? Who will lead me as far as Edom?
12 Will not You, O God, who drove us away? And will not You, O God, go out with our armies?
13 Give us help from affliction, For the salvation of man is useless.
14 But in God we shall work power, And He will utterly scorn those who afflict us.
Proverbs of Solomon 12
11 He who works his own land will be satisfied with bread, But those who pursue vain things are in need of discernment.
12 He who is gladdened by wines in passing his time Shall leave dishonor in his own strongholds.
13 The desires of the ungodly are evil, But the roots of the godly are in strongholds.†
14 By the sin of his lips a sinner falls into snares, But a righteous man escapes from them.
15 He whose looks are gentle will show mercy, But he who contends in the gates will afflict souls.†
1 Corinthians 15
Witnesses to the Resurrection
1 Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand,
2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,†
4 and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, †
5 and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.†
6 After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep.
7 After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles.
8 Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.
9 For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
11 Therefore, whether it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
The Centrality of the Resurrection
12 Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?†
13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen.
14 And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.
15 Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise.
16 For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen.
17 And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!
18 Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.
The Resurrection and the Kingdom
20 But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.†
21 For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.†
23 But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.
24 Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father, when He puts an end to all rule and all authority and power.†
25 For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet.
26 The last enemy that will be destroyed is death.
27 For “He has put all things under His feet.” But when He says “all things are put under Him, ” it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted.
28 Now when all things are made subject to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.
29 Otherwise, what will they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead do not rise at all? Why then are they baptized for the dead?†
30 And why do we stand in jeopardy every hour?
31 I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.
32 If, in the manner of men, I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantage is it to me? If the dead do not rise, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” †
33 Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.”
34 Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame.