Isaiah 24
1 Behold, the Lord is about to lay waste the inhabited earth, and He will make it desolate, lay bare its surface, and scatter those who dwell therein.†
2 And it shall be that the people shall be as the priest, the servant as the lord, the maiden as the mistress, the buyer as the seller, the lender as the borrower, and the debtor as the creditor.
3 The earth shall be completely laid waste and utterly plundered, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things.
4 The earth mourns and the inhabited earth is ruined; the lofty of the earth mourn.
5 The earth acts lawlessly because of its inhabitants, for they transgressed the law and changed the ordinances, the everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore a curse shall devour the earth, because those who dwell in it sinned. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth shall be poor, and few people will be left.
7 The wine shall mourn, the vine shall mourn, and all the merry-hearted will groan.
8 The mirth of tambourines, the willfulness and wealth of the ungodly, and the sound of the harp have ceased.
9 They were ashamed; they did not drink wine; strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
10 Every city was made desolate; every house is shut up, that none may go in.
11 Wail for wine everywhere; all gladness of the earth is gone!
12 Cities shall be left desolate, and abandoned houses will be destroyed.
13 All these things shall be in the earth in the midst of the nations, in the manner someone would glean an olive tree. Thus they shall glean them when the harvest is done.
14 They shall cry aloud, and those left behind on the earth shall be glad together in the glory of the Lord. The water of the sea shall be troubled.†
15 Therefore the glory of the Lord will be in the islands of the sea; the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, will be glorious.
16 From the ends of the earth we heard wonderful things, and there is hope for the godly man. They will say, “Woe to the rejecters, who reject the law!”
17 Fear, a pit, and a snare are upon you who dwell on the earth.
18 It shall be that he who flees from the fear shall fall into the pit, and he who comes up from the midst of the pit shall be caught in the snare; for the windows of heaven are opened, and the foundations of the earth shall be shaken.†
19 The earth shall be completely troubled, and the earth will be completely perplexed.
20 The earth bends and will be shaken like a hut, and like a drunkard overpowered with wine; and it shall fall and be unable to stand, for lawlessness is upon it.
21 Then God will bring His hand upon the host of heaven and upon the kings of the earth.†
22 They will gather them and close them in a fortress and in a prison; and after many generations they shall be visited.
23 And the brick will melt and the wall shall fall, for the Lord will reign in Zion and in Jerusalem, and will be glorified before His elders.
Psalms 73
12 But God is our King before the ages; He worked salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 You strengthened the sea by Your power; You crushed the heads of dragons upon the water.
14 You shattered the heads of the dragon; You gave him as food for the Ethiopian peoples.
15 You broke apart fountains and torrents; You dried up the rivers of Etham.
16 The day is Yours, and the night is Yours; You created the light and the sun.
17 You made all the boundaries of the earth; Summer and winter, You formed these things.
18 Remember this: the enemy insulted the Lord, And a foolish people provoked Your name.
19 May You not deliver to wild beasts the soul who gives thanks to You; May You not forget the souls of Your poor to the end.
20 Look upon Your covenant, For the dark places of the earth are filled with the houses of lawlessness.
21 Let not the humbled and the disgraced be turned away; The poor and needy shall praise Your name.
22 Arise, O God, judge Your cause; Remember the insults against You by the foolish man all the day long.
23 Do not forget the voice of Your suppliants; The arrogance of those who hate You rises against You continually.
Proverbs of Solomon 15
16 The eyes of evil men are waiting for evil things all the time, But good men are at rest continually.
17 Better is a small portion with the fear of the Lord Than great treasures with lack of fear.
18 Better is a dinner of herbs with friendship and grace Than a fatted calf with hostility.
19 An angry man stirs up contention, But a longsuffering man even calms the rising quarrel.†
20 A longsuffering man will extinguish condemnations, But the ungodly man stirs up more.
Galatians 3
The Life of Faith Is in the Spirit
1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?†
2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?
3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?
4 Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?
Faith Brings Sonship
5 Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?—
6 just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” †
7 Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.
8 And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.”
9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.
Free from the Curse
10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” †
11 But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for “the just shall live by faith.”
12 Yet the law is not of faith, but “the man who does them shall live by them.” †
13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” ),†
14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.†
Sonship: Promise, Not Law
15 Brethren, I speak in the manner of men: Though it is only a man’s covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it.†
16 Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ.
17 And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect.
18 For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
The Law Our Tutor
19 What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator.†
20 Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one.†
21 Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law.
22 But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.†
23 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed.
24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
Sonship by Faith and Baptism
26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.†
27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.†
29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.