Isaiah 25
1 O Lord my God, I will glorify You; I will sing a hymn to Your name, for You have done wonderful things, an ancient and true counsel. So be it, O Lord.†
2 For You made cities into a mound; You made the foundations of their strong cities fall. The city of the ungodly shall not be built forever.†
3 Therefore the poor people will bless You, and the cities of wronged people will praise You.
4 For You were a helper to every humbled city, and a protection to those who were disheartened by reason of poverty. You will deliver them from evil men, and be a shelter of the thirsty and a breath of life to the wronged.
5 They will bless You as discouraged people, thirsting in Zion because of ungodly men to whom You delivered us.
6 Then the Lord of hosts shall do this to all the nations on this mountain. They shall drink in gladness; they shall drink wine; they shall anoint themselves with ointment
7 on this mountain. Deliver all these things to the nations, for this is the counsel for all the nations.
8 Death prevailed and swallowed them, but again God wiped away every tear from every face; He took away the disgrace of His people from all the earth; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.†
9 Then it will be said in that day, “Behold, this is our God, in whom we hoped and rejoiced exceedingly; and we shall be glad in His salvation.”†
10 For on this mountain God will give them rest, and the Moabite shall be trampled down, in the manner the threshing floor is tread with wagons.†
11 He will spread forth His hands so as to humble man, to destroy him; and He will humble his arrogance—arrogance on which he laid his hands.
12 The height of your refuge He will humble, and bring it down to the ground.
Psalms 74
1 For the End; do not corrupt; a psalm of an ode for Asaph. †
2 We shall give thanks to You, O God; We shall give thanks, and call upon Your name.
3 I shall describe all Your wonders. “When I seize the opportunity, I shall judge these rightly.
4 The earth is dissolved and all its inhabitants; I made firm its pillars.” (Pause)
5 I said to those who transgress the law, “Do not transgress the law,” And to those who sin I said, “Do not exalt yourselves;
6 Do not boast in yourselves; Do not accuse God of wrongdoing.”
7 For judgment comes neither from the sunrise nor the sunset Nor from mountains of the deserts,
8 For God is judge; This one He brings down low, and that one He raises up.
9 For the cup in the Lord’s hand Is full of unmixed wine, a drink poured out; And He tipped it from side to side, But its dregs were not emptied out; All sinners of the earth shall drink them.
10 But I shall greatly rejoice forever; I shall sing to the God of Jacob.
11 All the horns of sinners I shall crush, But the horns of the righteous man shall be exalted.
Proverbs of Solomon 15
21 The ways of idle men are strewn with thorny plants, But the thorny plants of the courageous are worn smooth.†
22 A wise son gladdens a father, But a son without discernment treats his mother with contempt.†
23 The paths of one without understanding are in need of discernment, But a man with discernment walks uprightly.
24 Those not honoring councils defer their deliberations, But counsel remains in the hearts of those who resolve to do it.
25 The evil man will not obey counsel, Nor will he speak anything appropriate, even something for the common good.†
26 The thoughts of a wise man are his ways of life, That he might turn aside and be saved from Hades.
Galatians 4
Sons of God Through Christ and the Spirit
1 Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all,†
2 but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father.
3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.†
4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,†
5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”†
7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
The Danger of the Law
8 But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods.
9 But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly elements, to which you desire again to be in bondage?
10 You observe days and months and seasons and years.†
11 I am afraid for you, lest I have labored for you in vain.
12 Brethren, I urge you to become like me, for I became like you. You have not injured me at all.
13 You know that because of physical infirmity I preached the gospel to you at the first.†
14 And my trial which was in my flesh you did not despise or reject, but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.†
15 What then was the blessing you enjoyed? For I bear you witness that, if possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes and given them to me.
16 Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?
17 They zealously court you, but for no good; yes, they want to exclude you, that you may be zealous for them.
18 But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you.
19 My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you,
20 I would like to be present with you now and to change my tone; for I have doubts about you.
An Allegory: Slavery and Sonship
21 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law?†
22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons: the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman.
23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and he of the freewoman through promise,
24 which things are symbolic. For these are the two covenants: the one from Mount Sinai which gives birth to bondage, which is Hagar—
25 for this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and corresponds to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children—
26 but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all.
27 For it is written: “Rejoice, O barren, You who do not bear! Break forth and shout, You who are not in labor! For the desolate has many more children Than she who has a husband.”
28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise.
29 But, as he who was born according to the flesh then persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now.
30 Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.”
31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.†