Isaiah 26
1 In that day they shall sing this song in the land of Judah: “Behold, we have a strong city; He will make our salvation its surrounding wall.
2 Open the gates; let the people enter who keep righteousness and guard the truth,
3 and who lay hold of the truth and keep peace,
4 because they hope forever in You, O Lord, the great and eternal God,
5 who humbles and brings down those who dwell on high; the strong cities You will cast down; You will bring them down to the ground.†
6 The feet of the gentle and the humble shall tread them underfoot.
7 The way of the godly is straight; and the way of the godly is prepared.†
8 For the way of the Lord is judgment. We hope in Your name and in the remembrance of You,
9 which our soul desires at night. My spirit rises early in the morning to You, O God, for Your commands are a light upon the earth. Learn righteousness, you who dwell on the earth.
10 The ungodly man ceases; he will not learn righteousness on the earth; he will not do the truth; let the ungodly man be taken away, that he may not see the glory of the Lord.
11 O Lord, Your arm is exalted, but they did not know it. But when they know it, they shall be ashamed, for jealousy will seize an untaught people; and now fire will devour the adversaries.
12 O Lord our God, grant us peace, for You render everything to us.
13 O Lord our God, possess us; O Lord, we know no other besides You; we name Your name.
14 The dead will not see life; neither will physicians raise them. Therefore You brought evils upon them and destroyed them, and took away every male of theirs.
15 Bring more evils on them, O Lord, on the glorious of the earth.
16 O Lord, I remembered You in my hard circumstances. Your chastening to us was a small affliction.†
17 As a woman with child is in pain and cries out in her pangs, when she draws near the time of her delivery, so we became Your beloved because of Your fear, O Lord.
18 We have been with child, we have been in pain, and we have given birth. We brought forth the spirit of Your salvation on the earth. But the inhabitants of the world shall fall.
19 The dead shall rise up; and those in the tombs shall arise. Those in the earth shall be glad, for your dew is a healing for them, but the land of the ungodly shall come to an end.Ӡ
20 Come, my people, enter your closets and shut your door; hide yourself for a very short while, until the anger of the Lord is past.†
21 For behold, the Lord is bringing wrath from His holy place upon the inhabitants of the earth, and the earth will uncover its blood and will not cover its slain.
Psalms 75
1 For the End; in hymns; a psalm for Asaph, an ode to the Assyrian. †
2 In Judah God is known; His name is great in Israel.
3 His place was made in peace And His dwelling in Zion.
4 There He broke the power of the bows, Weapon and sword and battle. (Pause)
5 You give light wondrously From the everlasting mountains.
6 All the foolish in heart were troubled; All the men of wealth slept their sleep And found nothing in their hands.
7 At Your rebuke, O God of Jacob, Those who mounted horses fell asleep.
8 You are fearsome, and who shall stand against You? From that time on is Your wrath.
9 You caused judgment to be heard from heaven; The earth was afraid, and kept quiet
10 When God arose for judgment, To save all the gentle on the earth. (Pause)
11 For a man shall give thanks to You from his heart, And he shall celebrate a feast to You with his whole heart.
12 Pray and return to the Lord Your God; All around Him shall bring gifts
13 To the fearsome One, and to Him who takes away the spirits of rulers, To the fearsome One among the kings of the earth.
Proverbs of Solomon 15
27 The Lord will destroy the houses of the arrogant, But He will strengthen the boundary of a widow.
28 The thinking of the unrighteous man is an abomination to the Lord, But the words of the holy are sacred.
29 He who receives bribes utterly destroys himself, But he who hates the receiving of bribes saves himself.
30 Sins are cleansed by almsgiving and faithfulness, And by the fear of the Lord everyone turns aside from evil.†
31 The hearts of the righteous care about faithfulness, But the mouth of the ungodly answers evil things.
32 The ways of righteous men are acceptable before the Lord, And through them even enemies become friends.
Galatians 5
Liberty of the Spirit
1 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.†
2 Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.
3 And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.
4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
5 For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.†
6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.†
Liberty of the Apostles
7 You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?
8 This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you.
9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
10 I have confidence in you, in the Lord, that you will have no other mind; but he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is.
11 And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased.
12 I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off!
War Against the Flesh
13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.†
14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
15 But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!
16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.†
17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,
20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,
21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.†