Isaiah 29
1 Woe to the city of Ariel, against which David waged war! Gather fruits year by year, for you will eat with Moab.†
2 For I will afflict Ariel, and her strength and wealth will be mine.
3 I will encircle you as David did, and I will put a barricade around you, and place towers around you.
4 Your words will be humbled to the earth, and your words will sink into the earth. Your speech shall be like those calling out of the ground, and your voice weakened to the ground.
5 Moreover the wealth of the ungodly shall be like the dust of a wheel and like dirt carried away. It shall be as though in an instant and suddenly
6 from the Lord of hosts; for there will be a visitation with thunder and earthquake and a great noise, and a sudden blast of wind and a devouring flame of fire.
7 The wealth of all the nations, as many as fought against Ariel, and all who wage war against Jerusalem, and all who gather against her and afflict her, shall be as one who dreams in the night.
8 They shall be like those who eat and drink in a dream, and when they awake their dream was useless, and as a thirsty man dreams, as if he is drinking but is still thirsty when he wakes, and his soul hoped in vain, so will be the wealth of all the nations that fought against Mount Zion.
9 Faint and be amazed; be overpowered, not with strong drink nor with wine,
10 for the Lord made you drink a spirit of deep sleep, and He shall close their eyes and the eyes of their prophets and rulers, who see secret things.
11 All these things shall be to you as the words of this sealed book, which if they should give to a learned man, saying, “Read this,” then he will say, “I cannot read this, for it is sealed.”
12 This book shall also be placed in the hands of an unlearned man, and one shall say to him, “Read this,” then he will say, “I do not understand writings.”
13 So the Lord said, “These people draw near to Me and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me, and they worship Me in vain, teaching the commandments and doctrines of men.†
14 Therefore behold, I will proceed to remove this people, and I shall remove them. I shall destroy the wisdom of the wise and hide the understanding of the intelligent.”
15 Woe to those who deepen their counsel, but not through the Lord! Woe to those who take counsel in secret and whose works are in darkness! They say, “Who sees us?” and, “Who knows us or what we do?”†
16 Shall you not be considered as the clay of the potter? Shall what is molded of clay say to him who molded it, “You did not create me”? Or shall the work say to him who made it, “You did not make me wisely”?
17 Is it not yet a very little while until Lebanon shall be changed like Mount Carmel, and Mount Carmel be considered a forest?
18 In that day, the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and the eyes of those in darkness and in a fog shall see.
19 The poor also shall rejoice exceedingly in gladness because of the Lord, and the hopeless among men shall be filled with gladness.
20 The lawless man has come to an end, and the arrogant man has perished. Those who act lawlessly in malice are utterly destroyed,
21 as well as those who cause men to sin in word. They shall make all who condemn at the gates an offense, because they turned aside the righteous man with wrongdoing.
22 Therefore the Lord says this concerning the house of Jacob, whom He set apart out of Abraham: “Now Jacob shall not be ashamed, nor shall Israel now change his countenance.
23 But when their children see My works, they shall sanctify My name for My sake, and will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and fear the God of Israel. †
24 And those who erred in spirit shall know understanding, and those who complained will learn to obey, and the stammering tongues shall learn to speak peace.”
Psalms 77
1 Concerning understanding; for Asaph. †Give heed, O my people, to my law; Incline your ear to the words of my mouth;
2 I shall open my mouth in parables; I shall speak of hidden things from of old.
3 What things we heard, these we also knew, And our fathers described them to us.
4 It was not hidden from their children in a different generation, Who declare the praises of the Lord And His mighty deeds And His wondrous things He did.
5 He raised up a testimony in Jacob And appointed a law in Israel, Whatever He commanded our fathers To make these things known to their children,
6 That a different generation may know, Children yet to be born; And they will arise, and declare these things to their children,
7 So they may put their hope in God, And not forget the works of God, And seek out His commandments,
8 So they may not become like their fathers, A generation rebellious and embittered, A generation that did not keep its heart right, And its spirit was not faithful with God.
9 The sons of Ephraim who bend and shoot their bows Turned back in the day of battle.
10 They did not keep God’s covenant, And they did not desire to walk in His law;
11 And they forgot His good deeds And His wonders He showed them
12 In the sight of their fathers, The marvelous things He did In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
13 He parted the sea and led them through; The waters stood like a dam,
14 And He led them with a cloud by day, And all night by the light of a fire.
15 He split the rock in the desert And gave them water to drink as in a great deep;
16 And He brought out water from the rock, And He brought it down like the waters of rivers.
17 And they still continued to sin against Him; They rebelled against the Most High in a place without water,
Proverbs of Solomon 16
6 There is an oracle on the lips of a king, And his mouth does not err in judgment.
7 The weight of a scale is righteousness before the Lord, For His works are righteous standards.†
8 He who does evil things is an abomination to a king, For the throne of a ruler is prepared with righteousness.
9 Righteous lips are acceptable to a king, And he loves upright words.†
10 The wrath of a king is a messenger of death, But a wise man will appease him.
Ephesians 2
Transfiguration by Grace
1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,†
2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience,
3 among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,†
9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
The Former Alienation of the Gentiles
11 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands—†
12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
The Means of Union
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.†
14 For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation,
15 having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace,
16 and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.
17 And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near.
18 For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.
The Unity of Jew and Gentile in Christ
19 Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,†
20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone,
21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,
22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.