Isaiah 52
1 Awake, awake, O Zion; put on your strength, O Zion, and put on your glory, O Jerusalem, the holy city. The uncircumcised and the unclean shall no longer continue to pass through you.†
2 Shake off the dust and rise up. Sit down, O Jerusalem; put off the band from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion.
3 For thus says the Lord: “You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money.”†
4 Thus says the Lord: “My people went down to Egypt in former times to sojourn there, and they were taken to the Assyrians by force.”
5 So now, why are you here? The Lord says this: “Because My people were taken for nothing, marvel and lament.” The Lord says this: “Because of you, My name is blasphemed continually among the Gentiles.
6 Therefore My people shall know My name in that day, for I am He who speaks.
7 I am present like springtime in the mountains, like the feet of one who announces a good report of peace, like one who preaches good things, for I will cause Your salvation to be heard, saying, ‘O Zion, your God reigns.’ ”
8 For the voice of those who guard you is raised upward, and with their voice they shall be glad together; for their eyes shall be on watch together when the Lord has mercy on Zion.
9 Break forth in gladness together, O desert places of Jerusalem, for the Lord had mercy on her, and has delivered Jerusalem.
10 The Lord will reveal His holy arm before all the Gentiles, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God.
11 Depart, depart, go out from there, and do not touch an unclean thing. Separate yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the Lord,
12 because you shall not go forth with tumult, nor will you go by flight. For the Lord will go before you, and the Lord God of Israel shall gather you.
13 Behold, My Servant shall have wisdom, and He shall be exalted and glorified exceedingly.
14 Just as many shall be astonished at You, so Your form and glory shall be dishonored by men.
15 Thus many nations shall marvel at Him, and kings shall shut their mouth, because they to whom no report was brought concerning Him shall see; and they who did not hear shall understand.
Psalms 94
1 The praise of an ode by David. †Come, let us greatly rejoice in the Lord; Let us shout aloud to God our savior;
2 Let us come before His face with thanksgiving, And let us shout aloud to Him with psalms.
3 For the Lord is a great God, A great King over all the gods;
4 For in His hand are the ends of the earth, And the heights of the mountains are His;
5 For the sea is His, and He made it, And His hands formed the dry land.
6 Come, let us worship and fall down before Him, And let us weep before the Lord who made us;
7 For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture And the sheep of His hand. Today, if you hear His voice,
8 “Do not harden your hearts as in the Rebellion, During the day of testing in the desert,
9 Where your fathers tempted Me; They tested Me, and saw My works.
10 For forty years I was treated with contempt by that generation, And I said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they do not know My ways’;
11 So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”
Proverbs of Solomon 20
16 Do not love to speak ill, That you may not be taken away;
17 Open your eyes, And you will be filled with bread.†
18 A double standard is an abomination to the Lord, And a deceitful scale is not good before Him.
19 Steps are made straight for a man by the Lord, But how can a mortal man understand His ways?
20 It is a snare for a man to quickly sanctify something of his own things as holy, Then after making this vow, to come to a change of heart.†
1 Timothy 2
Faithfulness in Prayer
1 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men,†
2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.
3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior,†
4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
5 For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,†
6 who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time,†
7 for which I was appointed a preacher and an apostle—I am speaking the truth in Christ and not lying—a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
Faithful Lives Fitting for Prayer
8 I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting;†
9 in like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing,
10 but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works.
11 Let a woman learn in silence with all submission.
12 And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence.†
13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve.
14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.
15 Nevertheless she will be saved in childbearing if they continue in faith, love, and holiness, with self-control.†