Isaiah 53
1 O Lord, who has believed our report, and to whom was the arm of the Lord revealed?
2 We proclaimed His presence as a Child, as a Root in a thirsty land. He had no form or glory, and we saw Him; and He had no form or beauty.†
3 But in comparison to all men, His form was lacking in honor. He was a man in suffering and knew how to bear sickness. His face was turned away, and He was dishonored and not esteemed.†
4 He bears our sins and suffers for us, yet we considered Him to be in pain, suffering, and ill-treatment.
5 But He was wounded because of our lawlessness, and became sick because of our sins. The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His bruise we are healed.†
6 All we like sheep have gone astray. Man has gone astray in his way, and the Lord delivered Him over for our sins.†
7 Although He was ill-treated, He opened not His mouth. He was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb is silent before his shearers, so He opens not His mouth.†
8 In His humiliation His judgment was taken away, and who will declare His generation? For His life is taken from the earth, and because of the lawlessness of My people He was led to death.†
9 I will appoint evil men for His burial and rich men for His death, because He committed no lawlessness, nor was deceit found in His mouth.†
10 The Lord wishes to cleanse Him of His wound, and if You give an offering for sin, Your soul shall see a long-lived seed.†
11 The Lord wishes to take away the pain of His soul, to show Him light, to form Him with understanding, and to pronounce righteous the Righteous One who serves many well; and He shall bear their sins.
12 Therefore He shall inherit many, and will divide the spoil with the strong, because His soul was delivered over to death. He was considered among the lawless, and He bore the sins of many, and was delivered over because of their sins.†
Psalms 95
1 When the house was built after the captivity; an ode by David. †Oh, sing a new song to the Lord, Sing to the Lord, all the earth;
2 Sing to the Lord; bless His name; Proclaim His salvation from day to day;
3 Declare His glory among the Gentiles, His wonders among all peoples.
4 For the Lord is great, and is greatly to be praised; And He is to be feared above all the gods;
5 For all the gods of the nations are demons, But the Lord made the heavens;
6 Thanksgiving and beauty are before Him; Holiness and majesty are in His holy place.
7 Bring to the Lord, O families of the Gentiles, Bring to the Lord glory and honor;
8 Bring to the Lord the glory of His name; Take up sacrifices and enter into His courts;
9 Worship the Lord in His holy court; Let all the earth be shaken before Him.
10 Say among the Gentiles, “The Lord is King, For He established the world, which shall not be shaken. He shall judge the peoples with uprightness.”
11 Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth greatly rejoice; Let the sea be shaken and all its fullness.
12 Then the fields and everything in them shall rejoice; Then all the trees of the forest shall greatly rejoice
13 Before the face of the Lord; for He is coming, For He is coming to judge the earth; He shall judge the world in righteousness, And the peoples with His truth.
Proverbs of Solomon 20
21 A wise king is a winnower of the ungodly, And he casts them upon the wheel of torture.
22 The breath of man is the light of the Lord, Who searches the inner man.†
23 Mercy and truth are a guard for the king, And they will encircle his throne with righteousness.
24 Wisdom is an ornament to young men, And the glory of old men is their gray hair.
25 Bruises and fractures happen to evil men, And plagues shall come into their inner man.†
1 Timothy 3
Qualifications for Bishops
1 This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work.†
2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach;†
3 not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous;
4 one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence
5 (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?);
6 not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil.
7 Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.
Qualifications for Deacons
8 Likewise deacons must be reverent, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for money,†
9 holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience.
10 But let these also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons, being found blameless.
11 Likewise, their wives must be reverent, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things.†
12 Let deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well.
13 For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus.
The Guide for Faithfulness: An Early Creed
14 These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly;
15 but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.†
16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the Spirit, Seen by angels, Preached among the Gentiles, Believed on in the world, Received up in glory.†