Isaiah 1-4
1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw against Judah and Jerusalem in the kingdom of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
2 Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth. For the Lord has spoken: “I have begotten and brought up sons, but they rejected Me. 3 The ox knows its owner and the donkey its master’s crib; but Israel does not know Me, and the people do not understand Me.” 4 Alas, sinful nation, a people full of sins, an evil seed, lawless children. They forsook the Lord; they provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel. 5 Why should you still be struck as you continue in lawlessness? The whole head is in pain, and the whole heart in sadness. 6 From the feet all the way to the head, there is no soundness in them, only wounds and bruises and festering sores. They have not been closed or bandaged, or soothed with ointment. 7 Your land is desolate; your cities are burned with fire. Strangers take over your land in your presence and it is made desolate, overthrown by foreign people. 8 So the daughter of Zion is forsaken, like a tent in a vineyard, like a hut in a garden of cucumbers, like a besieged city. 9 Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom and been made like Gomorrah.
10 Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom. Give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah: 11 “What is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?” says the Lord. “I am full of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of lambs. I do not desire the blood of bulls and he-goats. 12 When you come to appear before Me, who required these things from your hands to tread My court? 13 Although you should bring fine wheat flour, it is vain. Incense is an abomination to Me. I cannot endure your new moons, and Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies, and fasting and holy day. 14 Your new moons and feasts My soul hates. You have become a dissatisfaction to Me; I will not forgive your sins. 15 When you stretch forth your hands to Me, I will turn My eyes from you. Although you make many prayers, I will not listen to you. Your hands are full of blood. 16 Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean. Put away the evils from your souls before My eyes. Cease from your evils. 17 Learn to do good. Seek judgment and redeem the wronged. Defend the orphan and justify the widow. 18 Come now, and let us reason together,” says the Lord, “although your sins are like crimson, I shall make them white like snow, and although they are as scarlet, I shall make them white like wool. 19 If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good things of the land. 20 But if you are unwilling and disobedient, you shall be devoured by the sword,” for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
21 How the faithful city of Zion has become a prostitute! It was full of judgment. Righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers. 22 Your silver is worthless; your tavern-keepers mix wine with water. 23 Your rulers are disobedient and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes and follows after rewards. They do not defend the orphans, nor do they regard the cause of the widow. 24 Therefore says the Master, the Lord of hosts: “Woe to the mighty ones of Israel, for My anger against the adversaries will not cease; and I will execute judgment on My enemies. 25 I will bring My hand upon you and purge you completely. I will destroy those who disobey and remove all the lawless from you; I will humble all the arrogant. 26 I will establish your judges as at the first and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward, you shall be called the city of righteousness, Zion, the faithful mother-city.” 27 For her captives shall be saved with judgment and with mercy. 28 The lawless and sinners shall be destroyed together. Those who forsake the Lord shall come to an end. 29 For they shall be ashamed of the idols they desired and the gardens they longed for. 30 For they shall be as a terebinth tree that has lost its leaves; like a garden with no water. 31 Their strength shall be as broken fiber and their works as sparks of fire. The lawless and the sinners will burn together, and no one shall quench them.
1 The word that came from the Lord to Isaiah the son of Amoz concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2 Now it shall come to pass in the last days, the mountain of the Lord and the house of God shall be visible on the tops of the mountains and exalted above the hills. All the Gentiles shall come to it. 3 Many Gentiles shall travel and say, “Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will proclaim His way to us, and we shall walk in it.” For the law of the Lord shall go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4 He shall judge between the Gentiles and rebuke many people. They shall beat their swords into plows and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.
5 O now, house of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of the Lord. 6 For He forsook His people, the house of Israel, for as from the beginning, their land is filled with divinations—like the land of foreigners—and many children of foreigners were born to them. 7 Their land is filled with silver and gold, and there is no end to their treasures. Their land is also filled with horses; there is no end to their chariots. 8 Their land is also filled with the abominations of their works, and they worship the works of their hands, which their fingers made. 9 A man bows down and each man humbles himself, but I will not forgive them. 10 Enter now into the rocks and hide in the earth from the face of the Lord, for fear and the glory of His might when He rises to smite the earth. 11 For the eyes of the Lord are lofty, and man is humble. The haughtiness of man shall be humbled, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. 12 For the day of the Lord of hosts shall come upon all who are insolent, arrogant, high and lifted up, and they shall be humbled; 13 and upon every cedar tree of Lebanon, high and lifted up, and upon every oak of Bashan, 14 and upon every mountain and lofty hill, 15 and upon every high tower and fortified wall, 16 and upon every ship of the sea, and upon every sight of beautiful ships. 17 Every man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of man shall fall. The Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. 18 But they shall hide all the things made by hands. 19 They shall carry them into the caves and cracks of the rocks, and into the holes of the earth, from fear of the Lord’s presence and the glory of His might when He arises to strike the earth. 20 For in that day, man will cast away his abominations of silver and gold, which they made to worship worthless things and bats, 21 so as to enter into the holes of solid rocks and clefts of the rugged rocks, from fear of the Lord and the glory of His might when He arises to strike the earth.
1 For behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, takes away from Judah and from Jerusalem the strong man and the strong woman; the strength of bread and the strength of water; 2 the mighty man and the man of war; the judge, the prophet, the diviner, and the elder; 3 the captain of fifty, the wonderful counselor, the skillful artisan, and the prudent disciple. 4 “I will give children to be their princes, and mockers shall rule over them. 5 The people will collapse, every one on another and every one on his neighbor. The child will be arrogant toward the elder and vulgar toward the honorable.” 6 When a man takes hold of his brother or his father’s servant, saying, “You have clothing; you be our ruler and let my food be under your roof.” 7 In that day, he will protest, saying, “I will not be your ruler, for in my house there is neither food nor clothing. I will not be the ruler of this people.” 8 For Jerusalem is ruined and Judah is fallen, because their tongues are lawless and they are disobedient to the Lord. Now their glory is humbled. 9 The shame on their face witnesses against them. They declare and exhibit their sin as Sodom. Woe to their soul, for they planned evil upon themselves, 10 saying, “Let us hand over the righteous man, for he is burdensome to us.” They shall eat the fruit of their doings. 11 Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him, for the reward of his hands shall be given him. 12 “O My people, your punishers gather you, and those who make demands of you rule over you. O My people, those who bless you lead you astray and trouble the path of your feet.” 13 The Lord stands up to plead and stands to judge His people. 14 The Lord will enter into judgment with the elders of His people and His princes: “For you set fire to My vineyard and the plunder of the poor is in your houses. 15 What do you mean by crushing My people and grinding the faces of the poor?”
16 Moreover the Lord says, “Because the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with outstretched necks and wanton eyes, because they walk and mince as they go, making a jingling with their feet, 17 therefore the Lord will humble the chief daughters of Zion. The Lord will uncover their secret parts.” 18 In that day, the Lord will take away the glory of their garments and adornments: the hair-clasps, the tassels, the crescents, 19 the necklace, and the ornament on their faces; 20 even the collection of glorious adornment, the anklets and the armlets, the bracelets for the right arm and the finger-rings and the earrings, 21 the garments dyed and decorated with purple, 22 the house-coats and transparent Lyconian garments, 23 the fine linen—the hyacinthine and scarlet and flax interwoven with gold and hyacinth—and the flowing veils. 24 And so it shall be, instead of a sweet smell there will be dust; instead of a sash, a rope; instead of a golden ornament of the head, baldness; and for your deeds, instead of purple, you will have sackcloth. 25 Your most handsome son, whom you love, shall fall by the sword, and your mighty shall fall by the sword. 26 And your chests of adornments shall lament and mourn, and you shall be left to sit on the ground.
1 Seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, “We will eat our own food and wear our own apparel, only let us be called by your name, to take away our disgrace.” 2 In that day, the Lord will shine in counsel and glory on the earth, to exalt and glorify those of Israel who remain. 3 And it shall come to pass that those who remain in Zion and in Jerusalem will be called holy—everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem, 4 because the Lord shall wash away the filth of the sons and the daughters of Zion, and shall purge the blood of Jerusalem from their midst by the Spirit of judgment and the Spirit of burning. 5 He shall come and there shall be with regard to Mt. Zion and everything round about, a cloud to overshadow it by day, and as it were smoke and light of fire burning at night, and it shall be covered altogether with glory. 6 It shall be for shade from the heat, for a place of shelter, and for a hiding-place from inclement weather and rain.
Psalm 101:16–29
16 And the Gentiles shall fear the name of the Lord,
And all the kings of the earth Your glory;
17 For the Lord shall build Zion,
And He shall be seen in His glory.
18 He regarded the prayer of the humble,
And He did not despise their supplication.
19 Let this be written for another generation,
And the people who are created shall praise the Lord;
20 For He looked down from the height of His holy place;
The Lord looked upon the earth from heaven,
21 To hear the groaning of those bound,
To set free the sons of the slain,
22 To declare the Lord’s name in Zion,
And His praise in Jerusalem,
23 When the peoples and the kingdoms
Are gathered together to serve the Lord.
24 He replied to Him in the way of strength,
“Declare to me the fewness of my days;
25 Take me not away in the midst of my days;
Your years are throughout all generations.
26 In the beginning, O Lord, You founded the earth,
And the heavens are the works of Your hands.
27 They shall perish, but You shall remain,
And all things shall grow old like a garment,
And like a cloak You shall change them,
And they shall be changed;
28 But You are the same, and Your years shall not fail.
29 The children of Your servants shall dwell there,
And their seed shall be led to prosperity forever.”
Proverbs 21:21–25
21 A wise man assaults fortified cities
And pulls down the stronghold the ungodly trust.
22 He who guards his mouth and tongue
Keeps his soul from tribulation.
23 A troublemaker is called rash, arrogant, and boastful,
And he who bears malice is called lawless.
24 Desires kill a slothful man,
For his hands choose not to do anything.
25 The ungodly man desires evil all day long,
But the righteous man shows mercy and compassion unsparingly.
2 Timothy 2
1 You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
2 And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.
3 You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
4 No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.
5 And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.
6 The hardworking farmer must be first to partake of the crops.
7 Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things.
8 Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel,
9 for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained.
10 Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
11 This is a faithful saying:
For if we died with Him,
We shall also live with Him.
12 If we endure,
We shall also reign with Him.
If we deny Him,
He also will deny us.
13 If we are faithless,
He remains faithful;
He cannot deny Himself.
Approved and Disapproved Workers
14 Remind them of these things, charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit, to the ruin of the hearers.
15 Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
16 But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness.
17 And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort,
18 who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past; and they overthrow the faith of some.
19 Nevertheless the solid foundation of God stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity.”
20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor.
21 Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.
22 Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
23 But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife.
24 And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient,
25 in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth,
26 and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.