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ISAIAH 40

« Isaiah 39 | Isaiah 40 | Isaiah 41 »

Comfort for God’s People
40:1
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
2
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.

3
A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4
Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
5
And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
The Word of God Stands Forever
6
A voice says, “Cry!”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
All flesh is grass,
and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
7
The grass withers, the flower fades
when the breath of the Lord blows on it;
surely the people are grass.
8
The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever.
The Greatness of God
9
Go on up to a high mountain,
O Zion, herald of good news;
lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good news;
lift it up, fear not;
say to the cities of Judah,
“Behold your God!”
10
Behold, the Lord God comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
11
He will tend his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms;
he will carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead those that are with young.

12
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
and marked off the heavens with a span,
enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure
and weighed the mountains in scales
and the hills in a balance?
13
Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord,
or what man shows him his counsel?
14
Whom did he consult,
and who made him understand?
Who taught him the path of justice,
and taught him knowledge,
and showed him the way of understanding?
15
Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
and are accounted as the dust on the scales;
behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.
16
Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,
nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.
17
All the nations are as nothing before him,
they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

18
To whom then will you liken God,
or what likeness compare with him?
19
An idol! A craftsman casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
and casts for it silver chains.
20
He who is too impoverished for an offering
chooses wood that will not rot;
he seeks out a skillful craftsman
to set up an idol that will not move.

21
Do you not know? Do you not hear?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22
It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;
23
who brings princes to nothing,
and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.

24
Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows on them, and they wither,
and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

25
To whom then will you compare me,
that I should be like him? says the Holy One.
26
Lift up your eyes on high and see:
who created these?
He who brings out their host by number,
calling them all by name;
by the greatness of his might
and because he is strong in power,
not one is missing.

27
Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my right is disregarded by my God”?
28
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
29
He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
30
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
31
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.



ISAIAH 41

« Isaiah 40 | Isaiah 41 | Isaiah 42 »

Fear Not, for I Am with You
41:1
Listen to me in silence, O coastlands;
let the peoples renew their strength;
let them approach, then let them speak;
let us together draw near for judgment.

2
Who stirred up one from the east
whom victory meets at every step?
He gives up nations before him,
so that he tramples kings underfoot;
he makes them like dust with his sword,
like driven stubble with his bow.
3
He pursues them and passes on safely,
by paths his feet have not trod.
4
Who has performed and done this,
calling the generations from the beginning?
I, the Lord, the first,
and with the last; I am he.

5
The coastlands have seen and are afraid;
the ends of the earth tremble;
they have drawn near and come.
6
Everyone helps his neighbor
and says to his brother, “Be strong!”
7
The craftsman strengthens the goldsmith,
and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil,
saying of the soldering, “It is good”;
and they strengthen it with nails so that it cannot be moved.

8
But you, Israel, my servant,
Jacob, whom I have chosen,
the offspring of Abraham, my friend;
9
you whom I took from the ends of the earth,
and called from its farthest corners,
saying to you, “You are my servant,
I have chosen you and not cast you off”;
10
fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

11
Behold, all who are incensed against you
shall be put to shame and confounded;
those who strive against you
shall be as nothing and shall perish.
12
You shall seek those who contend with you,
but you shall not find them;
those who war against you
shall be as nothing at all.
13
For I, the Lord your God,
hold your right hand;
it is I who say to you, “Fear not,
I am the one who helps you.”

14
Fear not, you worm Jacob,
you men of Israel!
I am the one who helps you, declares the Lord;
your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
15
Behold, I make of you a threshing sledge,
new, sharp, and having teeth;
you shall thresh the mountains and crush them,
and you shall make the hills like chaff;
16
you shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away,
and the tempest shall scatter them.
And you shall rejoice in the Lord;
in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.

17
When the poor and needy seek water,
and there is none,
and their tongue is parched with thirst,
I the Lord will answer them;
I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
18
I will open rivers on the bare heights,
and fountains in the midst of the valleys.
I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
and the dry land springs of water.
19
I will put in the wilderness the cedar,
the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive.
I will set in the desert the cypress,
the plane and the pine together,
20
that they may see and know,
may consider and understand together,
that the hand of the Lord has done this,
the Holy One of Israel has created it.
The Futility of Idols
21
Set forth your case, says the Lord;
bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob.
22
Let them bring them, and tell us
what is to happen.
Tell us the former things, what they are,
that we may consider them,
that we may know their outcome;
or declare to us the things to come.
23
Tell us what is to come hereafter,
that we may know that you are gods;
do good, or do harm,
that we may be dismayed and terrified.
24
Behold, you are nothing,
and your work is less than nothing;
an abomination is he who chooses you.

25
I stirred up one from the north, and he has come,
from the rising of the sun, and he shall call upon my name;
he shall trample on rulers as on mortar,
as the potter treads clay.
26
Who declared it from the beginning, that we might know,
and beforehand, that we might say, “He is right”?
There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed,
none who heard your words.
27
I was the first to say to Zion, “Behold, here they are!”
and I give to Jerusalem a herald of good news.
28
But when I look, there is no one;
among these there is no counselor
who, when I ask, gives an answer.
29
Behold, they are all a delusion;
their works are nothing;
their metal images are empty wind.



PROVERBS 24

« Proverbs 23 | Proverbs 24 | Proverbs 25 »

24:1
Be not envious of evil men,
nor desire to be with them,
2
for their hearts devise violence,
and their lips talk of trouble.

3
By wisdom a house is built,
and by understanding it is established;
4
by knowledge the rooms are filled
with all precious and pleasant riches.
5
A wise man is full of strength,
and a man of knowledge enhances his might,
6
for by wise guidance you can wage your war,
and in abundance of counselors there is victory.
7
Wisdom is too high for a fool;
in the gate he does not open his mouth.

8
Whoever plans to do evil
will be called a schemer.
9
The devising of folly is sin,
and the scoffer is an abomination to mankind.

10
If you faint in the day of adversity,
your strength is small.
11
Rescue those who are being taken away to death;
hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.
12
If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,”
does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it,
and will he not repay man according to his work?

13
My son, eat honey, for it is good,
and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste.
14
Know that wisdom is such to your soul;
if you find it, there will be a future,
and your hope will not be cut off.

15
Lie not in wait as a wicked man against the dwelling of the righteous;
do no violence to his home;
16
for the righteous falls seven times and rises again,
but the wicked stumble in times of calamity.

17
Do not rejoice when your enemy falls,
and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles,
18
lest the Lord see it and be displeased,
and turn away his anger from him.

19
Fret not yourself because of evildoers,
and be not envious of the wicked,
20
for the evil man has no future;
the lamp of the wicked will be put out.

21
My son, fear the Lord and the king,
and do not join with those who do otherwise,
22
for disaster will arise suddenly from them,
and who knows the ruin that will come from them both?
More Sayings of the Wise
23 These also are sayings of the wise.
Partiality in judging is not good.
24
Whoever says to the wicked, “You are in the right,”
will be cursed by peoples, abhorred by nations,
25
but those who rebuke the wicked will have delight,
and a good blessing will come upon them.
26
Whoever gives an honest answer
kisses the lips.

27
Prepare your work outside;
get everything ready for yourself in the field,
and after that build your house.

28
Be not a witness against your neighbor without cause,
and do not deceive with your lips.
29
Do not say, “I will do to him as he has done to me;
I will pay the man back for what he has done.”

30
I passed by the field of a sluggard,
by the vineyard of a man lacking sense,
31
and behold, it was all overgrown with thorns;
the ground was covered with nettles,
and its stone wall was broken down.
32
Then I saw and considered it;
I looked and received instruction.
33
A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest,
34
and poverty will come upon you like a robber,
and want like an armed man.



HEBREWS 8

« Hebrews 7 | Hebrews 8 | Hebrews 9 »

Jesus, High Priest of a Better Covenant
  8:1 Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, 2 a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man. 3 For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. 4 Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. 5 They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” 6 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.
    
8 For he finds fault with them when he says:
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord,
when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah,
9
not like the covenant that I made with their fathers
on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.
For they did not continue in my covenant,
and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.
10
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws into their minds,
and write them on their hearts,
and I will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
11
And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor
and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
for they shall all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest.
12
For I will be merciful toward their iniquities,
and I will remember their sins no more.”
13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

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