ISAIAH 5-7

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The Vineyard of the Lord Destroyed5:1

Let me sing for my beloved

my love song concerning his vineyard:

My beloved had a vineyard

on a very fertile hill. 2

He dug it and cleared it of stones,

and planted it with choice vines;

he built a watchtower in the midst of it,

and hewed out a wine vat in it;

and he looked for it to yield grapes,

but it yielded wild grapes.
3

And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem

and men of Judah,

judge between me and my vineyard. 4

What more was there to do for my vineyard,

that I have not done in it?

When I looked for it to yield grapes,

why did it yield wild grapes?
5

And now I will tell you

what I will do to my vineyard.

I will remove its hedge,

and it shall be devoured;

I will break down its wall,

and it shall be trampled down. 6

I will make it a waste;

it shall not be pruned or hoed,

and briers and thorns shall grow up;

I will also command the clouds

that they rain no rain upon it.
7

For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts

is the house of Israel,

and the men of Judah

are his pleasant planting;

and he looked for justice,

but behold, bloodshed;

for righteousness,

but behold, an outcry! Woe to the Wicked8

Woe to those who join house to house,

who add field to field,

until there is no more room,

and you are made to dwell alone

in the midst of the land. 9

The Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing:

“Surely many houses shall be desolate,

large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant. 10

For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath,

and a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah.”
11

Woe to those who rise early in the morning,

that they may run after strong drink,

who tarry late into the evening

as wine inflames them! 12

They have lyre and harp,

tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts,

but they do not regard the deeds of the Lord,

or see the work of his hands.
13

Therefore my people go into exile

for lack of knowledge;

their honored men go hungry,

and their multitude is parched with thirst. 14

Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite

and opened its mouth beyond measure,

and the nobility of Jerusalem and her multitude will go down,

her revelers and he who exults in her. 15

Man is humbled, and each one is brought low,

and the eyes of the haughty are brought low. 16

But the Lord of hosts is exalted in justice,

and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness. 17

Then shall the lambs graze as in their pasture,

and nomads shall eat among the ruins of the rich.
18

Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood,

who draw sin as with cart ropes, 19

who say: “Let him be quick,

let him speed his work

that we may see it;

let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near,

and let it come, that we may know it!” 20

Woe to those who call evil good

and good evil,

who put darkness for light

and light for darkness,

who put bitter for sweet

and sweet for bitter! 21

Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,

and shrewd in their own sight! 22

Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine,

and valiant men in mixing strong drink, 23

who acquit the guilty for a bribe,

and deprive the innocent of his right!
24

Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble,

and as dry grass sinks down in the flame,

so their root will be as rottenness,

and their blossom go up like dust;

for they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts,

and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. 25

Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people,

and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them,

and the mountains quaked;

and their corpses were as refuse

in the midst of the streets.

For all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.
26

He will raise a signal for nations far away,

and whistle for them from the ends of the earth;

and behold, quickly, speedily they come! 27

None is weary, none stumbles,

none slumbers or sleeps,

not a waistband is loose,

not a sandal strap broken; 28

their arrows are sharp,

all their bows bent,

their horses’ hoofs seem like flint,

and their wheels like the whirlwind. 29

Their roaring is like a lion,

like young lions they roar;

they growl and seize their prey;

they carry it off, and none can rescue. 30

They will growl over it on that day,

like the growling of the sea.

And if one looks to the land,

behold, darkness and distress;

and the light is darkened by its clouds. Isaiah’s Vision of the Lord  6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;

the whole earth is full of his glory!” 4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
    6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.” Isaiah’s Commission from the Lord8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” 9 And he said, “Go, and say to this people:

“‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;

keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’ 10

Make the heart of this people dull,

and their ears heavy,

and blind their eyes;

lest they see with their eyes,

and hear with their ears,

and understand with their hearts,

and turn and be healed.” 11

Then I said, “How long, O Lord?”

And he said:

“Until cities lie waste

without inhabitant,

and houses without people,

and the land is a desolate waste, 12

and the Lord removes people far away,

and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. 13

And though a tenth remain in it,

it will be burned again,

like a terebinth or an oak,

whose stump remains

when it is felled.”

The holy seed is its stump. Isaiah Sent to King Ahaz  7:1 In the days of Ahaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it. 2 When the house of David was told, “Syria is in league with Ephraim,” the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.
    3 And the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer’s Field. 4 And say to him, ‘Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah. 5 Because Syria, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you, saying, 6 Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it, 7 thus says the Lord God:

“‘It shall not stand,

and it shall not come to pass. 8

For the head of Syria is Damascus,

and the head of Damascus is Rezin.

And within sixty-five years

Ephraim will be shattered from being a people. 9

And the head of Ephraim is Samaria,

and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.

If you are not firm in faith,

you will not be firm at all.’” The Sign of Immanuel10 Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: 11 “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” 13 And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. 15 He shall eat curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be deserted. 17 The Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father’s house such days as have not come since the day that Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria!”
    18 In that day the Lord will whistle for the fly that is at the end of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. 19 And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines, and in the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thornbushes, and on all the pastures.
    20 In that day the Lord will shave with a razor that is hired beyond the River—with the king of Assyria—the head and the hair of the feet, and it will sweep away the beard also.
    21 In that day a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep, 22 and because of the abundance of milk that they give, he will eat curds, for everyone who is left in the land will eat curds and honey.
    23 In that day every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand shekels of silver, will become briers and thorns. 24 With bow and arrows a man will come there, for all the land will be briers and thorns. 25 And as for all the hills that used to be hoed with a hoe, you will not come there for fear of briers and thorns, but they will become a place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread.

PROVERBS 8

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The Blessings of Wisdom8:1

Does not wisdom call?

Does not understanding raise her voice? 2

On the heights beside the way,

at the crossroads she takes her stand; 3

beside the gates in front of the town,

at the entrance of the portals she cries aloud: 4

“To you, O men, I call,

and my cry is to the children of man. 5

O simple ones, learn prudence;

O fools, learn sense. 6

Hear, for I will speak noble things,

and from my lips will come what is right, 7

for my mouth will utter truth;

wickedness is an abomination to my lips. 8

All the words of my mouth are righteous;

there is nothing twisted or crooked in them. 9

They are all straight to him who understands,

and right to those who find knowledge. 10

Take my instruction instead of silver,

and knowledge rather than choice gold, 11

for wisdom is better than jewels,

and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.
12

“I, wisdom, dwell with prudence,

and I find knowledge and discretion. 13

The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil.

Pride and arrogance and the way of evil

and perverted speech I hate. 14

I have counsel and sound wisdom;

I have insight; I have strength. 15

By me kings reign,

and rulers decree what is just; 16

by me princes rule,

and nobles, all who govern justly. 17

I love those who love me,

and those who seek me diligently find me. 18

Riches and honor are with me,

enduring wealth and righteousness. 19

My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold,

and my yield than choice silver. 20

I walk in the way of righteousness,

in the paths of justice, 21

granting an inheritance to those who love me,

and filling their treasuries.
22

“The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work,

the first of his acts of old. 23

Ages ago I was set up,

at the first, before the beginning of the earth. 24

When there were no depths I was brought forth,

when there were no springs abounding with water. 25

Before the mountains had been shaped,

before the hills, I was brought forth, 26

before he had made the earth with its fields,

or the first of the dust of the world. 27

When he established the heavens, I was there;

when he drew a circle on the face of the deep, 28

when he made firm the skies above,

when he established the fountains of the deep, 29

when he assigned to the sea its limit,

so that the waters might not transgress his command,

when he marked out the foundations of the earth, 30

then I was beside him, like a master workman,

and I was daily his delight,

rejoicing before him always, 31

rejoicing in his inhabited world

and delighting in the children of man.
32

“And now, O sons, listen to me:

blessed are those who keep my ways. 33

Hear instruction and be wise,

and do not neglect it. 34

Blessed is the one who listens to me,

watching daily at my gates,

waiting beside my doors. 35

For whoever finds me finds life

and obtains favor from the Lord, 36

but he who fails to find me injures himself;

all who hate me love death.”

PSALM 103

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Bless the Lord, O My SoulOf David.
103:1

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and all that is within me,

bless his holy name! 2

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

and forget not all his benefits, 3

who forgives all your iniquity,

who heals all your diseases, 4

who redeems your life from the pit,

who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 5

who satisfies you with good

so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
6

The Lord works righteousness

and justice for all who are oppressed. 7

He made known his ways to Moses,

his acts to the people of Israel. 8

The Lord is merciful and gracious,

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 9

He will not always chide,

nor will he keep his anger forever. 10

He does not deal with us according to our sins,

nor repay us according to our iniquities. 11

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 12

as far as the east is from the west,

so far does he remove our transgressions from us. 13

As a father shows compassion to his children,

so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. 14

For he knows our frame;

he remembers that we are dust.
15

As for man, his days are like grass;

he flourishes like a flower of the field; 16

for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,

and its place knows it no more. 17

But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,

and his righteousness to children’s children, 18

to those who keep his covenant

and remember to do his commandments. 19

The Lord has established his throne in the heavens,

and his kingdom rules over all.
20

Bless the Lord, O you his angels,

you mighty ones who do his word,

obeying the voice of his word! 21

Bless the Lord, all his hosts,

his ministers, who do his will! 22

Bless the Lord, all his works,

in all places of his dominion.

Bless the Lord, O my soul!