ISAIAH 45-48

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Cyrus, God’s Instrument45:1

Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus,

whose right hand I have grasped,

to subdue nations before him

and to loose the belts of kings,

to open doors before him

that gates may not be closed: 2

“I will go before you

and level the exalted places,

I will break in pieces the doors of bronze

and cut through the bars of iron, 3

I will give you the treasures of darkness

and the hoards in secret places,

that you may know that it is I, the Lord,

the God of Israel, who call you by your name. 4

For the sake of my servant Jacob,

and Israel my chosen,

I call you by your name,

I name you, though you do not know me. 5

I am the Lord, and there is no other,

besides me there is no God;

I equip you, though you do not know me, 6

that people may know, from the rising of the sun

and from the west, that there is none besides me;

I am the Lord, and there is no other. 7

I form light and create darkness;

I make well-being and create calamity;

I am the Lord, who does all these things.
8

“Shower, O heavens, from above,

and let the clouds rain down righteousness;

let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit;

let the earth cause them both to sprout;

I the Lord have created it.
9

“Woe to him who strives with him who formed him,

a pot among earthen pots!

Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’

or ‘Your work has no handles’? 10

Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?’

or to a woman, ‘With what are you in labor?’”
11

Thus says the Lord,

the Holy One of Israel, and the one who formed him:

“Ask me of things to come;

will you command me concerning my children and the work of my hands? 12

I made the earth

and created man on it;

it was my hands that stretched out the heavens,

and I commanded all their host. 13

I have stirred him up in righteousness,

and I will make all his ways level;

he shall build my city

and set my exiles free,

not for price or reward,”

says the Lord of hosts. The Lord, the Only Savior14

Thus says the Lord:

“The wealth of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush,

and the Sabeans, men of stature,

shall come over to you and be yours;

they shall follow you;

they shall come over in chains and bow down to you.

They will plead with you, saying:

‘Surely God is in you, and there is no other,

no god besides him.’”
15

Truly, you are a God who hides himself,

O God of Israel, the Savior. 16

All of them are put to shame and confounded;

the makers of idols go in confusion together. 17

But Israel is saved by the Lord

with everlasting salvation;

you shall not be put to shame or confounded

to all eternity.
18

For thus says the Lord,

who created the heavens

(he is God!),

who formed the earth and made it

(he established it;

he did not create it empty,

he formed it to be inhabited!):

“I am the Lord, and there is no other. 19

I did not speak in secret,

in a land of darkness;

I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,

‘Seek me in vain.’

I the Lord speak the truth;

I declare what is right.
20

“Assemble yourselves and come;

draw near together,

you survivors of the nations!

They have no knowledge

who carry about their wooden idols,

and keep on praying to a god

that cannot save. 21

Declare and present your case;

let them take counsel together!

Who told this long ago?

Who declared it of old?

Was it not I, the Lord?

And there is no other god besides me,

a righteous God and a Savior;

there is none besides me.
22

“Turn to me and be saved,

all the ends of the earth!

For I am God, and there is no other. 23

By myself I have sworn;

from my mouth has gone out in righteousness

a word that shall not return:

‘To me every knee shall bow,

every tongue shall swear allegiance.’
24

“Only in the Lord, it shall be said of me,

are righteousness and strength;

to him shall come and be ashamed

all who were incensed against him. 25

In the Lord all the offspring of Israel

shall be justified and shall glory.” The Idols of Babylon and the One True God46:1

Bel bows down; Nebo stoops;

their idols are on beasts and livestock;

these things you carry are borne

as burdens on weary beasts. 2

They stoop; they bow down together;

they cannot save the burden,

but themselves go into captivity.
3

“Listen to me, O house of Jacob,

all the remnant of the house of Israel,

who have been borne by me from before your birth,

carried from the womb; 4

even to your old age I am he,

and to gray hairs I will carry you.

I have made, and I will bear;

I will carry and will save.
5

“To whom will you liken me and make me equal,

and compare me, that we may be alike? 6

Those who lavish gold from the purse,

and weigh out silver in the scales,

hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god;

then they fall down and worship! 7

They lift it to their shoulders, they carry it,

they set it in its place, and it stands there;

it cannot move from its place.

If one cries to it, it does not answer

or save him from his trouble.
8

“Remember this and stand firm,

recall it to mind, you transgressors, 9

remember the former things of old;

for I am God, and there is no other;

I am God, and there is none like me, 10

declaring the end from the beginning

and from ancient times things not yet done,

saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,

and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ 11

calling a bird of prey from the east,

the man of my counsel from a far country.

I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass;

I have purposed, and I will do it.
12

“Listen to me, you stubborn of heart,

you who are far from righteousness: 13

I bring near my righteousness; it is not far off,

and my salvation will not delay;

I will put salvation in Zion,

for Israel my glory.” The Humiliation of Babylon47:1

Come down and sit in the dust,

O virgin daughter of Babylon;

sit on the ground without a throne,

O daughter of the Chaldeans!

For you shall no more be called

tender and delicate. 2

Take the millstones and grind flour,

put off your veil,

strip off your robe, uncover your legs,

pass through the rivers. 3

Your nakedness shall be uncovered,

and your disgrace shall be seen.

I will take vengeance,

and I will spare no one. 4

Our Redeemer—the Lord of hosts is his name—

is the Holy One of Israel.
5

Sit in silence, and go into darkness,

O daughter of the Chaldeans;

for you shall no more be called

the mistress of kingdoms. 6

I was angry with my people;

I profaned my heritage;

I gave them into your hand;

you showed them no mercy;

on the aged you made your yoke exceedingly heavy. 7

You said, “I shall be mistress forever,”

so that you did not lay these things to heart

or remember their end.
8

Now therefore hear this, you lover of pleasures,

who sit securely,

who say in your heart,

“I am, and there is no one besides me;

I shall not sit as a widow

or know the loss of children”: 9

These two things shall come to you

in a moment, in one day;

the loss of children and widowhood

shall come upon you in full measure,

in spite of your many sorceries

and the great power of your enchantments.
10

You felt secure in your wickedness;

you said, “No one sees me”;

your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray,

and you said in your heart,

“I am, and there is no one besides me.” 11

But evil shall come upon you,

which you will not know how to charm away;

disaster shall fall upon you,

for which you will not be able to atone;

and ruin shall come upon you suddenly,

of which you know nothing.
12

Stand fast in your enchantments

and your many sorceries,

with which you have labored from your youth;

perhaps you may be able to succeed;

perhaps you may inspire terror. 13

You are wearied with your many counsels;

let them stand forth and save you,

those who divide the heavens,

who gaze at the stars,

who at the new moons make known

what shall come upon you.
14

Behold, they are like stubble;

the fire consumes them;

they cannot deliver themselves

from the power of the flame.

No coal for warming oneself is this,

no fire to sit before! 15

Such to you are those with whom you have labored,

who have done business with you from your youth;

they wander about, each in his own direction;

there is no one to save you. Israel Refined for God’s Glory48:1

Hear this, O house of Jacob,

who are called by the name of Israel,

and who came from the waters of Judah,

who swear by the name of the Lord

and confess the God of Israel,

but not in truth or right. 2

For they call themselves after the holy city,

and stay themselves on the God of Israel;

the Lord of hosts is his name.
3

“The former things I declared of old;

they went out from my mouth, and I announced them;

then suddenly I did them, and they came to pass. 4

Because I know that you are obstinate,

and your neck is an iron sinew

and your forehead brass, 5

I declared them to you from of old,

before they came to pass I announced them to you,

lest you should say, ‘My idol did them,

my carved image and my metal image commanded them.’
6

“You have heard; now see all this;

and will you not declare it?

From this time forth I announce to you new things,

hidden things that you have not known. 7

They are created now, not long ago;

before today you have never heard of them,

lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’ 8

You have never heard, you have never known,

from of old your ear has not been opened.

For I knew that you would surely deal treacherously,

and that from before birth you were called a rebel.
9

“For my name’s sake I defer my anger;

for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you,

that I may not cut you off. 10

Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver;

I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. 11

For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,

for how should my name be profaned?

My glory I will not give to another. The Lord’s Call to Israel12

“Listen to me, O Jacob,

and Israel, whom I called!

I am he; I am the first,

and I am the last. 13

My hand laid the foundation of the earth,

and my right hand spread out the heavens;

when I call to them,

they stand forth together.
14

“Assemble, all of you, and listen!

Who among them has declared these things?

The Lord loves him;

he shall perform his purpose on Babylon,

and his arm shall be against the Chaldeans. 15

I, even I, have spoken and called him;

I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way. 16

Draw near to me, hear this:

from the beginning I have not spoken in secret,

from the time it came to be I have been there.”

And now the Lord God has sent me, and his Spirit.
17

Thus says the Lord,

your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

“I am the Lord your God,

who teaches you to profit,

who leads you in the way you should go. 18

Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments!

Then your peace would have been like a river,

and your righteousness like the waves of the sea; 19

your offspring would have been like the sand,

and your descendants like its grains;

their name would never be cut off

or destroyed from before me.”
20

Go out from Babylon, flee from Chaldea,

declare this with a shout of joy, proclaim it,

send it out to the end of the earth;

say, “The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob!” 21

They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts;

he made water flow for them from the rock;

he split the rock and the water gushed out.
22

“There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”

1 CORINTHIANS 13

« 1 Corinthians 12 | 1 Corinthians 13 | 1 Corinthians 14 »

The Way of Love  13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
    4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
    8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. 11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
    13 So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.