Isaiah 62:6-65:25
6 Upon your walls, Jerusalem,
I have appointed sentinels.
Continually, all day and all night,
they won’t keep silent.
You who call on the Lord, don’t rest,
7 and don’t allow God to rest
until he establishes Jerusalem,
and makes it the praise of the earth.
8 The Lord has promised
with raised hand and strong arm:
I will never again give your grain
as food for your enemies.
Foreigners won’t drink your wine
for which you labored.
9 Those who harvest will eat it
and will praise the Lord;
those who gather will drink it
in my holy courtyards.
10 Pass through, pass through the gates;
prepare the way for the people!
Build, build the road;
clear away the stones!
Raise up a signal for the peoples.
11 This is what the Lord announced
to the earth’s distant regions:
Say to Daughter Zion, “Look! Your deliverer arrives,
bringing reward and payment!”
12 They will be called The Holy People,
Redeemed By the Lord.
And you will be called Sought After—
A City That Is Not Abandoned.
Vengeance against the nations
63 Who is this coming from Edom,
from Bozrah in bright red garments,
this splendidly dressed one, striding[a] with great power?
It is I, proclaiming righteousness, powerful to save!
2 Why is your clothing red,
and your garments like those of one who stomps on grapes?
3 I have pressed out in the vat by myself—from the peoples, no one was with me.
I stomped on them in my anger,
trampled them in my wrath.
Their blood splashed on my garments,
and stained all my clothing,
4 because I intended a day of vengeance;
the year of my deliverance had arrived.
5 I looked and found no helper;
I was astonished to find no supporter.
But my arm brought victory for me;
my wrath helped me.
6 I trampled down nations in my anger
and made them drunk on my wrath;
I spilled their blood on the ground.
Prayer of yearning
7 I will recount the Lord’s faithful acts;
I will sing the Lord’s praises,
because of all the Lord did for us,
for God’s great favor toward the house of Israel.
God treated them compassionately
and with deep affection.
8 God said, “Truly, they are my people,
children who won’t do what is wrong.”
God became their savior.
9 During all their distress, God also was distressed,
so a messenger who served him saved them.
In love and mercy God redeemed them,
lifting and carrying them throughout earlier times.
10 But they rebelled,
and made God’s holy spirit terribly sad,
so that he turned into their enemy—
he fought against them!
11 Then they remembered earlier times,
when he rescued his people.[b]
Where was the one who drew them up from the sea,
the shepherd[c] of the flock?
Where was the one who put within them his holy spirit;
12 the one who guided Moses’ strong hand
with his glorious arm;
who split the water for them
to create an enduring reputation for himself,
13 and who guided them through the depths?
Like a horse in the desert, they didn’t stumble.
14 Like cattle descending to the valley,
the Lord’s spirit brought them to rest.
In this way you led your people
and made for yourself a glorious reputation.
15 Look down from heaven and see,
from your holy and glorious perch.
Where are your energy and your might,
your concern and your pity?
Don’t hold back![d]
16 You are surely our father,
even though Abraham doesn’t know us,
and Israel doesn’t recognize us.
You, Lord, are our father;
your reputation since long ago is that of our redeemer.
17 Why do you lead us astray, Lord,
from your ways?
Why do you harden our heart
so we don’t fear you?
Return for the sake of your servants
the tribes that are your heritage!
18 Why did the wicked bring down your holy place?[e]
Why did our enemies trample your sanctuary?
19 For too long we have been like those you don’t rule,
like those not known by your name.
64 [f] If only you would tear open the heavens and come down!
Mountains would quake before you
2 like fire igniting brushwood or making water boil.
[g] If you would make your name known to your enemies,
the nations would tremble in your presence.
3 When you accomplished wonders beyond all our expectations;
when you came down, mountains quaked before you.
4 From ancient times,
no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any god but you
who acts on behalf of those who wait for him![h]
5 You look after those who gladly do right;
they will praise you for your ways.[i]
But you were angry when we sinned;
you hid yourself when we did wrong.[j]
6 We have all become like the unclean;
all our righteous deeds are like a menstrual rag.
All of us wither like a leaf;
our sins, like the wind, carry us away.
7 No one calls on your name;
no one bothers to hold on to you,
for you have hidden yourself from us,
and have handed us over[k] to our sin.
8 But now, Lord, you are our father.
We are the clay, and you are our potter.
All of us are the work of your hand.
9 Don’t rage so fiercely, Lord;
don’t hold our sins against us forever,
but gaze now on your people, all of us:
10 Your holy cities have become a wilderness;
Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a wasteland.
11 Our holy, glorious house,
where our ancestors praised you,
has gone up in flames;
all that we treasured has become a ruin.
12 After all this, will you hold back, Lord?
Will you keep silent and torment us so terribly?
Judgment for idolators
65 I was ready to respond to those who didn’t ask.
I was ready to be found by those who didn’t look for me.
I said, “I’m here! I’m here!” to a nation
that didn’t call on my name.
2 I extended my hands all day
to a rebellious people
walking in a way that isn’t good,
following their own plans;
3 people who provoke me to my face continually,
sacrificing in gardens and burning incense on bricks,
4 who sit in tombs
and spend the night among rocks;[l]
who eat swine’s flesh
with broth of unclean meat in their bowls;
5 who say, “Keep to yourself!
Keep away from me! I’m too holy for you.”
These people ignite my anger
like a fire that burns all day.
6 Look, this stands written before me.
I won’t be silent, but I will repay;
I will repay in full measure
7 your sins and the sins of your ancestors as well,
says the Lord.
Since they burned incense on the mountains,
and mocked me in the hills,
I will count out to them
full payment for their actions.
8 The Lord proclaims:
As new wine is found in the grape cluster,
and someone says, “Don’t destroy it, for there is a blessing in it,”
so I will do for the sake of my servants
and not destroy everything:
9 I will bring out offspring from Jacob,
and from Judah, heirs to my mountains.
My chosen ones will take possession;
my servants will dwell there.
10 Sharon will become a pasture for sheep,
and the Achor Valley a resting place for cattle,
for my people who seek me.
11 But you who abandon the Lord,
who forget my holy mountain,
who set a table for a god of good fortune,
and fill cups of mixed wine for a god of fate:
12 I will offer you to the sword.
You will all bow down for slaughter,
because I called and you didn’t answer;
I spoke and you wouldn’t hear.
You did what I considered evil,
and chose what I didn’t want.
13 Therefore, the Lord God says:
Look, my servants will eat, but you will hunger.
My servants will drink, but you will thirst.
My servants will rejoice, but you will be ashamed.
14 My servants will sing with contented hearts,
but you will cry out from heartache;
with broken spirits you will wail.
15 You will leave your name behind for my chosen ones to curse:
“May the Lord God kill you!
May he call his servants by a different name!”
16 Those who pronounce a blessing in the land
will do so by the God called Amen;
those who make a solemn pledge in the land will do so by the God called Amen.[m]
Past troubles will be forgotten
and hidden from my sight.
New creation and new Jerusalem
17 Look! I’m creating a new heaven and a new earth:
past events won’t be remembered;
they won’t come to mind.
18 Be glad and rejoice forever
in what I’m creating,
because I’m creating Jerusalem as a joy
and her people as a source of gladness.
19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad about my people.
No one will ever hear the sound of weeping or crying in it again.
20 No more will babies live only a few days,
or the old fail to live out their days.
The one who dies at a hundred will be like a young person,
and the one falling short of a hundred will seem cursed.
21 They will build houses and live in them;
they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 They won’t build for others to live in,
nor plant for others to eat.
Like the days of a tree will be the days of my people;
my chosen will make full use of their handiwork.
23 They won’t labor in vain,
nor bear children to a world of horrors,
because they will be people blessed by the Lord,
they along with their descendants.
24 Before they call, I will answer;
while they are still speaking, I will hear.
25 Wolf and lamb will graze together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox,
but the snake—its food will be dust.
They won’t hurt or destroy at any place on my holy mountain,
says the Lord.
Footnotes:
- Isaiah 63:1 Or stooping
- Isaiah 63:11 Or Moses, his people
- Isaiah 63:11 LXX, Tg; MT shepherds
- Isaiah 63:15 Heb uncertain
- Isaiah 63:18 Cf LXX, Vulg; Heb uncertain
- Isaiah 64:1 63:19b in Heb
- Isaiah 64:2 64:1 in Heb
- Isaiah 64:4 Heb uncertain
- Isaiah 64:5 Heb uncertain
- Isaiah 64:5 Heb uncertain
- Isaiah 64:7 LXX, cf Syr, Tg, Vulg; MT melted
- Isaiah 65:4 Or in guarded places
- Isaiah 65:16 Or so be it
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible
Philippians 2:19-30
Sending Timothy and Epaphroditus
19 I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to see you soon so that I may be encouraged by hearing about you. 20 I have no one like him. He is a person who genuinely cares about your well-being. 21 All the others put their own business ahead of Jesus Christ’s business. 22 You know his character, how he labors with me for the gospel like a son works with his father. 23 So he is the one that I hope to send as soon as I find out how things turn out here for me. 24 I trust in the Lord that I also will visit you soon.
25 I think it is also necessary to send Epaphroditus to you. He is my brother, coworker, and fellow soldier; and he is your representative who serves my needs. 26 He misses you all, and he was upset because you heard he was sick. 27 In fact, he was so sick that he nearly died. But God had mercy on him—and not just on him but also on me, because his death would have caused me great sorrow. 28 Therefore, I am sending him immediately so that when you see him again you can be glad and I won’t worry. 29 So welcome him in the Lord with great joy and show great respect for people like him. 30 He risked his life and almost died for the work of Christ, and he did this to make up for the help you couldn’t give me.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible
Psalm 73
BOOK III
(Psalms 73–89)
Psalm 73
A psalm of Asaph.
73 Truly God is good to Israel,
to those who are have a pure heart.
2 But me? My feet had almost stumbled;
my steps had nearly slipped
3 because I envied the arrogant;
I observed how the wicked are well off:
4 They suffer no pain;
their bodies are fit and strong.
5 They are never in trouble;
they aren’t weighed down like other people.
6 That’s why they wear arrogance like a necklace,
why violence covers them like clothes.
7 Their eyes bulge out from eating so well;
their hearts overflow with delusions.
8 They scoff and talk so cruel;
from their privileged positions
they plan oppression.
9 Their mouths dare to speak against heaven!
Their tongues roam the earth!
10 That’s why people keep going back to them,
keep approving what they say.[a]
11 And what they say is this: “How could God possibly know!
Does the Most High know anything at all!”
12 Look at these wicked ones,
always relaxed, piling up the wealth!
13 Meanwhile, I’ve kept my heart pure for no good reason;
I’ve washed my hands to stay innocent for nothing.
14 I’m weighed down all day long.
I’m punished every morning.
15 If I said, “I will talk about all this,”
I would have been unfaithful to your children.
16 But when I tried to understand these things,
it just seemed like hard work
17 until I entered God’s sanctuary
and understood what would happen to the wicked.
18 You will definitely put them on a slippery path;
you will make them fall into ruin!
19 How quickly they are devastated,
utterly destroyed by terrors!
20 As quickly as a dream departs from someone waking up, my Lord,
when you are stirred up, you make them disappear.[b]
21 When my heart was bitter,
when I was all cut up inside,
22 I was stupid and ignorant.
I acted like nothing but an animal toward you.
23 But I was still always with you!
You held my strong hand!
24 You have guided me with your advice;
later you will receive me with glory.
25 Do I have anyone else in heaven?
There’s nothing on earth I desire except you.
26 My body and my heart fail,
but God is my heart’s rock and my share forever.
27 Look! Those far from you die;
you annihilate all those who are unfaithful to you.
28 But me? It’s good for me to be near God.
I have taken my refuge in you, my Lord God,
so I can talk all about your works!
Footnotes:
- Psalm 73:10 Heb uncertain
- Psalm 73:20 Heb uncertain
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible
Proverbs 24:13-14
13 My child, eat honey, for it is good.
The honeycomb is sweet in your mouth.
14 Know that wisdom is like that for your whole being.
If you find it, there is a future.
Your hope won’t be cut off.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible