Isaiah 66
Where God may be found
66 The Lord says:
Heaven is my throne,
and earth is my footstool.
So where could you build a house for me,
and where could my resting place be?
2 My hand made all these things
and brought them into being, says the Lord.
But here is where I will look:
to the humble and contrite in spirit,
who tremble at my word.
3 The one who slaughters an ox kills a person;
the one who sacrifices a sheep breaks a dog’s neck;
the one who makes a grain offering offers swine’s blood;
the one who burns incense blesses an idol.
All these have chosen their own ways,
and prefer their detestable things.
4 So I too will choose to punish them,
to bring horrors upon them,
since I called and no one answered.
I spoke and no one heard,
but they did evil in my eyes.
What I didn’t want, they chose.
5 Listen to the Lord’s word,
you who tremble at his word:
Your family members, those who hate and exclude you because of my name,
have said, “Let the Lord be glorified;
let’s see your joy.”
But they will be ashamed.
6 The sound of an uproar from the city! A sound from the temple!
The sound of the Lord repaying his enemies what they have earned.
Mother Zion
7 Before she was in labor, she gave birth.
Before her pangs came upon her, she delivered a boy.
8 Whoever heard of such a thing?
Whoever saw such things as these?
Can a land come to birth in one day?
Can a nation be born all at once?
Yet as soon as birth pangs came,
Zion bore her children.
9 Will I open the womb and not bring to birth? says the Lord.
Will I, who create life, close the womb? says your God.
10 Celebrate with Jerusalem; be happy with her,
all you who love her!
Rejoice with her in joy,
all you who mourn over her,
11 so that you may nurse and be satisfied
from her comforting breasts,
that you may drink and be refreshed
from her full breasts.
12 The Lord says:
Look, I’m extending prosperity to her like a river,
and the wealth of nations like an overflowing stream.
You will nurse and be carried on the hip
and bounced upon the knee.
13 As a mother comforts her child,
so I will comfort you;
in Jerusalem you will be comforted.
14 When you see this, your heart will rejoice;
your entire being will flourish like grass.
The Lord’s power will be known among his servants,
but his fury among his enemies.
15 The Lord will come with fire,
God’s chariots like a windstorm,
to repay in hot anger,
to rebuke with fiery flames.
16 With fire and with sword the Lord will judge all humanity;
many will be slain by the Lord.
17 Those who became holy and purify themselves, following their leader into the gardens,[a] who eat pork, detestable animals, and mice, will meet their end together, says the Lord.
Worshippers gathered from the nations
18 Because of their actions and thoughts, I’m coming to gather all nations and cultures. They will come to see my glory. 19 I will put a sign on them, by sending out some of the survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Libya, and Lydia, and to the archers of Cilicia and Greece—distant coastlands that haven’t heard of my fame or seen my glory. They will declare my glory among the nations. 20 They will bring your family members from all nations as an offering to the Lord—on horses, in chariots, in wagons, on mules, and on camels—to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the Lord, like Israelites bringing an offering in purified containers to the Lord’s house. 21 I will select some of them as priests and Levites, says the Lord.
22 As the new heavens and the new earth that I’m making will endure before me, says the Lord,
so your descendants and your name will endure.
23 From month to month and from Sabbath to Sabbath,
all humanity will come to worship me, says the Lord.
24 They will go out and see the corpses
of the people who rebelled against me,
where their worm never dies, where their fire is never extinguished.
They will be a horror to everyone.
Footnotes:
- Isaiah 66:17 Heb uncertain
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible
Philippians 3
Values and priorities
3 So then, my brothers and sisters, be glad in the Lord. It’s no trouble for me to repeat the same things to you because they will help keep you on track. 2 Watch out for the “dogs.” Watch out for people who do evil things. Watch out for those who insist on circumcision, which is really mutilation. 3 We are the circumcision. We are the ones who serve by God’s Spirit and who boast in Christ Jesus. We don’t put our confidence in rituals performed on the body, 4 though I have good reason to have this kind of confidence. If anyone else has reason to put their confidence in physical advantages, I have even more:
5 I was circumcised on the eighth day.
I am from the people of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin.
I am a Hebrew of the Hebrews.
With respect to observing the Law, I’m a Pharisee.
6 With respect to devotion to the faith, I harassed the church.
With respect to righteousness under the Law, I’m blameless.
7 These things were my assets, but I wrote them off as a loss for the sake of Christ. 8 But even beyond that, I consider everything a loss in comparison with the superior value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have lost everything for him, but what I lost I think of as sewer trash, so that I might gain Christ 9 and be found in him. In Christ I have a righteousness that is not my own and that does not come from the Law but rather from the faithfulness of Christ. It is the righteousness of God that is based on faith. 10 The righteousness that I have comes from knowing Christ, the power of his resurrection, and the participation in his sufferings. It includes being conformed to his death 11 so that I may perhaps reach the goal of the resurrection of the dead.
12 It’s not that I have already reached this goal or have already been perfected, but I pursue it, so that I may grab hold of it because Christ grabbed hold of me for just this purpose. 13 Brothers and sisters, I myself don’t think I’ve reached it, but I do this one thing: I forget about the things behind me and reach out for the things ahead of me. 14 The goal I pursue is the prize of God’s upward call in Christ Jesus. 15 So all of us who are spiritually mature should think this way, and if anyone thinks differently, God will reveal it to him or her. 16 Only let’s live in a way that is consistent with whatever level we have reached.
Imitate Paul
17 Brothers and sisters, become imitators of me and watch those who live this way—you can use us as models. 18 As I have told you many times and now say with deep sadness, many people live as enemies of the cross. 19 Their lives end with destruction. Their god is their stomach, and they take pride in their disgrace because their thoughts focus on earthly things. 20 Our citizenship is in heaven. We look forward to a savior that comes from there—the Lord Jesus Christ. 21 He will transform our humble bodies so that they are like his glorious body, by the power that also makes him able to subject all things to himself.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible
Psalm 74
Psalm 74
A maskil[a] of Asaph.
74 God, why have you abandoned us forever?
Why does your anger smolder
at the sheep of your own pasture?
2 Remember your congregation
that you took as your own long ago,
that you redeemed to be the tribe of your own possession—
remember Mount Zion, where you dwell.
3 March to the unending ruins,
to all that the enemy destroyed in the sanctuary.
4 Your enemies roared in your own meeting place;
they set up their own signs there!
5 It looked like axes raised
against a thicket of trees.[b]
6 And then all its carvings
they hacked down with hatchet and pick.
7 They set fire to your sanctuary, burned it to the ground;
they defiled the dwelling place of your name.
8 They said in their hearts, We’ll kill all of them together!
They burned all of God’s meeting places in the land.
9 We don’t see our own signs anymore.
No prophet is left.
And none of us know how long it will last.
10 How long, God, will foes insult you?
Are enemies going to abuse your name forever?
11 Why do you pull your hand back?
Why do you hold your strong hand close to your chest?
12 Yet God has been my king from ancient days—
God, who makes salvation happen in the heart of the earth!
13 You split the sea with your power.
You shattered the heads of the sea monsters on the water.
14 You crushed Leviathan’s heads.
You gave it to the desert dwellers for food!
15 You split open springs and streams;
you made strong-flowing rivers dry right up.
16 The day belongs to you! The night too!
You established both the moon and the sun.
17 You set all the boundaries of the earth in place.
Summer and winter? You made them!
18 So remember this, Lord:
how enemies have insulted you,
how unbelieving fools have abused your name.
19 Don’t deliver the life of your dove to wild animals!
Don’t forget the lives of your afflicted people forever!
20 Consider the covenant!
Because the land’s dark places are full of violence.
21 Don’t let the oppressed live in shame.
No, let the poor and needy praise your name!
22 God, rise up! Make your case!
Remember how unbelieving fools insult you all day long.
23 Don’t forget the voices of your enemies,
the racket of your adversaries that never quits.
Footnotes:
- Psalm 74:1 Perhaps instruction; the root is used in Ps 32:8.
- Psalm 74:5 Heb uncertain
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible
Proverbs 24:15-16
15 Wicked one, don’t wait secretly at the home of the righteous.
Don’t destroy their dwelling.
16 The righteous may fall seven times but still get up,
but the wicked will stumble into trouble.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible