The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Friday September 23, 2022 (NIV)

¹⁷ The poor and the needy seek water, but there is none;
their tongues are parched with thirst.
I will answer them.^(A)
I am the Lord, the God of Israel. I will not abandon them.
¹⁸ I will open rivers on the barren heights,^(B)
and springs in the middle of the plains.
I will turn the desert into a pool
and dry land into springs.^(C)
19 I will plant cedar, acacia, myrtle, and olive trees
in the wilderness.^(D)
I will put juniper, elm, and cypress trees together
in the desert,
²⁰ so that all may see and know,
consider and understand,
that the hand of the Lord has done this,^(E)
the Holy One of Israel has created^(F) it.

²¹ “Submit your case,” says the Lord.
“Present your arguments,” says Jacob’s King.
²² “Let them come and tell us
what will happen.^(G)
Tell us the past events,
so that we may reflect on them
and know the outcome,
or tell us the future.
²³ Tell us the coming events,^(H)
then we will know that you are gods.
Indeed, do something good or bad,
then we will be in awe^[a] when we see it.
²⁴ Look, you are nothing^(I)
and your work is worthless.
Anyone who chooses you is detestable.

²⁵ “I have stirred up one from the north,^(J) and he has come,
one from the east^(K) who invokes my^[b] name.^(L)
He will march over rulers as if they were mud,
like a potter who treads the clay.
²⁶ Who told about this from the beginning,
so that we might know,
and from times past,
so that we might say, ‘He is right’?
No one announced it,
no one told it,
no one heard your words.
²⁷ I was the first to say to Zion,^[c]
‘Look! Here they are!’
And I gave Jerusalem a herald with good news.^(M)
28 When I look, there is no one;
there is no counselor among them;
when I ask them, they have nothing to say.^(N)
29 Look, all of them are a delusion;^[d]
their works are nonexistent;
their images are wind and emptiness.

⁵ This is what God, the Lord, says—
who created the heavens and stretched them out,^(V)
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,^(W)
who gives breath to the people on it
and spirit to those who walk on it^(X)—
⁶ “I am the Lord. I have called you
for a righteous purpose,^[f](Y)
and I will hold you by your hand.^(Z)
I will watch over you, and I will appoint you
to be a covenant for the people^(AA)
and a light to the nations,^(AB)
7 in order to open blind eyes,^(AC)
to bring out prisoners from the dungeon,^(AD)
and those sitting in darkness from the prison house.
⁸ I am the Lord. That is my name,
and I will not give my glory to another^(AE)
or my praise to idols.
⁹ The past events have indeed happened.
Now I declare new events;^(AF)
I announce them to you before they occur.”

¹⁴ “I have kept silent from ages past;
I have been quiet and restrained myself.^(AL)
But now, I will groan like a woman in labor,^(AM)
gasping breathlessly.
¹⁵ I will lay waste mountains and hills
and dry up all their vegetation.
I will turn rivers into islands
and dry up marshes.^(AN)
16 I will lead the blind by a way they did not know;^(AO)
I will guide them on paths they have not known.
I will turn darkness to light in front of them^(AP)
and rough places into level ground.^(AQ)
This is what I will do for them,
and I will not abandon them.^(AR)
17 They will be turned back and utterly ashamed—
those who trust in an idol
and say to a cast image,
‘You are our gods!’ ^(AS)

²¹ Because of his righteousness, the Lord was pleased
to magnify his instruction and make it glorious.
²² But this is a people plundered and looted,
all of them trapped in holes
or imprisoned in dungeons.
They have become plunder^(AW)
with no one to rescue them
and loot, with no one saying, “Give it back!”
²³ Who among you will hear this?
Let him listen and obey in the future.
²⁴ Who gave Jacob to the robber,^[j]
and Israel to the plunderers?
Was it not the Lord?
Have we not sinned against him?
They were not willing to walk in his ways,
and they would not listen to his instruction.
²⁵ So he poured out his furious anger
and the power of war on Jacob.
It surrounded him with fire, but he did not know it;
it burned him, but he didn’t take it to heart.^(AX)

⁸ Bring out a people who are blind, yet have eyes,^(BM)
and are deaf, yet have ears.
⁹ All the nations are gathered together,
and the peoples are assembled.^(BN)
Who among them can declare this,^(BO)
and tell us the former things?
Let them present their witnesses
to vindicate themselves,
so that people may hear and say, “It is true.”
¹⁰ “You are my witnesses”^(BP)—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
“and my servant whom I have chosen,^(BQ)
so that you may know and believe me
and understand that I am he.^(BR)
No god was formed before me,
and there will be none after me.^(BS)
11 I—I am the Lord.
Besides me, there is no Savior.^(BT)
12 I alone declared, saved, and proclaimed—
and not some foreign god^[k] among you.
So you are my witnesses”—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
“and^[l] I am God.^(BU)
13 Also, from today on I am he alone,
and none can rescue from my power.^(BV)
I act, and who can reverse it?” ^(BW)

³ Let the peoples praise you, God;
let all the peoples praise you.^(C)
4 Let the nations rejoice and shout for joy,
for you judge the peoples with fairness
and lead the nations on earth.^(D)Selah
⁵ Let the peoples praise you, God,
let all the peoples praise you.^(E)

⁶ The earth has produced its harvest;
God, our God, blesses us.^(F)
7 God will bless us,
and all the ends of the earth will fear him.^(G)

²⁹ Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
Who has conflicts? Who has complaints?
Who has wounds for no reason?^(A)
Who has red eyes?
³⁰ Those who linger over wine;
those who go looking for mixed wine.^(B)
31 Don’t gaze at wine because it is red,^(C)
because it gleams in the cup
and goes down smoothly.^(D)
32 In the end it bites like a snake
and stings like a viper.
³³ Your eyes will see strange things,
and you will say absurd things.^[a](E)
34 You’ll be like someone sleeping out at sea
or lying down on the top of a ship’s mast.
³⁵ “They struck me, but^[b] I feel no pain!
They beat me, but I didn’t know it!^(F)
When will I wake up?
I’ll look for another drink.”^(G)