Isaiah 43:14-45:10 14 This is what the
Lord says, your protector,
the Holy One of Israel:
“For your sake I send to Babylon and make them all fugitives,
turning the Babylonians’ joyful shouts into mourning songs.
15 I am the
Lord, your Holy One,
the one who created Israel, your king.”
16 This is what the
Lord says, the one who made a road through the sea, a pathway through the surging waters,
17 the one who led chariots and horses to destruction,
together with a mighty army. They fell down,
never to rise again; they were extinguished, put out like a burning wick:
18 “Don’t remember these earlier events;
don’t recall these former events.
19 “Look, I am about to do something new. Now it begins to happen!
Do you not recognize
it? Yes, I will make a road in the desert and paths
in the wilderness.
20 The wild animals of the desert honor me, the jackals and ostriches, because I put water in the desert and streams in the wilderness, to quench the thirst of my chosen people,
21 the people whom I formed for myself, so they might praise me.”
22 “But you did not call for me, O Jacob; you did not long
for me, O Israel.
23 You did not bring me lambs for your burnt offerings; you did not honor me with your sacrifices. I did not burden you with offerings; I did not make you weary by demanding
incense.
24 You did not buy me aromatic reeds;
you did not present to me
the fat of your sacrifices. Yet you burdened me with your sins; you made me weary with your evil deeds.
25 I, I am the one who blots out your rebellious deeds for my sake; your sins I do not remember.
26 Remind me of what happened! Let’s debate! You, prove to me that you are right!
27 The father of your nation
sinned; your spokesmen
rebelled against me.
28 So I defiled your holy princes, and handed Jacob over to destruction, and subjected
Israel to humiliating abuse.”
1 “Now, listen, Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen!”
2 This is what the
Lord, the one who made you, says – the one who formed you in the womb and helps you: “Don’t be afraid, my servant Jacob, Jeshurun,
whom I have chosen!
3 For I will pour water on the parched ground
and cause streams to flow
on the dry land. I will pour my spirit on your offspring and my blessing on your children.
4 They will sprout up like a tree in the grass,
like poplars beside channels of water.
5 One will say, ‘I belong to the
Lord,’ and another will use
the name ‘Jacob.’ One will write on his hand, ‘The
Lord’s,’ and use the name ‘Israel.’”
6 This is what the
Lord, Israel’s king, says, their protector,
the
Lord who commands armies: “I am the first and I am the last, there is no God but me.
7 Who is like me? Let him make his claim!
Let him announce it and explain it to me – since I established an ancient people –
let them announce future events!
8 Don’t panic! Don’t be afraid!
Did I not tell you beforehand and decree it? You are my witnesses! Is there any God but me? There is no other sheltering rock;
I know of none.
9 All who form idols are nothing; the things in which they delight are worthless. Their witnesses cannot see; they recognize nothing, so they are put to shame.
10 Who forms a god and casts an idol that will prove worthless?
11 Look, all his associates
will be put to shame; the craftsmen are mere humans.
Let them all assemble and take their stand! They will panic and be put to shame.
12 A blacksmith works with his tool
and forges metal over the coals. He forms it
with hammers; he makes it with his strong arm. He gets hungry and loses his energy;
he drinks no water and gets tired.
13 A carpenter takes measurements;
he marks out an outline of its form;
he scrapes
it with chisels, and marks it with a compass. He patterns it after the human form,
like a well-built human being, and puts it in a shrine.
14 He cuts down cedars and acquires a cypress
or an oak. He gets
trees from the forest; he plants a cedar
and the rain makes it grow.
15 A man uses it to make a fire;
he takes some of it and warms himself. Yes, he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Then he makes a god and worships it; he makes an idol and bows down to it.
16 Half of it he burns in the fire – over that half he cooks
meat; he roasts a meal and fills himself. Yes, he warms himself and says, ‘Ah! I am warm as I look at the fire.’
17 With the rest of it he makes a god, his idol; he bows down to it and worships it. He prays to it, saying, ‘Rescue me, for you are my god!’
18 They do not comprehend or understand, for their eyes are blind and cannot see; their minds do not discern.
19 No one thinks to himself, nor do they comprehend or understand and say to themselves: ‘I burned half of it in the fire – yes, I baked bread over the coals; I roasted meat and ate it. With the rest of it should I make a disgusting idol? Should I bow down to dry wood?’
20 He feeds on ashes;
his deceived mind misleads him. He cannot rescue himself, nor does he say, ‘Is this not a false god I hold in my right hand?’
21 Remember these things, O Jacob, O Israel, for you are my servant. I formed you to be my servant; O Israel, I will not forget you!
22 I remove the guilt of your rebellious deeds as if they were a cloud, the guilt of your sins as if they were a cloud.
Come back to me, for I protect
you.”
23 Shout for joy, O sky, for the
Lord intervenes;
shout out, you subterranean regions
of the earth. O mountains, give a joyful shout; you too, O forest and all your trees!
For the
Lord protects
Jacob; he reveals his splendor through Israel.
24 This is what the
Lord, your protector,
says, the one who formed you in the womb: “I am the
Lord, who made everything, who alone stretched out the sky, who fashioned the earth all by myself,
25 who frustrates the omens of the empty talkers
and humiliates
the omen readers, who overturns the counsel of the wise men
and makes their advice
seem foolish,
26 who fulfills the oracles of his prophetic servants
and brings to pass the announcements
of his messengers, who says about Jerusalem,
‘She will be inhabited,’ and about the towns of Judah, ‘They will be rebuilt, her ruins I will raise up,’
27 who says to the deep sea, ‘Be dry! I will dry up your sea currents,’
28 who commissions
Cyrus, the one I appointed as shepherd
to carry out all my wishes
and to decree concerning Jerusalem, ‘She will be rebuilt,’ and concerning the temple, ‘It will be reconstructed.’”
1 This is what the
Lord says to his chosen
one, to Cyrus, whose right hand I hold
in order to subdue nations before him, and disarm kings,
to open doors before him, so gates remain unclosed:
2 “I will go before you and level mountains.
Bronze doors I will shatter and iron bars
I will hack through.
3 I will give you hidden treasures,
riches stashed away in secret places, so you may recognize that I am the
Lord, the one who calls you by name, the God of Israel.
4 For the sake of my servant Jacob, Israel, my chosen one, I call you by name and give you a title of respect, even though you do not recognize
me.
5 I am the
Lord, I have no peer,
there is no God but me. I arm you for battle,
even though you do not recognize
me.
6 I do this
so people
will recognize from east to west that there is no God but me; I am the
Lord, I have no peer.
7 I am
the one who forms light and creates darkness;
the one who brings about peace and creates calamity.
I am the
Lord, who accomplishes all these things.
8 O sky, rain down from above! Let the clouds send down showers
of deliverance! Let the earth absorb it
so salvation may grow,
and deliverance may sprout up
along with it. I, the
Lord, create it.
9 One who argues with his creator is in grave danger,
one who is like a mere
shard among the other shards on the ground! The clay should not say to the potter,
“What in the world
are you doing? Your work lacks skill!”
10 Danger awaits one who says
to his father, “What in the world
are you fathering?” and to his mother, “What in the world are you bringing forth?”
Context (NET) Ephesians 3:1-21 1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus
for the sake of you Gentiles –
2 if indeed
you have heard of the stewardship
of God’s grace that was given to me for you,
3 that
by revelation the divine secret
was made known to me, as I wrote before briefly.
4 When reading this,
you will be able to
understand my insight into this secret
of Christ.
5 Now this secret
was not disclosed to people
in former
generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by
the Spirit,
6 namely, that through the gospel
the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members
of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus.
7 I became a servant of this gospel
according to the gift of God’s grace that was given to me by
the exercise of his power.
8 To me – less than the least of all the saints
– this grace was given,
to proclaim to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ
9 and to enlighten
everyone about God’s secret plan
– a secret that has been hidden for ages
in God
who has created all things.
10 The purpose of this enlightenment is that
through the church the multifaceted wisdom
of God should now be disclosed to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly realms.
11 This was according to
the eternal purpose that he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord,
12 in whom we have boldness and confident access
to God
because of
Christ’s
faithfulness.
13 For this reason I ask you
not to lose heart because of what I am suffering for you,
which
is your glory.
14 For this reason
I kneel
before the Father,
15 from
whom every family
in heaven and on the earth is named.
16 I pray that
according to the wealth of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person,
17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, so that, because you have been rooted and grounded in love,
18 you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
19 and thus to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled up to
all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who by the power that is working within us
is able to do far beyond
all that we ask or think,
21 to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Context (NET) Psalm 68:1-18 1 For the music director; by David, a psalm, a song. God springs into action!
His enemies scatter; his adversaries
run from him.
2 As smoke is driven away by the wind, so you drive them away.
As wax melts before fire, so the wicked are destroyed before God.
3 But the godly
are happy; they rejoice before God and are overcome with joy.
4 Sing to God! Sing praises to his name! Exalt the one who rides on the clouds!
For the
Lord is his name!
Rejoice before him!
5 He is a father to the fatherless and an advocate for widows.
God rules from his holy palace.
6 God settles those who have been deserted in their own homes;
he frees prisoners and grants them prosperity.
But sinful rebels live in the desert.
7 O God, when you lead your people into battle,
when you march through the desert,
(Selah)
8 the earth shakes, yes, the heavens pour down rain before God, the God of Sinai,
before God, the God of Israel.
9 O God, you cause abundant showers to fall
on your chosen people.
When they
are tired, you sustain them,
10 for you live among them.
You sustain the oppressed with your good blessings, O God.
11 The Lord speaks;
many, many women spread the good news.
12 Kings leading armies run away – they run away!
The lovely lady
of the house divides up the loot.
13 When
you lie down among the sheepfolds,
the wings of the dove are covered with silver and with glittering gold.
14 When the sovereign judge
scatters kings,
let it snow
on Zalmon!
15 The mountain of Bashan
is a towering mountain;
the mountain of Bashan is a mountain with many peaks.
16 Why do you look with envy,
O mountains
with many peaks, at the mountain where God has decided to live?
Indeed
the
Lord will live there
permanently!
17 God has countless chariots; they number in the thousands.
The Lord comes from Sinai in holy splendor.
18 You ascend on high,
you have taken many captives.
You receive tribute
from
men, including even sinful rebels. Indeed the
Lord God lives there!
Context (NET) Proverbs 24:1-2 1 Do not envy evil people,
do not desire
to be with them;
2 for their hearts contemplate violence, and their lips speak harm.
Context (NET)
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