Today's Reading

¹Listen, islands, to me; and listen, you peoples, from far: the Lord has called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother has he made mention of my name:

²and he has made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand, he has hidden me: and he has made me a polished shaft; in his quiver has he kept me close:

³and he said to me, "You are my servant; Israel, in whom I will be glorified."

⁴But I said, "I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity; yet surely the justice due to me is with the Lord, and my reward with my God."

⁵Now says the Lord who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, and that Israel be gathered to him (for I am honorable in the eyes of the Lord, and my God has become my strength);

⁶yes, he says, "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give you for a light to the nations, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth."

⁷Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers: "Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall worship; because of the Lord who is faithful, even the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."

⁸Thus says the Lord, "In an acceptable time have I answered you, and in a day of salvation have I helped you; and I will preserve you, and give you for a covenant of the people, to raise up the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritage:

⁹saying to those who are bound, 'Come out!'; to those who are in darkness, 'Show yourselves!' "They shall feed in the ways, and on all bare heights shall be their pasture.

¹⁰They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun strike them: for he who has mercy on them will lead them, even by springs of water he will guide them.

¹¹I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted.

¹²Behold, these shall come from far; and behold, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim."

¹³Sing, heavens; and be joyful, earth; and break forth into singing, mountains: for the Lord has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his afflicted.

¹⁴But Zion said, "The Lord has forsaken me, and the Lord has forgotten me."

¹⁵"Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yes, these may forget, yet I will not forget you!

¹⁶Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.

¹⁷Your children make haste; your destroyers and those who made you waste shall go forth from you.

¹⁸Lift up your eyes all around, and see: all these gather themselves together, and come to you. As I live," says the Lord, "you shall surely clothe yourself with them all as with an ornament, and dress yourself with them, like a bride.

¹⁹"For, as for your waste and your desolate places, and your land that has been destroyed, surely now you shall be too small for the inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up shall be far away.

²⁰The children of your bereavement shall yet say in your ears, The place is too small for me; give place to me that I may dwell.

²¹Then you will say in your heart, 'Who has conceived these for me, since I have been bereaved of my children, and am solitary, an exile, and wandering back and forth? Who has brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where were they?'"

²²Thus says the Lord God, "Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and set up my banner to the peoples; and they shall bring your sons in their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.

²³Kings shall be your nursing fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers: they shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth, and lick the dust of your feet; and you shall know that I am the Lord; and those who wait for me shall not be disappointed."

²⁴Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the captives of a tyrant be delivered?

²⁵But thus says the Lord, "Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered; for I will contend with him who contends with you, and I will save your children.

²⁶I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I, the Lord, am your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob."

¹Thus says the Lord, "Where is the bill of your mother's divorce, with which I have put her away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities were you sold, and for your transgressions was your mother put away.

²Why, when I came, was there no man? When I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it can't redeem? or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stink, because there is no water, and die for thirst.

³I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering."

⁴The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with words him who is weary: he wakens morning by morning, he wakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.

⁵The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away backward.

⁶I gave my back to the strikers, and my cheeks to those who plucked off the hair; I did not hide my face from shame and spitting.

⁷For the Lord God will help me; therefore I have not been confounded: therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be disappointed.

⁸He is near who justifies me; who will bring charges against me? Let us stand up together: who is my adversary? Let him come near to me.

⁹Behold, the Lord God will help me; who is he who shall condemn me? Behold, all they shall wax old as a garment, the moth shall eat them up.

¹⁰Who is among you who fears the Lord, who obeys the voice of his servant? He who walks in darkness, and has no light, let him trust in the name of the Lord, and rely on his God.

¹¹Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who adorn yourselves with torches around yourselves; walk in the flame of your fire, and among the brands that you have kindled. You shall have this of my hand; you shall lie down in sorrow.

¹"Listen to me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek the Lord: look to the rock you were cut from, and to the hold of the pit you were dug from.

²Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; for when he was but one I called him, and I blessed him, and made him many.

³For the Lord has comforted Zion; he has comforted all her waste places, and has made her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.

⁴"Attend to me, my people; and give ear to me, my nation: for a law shall go forth from me, and I will establish my justice for a light of the peoples.

⁵My righteousness is near, my salvation is gone forth, and my arms shall judge the peoples; the islands shall wait for me, and on my arm shall they trust.

⁶Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look on the earth beneath; for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment; and those who dwell therein shall die in the same way: but my salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.

⁷"Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; do not fear the reproach of men, neither be dismayed at their insults.

⁸For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool; but my righteousness shall be forever, and my salvation to all generations."

⁹Awake, awake, put on strength, arm of the Lord; awake, as in the days of old, the generations of ancient times. Isn't it you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the monster?

¹⁰Isn't it you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over?

¹¹The ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing to Zion; and everlasting joy shall be on their heads. They shall obtain gladness and joy. Sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

¹²"I, even I, am he who comforts you: who are you, that you are afraid of man who shall die, and of the son of man who shall be made as grass;

¹³and have forgotten the Lord your Maker, who stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and fear continually all the day because of the fury of the oppressor, when he makes ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?

¹⁴The captive exile shall speedily be freed; and he shall not die and go down into the pit, neither shall his bread fail.

¹⁵For I am the Lord your God, who stirs up the sea, so that its waves roar: the Lord of hosts is his name.

¹⁶I have put my words in your mouth, and have covered you in the shadow of my hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and tell Zion, 'You are my people.'"

¹⁷Awake, awake, stand up, Jerusalem, that have drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his wrath; you have drunken the bowl of the cup of staggering, and drained it.

¹⁸There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she has brought forth; neither is there any who takes her by the hand among all the sons who she has brought up.

¹⁹These two things have happened to you. Who will bemoan you? Desolation and destruction, and the famine and the sword; how shall I comfort you?

²⁰Your sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as an antelope in a net; they are full of the wrath of the Lord, the rebuke of your God.

²¹Therefore hear now this, you afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine:

²²Thus says your Lord God, and your God who pleads the cause of his people, "Behold, I have taken out of your hand the cup of staggering, even the bowl of the cup of my wrath; you shall no more drink it again:

²³and I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you, who have said to your soul, 'Bow down, that we may walk over you;' and you have laid your back as the ground, and as the street, to those who walk over."

¹Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.

²We always give thanks to God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers,

³remembering without ceasing your work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, before our God and Father.

⁴We know, brothers loved by God, that you are chosen,

⁵and that our Good News came to you not in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and with much assurance. You know what kind of men we showed ourselves to be among you for your sake.

⁶You became imitators of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit,

⁷so that you became an example to all who believe in Macedonia and in Achaia.

⁸For from you the word of the Lord has been declared, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone out; so that we need not to say anything.

⁹For they themselves report concerning us what kind of a reception we had from you; and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God,

¹⁰and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead-Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come.

¹The wicked flee when no one pursues; but the righteous are as bold as a lion.

²In rebellion, a land has many rulers, but order is maintained by a man of understanding and knowledge.

³A needy man who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain which leaves no crops.

⁴Those who forsake the Law praise the wicked; but those who keep the Law contend with them.

⁵Evil men do not understand justice; but those who seek the Lord understand it fully.

⁶Better is the poor who walks in his integrity, than he who is perverse in his ways, and he is rich.

⁷Whoever keeps the Law is a wise son; but he who is a companion of gluttons shames his father.

⁸He who increases his wealth by excessive interest gathers it for one who has pity on the poor.

⁹He who turns away his ear from hearing the Law, even his prayer is an abomination.

¹⁰Whoever causes the upright to go astray in an evil way, he will fall into his own trap; but the blameless will inherit good.

¹¹The rich man is wise in his own eyes; but the poor who has understanding sees through him.

¹²When the righteous triumph, there is great glory; but when the wicked rise, men hide themselves.

¹³He who conceals his sins doesn't prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.

¹⁴Blessed is the man who always fears; but one who hardens his heart falls into trouble.

¹⁵As a roaring lion or a charging bear, so is a wicked ruler over helpless people.

¹⁶A tyrannical ruler lacks judgment. One who hates ill-gotten gain will have long days.

¹⁷A man who is tormented by life blood will be a fugitive until death; no one will support him.

¹⁸Whoever walks blamelessly is kept safe; but one with perverse ways will fall suddenly.

¹⁹One who works his land will have an abundance of food; but one who chases fantasies will have his fill of poverty.

²⁰A faithful man is rich with blessings; but one who is eager to be rich will not go unpunished.

²¹To show partiality is not good; yet a man will do wrong for a piece of bread.

²²A stingy man hurries after riches, and doesn't know that poverty waits for him.

²³One who rebukes a man will afterward find more favor than one who flatters with the tongue.

²⁴Whoever robs his father or his mother, and says, "It's not wrong." He is a partner with a destroyer.

²⁵One who is greedy stirs up strife; but one who trusts in the Lord will prosper.

²⁶One who trusts in himself is a fool; but one who walks in wisdom is kept safe.

²⁷One who gives to the poor has no lack; but one who closes his eyes will have many curses.

²⁸When the wicked rise, men hide themselves; but when they perish, the righteous thrive.