Today's Reading

¹Awake, awake, put on your strength, Zion; put on your beautiful garments, Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean.

²Shake yourself from the dust! Arise, sit up, Jerusalem! Release yourself from the bonds of your neck, captive daughter of Zion!

³For thus says the Lord, "You were sold for nothing; and you shall be redeemed without money."

⁴For thus says the Lord God, "My people went down at the first into Egypt to live there: and the Assyrian has oppressed them without cause.

⁵"Now therefore, what do I do here," says the Lord, "seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Those who rule over them mock," says the Lord, "and my name continually all the day is blasphemed.

⁶Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore they shall know in that day that I am he who speaks; behold, it is I."

⁷How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of good, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, "Your God reigns!"

⁸The voice of your watchmen! they lift up the voice, together do they sing; for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord returns to Zion.

⁹Break forth into joy, sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem; for the Lord has comforted his people, he has redeemed Jerusalem.

¹⁰The Lord has made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

¹¹Depart, depart, go out from there, touch no unclean thing! Go out of the midst of her! Cleanse yourselves, you who bear the vessels of the Lord.

¹²For you shall not go out in haste, neither shall you go by flight: for the Lord will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

¹³Behold, my servant shall deal wisely, he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be very high.

¹⁴Just as many were astonished at you (his appearance was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men),

¹⁵so shall he sprinkle many nations; kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they understand.

¹Who has believed our message? To whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

²For he grew up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of dry ground. He has no form nor comeliness. When we see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

³He was despised, and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering; as one from whom men hide their face, and we despised him and we did not value him.

⁴Surely he has borne our sufferings, and carried our sorrows; yet we considered him plagued, struck by God, and afflicted.

⁵But he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought our peace was on him; and by his wounds we are healed.

⁶All we like sheep have gone astray. Everyone has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

⁷He was oppressed, yet when he was afflicted he did not open his mouth. As a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that before its shearers is mute, so he did not open his mouth.

⁸He was taken away by oppression and judgment; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living and stricken for the disobedience of my people?

⁹They made his grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death; although he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

¹⁰Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He has caused him to suffer. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring. He shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

¹¹After the suffering of his soul, he will see light and be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my servant, the righteous one, make many righteous, and he will bear their iniquities.

¹²Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he poured out his soul to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sins of many, and made intercession for their transgressions.

¹"Sing, barren, you who did not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, you who did not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than of her that has a husband," says the Lord.

²"Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of your habitations; do not spare: lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes.

³For you shall spread out on the right hand and on the left; and your seed shall possess the nations, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited.

⁴"Do not be afraid; for you shall not be ashamed: neither be confounded; for you shall not be disappointed: for you shall forget the shame of your youth; and the reproach of your widowhood you shall remember no more.

⁵For your Maker is your husband; the Lord of hosts is his name: and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; the God of the whole earth shall he be called.

⁶For the Lord has called you as a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, even a wife of youth, when she is cast off," says your God.

⁷"For a small moment have I forsaken you; but with great mercies will I gather you.

⁸In overflowing wrath I hid my face from you for a moment; but with everlasting loving kindness will I have mercy on you," says the Lord your Redeemer.

⁹"For this is like the waters of Noah to me; for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah shall no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I will not be angry with you, nor rebuke you.

¹⁰For the mountains may depart, and the hills be removed; but my loving kindness shall not depart from you, neither shall my covenant of peace be removed," says the Lord who has mercy on you.

¹¹"You afflicted, tossed with storms, and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in beautiful colors, and lay your foundations with sapphires.

¹²I will make your pinnacles of rubies, and your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones.

¹³All your children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of your children.

¹⁴In righteousness you shall be established: you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not be afraid; and from terror, for it shall not come near you.

¹⁵Behold, they may gather together, but not by me: whoever shall gather together against you shall fall because of you.

¹⁶"Behold, I have created the smith who blows the fire of coals, and brings forth a weapon for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.

¹⁷No weapon that is formed against you will prevail; and you will condemn every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness which is of me," says the Lord.

¹For you yourselves know, brothers, our visit to you was not in vain,

²but having suffered before and been shamefully treated, as you know, at Philippi, we grew bold in our God to tell you the Good News of God in much conflict.

³For our exhortation is not of error, nor of uncleanness, nor in deception.

⁴But even as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News, so we speak; not as pleasing men, but God, who tests our hearts.

⁵For neither were we at any time found using words of flattery, as you know, nor a cloak of covetousness (God is witness),

⁶nor seeking glory from men (neither from you nor from others), when we might have claimed authority as apostles of Christ.

⁷But we were like children among you, like a nursing mother cherishes her own children.

⁸Even so, affectionately longing for you, we were well pleased to impart to you, not the Good News of God only, but also our own souls, because you had become very dear to us.

⁹For you remember, brothers, our labor and travail; for working night and day, that we might not burden any of you, we preached to you the Good News of God.

¹⁰You are witnesses with God, how holy, righteously, and blamelessly we behaved ourselves toward you who believe.

¹¹As you know, as a father with his own children,

¹²we exhorted, comforted, and implored every one of you to lead a life worthy of God, who calls you into his own Kingdom and glory.

¹³For this cause we also thank God without ceasing, that, when you received from us the word of the message of God, you accepted it not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God, which also works in you who believe.

¹⁴For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus; for you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, even as they did from the Judeans;

¹⁵who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out, and did not please God, and are contrary to all men;

¹⁶forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved; to fill up their sins always. But wrath has come on them to the uttermost.

¹⁷But we, brothers, being bereaved of you for a short season, in presence, not in heart, tried even harder to see your face with great desire,

¹⁸because we wanted to come to you-indeed, I, Paul, once and again-but Satan hindered us.

¹⁹For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is not it even you, before our Lord Jesus at his coming?

²⁰For you are our glory and our joy.

¹He who is often rebuked and stiffens his neck will be destroyed suddenly, with no remedy.

²When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; but when the wicked rule, the people groan.

³Whoever loves wisdom brings joy to his father; but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth.

⁴The king by justice makes the land stable, but he who takes bribes tears it down.

⁵A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet.

⁶An evil man is snared by his sin, but the righteous can sing and be glad.

⁷The righteous care about justice for the poor. The wicked aren't concerned about knowledge.

⁸Mockers stir up a city, but wise men turn away anger.

⁹If a wise man goes to court with a foolish man, the fool rages or scoffs, and there is no peace.

¹⁰The bloodthirsty hate a man of integrity; and they seek the life of the upright.

¹¹A fool vents all of his anger, but a wise man brings himself under control.

¹²If a ruler listens to lies, all of his officials are wicked.

¹³The poor man and the oppressor have this in common: The Lord gives sight to the eyes of both.

¹⁴The king who fairly judges the poor, his throne shall be established forever.

¹⁵The rod of correction gives wisdom, but a child left to himself causes shame to his mother.

¹⁶When the wicked increase, sin increases; but the righteous will see their downfall.

¹⁷Correct your son, and he will give you peace; yes, he will bring delight to your soul.

¹⁸Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but one who keeps the Law is blessed.

¹⁹A servant can't be corrected by words. Though he understands, yet he will not respond.

²⁰Do you see a man who is hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

²¹He who pampers his servant from youth will have him become a son in the end.

²²An angry man stirs up strife, and a wrathful man abounds in sin.

²³A man's pride brings him low, but one of lowly spirit gains honor.

²⁴Whoever is an accomplice of a thief is an enemy of his own soul. He takes an oath, but dares not testify.

²⁵The fear of man proves to be a snare, but whoever puts his trust in the Lord is kept safe.

²⁶Many seek the ruler's favor, but a man's justice comes from the Lord.

²⁷A dishonest man detests the righteous, and the upright in their ways detest the wicked.