Isaiah 49:1-6

English Standard Version

The Servant of the Lord

49 Listen to me, ^(A)O coastlands,
    and give attention, you peoples ^(B)from afar.
^(C)The Lord called me from the womb,
    from the body of my mother he named my name.
²^(D)He made my mouth like a sharp sword;
    ^(E)in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow;
    in his quiver he hid me away.
³And he said to me, “You are my servant,
    Israel, ^(F)in whom I will be glorified.”^[a]
⁴^(G)But I said, “I have labored in vain;
    I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
yet surely my right is with the Lord,
    and my recompense with my God.”

⁵^(H)And now the Lord says,
    he ^(I)who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him;
    and that Israel might be gathered to him—
for ^(J)I am honored in the eyes of the Lord,
    and my God has become my strength—
⁶he says:
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
    to raise up the tribes of Jacob
    and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
^(K)I will make you ^(L)as a light for the nations,
    that ^(M)my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

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Footnotes

Isaiah 49:3 Or I will display my beauty

Psalm 71:1-11

English Standard Version

Forsake Me Not When My Strength Is Spent

71 ^(A)In you, O Lord, do I take refuge;
    let me never be put to shame!
²In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
    incline your ear to me, and save me!
³Be to me a rock of ^(B)refuge,
    to which I may continually come;
you have ^(C)given the command to save me,
    for you are my ^(D)rock and my fortress.

⁴^(E)Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
    from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.
⁵For you, O Lord, are my ^(F)hope,
    my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
⁶Upon you I have leaned ^(G)from before my birth;
    you are he who ^(H)took me from my mother's womb.
My praise is continually of you.

⁷I have been as ^(I)a portent to many,
    but you are my strong refuge.
⁸My ^(J)mouth is filled with your praise,
    and with your glory all the day.
⁹^(K)Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
    forsake me not when my strength is spent.
¹⁰For my enemies speak concerning me;
    those who ^(L)watch for my life ^(M)consult together
¹¹and say, “God has forsaken him;
    pursue and seize him,
    for there is none to deliver him.”

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1 Corinthians 1:18-31

English Standard Version

Christ the Wisdom and Power of God

¹⁸For the word of the cross is ^(A)folly to ^(B)those who are perishing, but to us ^(C)who are being saved it is ^(D)the power of God. ¹⁹For it is written,

^(E)“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

²⁰^(F)Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? ^(G)Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach^[a] to save those who believe. ²²For ^(H)Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, ²³but we preach Christ ^(I)crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, ²⁴but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ ^(J)the power of God and ^(K)the wisdom of God. ²⁵For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

²⁶For consider your calling, brothers: ^(L)not many of you were wise according to worldly standards,^[b] not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. ²⁷But ^(M)God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; ^(N)God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; ²⁸God chose what is low and despised in the world, even ^(O)things that are not, to ^(P)bring to nothing things that are, ²⁹so ^(Q)that no human being^[c] might boast in the presence of God. ³⁰And because of him^[d] you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us ^(R)wisdom from God, ^(S)righteousness and ^(T)sanctification and ^(U)redemption, ³¹so that, as it is written, ^(V)“Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

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Footnotes

1 Corinthians 1:21 Or the folly of preaching
1 Corinthians 1:26 Greek according to the flesh
1 Corinthians 1:29 Greek no flesh
1 Corinthians 1:30 Greek And from him

John 12:37-38

English Standard Version

³⁷Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him, ³⁸^(A)so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

^(B)“Lord, who has believed what he heard from us,
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”

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John 12:42-50

English Standard Version

⁴²Nevertheless, ^(A)many even of the authorities believed in him, but ^(B)for fear of the Pharisees they did not ^(C)confess it, so that they would not be ^(D)put out of the synagogue; ⁴³^(E)for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.

Jesus Came to Save the World

⁴⁴And Jesus cried out and said, ^(F)“Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but ^(G)in him who sent me. ⁴⁵And ^(H)whoever ^(I)sees me sees him who sent me. ⁴⁶^(J)I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness. ⁴⁷If anyone ^(K)hears my words and does not keep them, ^(L)I do not judge him; for ^(M)I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. ⁴⁸^(N)The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; ^(O)the word that I have spoken will judge him ^(P)on the last day. ⁴⁹For ^(Q)I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father ^(R)who sent me has himself given me ^(S)a commandment—what to say and what to speak. ⁵⁰And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.”

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Mark 11:15-19

English Standard Version

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

¹⁵^(A)And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of ^(B)the money-changers and the seats of those who sold ^(C)pigeons. ¹⁶And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. ¹⁷And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ^(D)‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But ^(E)you have made it a den of robbers.” ¹⁸And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and ^(F)were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because ^(G)all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. ¹⁹^(H)And when evening came they^[a] went out of the city.