Isaiah 58:1-9

English Standard Version

True and False Fasting

58 “Cry aloud; do not hold back;
    ^(A)lift up your voice like a trumpet;
^(B)declare to my people their transgression,
    to the house of Jacob their sins.
²^(C)Yet they seek me daily
    and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that did righteousness
    and did not forsake the judgment of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments;
    they delight to draw near to God.
³^(D)‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not?
    Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’
Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure,^[a]
    ^(E)and oppress all your workers.
⁴Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
    and to hit with a wicked fist.
Fasting like yours this day
    will not make your voice to be heard on high.
⁵^(F)Is such the fast that I choose,
    ^(G)a day for a person to humble himself?
Is it to bow down his head like a reed,
    and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
Will you call this a fast,
    and a day acceptable to the Lord?

⁶“Is not this the fast that I choose:
    ^(H)to loose the bonds of wickedness,
    to undo the straps ^(I)of the yoke,
to let the oppressed^[b] go free,
    and to break every yoke?
⁷Is it not ^(J)to share your bread with the hungry
    and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
    ^(K)and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
⁸^(L)Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
    ^(M)and your healing shall spring up speedily;
^(N)your righteousness shall go before you;
    ^(O)the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
⁹Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
    you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you take away ^(P)the yoke from your midst,
    ^(Q)the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,

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Footnotes

Isaiah 58:3 Or pursue your own business
Isaiah 58:6 Or bruised

Psalm 112

English Standard Version

The Righteous Will Never Be Moved

112 ^[a] ^(A)Praise the Lord!
^(B)Blessed is the man who fears the Lord,
    who ^(C)greatly delights in his commandments!
²His ^(D)offspring will be mighty in the land;
    ^(E)the generation of the upright will be blessed.
³^(F)Wealth and riches are in his house,
    and his ^(G)righteousness endures forever.
⁴Light dawns in the darkness ^(H)for the upright;
    he is gracious, merciful, and ^(I)righteous.
⁵It is well with the man who ^(J)deals generously and lends;
    who conducts his affairs with justice.
⁶For the righteous will ^(K)never be moved;
    ^(L)he will be remembered forever.
⁷He is not ^(M)afraid of bad news;
    his ^(N)heart is firm, ^(O)trusting in the Lord.
⁸His heart is steady;^[b] he will not be afraid,
    until he looks in triumph on his adversaries.
⁹He has ^(P)distributed freely; he has given to the poor;
    his righteousness endures forever;
    his ^(Q)horn is exalted in honor.
¹⁰The wicked man sees it and is angry;
    he ^(R)gnashes his teeth and ^(S)melts away;
    ^(T)the desire of the wicked will perish!

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Footnotes

Psalm 112:1 This psalm is an acrostic poem, each line beginning with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet
Psalm 112:8 Or established (compare 111:8)

1 Corinthians 2:1-12

English Standard Version

Proclaiming Christ Crucified

2 And I, when I came to you, brothers,^[a] ^(A)did not come proclaiming to you ^(B)the testimony^[b] of God with lofty speech or wisdom. ²For I decided to know nothing among you except ^(C)Jesus Christ and him crucified. ³And ^(D)I was with you ^(E)in weakness and in fear and much trembling, ⁴and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of ^(F)the Spirit and of power, ⁵so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men^[c] but ^(G)in the power of God.

Wisdom from the Spirit

⁶Yet among ^(H)the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not ^(I)a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, ^(J)who are doomed to pass away. ⁷But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, ^(K)which God decreed before the ages for our glory. ⁸None of ^(L)the rulers of this age understood this, for ^(M)if they had, they would not have crucified ^(N)the Lord of glory. ⁹But, as it is written,

^(O)“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has ^(P)prepared ^(Q)for those who love him”—

¹⁰these things ^(R)God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even ^(S)the depths of God. ¹¹For who knows a person's thoughts ^(T)except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. ¹²Now ^(U)we have received not ^(V)the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.

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Footnotes

1 Corinthians 2:1 Or brothers and sisters
1 Corinthians 2:1 Some manuscripts mystery (or secret)
1 Corinthians 2:5 The Greek word anthropoi can refer to both men and women

Matthew 5:13-20

English Standard Version

Salt and Light

¹³“You are the salt of the earth, ^(A)but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.

¹⁴^(B)“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵^(C)Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. ¹⁶In the same way, let your light shine before others, so ^(D)that^[a] they may see your good works and ^(E)give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Christ Came to Fulfill the Law

¹⁷^(F)“Do not think that I have come to abolish ^(G)the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but ^(H)to fulfill them. ¹⁸For truly, I say to you, ^(I)until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. ¹⁹^(J)Therefore whoever relaxes ^(K)one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least ^(L)in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great ^(M)in the kingdom of heaven. ²⁰For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds ^(N)that of the scribes and Pharisees, you ^(O)will never enter the kingdom of heaven.