Isaiah 65-66
Complete Jewish Bible
65 “I made myself accessible
to those who didn’t ask for me,
I let myself be found
by those who didn’t seek me.
I said, ‘Here I am! Here I am!’
to a nation not called by my name.
2 I spread out my hands all day long
to a rebellious people
who live in a way that is not good,
who follow their own inclinations;
3 a people who provoke me to my face all the time,
sacrificing in gardens and burning incense on bricks.
4 They sit among the graves
and spend the night in caverns;
they eat pig meat
and their pots hold soup made from disgusting things.
5 They say, ‘Keep your distance, don’t come near me,
because I am holier than you.’
These are smoke in my nose,
a fire that burns all day!
6 See, it is written before me;
I will not be silent until I repay them;
I will repay them to the full,
7 your own crimes and those of your ancestors together,”
says Adonai.
“They offered incense on the mountains
and insulted me on the hills.
First I will measure out their wages
and then repay them in full.”
8 Here is what Adonai says:
“As when juice is found in a cluster of grapes,
and people say, ‘Don’t destroy it,
there is still some good in it,’
so I will do likewise for the sake of my servants,
and not destroy them all.
9 I will bring forth descendants from Ya‘akov,
heirs of my mountains from Y’hudah;
my chosen ones will possess them,
and my servants will live there.
10 The Sharon will be a pasture for flocks,
the Akhor Valley a place for cattle to rest,
for my people who have sought me.
11 “But as for you who abandon Adonai,
who forget my holy mountain,
who prepare a table for a Gad, a god of luck,
and fill bowls of mixed wine for Meni, a god of destiny —
12 I will destine you to the sword,
you will all bow down to be slaughtered;
because when I called, you did not answer;
when I spoke, you did not hear,
but did what was evil from my point of view
and chose what did not please me.”
13 Therefore this is what Adonai Elohim says:
“My servants will eat, while you go hungry;
my servants will drink, while you go thirsty.
My servants will rejoice,
while you will be ashamed.
14 Yes, my servants will sing for joy from their hearts,
but you will cry out from the pain in your heart
and howl from an anguished spirit.
15 My chosen will use your name as a curse —
‘May Adonai Elohim strike you dead!’
But to his servants he will give another name.
16 Thus someone on earth who blesses himself
will bless himself by the God of truth,
and someone on earth who swears an oath
will swear by the God of truth;
for past troubles will be forgotten,
hidden from my eyes.
17 “For, look! I create new heavens
and a new earth;
past things will not be remembered,
they will no more come to mind.
18 So be glad and rejoice forever
in what I am creating;
for look! I am making Yerushalayim a joy,
and her people a delight.
19 I will rejoice in Yerushalayim
and take joy in my people.
The sound of weeping will no longer be heard in it,
no longer the sound of crying.
20 No more will babies die in infancy,
no more will an old man die short of his days —
he who dies at a hundred will be thought young,
and at less than a hundred thought cursed.
21 They will build houses and live in them,
they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 They will not build and others live there,
they will not plant and others eat;
for the days of my people
will be like the days of a tree,
and my chosen will themselves enjoy
the use of what they make.
23 They will not toil in vain
or raise children to be destroyed,
for they are the seed blessed by Adonai;
and their offspring with them.
24 Before they call, I will answer;
while they are still speaking, I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together,
and the lion eat straw like an ox
(but the serpent — its food will be dust).
They will not hurt or destroy
anywhere on my holy mountain,”
says Adonai.
66 “Heaven is my throne,” says Adonai,
“and the earth is my footstool.
What kind of house could you build for me?
What sort of place could you devise for my rest?
2 Didn’t I myself make all these things?
This is how they all came to be,”
says Adonai.
“The kind of person on whom I look with favor
is one with a poor and humble spirit,
who trembles at my word.
3 Those others might as well kill a person as an ox,
as well break a dog’s neck as sacrifice a lamb,
as well offer pig’s blood as offer a grain offering,
as well bless an idol as burn incense.
Just as these have chosen their ways
and enjoy their disgusting practices,
4 so I will enjoy making fools of them,
and bring on them the very things they fear.
For when I called, no one answered;
when I spoke, they did not hear.
Instead they did what was evil in my sight
and chose what did not please me.”
5 Hear the word of Adonai,
you who tremble at his word:
“Your brothers, who hate you and reject you
because of my name, have said:
‘Let Adonai be glorified,
so we can see your joy.’
But they will be put to shame.”
6 That uproar in the city,
that sound from the temple,
is the sound of Adonai repaying
his foes what they deserve.
7 Before going into labor, she gave birth;
before her pains came, she delivered a male child.
8 Who ever heard of such a thing?
Who has ever seen such things?
Is a country born in one day?
Is a nation brought forth all at once?
For as soon as Tziyon went into labor,
she brought forth her children.
9 “Would I let the baby break through
and not be born?” asks Adonai.
“Would I, who cause the birth,
shut the womb?” asks your God.
10 Rejoice with Yerushalayim!
Be glad with her, all you who love her!
Rejoice, rejoice with her,
all of you who mourned for her;
11 so that you nurse and are satisfied
by her comforting breast,
drinking deeply and delighting
in the overflow of her glory.
12 For Adonai says, “I will spread shalom
over her like a river,
and the wealth of nations
like a flooding stream;
you will nurse and be carried in her arm
and cuddled in her lap.
13 Like someone comforted by his mother,
I will comfort you;
in Yerushalayim
you will be comforted.”
14 Your heart will rejoice at the sight,
your bodies will flourish like newly sprouted grass.
It will be known that the hand of Adonai
is with his servants; but with his enemies, his fury.
15 For — look! — Adonai will come in fire,
and his chariots will be like the whirlwind,
to render his anger furiously,
his rebuke with blazing fire.
16 For Adonai will judge all humanity
with fire and with the sword,
and those slain by Adonai will be many.
17 “Those who consecrate and purify themselves
in order to enter the gardens,
then follow the one who was already there,
eating pig meat, reptiles and mice,
will all be destroyed together,” says Adonai.
18 “For I [know] their deeds and their thoughts.
“[The time] is coming when I will gather together all nations and languages. They will come and see my glory, 19 and I will give them a sign. I will send some of their survivors to the nations of Tarshish, Pul, Lud (these are archers), Tuval, Greece and more distant coasts, where they have neither heard of my fame nor seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory in these nations; 20 and they will bring all your kinsmen out of all the nations as an offering to Adonai — on horses, in chariots, in wagons, on mules, on camels — to my holy mountain Yerushalayim,” says Adonai, “just as the people of Isra’el themselves bring their offerings in clean vessels to the house of Adonai. 21 I will also take cohanim and L’vi’im from them,” says Adonai.
22 “For just as the new heavens and the new earth that I am making will continue in my presence,” says Adonai, “so will your descendants and your name continue.
23 “Every month on Rosh-Hodesh
and every week on Shabbat,
everyone living will come
to worship in my presence,” says Adonai.
24 “As they leave, they will look on the corpses
of the people who rebelled against me.
For their worm will never die,
and their fire will never be quenched;
but they will be abhorrent
to all humanity.”
[“Every month on Rosh-Hodesh
and every week on Shabbat,
everyone living will come
to worship in my presence,” says Adonai.]
Psalm 62
Complete Jewish Bible
62 (0) For the leader. Set in the style of Y’dutun. A psalm of David:
2 (1) My soul waits in silence for God alone;
my salvation comes from him.
3 (2) He alone is my rock and salvation,
my stronghold; I won’t be greatly moved.
4 (3) How long will you assail a person
in order to murder him, all of you,
as if he were a sagging wall
or a shaky fence?
5 (4) They only want to shake him from his height,
they take delight in lying —
with their mouths they bless,
but inwardly they curse. (Selah)
6 (5) My soul, wait in silence for God alone,
because my hope comes from him.
7 (6) He alone is my rock and salvation,
my stronghold; I won’t be moved.
8 (7) My safety and honor rest on God.
My strong rock and refuge are in God.
9 (8) Trust in him, people, at all times;
pour out your heart before him;
God is a refuge for us. (Selah)
10 (9) Ordinary folks are merely a breath
and important people a sham;
if you lay them on a balance-scale, they go up —
both together are lighter than nothing.
11 (10) Don’t put your trust in extortion,
don’t put false hopes in robbery;
even if wealth increases,
don’t set your heart on it.
12 (11) God has spoken once, I have heard it twice:
strength belongs to God.
13 (12) Also to you, Adonai, belongs grace;
for you reward all as their deeds deserve.
John 3
Complete Jewish Bible
3 There was a man among the P’rushim, named Nakdimon, who was a ruler of the Judeans. 2 This man came to Yeshua by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know it is from God that you have come as a teacher; for no one can do these miracles you perform unless God is with him.” 3 “Yes, indeed,” Yeshua answered him, “I tell you that unless a person is born again from above, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
4 Nakdimon said to him, “How can a grown man be ‘born’? Can he go back into his mother’s womb and be born a second time?” 5 Yeshua answered, “Yes, indeed, I tell you that unless a person is born from water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. 6 What is born from the flesh is flesh, and what is born from the Spirit is spirit. 7 Stop being amazed at my telling you that you must be born again from above! 8 The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it’s going. That’s how it is with everyone who has been born from the Spirit.”
9 Nakdimon replied, “How can this happen?” 10 Yeshua answered him, “You hold the office of teacher in Isra’el, and you don’t know this? 11 Yes, indeed! I tell you that what we speak about, we know; and what we give evidence of, we have seen; but you people don’t accept our evidence! 12 If you people don’t believe me when I tell you about the things of the world, how will you believe me when I tell you about the things of heaven? 13 No one has gone up into heaven; there is only the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moshe lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up; 15 so that everyone who trusts in him may have eternal life.
16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only and unique Son, so that everyone who trusts in him may have eternal life, instead of being utterly destroyed. 17 For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but rather so that through him, the world might be saved. 18 Those who trust in him are not judged; those who do not trust have been judged already, in that they have not trusted in the one who is God’s only and unique Son.
19 “Now this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, but people loved the darkness rather than the light. Why? Because their actions were wicked. 20 For everyone who does evil things hates the light and avoids it, so that his actions won’t be exposed. 21 But everyone who does what is true comes to the light, so that all may see that his actions are accomplished through God.”
22 After this, Yeshua and his talmidim went out into the countryside of Y’hudah, where he stayed awhile with them and immersed people. 23 Yochanan too was immersing at Einayim, near Shalem, because there was plenty of water there; and people kept coming to be immersed. 24 (This was before Yochanan’s imprisonment.)
25 A discussion arose between some of Yochanan’s talmidim and a Judean about ceremonial washing; 26 and they came to Yochanan and said to him, “Rabbi, you know the man who was with you on the other side of the Yarden, the one you spoke about? Well, here he is, immersing; and everyone is going to him!” 27 Yochanan answered, “No one can receive anything unless it has been given to him from Heaven. 28 You yourselves can confirm that I did not say I was the Messiah, but that I have been sent ahead of him. 29 The bridegroom is the one who has the bride; but the bridegroom’s friend, who stands and listens to him, is overjoyed at the sound of the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine is now complete. 30 He must become more important, while I become less important.
31 “He who comes from above is above all. He who is from the earth is from the earth and talks from an earthly point of view; he who comes from heaven is above all. 32 He testifies about what he has actually seen and heard, yet no one accepts what he says! 33 Whoever does accept what he says puts his seal on the fact that God is true, 34 because the one whom God sent speaks God’s words. For God does not give him the Spirit in limited degree — 35 the Father loves the Son and has put everything in his hands. 36 Whoever trusts in the Son has eternal life. But whoever disobeys the Son will not see that life but remains subject to God’s wrath.”
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.
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