Isaiah 26-27

New American Standard Bible

Song of Trust in God’s Protection

26 ^(A)On that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

“We have a ^(B)strong city;
He sets up walls and ramparts for ^[a]^(C)security.
²Open the ^(D)gates, that the ^(E)righteous nation may enter,
The one that ^[b]remains faithful.
³The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect ^(F)peace,
Because he trusts in You.
⁴^(G)Trust in the Lord forever,
For in ^[c]God the Lord, we have an everlasting ^(H)Rock.
⁵For He has brought low those who dwell on high, the ^(I)unassailable city;
^(J)He lays it low, He lays it low to the ground, He casts it to the dust.
⁶^(K)The foot will trample it,
The feet of the ^(L)poor, the steps of the helpless.”

⁷The ^(M)way of the righteous is smooth;
O Upright One, ^(N)make the path of the righteous level.
⁸Indeed, while following the way of ^(O)Your judgments, Lord,
We have waited for You eagerly;
^(P)Your name, and ^(Q)remembering You, is the desire of our souls.
⁹^(R)At night ^[d]my soul longs for You,
Indeed, ^[e]my spirit within me ^(S)seeks You diligently;
For when the earth ^[f]experiences Your judgments,
The inhabitants of the world ^(T)learn righteousness.
¹⁰Though the wicked person is shown compassion,
He does not ^(U)learn righteousness;
He ^(V)deals unjustly in the land of uprightness,
And does not perceive the majesty of the Lord.

¹¹Lord, Your hand is lifted up, yet they ^(W)do not see it.
^[g]They see ^(X)Your zeal for the people and are put to shame;
Indeed, ^[h]^(Y)fire will devour Your enemies.
¹²Lord, You will establish ^(Z)peace for us,
Since You have also performed for us all our works.
¹³Lord, our God, ^(AA)other masters besides You have ruled us;
But through You alone we ^[i]^(AB)confess Your name.
¹⁴^(AC)The dead will not live, the ^[j]departed spirits will not rise;
Therefore You have ^(AD)punished and destroyed them,
And You have eliminated all remembrance of them.
¹⁵^(AE)You have increased the nation, Lord,
You have increased the nation, You are glorified;
You have ^(AF)extended all the borders of the land.
¹⁶Lord, they sought You ^(AG)in distress;
They ^[k]could only whisper a prayer,
Your discipline was upon them.
¹⁷^(AH)As the pregnant woman approaches the time to give birth,
She writhes and cries out in her labor pains;
This is how we were before You, Lord.
¹⁸We were pregnant, we writhed in labor,
We ^(AI)gave birth, as it seems, only to wind.
We could not accomplish deliverance for the earth,
Nor were ^(AJ)inhabitants of the world ^[l]born.
¹⁹Your ^(AK)dead will live;
^[m]Their corpses will rise.
You who lie in the dust, ^(AL)awake and shout for joy,
For your dew is as the dew of the ^[n]dawn,
And the earth will ^[o]give birth to the ^[p]departed spirits.

²⁰Come, my people, ^(AM)enter your rooms
And close your doors behind you;
Hide for a little ^[q]^(AN)while
Until ^(AO)indignation ^[r]runs its course.
²¹For behold, the Lord is about to ^(AP)come out from His place
To ^(AQ)punish the inhabitants of the earth for their wrongdoing;
And the earth will ^(AR)reveal her bloodshed
And will no longer cover her slain.

God’s Blessings for Israel

27 On that day ^(AS)the Lord will punish ^[s]^(AT)Leviathan the fleeing serpent,
With His fierce and great and mighty sword,
Even ^[t]Leviathan the twisted serpent;
And ^(AU)He will kill the dragon who lives in the sea.

²On that day,
“A ^[u]^(AV)vineyard of beauty, sing of it!
³I, the Lord, am its keeper;
^(AW)I water it every moment.
So that no one will ^[v]damage it,
I ^(AX)guard it night and day.
⁴I have no wrath.
Should ^[w]someone give Me ^(AY)briars and thorns in battle,
Then I would step on them, ^(AZ)I would burn them ^[x]completely.
⁵Or let him ^[y]^(BA)rely on My protection,
Let him make peace with Me,
Let him ^(BB)make peace with Me.”
⁶^[z]In the days to come Jacob ^(BC)will take root,
Israel will ^(BD)blossom and sprout,
And they will fill the ^[aa]whole world with ^(BE)fruit.

⁷Like the striking of Him who has struck them, has ^(BF)He struck them?
Or like the slaughter of His slain, ^[ab]have they been slain?
⁸You contended with them ^[ac]by banishing them, by ^(BG)driving them away.
With His fierce wind He has expelled them on the day of the ^(BH)east wind.
⁹Therefore through this Jacob’s wrongdoing will be ^(BI)forgiven;
And this will be ^[ad]the full price of the ^[ae]^(BJ)pardoning of his sin:
When he makes all the ^(BK)altar stones like pulverized chalk stones;
When ^[af]Asherim and incense altars will not stand.
¹⁰For the fortified city is ^(BL)isolated,
A ^[ag]homestead deserted and abandoned like the desert;
^(BM)There the calf will graze,
And there it will lie down and ^[ah]feed on its branches.
¹¹When its ^(BN)limbs are dry, they are broken off;
Women come and make a fire with them,
For they are not a people of ^(BO)discernment,
Therefore ^(BP)their Maker ^(BQ)will not have compassion on them.
And their Creator will not be gracious to them.

¹²On that day the Lord ^(BR)will thresh from the flowing stream of the ^(BS)Euphrates River to the brook of Egypt, and you will be ^(BT)gathered up one by one, you sons of Israel. ¹³It will come about also on that day that a great ^(BU)trumpet will be blown, and those who were perishing in the land of ^(BV)Assyria and who were scattered in the land of Egypt will come and ^(BW)worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.

Footnotes

Isaiah 26:1 Or salvation
Isaiah 26:2 Lit keeps faithfulness
Isaiah 26:4 Heb Yah, usually rendered Lord
Isaiah 26:9 Lit with my soul I long
Isaiah 26:9 Lit with my spirit...I seek
Isaiah 26:9 Lit has
Isaiah 26:11 Or Let them see...and be
Isaiah 26:11 Or let the fire for Your adversaries devour them
Isaiah 26:13 Or make Your name known
Isaiah 26:14 Or shades
Isaiah 26:16 Lit sound forth a whisper
Isaiah 26:18 Lit fallen
Isaiah 26:19 As in some ancient versions; MT My
Isaiah 26:19 Lit lights
Isaiah 26:19 Lit cause to fall
Isaiah 26:19 Or shades
Isaiah 26:20 Lit moment
Isaiah 26:20 Lit passes over
Isaiah 27:1 Or sea monster
Isaiah 27:1 Or sea monster
Isaiah 27:2 Some mss a vineyard of wine
Isaiah 27:3 Lit punish
Isaiah 27:4 Lit who
Isaiah 27:4 Lit altogether
Isaiah 27:5 Lit take hold of
Isaiah 27:6 Lit Those coming
Isaiah 27:6 Lit face of the world
Isaiah 27:7 Lit he was slain
Isaiah 27:8 Some ancient versions by exact measure
Isaiah 27:9 Lit all the fruit
Isaiah 27:9 Lit removing
Isaiah 27:9 I.e., wooden symbols of a female deity (Asherah)
Isaiah 27:10 Lit pasture
Isaiah 27:10 Lit consume

Philippians 2

New American Standard Bible

Be like Christ

2 Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any ^(A)fellowship of the Spirit, if any ^[a]^(B)affection and compassion, ²^(C)make my joy complete ^[b]by ^(D)being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. ³Do nothing ^[c]from ^[d]^(E)selfishness or ^(F)empty conceit, but with humility ^(G)consider one another as more important than yourselves; ⁴^(H)do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. ⁵^(I)Have this attitude ^[e]in yourselves which was also in ^(J)Christ Jesus, ⁶who, as He already ^(K)existed in the ^(L)form of God, ^(M)did not consider equality with God something to be ^[f]grasped, ⁷but ^[g]^(N)emptied Himself by taking the form of a ^(O)bond-servant and ^[h]^(P)being born in the likeness of men. ⁸And being found in appearance as a man, ^(Q)He humbled Himself by becoming ^(R)obedient to the point of death: ^(S)death ^[i]on a cross. ⁹^(T)For this reason also God ^(U)highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him ^(V)the name which is above every name, ¹⁰so that at the name of Jesus ^(W)every knee will bow, of ^(X)those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is ^(Y)Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

¹²So then, my beloved, ^(Z)just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own ^(AA)salvation with ^(AB)fear and trembling; ¹³for it is ^(AC)God who is at work in you, both to ^[j]desire and to work ^(AD)for His good pleasure.

¹⁴Do all things without ^(AE)complaining or arguments; ¹⁵so that you will ^[k]prove yourselves to be ^(AF)blameless and innocent, ^(AG)children of God above reproach in the midst of a ^(AH)crooked and perverse generation, among whom you ^[l]^(AI)appear as ^[m]lights in the world, ¹⁶holding firmly the word of life, so that on ^(AJ)the day of Christ I can take pride because I did not ^(AK)run in vain nor ^(AL)labor in vain. ¹⁷But even if I am being ^(AM)poured out as a drink offering upon ^(AN)the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. ¹⁸You too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.

Timothy and Epaphroditus

¹⁹But I hope, ^[n]in the Lord Jesus, to ^(AO)send ^(AP)Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition. ²⁰For I have no one else ^(AQ)of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. ²¹For they all ^(AR)seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus. ²²But you know ^(AS)of his proven character, that ^(AT)he served with me in the furtherance of the gospel ^(AU)like a child serving his father. ²³^(AV)Therefore I hope to send him immediately, as soon as I see how things go with me; ²⁴and ^(AW)I trust in the Lord that I myself will also be coming shortly. ²⁵But I thought it necessary to send to you ^(AX)Epaphroditus, my brother and ^(AY)fellow worker and ^(AZ)fellow soldier, who is also your ^[o]^(BA)messenger and ^(BB)minister to my need, ²⁶because he was longing ^[p]for you all and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick. ²⁷For indeed he was sick to the point of death, but God had mercy on him, and not only on him but also on me, so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow. ²⁸Therefore I have sent him all the more eagerly, so that when you see him again you may rejoice and I may be less concerned about you. ²⁹^(BC)Receive him then in the Lord with all joy, and ^(BD)hold people like him in high regard, ³⁰because he came close to death ^[q]^(BE)for the work of Christ, risking his life to ^(BF)compensate ^[r]for your absence in your service to me.