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Isaiah 1

 ¹ The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

A Rebellious Nation

 ³ The ox knows his master,
       the donkey his owner's manger,
       but Israel does not know,
       my people do not understand."

 ⁴ Ah, sinful nation,
       a people loaded with guilt,
       a brood of evildoers,
       children given to corruption!
       They have forsaken the LORD;
       they have spurned the Holy One of Israel
       and turned their backs on him.

 ⁵ Why should you be beaten anymore?
       Why do you persist in rebellion?
       Your whole head is injured,
       your whole heart afflicted.

 ⁶ From the sole of your foot to the top of your head
       there is no soundness—
       only wounds and welts
       and open sores,
       not cleansed or bandaged
       or soothed with oil.

 ⁷ Your country is desolate,
       your cities burned with fire;
       your fields are being stripped by foreigners
       right before you,
       laid waste as when overthrown by strangers.

 ⁸ The Daughter of Zion is left
       like a shelter in a vineyard,
       like a hut in a field of melons,
       like a city under siege.

 ⁹ Unless the LORD Almighty
       had left us some survivors,
       we would have become like Sodom,
       we would have been like Gomorrah.

 ¹⁰ Hear the word of the LORD,
       you rulers of Sodom;
       listen to the law of our God,
       you people of Gomorrah!

 ¹¹ "The multitude of your sacrifices—
       what are they to me?" says the LORD.
       "I have more than enough of burnt offerings,
       of rams and the fat of fattened animals;
       I have no pleasure
       in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.

 ¹² When you come to appear before me,
       who has asked this of you,
       this trampling of my courts?

 ¹³ Stop bringing meaningless offerings!
       Your incense is detestable to me.
       New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—
       I cannot bear your evil assemblies.

 ¹⁴ Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts
       my soul hates.
       They have become a burden to me;
       I am weary of bearing them.

 ¹⁵ When you spread out your hands in prayer,
       I will hide my eyes from you;
       even if you offer many prayers,
       I will not listen.
       Your hands are full of blood;

 ¹⁶ wash and make yourselves clean.
       Take your evil deeds
       out of my sight!
       Stop doing wrong,

 ¹⁷ learn to do right!
       Seek justice,
       encourage the oppressed. ^[a]
       Defend the cause of the fatherless,
       plead the case of the widow.

 ¹⁸ "Come now, let us reason together,"
       says the LORD.
       "Though your sins are like scarlet,
       they shall be as white as snow;
       though they are red as crimson,
       they shall be like wool.

 ¹⁹ If you are willing and obedient,
       you will eat the best from the land;

 ²⁰ but if you resist and rebel,
       you will be devoured by the sword."
       For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

 ²¹ See how the faithful city
       has become a harlot!
       She once was full of justice;
       righteousness used to dwell in her—
       but now murderers!

 ²² Your silver has become dross,
       your choice wine is diluted with water.

 ²³ Your rulers are rebels,
       companions of thieves;
       they all love bribes
       and chase after gifts.
       They do not defend the cause of the fatherless;
       the widow's case does not come before them.

 ²⁴ Therefore the Lord, the LORD Almighty,
       the Mighty One of Israel, declares:
       "Ah, I will get relief from my foes
       and avenge myself on my enemies.

 ²⁵ I will turn my hand against you;
       I will thoroughly purge away your dross
       and remove all your impurities.

 ²⁶ I will restore your judges as in days of old,
       your counselors as at the beginning.
       Afterward you will be called
       the City of Righteousness,
       the Faithful City."

 ²⁷ Zion will be redeemed with justice,
       her penitent ones with righteousness.

 ²⁸ But rebels and sinners will both be broken,
       and those who forsake the LORD will perish.

 ²⁹ "You will be ashamed because of the sacred oaks
       in which you have delighted;
       you will be disgraced because of the gardens
       that you have chosen.

 ³⁰ You will be like an oak with fading leaves,
       like a garden without water.

 ³¹ The mighty man will become tinder
       and his work a spark;
       both will burn together,
       with no one to quench the fire."

Isaiah 2

The Mountain of the Lord

 ² In the last days
       the mountain of the LORD's temple will be established
       as chief among the mountains;
       it will be raised above the hills,
       and all nations will stream to it.

 ³ Many peoples will come and say,
       "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
       to the house of the God of Jacob.
       He will teach us his ways,
       so that we may walk in his paths."
       The law will go out from Zion,
       the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

 ⁴ He will judge between the nations
       and will settle disputes for many peoples.
       They will beat their swords into plowshares
       and their spears into pruning hooks.
       Nation will not take up sword against nation,
       nor will they train for war anymore.

 ⁵ Come, O house of Jacob,
       let us walk in the light of the LORD.

The Day of the Lord

 ⁷ Their land is full of silver and gold;
       there is no end to their treasures.
       Their land is full of horses;
       there is no end to their chariots.

 ⁸ Their land is full of idols;
       they bow down to the work of their hands,
       to what their fingers have made.

 ⁹ So man will be brought low
       and mankind humbled—
       do not forgive them. ^[b]

 ¹⁰ Go into the rocks,
       hide in the ground
       from dread of the LORD
       and the splendor of his majesty!

 ¹¹ The eyes of the arrogant man will be humbled
       and the pride of men brought low;
       the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.

 ¹² The LORD Almighty has a day in store
       for all the proud and lofty,
       for all that is exalted
       (and they will be humbled),

 ¹³ for all the cedars of Lebanon, tall and lofty,
       and all the oaks of Bashan,

 ¹⁴ for all the towering mountains
       and all the high hills,

 ¹⁵ for every lofty tower
       and every fortified wall,

 ¹⁶ for every trading ship ^[c]
       and every stately vessel.

 ¹⁷ The arrogance of man will be brought low
       and the pride of men humbled;
       the LORD alone will be exalted in that day,

 ¹⁸ and the idols will totally disappear.

 ¹⁹ Men will flee to caves in the rocks
       and to holes in the ground
       from dread of the LORD
       and the splendor of his majesty,
       when he rises to shake the earth.

 ²⁰ In that day men will throw away
       to the rodents and bats
       their idols of silver and idols of gold,
       which they made to worship.

 ²¹ They will flee to caverns in the rocks
       and to the overhanging crags
       from dread of the LORD
       and the splendor of his majesty,
       when he rises to shake the earth.

 ²² Stop trusting in man,
       who has but a breath in his nostrils.
       Of what account is he?

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Galatians 5

Freedom in Christ

 ²Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. ³Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law. ⁴You who are trying to be justified by law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace. ⁵But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope. ⁶For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

 ⁷You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? ⁸That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. ⁹"A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough." ¹⁰I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion will pay the penalty, whoever he may be. ¹¹Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. ¹²As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!

 ¹³You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature^[a]; rather, serve one another in love. ¹⁴The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."^{[b] 15}If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

Life by the Spirit

 ¹⁹The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

 ²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. ²⁵Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. ²⁶Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.