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Isaiah 5

The Song of the Vineyard

 ² He dug it up and cleared it of stones
       and planted it with the choicest vines.
       He built a watchtower in it
       and cut out a winepress as well.
       Then he looked for a crop of good grapes,
       but it yielded only bad fruit.

 ³ "Now you dwellers in Jerusalem and men of Judah,
       judge between me and my vineyard.

 ⁴ What more could have been done for my vineyard
       than I have done for it?
       When I looked for good grapes,
       why did it yield only bad?

 ⁵ Now I will tell you
       what I am going to do to my vineyard:
       I will take away its hedge,
       and it will be destroyed;
       I will break down its wall,
       and it will be trampled.

 ⁶ I will make it a wasteland,
       neither pruned nor cultivated,
       and briers and thorns will grow there.
       I will command the clouds
       not to rain on it."

 ⁷ The vineyard of the LORD Almighty
       is the house of Israel,
       and the men of Judah
       are the garden of his delight.
       And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed;
       for righteousness, but heard cries of distress.

Woes and Judgments

 ⁹ The LORD Almighty has declared in my hearing:
       "Surely the great houses will become desolate,
       the fine mansions left without occupants.

 ¹⁰ A ten-acre ^[a] vineyard will produce only a bath ^[b] of wine,
       a homer ^[c] of seed only an ephah ^[d] of grain."

 ¹¹ Woe to those who rise early in the morning
       to run after their drinks,
       who stay up late at night
       till they are inflamed with wine.

 ¹² They have harps and lyres at their banquets,
       tambourines and flutes and wine,
       but they have no regard for the deeds of the LORD,
       no respect for the work of his hands.

 ¹³ Therefore my people will go into exile
       for lack of understanding;
       their men of rank will die of hunger
       and their masses will be parched with thirst.

 ¹⁴ Therefore the grave ^[e] enlarges its appetite
       and opens its mouth without limit;
       into it will descend their nobles and masses
       with all their brawlers and revelers.

 ¹⁵ So man will be brought low
       and mankind humbled,
       the eyes of the arrogant humbled.

 ¹⁶ But the LORD Almighty will be exalted by his justice,
       and the holy God will show himself holy by his righteousness.

 ¹⁷ Then sheep will graze as in their own pasture;
       lambs will feed ^[f] among the ruins of the rich.

 ¹⁸ Woe to those who draw sin along with cords of deceit,
       and wickedness as with cart ropes,

 ¹⁹ to those who say, "Let God hurry,
       let him hasten his work
       so we may see it.
       Let it approach,
       let the plan of the Holy One of Israel come,
       so we may know it."

 ²⁰ Woe to those who call evil good
       and good evil,
       who put darkness for light
       and light for darkness,
       who put bitter for sweet
       and sweet for bitter.

 ²¹ Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
       and clever in their own sight.

 ²² Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine
       and champions at mixing drinks,

 ²³ who acquit the guilty for a bribe,
       but deny justice to the innocent.

 ²⁴ Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw
       and as dry grass sinks down in the flames,
       so their roots will decay
       and their flowers blow away like dust;
       for they have rejected the law of the LORD Almighty
       and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel.

 ²⁵ Therefore the LORD's anger burns against his people;
       his hand is raised and he strikes them down.
       The mountains shake,
       and the dead bodies are like refuse in the streets.
       Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away,
       his hand is still upraised.

 ²⁶ He lifts up a banner for the distant nations,
       he whistles for those at the ends of the earth.
       Here they come,
       swiftly and speedily!

 ²⁷ Not one of them grows tired or stumbles,
       not one slumbers or sleeps;
       not a belt is loosened at the waist,
       not a sandal thong is broken.

 ²⁸ Their arrows are sharp,
       all their bows are strung;
       their horses' hoofs seem like flint,
       their chariot wheels like a whirlwind.

 ²⁹ Their roar is like that of the lion,
       they roar like young lions;
       they growl as they seize their prey
       and carry it off with no one to rescue.

 ³⁰ In that day they will roar over it
       like the roaring of the sea.
       And if one looks at the land,
       he will see darkness and distress;
       even the light will be darkened by the clouds.

Isaiah 6

Isaiah's Commission

 ⁴ At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke.

 ⁵ "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty."

 ⁶ Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. ⁷ With it he touched my mouth and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."

 ⁸ Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?"
      And I said, "Here am I. Send me!"

 ⁹ He said, "Go and tell this people:
       " 'Be ever hearing, but never understanding;
       be ever seeing, but never perceiving.'

 ¹⁰ Make the heart of this people calloused;
       make their ears dull
       and close their eyes. ^[g]
       Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
       hear with their ears,
       understand with their hearts,
       and turn and be healed."

 ¹¹ Then I said, "For how long, O Lord?"
      And he answered:
       "Until the cities lie ruined
       and without inhabitant,
       until the houses are left deserted
       and the fields ruined and ravaged,

 ¹² until the LORD has sent everyone far away
       and the land is utterly forsaken.

 ¹³ And though a tenth remains in the land,
       it will again be laid waste.
       But as the terebinth and oak
       leave stumps when they are cut down,
       so the holy seed will be the stump in the land."

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Ephesians 1

 ¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
      To the saints in Ephesus,^[a] the faithful^[b] in Christ Jesus:

 ²Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Spiritual Blessings in Christ

 ¹¹In him we were also chosen,^[e] having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, ¹²in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. ¹³And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory.

Thanksgiving and Prayer