Isaiah 1-2

New King James Version

Judah Called to Repentance

1 The ^(A)vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the ^(B)days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

The Wickedness of Judah

²^(C)Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth!
For the Lord has spoken:
“I have nourished and brought up children,
And they have rebelled against Me;
³^(D)The ox knows its owner
And the donkey its master’s ^[a]crib;
But Israel ^(E)does not know,
My people do not ^[b]consider.”

⁴Alas, sinful nation,
A people ^[c]laden with iniquity,
^(F)A ^[d]brood of evildoers,
Children who are corrupters!
They have forsaken the Lord,
They have provoked to anger
The Holy One of Israel,
They have turned away backward.

⁵^(G)Why should you be stricken again?
You will revolt more and more.
The whole head is sick,
And the whole heart faints.
⁶From the sole of the foot even to the head,
There is no soundness in it,
But wounds and bruises and putrefying sores;
They have not been closed or bound up,
Or soothed with ointment.

⁷^(H)Your country is desolate,
Your cities are burned with fire;
Strangers devour your land in your presence;
And it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
⁸So the daughter of Zion is left ^(I)as a ^[e]booth in a vineyard,
As a hut in a garden of cucumbers,
^(J)As a besieged city.
⁹^(K)Unless the Lord of hosts
Had left to us a very small remnant,
We would have become like ^(L)Sodom,
We would have been made like Gomorrah.

¹⁰Hear the word of the Lord,
You rulers ^(M)of Sodom;
Give ear to the law of our God,
You people of Gomorrah:
¹¹“To what purpose is the multitude of your ^(N)sacrifices to Me?”
Says the Lord.
“I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
And the fat of fed cattle.
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
Or of lambs or goats.

¹²“When you come ^(O)to appear before Me,
Who has required this from your hand,
To trample My courts?
¹³Bring no more ^(P)futile^[f] sacrifices;
Incense is an abomination to Me.
The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and ^(Q)the calling of assemblies—
I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting.
¹⁴Your ^(R)New Moons and your ^(S)appointed feasts
My soul hates;
They are a trouble to Me,
I am weary of bearing them.
¹⁵^(T)When you ^[g]spread out your hands,
I will hide My eyes from you;
^(U)Even though you make many prayers,
I will not hear.
Your hands are full of ^[h]blood.

¹⁶“Wash^(V) yourselves, make yourselves clean;
Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes.
^(W)Cease to do evil,
¹⁷Learn to do good;
Seek justice,
Rebuke ^[i]the oppressor;
^[j]Defend the fatherless,
Plead for the widow.

¹⁸“Come now, and let us ^(X)reason together,”
Says the Lord,
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
^(Y)They shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson,
They shall be as wool.
¹⁹If you are willing and obedient,
You shall eat the good of the land;
²⁰But if you refuse and rebel,
You shall be devoured by the sword”;
^(Z)For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

The Degenerate City

²¹^(AA)How the faithful city has become a ^[k]harlot!
It was full of justice;
Righteousness lodged in it,
But now ^(AB)murderers.
²²^(AC)Your silver has become dross,
Your wine mixed with water.
²³^(AD)Your princes are rebellious,
And ^(AE)companions of thieves;
^(AF)Everyone loves bribes,
And follows after rewards.
They ^(AG)do not defend the fatherless,
Nor does the cause of the widow come before them.

²⁴Therefore the Lord says,
The Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel,
“Ah, ^(AH)I will ^[l]rid Myself of My adversaries,
And ^[m]take vengeance on My enemies.
²⁵I will turn My hand against you,
And ^(AI)thoroughly^[n] purge away your dross,
And take away all your alloy.
²⁶I will restore your judges ^(AJ)as at the first,
And your counselors as at the beginning.
Afterward ^(AK)you shall be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.”

²⁷Zion shall be redeemed with justice,
And her ^[o]penitents with righteousness.
²⁸The ^(AL)destruction of transgressors and of sinners shall be together,
And those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed.
²⁹For ^[p]they shall be ashamed of the ^[q]terebinth trees
Which you have desired;
And you shall be embarrassed because of the gardens
Which you have chosen.
³⁰For you shall be as a terebinth whose leaf fades,
And as a garden that has no water.
³¹^(AM)The strong shall be as tinder,
And the work of it as a spark;
Both will burn together,
And no one shall ^(AN)quench them.

The Future House of God^(AO)

2 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

²Now ^(AP)it shall come to pass ^(AQ)in the latter days
^(AR)That the mountain of the Lord’s house
Shall be established on the top of the mountains,
And shall be exalted above the hills;
And all nations shall flow to it.
³Many people shall come and say,
^(AS)“Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
He will teach us His ways,
And we shall walk in His paths.”
^(AT)For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
⁴He shall judge between the nations,
And rebuke many people;
They shall beat their swords into plowshares,
And their spears into pruning ^[r]hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
Neither shall they learn war anymore.

The Day of the Lord

⁵O house of Jacob, come and let us ^(AU)walk
In the light of the Lord.

⁶For You have forsaken Your people, the house of Jacob,
Because they are filled ^(AV)with eastern ways;
They are ^(AW)soothsayers like the Philistines,
^(AX)And they ^[s]are pleased with the children of foreigners.
⁷^(AY)Their land is also full of silver and gold,
And there is no end to their treasures;
Their land is also full of horses,
And there is no end to their chariots.
⁸^(AZ)Their land is also full of idols;
They worship the work of their own hands,
That which their own fingers have made.
⁹People bow down,
And each man humbles himself;
Therefore do not forgive them.

¹⁰^(BA)Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust,
From the terror of the Lord
And the glory of His majesty.
¹¹The ^[t]lofty looks of man shall be ^(BB)humbled,
The haughtiness of men shall be bowed down,
And the Lord alone shall be exalted ^(BC)in that day.

¹²For the day of the Lord of hosts
Shall come upon everything proud and lofty,
Upon everything lifted up—
And it shall be brought low—
¹³Upon all ^(BD)the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up,
And upon all the oaks of Bashan;
¹⁴^(BE)Upon all the high mountains,
And upon all the hills that are lifted up;
¹⁵Upon every high tower,
And upon every fortified wall;
¹⁶^(BF)Upon all the ships of Tarshish,
And upon all the beautiful sloops.
¹⁷The ^[u]loftiness of man shall be bowed down,
And the haughtiness of men shall be brought low;
The Lord alone will be exalted in that day,
¹⁸But the idols ^[v]He shall utterly abolish.

¹⁹They shall go into the ^(BG)holes of the rocks,
And into the caves of the ^[w]earth,
^(BH)From the terror of the Lord
And the glory of His majesty,
When He arises ^(BI)to shake the earth mightily.

²⁰In that day a man will cast away his idols of silver
And his idols of gold,
Which they made, each for himself to worship,
To the moles and bats,
²¹To go into the clefts of the rocks,
And into the crags of the rugged rocks,
From the terror of the Lord
And the glory of His majesty,
When He arises to shake the earth mightily.

²²^(BJ)Sever^[x] yourselves from such a man,
Whose ^(BK)breath is in his nostrils;
For ^[y]of what account is he?

Footnotes

Isaiah 1:3 manger or feed trough
Isaiah 1:3 understand
Isaiah 1:4 Lit. heavy, weighed down
Isaiah 1:4 offspring, seed
Isaiah 1:8 shelter
Isaiah 1:13 worthless
Isaiah 1:15 Pray
Isaiah 1:15 bloodshed
Isaiah 1:17 Some ancient vss. the oppressed
Isaiah 1:17 Vindicate
Isaiah 1:21 Unfaithful
Isaiah 1:24 be relieved of
Isaiah 1:24 avenge Myself
Isaiah 1:25 refine with lye
Isaiah 1:27 Lit. returners
Isaiah 1:29 So with MT, LXX, Vg.; some Heb. mss., Tg. you
Isaiah 1:29 Sites of pagan worship
Isaiah 2:4 knives
Isaiah 2:6 Or clap, shake hands to make bargains with the children
Isaiah 2:11 proud
Isaiah 2:17 pride
Isaiah 2:18 Or shall utterly vanish
Isaiah 2:19 Lit. dust
Isaiah 2:22 Lit. Cease yourselves from the man
Isaiah 2:22 Lit. in what is he to be esteemed

Galatians 5

New King James Version

Christian Liberty

5 ^(A)Stand^[a] fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a ^(B)yoke of bondage. ²Indeed I, Paul, say to you that ^(C)if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. ³And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised ^(D)that he is ^[b]a debtor to keep the whole law. ⁴^(E)You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; ^(F)you have fallen from grace. ⁵For we through the Spirit eagerly ^(G)wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. ⁶For ^(H)in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but ^(I)faith working through love.

Love Fulfills the Law

⁷You ^(J)ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? ⁸This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you. ⁹^(K)A little leaven leavens the whole lump. ¹⁰I have confidence in you, in the Lord, that you will have no other mind; but he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is.

¹¹And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, ^(L)why do I still suffer persecution? Then ^(M)the offense of the cross has ceased. ¹²^(N)I could wish that those ^(O)who trouble you would even ^[c]cut themselves off!

¹³For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only ^(P)do not use liberty as an ^(Q)opportunity for the flesh, but ^(R)through love serve one another. ¹⁴For ^(S)all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: ^(T)“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁵But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!

Walking in the Spirit

¹⁶I say then: ^(U)Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. ¹⁷For ^(V)the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, ^(W)so that you do not do the things that you wish. ¹⁸But ^(X)if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

¹⁹Now ^(Y)the works of the flesh are evident, which are: ^[d]adultery, ^[e]fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, ²⁰idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, ²¹envy, ^[f]murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that ^(Z)those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

²²But ^(AA)the fruit of the Spirit is ^(AB)love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, ^(AC)goodness, ^(AD)faithfulness, ²³^[g]gentleness, self-control. ^(AE)Against such there is no law. ²⁴And those who are Christ’s ^(AF)have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. ²⁵^(AG)If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. ²⁶^(AH)Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

Footnotes

Galatians 5:1 NU For freedom Christ has made us free; stand fast therefore, and
Galatians 5:3 obligated
Galatians 5:12 mutilate themselves
Galatians 5:19 NU omits adultery
Galatians 5:19 sexual immorality
Galatians 5:21 NU omits murders
Galatians 5:23 meekness