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

2 Corinthians 10

New King James Version

The Spiritual War

10 Now ^(A)I, Paul, myself am pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—^(B)who in presence am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you. ²But I beg you ^(C)that when I am present I may not be bold with that confidence by which I intend to be bold against some, who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. ³For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. ⁴^(D)For the weapons ^(E)of our warfare are not ^[a]carnal but ^(F)mighty in God ^(G)for pulling down strongholds, ⁵^(H)casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, ⁶^(I)and being ready to punish all disobedience when ^(J)your obedience is fulfilled.

Reality of Paul’s Authority

⁷^(K)Do you look at things according to the outward appearance? ^(L)If anyone is convinced in himself that he is Christ’s, let him again consider this in himself, that just as he is Christ’s, even ^[b]so ^(M)we are Christ’s. ⁸For even if I should boast somewhat more ^(N)about our authority, which the Lord gave ^[c]us for ^[d]edification and not for your destruction, ^(O)I shall not be ashamed— ⁹lest I seem to terrify you by letters. ¹⁰“For his letters,” they say, “are weighty and powerful, but ^(P)his bodily presence is weak, and his ^(Q)speech contemptible.” ¹¹Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when we are absent, such we will also be in deed when we are present.

Limits of Paul’s Authority

¹²^(R)For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise. ¹³^(S)We, however, will not boast beyond measure, but within the limits of the sphere which God appointed us—a sphere which especially includes you. ¹⁴For we are not overextending ourselves (as though our authority did not extend to you), ^(T)for it was to you that we came with the gospel of Christ; ¹⁵not boasting of things beyond measure, that is, ^(U)in other men’s labors, but having hope, that as your faith is increased, we shall be greatly enlarged by you in our sphere, ¹⁶to preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man’s sphere of accomplishment.

¹⁷But ^(V)“he who glories, let him glory in the Lord.” ¹⁸For ^(W)not he who commends himself is approved, but ^(X)whom the Lord commends.

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Footnotes

2 Corinthians 10:4 of the flesh
2 Corinthians 10:7 NU as we are.
2 Corinthians 10:8 NU omits us
2 Corinthians 10:8 building up

Psalm 52

New King James Version

The End of the Wicked and the Peace of the Godly

To the Chief Musician. A ^[a]Contemplation of David ^(A)when Doeg the Edomite went and ^(B)told Saul, and said to him, “David has gone to the house of Ahimelech.”

52 Why do you boast in evil, O mighty man?
The goodness of God endures continually.
²Your tongue devises destruction,
Like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.
³You love evil more than good,
Lying rather than speaking righteousness. Selah
⁴You love all devouring words,
You deceitful tongue.

⁵God shall likewise destroy you forever;
He shall take you away, and pluck you out of your dwelling place,
And uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
⁶The righteous also shall see and fear,
And shall laugh at him, saying,
⁷“Here is the man who did not make God his strength,
But trusted in the abundance of his riches,
And strengthened himself in his ^[b]wickedness.”

⁸But I am ^(C)like a green olive tree in the house of God;
I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever.
⁹I will praise You forever,
Because You have done it;
And in the presence of Your saints
I will wait on Your name, for it ^[c]is good.

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Footnotes

Psalm 52:1 Heb. Maschil
Psalm 52:7 Lit. desire, in evil sense
Psalm 52:9 Or has a good reputation

Proverbs 22:26-27

New King James Version

²⁶^(A)Do not be one of those who ^[a]shakes hands in a pledge,
One of those who is ^[b]surety for debts;
²⁷If you have nothing with which to pay,
Why should he take away your bed from under you?