Isaiah 44:12-45:13

English Standard Version

¹²^(A)The ironsmith takes a cutting tool and works it over the coals. He fashions it with hammers and works it with his strong arm. He becomes hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water and is faint. ¹³The carpenter stretches a line; he marks it out with a pencil.^[a] He shapes it with planes and marks it with a compass. ^(B)He shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house. ¹⁴^(C)He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. ¹⁵Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it. ¹⁶Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat; he roasts it and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, “Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!” ¹⁷And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. ^(D)He prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!”

¹⁸They know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand. ¹⁹No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, “Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. And shall I make the rest of it an ^(E)abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” ²⁰^(F)He feeds on ^(G)ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is there not ^(H)a lie in my right hand?”

The Lord Redeems Israel

²¹Remember these things, O Jacob,
    and Israel, for you are ^(I)my servant;
I formed you; you are my servant;
    ^(J)O Israel, you will not be forgotten by me.
²²^(K)I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud
    and your sins like mist;
return to me, for I have redeemed you.

²³^(L)Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it;
    shout, O ^(M)depths of the earth;
break forth into singing, O mountains,
    O forest, and every tree in it!
For the Lord has redeemed Jacob,
    ^(N)and will be glorified^[b] in Israel.

²⁴Thus says the Lord, ^(O)your Redeemer,
    ^(P)who formed you from the womb:
^(Q)“I am the Lord, who made all things,
    ^(R)who alone stretched out the heavens,
    who spread out the earth by myself,
²⁵who frustrates the signs of liars
    and makes fools of diviners,
^(S)who turns wise men back
    and makes their knowledge foolish,
²⁶^(T)who confirms the word of his servant
    and fulfills the counsel of his messengers,
who says of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be inhabited,’
    ^(U)and of the cities of Judah, ‘They shall be built,
    and I will raise up their ruins’;
²⁷^(V)who says to the deep, ‘Be dry;
    I will dry up your rivers’;
²⁸who says of ^(W)Cyrus, ‘He is ^(X)my shepherd,
    and he shall fulfill all my purpose’;
saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be built,’
    ^(Y)and of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid.’”

Cyrus, God's Instrument

45 Thus says the Lord to ^(Z)his anointed, to Cyrus,
    ^(AA)whose right hand I have grasped,
to subdue nations before him
    and ^(AB)to loose the belts of kings,
to open doors before him
    that gates may not be closed:
²“I will go before you
    and ^(AC)level the exalted places,^[c]
^(AD)I will break in pieces the doors of bronze
    and cut through the bars of iron,
³^(AE)I will give you the treasures of darkness
    and the hoards in secret places,
that you may know that it is I, the Lord,
    the God of Israel, ^(AF)who call you by your name.
⁴For the sake of my servant Jacob,
    and Israel my chosen,
^(AG)I call you by your name,
    ^(AH)I name you, though you do not know me.
⁵^(AI)I am the Lord, and there is no other,
    besides me there is no God;
    ^(AJ)I equip you, though you do not know me,
⁶^(AK)that people may know, from the rising of the sun
    and from the west, that there is none besides me;
    I am the Lord, and there is no other.
⁷I form light and create darkness;
    I make well-being and ^(AL)create calamity;
    I am the Lord, who does all these things.

⁸^(AM)“Shower, O heavens, from above,
    and ^(AN)let the clouds rain down righteousness;
let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit;
    let the earth cause them both to sprout;
    I the Lord have created it.

⁹^(AO)“Woe to him who strives with him who formed him,
    a pot among earthen pots!
^(AP)Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’
    or ‘Your work has no handles’?
¹⁰Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?’
    or to a woman, ‘With what are you in labor?’”

¹¹Thus says ^(AQ)the Lord,
    the Holy One of Israel, and the one who formed him:
^(AR)“Ask me of things to come;
    will you command me ^(AS)concerning my children and ^(AT)the work of my hands?^[d]
¹²^(AU)I made the earth
    and created man on it;
it was my hands ^(AV)that stretched out the heavens,
    and ^(AW)I commanded all their host.
¹³^(AX)I have stirred him up in righteousness,
    ^(AY)and I will make all his ways level;
^(AZ)he shall build my city
    ^(BA)and set my exiles free,
not for price or reward,”
    says the Lord of hosts.

Footnotes

Isaiah 44:13 Hebrew stylus
Isaiah 44:23 Or will display his beauty
Isaiah 45:2 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint level the mountains
Isaiah 45:11 A slight emendation yields will you question me about my children, or command me concerning the work of my hands?

Psalm 113:1-4

English Standard Version

Who Is like the Lord Our God?

113 ^(A)Praise the Lord!
^(B)Praise, O ^(C)servants of the Lord,
praise the name of the Lord!

²^(D)Blessed be the name of the Lord
from this time forth and forevermore!
³^(E)From the rising of the sun to its setting,
^(F)the name of the Lord is ^(G)to be praised!

⁴The Lord is ^(H)high above all nations,
and his ^(I)glory above the heavens!

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Philippians 2:19-30

English Standard Version

Timothy and Epaphroditus

¹⁹I hope in the Lord Jesus ^(A)to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. ²⁰For I have no one ^(B)like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. ²¹For they all ^(C)seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. ²²But you know Timothy's^[a] ^(D)proven worth, how ^(E)as a son^[b] with a father ^(F)he has served with me in the gospel. ²³I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me, ²⁴and ^(G)I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also.

²⁵I have thought it necessary to send to you ^(H)Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and ^(I)fellow soldier, and your messenger and ^(J)minister to my need, ²⁶for he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill. ²⁷Indeed he was ill, near to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. ²⁸I am the more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious. ²⁹So ^(K)receive him in the Lord with all joy, and ^(L)honor such men, ³⁰for he nearly died^[c] ^(M)for the work of Christ, risking his life ^(N)to complete what was lacking in your service to me.