Isaiah 48-51
English Standard Version
Israel Refined for God's Glory
48 Hear this, O house of Jacob,
(A)who are called by the name of Israel,
and (B)who came from the waters of Judah,
(C)who swear by the name of the Lord
and confess the God of Israel,
but not in truth or right.
2 For they call themselves after the holy city,
(D)and stay themselves on the God of Israel;
the Lord of hosts is his name.
3 “The former things (E)I declared of old;
they went out from my mouth, and I announced them;
then suddenly I did them, and they came to pass.
4 Because I know that (F)you are obstinate,
and your neck is an iron sinew
and your forehead brass,
5 (G)I declared them to you from of old,
before they came to pass I announced them to you,
lest you should say, (H)‘My idol did them,
my carved image and my metal image commanded them.’
6 “You have heard; now see all this;
and will you not declare it?
From this time forth (I)I announce to you new things,
hidden things that you have not known.
7 They are created now, not long ago;
before today you have never heard of them,
lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’
8 You have never heard, you have never known,
from of old your ear has not been opened.
For I knew that you would surely deal treacherously,
and that (J)from before birth you were called a rebel.
9 (K)“For my name's sake I defer my anger;
for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you,
that I may not cut you off.
10 Behold, I have refined you, (L)but not as silver;
(M)I have tried[a] you in the furnace of affliction.
11 (N)For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,
for how should my name[b] be profaned?
(O)My glory I will not give to another.
The Lord's Call to Israel
12 “Listen to me, O Jacob,
and Israel, whom I called!
I am he; (P)I am the first,
and I am the last.
13 My hand (Q)laid the foundation of the earth,
and my right hand (R)spread out the heavens;
(S)when I call to them,
they stand forth together.
14 “Assemble, all of you, and listen!
(T)Who among them has declared these things?
The Lord loves him;
(U)he shall perform his purpose on Babylon,
and his arm shall be against (V)the Chaldeans.
15 (W)I, even I, have spoken and called him;
I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way.
16 (X)Draw near to me, hear this:
from the beginning I have not spoken in secret,
from the time it came to be I have been there.”
And now (Y)the Lord God has sent me, and his Spirit.
17 Thus says the Lord,
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God,
who teaches you to profit,
who leads you in the way you should go.
18 (Z)Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments!
(AA)Then your peace would have been like a river,
and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;
19 (AB)your offspring would have been like the sand,
and your descendants like its grains;
their name would never be cut off
or destroyed from before me.”
20 (AC)Go out from Babylon, flee from (AD)Chaldea,
declare this (AE)with a shout of joy, proclaim it,
send it out to the end of the earth;
say, (AF)“The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob!”
21 (AG)They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts;
(AH)he made water flow for them from the rock;
he split the rock and the water gushed out.
22 (AI)“There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”
The Servant of the Lord
49 Listen to me, (AJ)O coastlands,
and give attention, you peoples (AK)from afar.
(AL)The Lord called me from the womb,
from the body of my mother he named my name.
2 (AM)He made my mouth like a sharp sword;
(AN)in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow;
in his quiver he hid me away.
3 And he said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, (AO)in whom I will be glorified.”[c]
4 (AP)But I said, “I have labored in vain;
I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
yet surely my right is with the Lord,
and my recompense with my God.”
5 (AQ)And now the Lord says,
he (AR)who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him;
and that Israel might be gathered to him—
for (AS)I am honored in the eyes of the Lord,
and my God has become my strength—
6 he says:
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
(AT)I will make you (AU)as a light for the nations,
that (AV)my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
7 Thus says the Lord,
(AW)the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
(AX)to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation,
the servant of rulers:
(AY)“Kings shall see and arise;
princes, and they shall prostrate themselves;
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
The Restoration of Israel
8 Thus says the Lord:
(AZ)“In a (BA)time of favor I have answered you;
in a day of salvation I have helped you;
I will keep you (BB)and give you
as a covenant to the people,
to establish the land,
(BC)to apportion the desolate heritages,
9 (BD)saying to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’
to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’
(BE)They shall feed along the ways;
on all bare heights shall be their pasture;
10 (BF)they shall not hunger or thirst,
neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them,
for he who has pity on them (BG)will lead them,
and by springs of water will guide them.
11 (BH)And I will make all my mountains a road,
and my highways shall be raised up.
12 (BI)Behold, these shall come from afar,
and behold, (BJ)these from the north and from the west,[d]
and these from the land of Syene.”[e]
13 (BK)Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;
break forth, O mountains, into singing!
For the Lord (BL)has comforted his people
and will have compassion on his afflicted.
14 But Zion said, (BM)“The Lord has forsaken me;
my Lord has forgotten me.”
15 (BN)“Can a woman forget her nursing child,
that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?
Even these may forget,
yet I will not forget you.
16 Behold, (BO)I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are continually before me.
17 Your builders make haste;[f]
(BP)your destroyers and those who laid you waste go out from you.
18 (BQ)Lift up your eyes around and see;
they all gather, they come to you.
(BR)As I live, declares the Lord,
(BS)you shall put them all on as an ornament;
you shall bind them on as a bride does.
19 “Surely your waste and your desolate places
and your devastated land—
(BT)surely now you will be too narrow for your inhabitants,
and those who swallowed you up will be far away.
20 (BU)The children of your bereavement
will yet say in your ears:
(BV)‘The place is too narrow for me;
make room for me to dwell in.’
21 Then you will say in your heart:
‘Who has borne me these?
(BW)I was bereaved and barren,
exiled and put away,
but who has brought up these?
Behold, I was left alone;
from where have these come?’”
22 Thus says the Lord God:
“Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations,
(BX)and raise my signal to the peoples;
(BY)and they shall bring your sons in their arms,[g]
and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.
23 (BZ)Kings shall be your foster fathers,
and their queens your nursing mothers.
(CA)With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you,
and (CB)lick the dust of your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord;
(CC)those who wait for me (CD)shall not be put to shame.”
24 Can the prey be taken from the mighty,
or the captives of a tyrant[h] be rescued?
25 For thus says the Lord:
(CE)“Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken,
and the prey of the tyrant be rescued,
for I will contend with those who contend with you,
and I will save your children.
26 (CF)I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,
and they shall be drunk (CG)with their own blood as with wine.
Then all flesh shall know
that (CH)I am the Lord your Savior,
and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”
Israel's Sin and the Servant's Obedience
50 Thus says the Lord:
“Where is (CI)your mother's certificate of divorce,
with which (CJ)I sent her away?
Or (CK)which of my creditors is it
to whom I have sold you?
(CL)Behold, for your iniquities you were sold,
and for your transgressions your mother was sent away.
2 (CM)Why, when I came, was there no man;
why, when I called, was there no one to answer?
(CN)Is my hand shortened, that it cannot redeem?
Or have I no power to deliver?
(CO)Behold, by my rebuke (CP)I dry up the sea,
(CQ)I make the rivers a desert;
(CR)their fish stink for lack of water
and die of thirst.
3 (CS)I clothe the heavens with blackness
and make sackcloth their covering.”
4 The Lord God has given (CT)me
the tongue of those who are taught,
that (CU)I may know how to sustain with a word
(CV)him who is weary.
Morning by morning he awakens;
he awakens my ear
to hear as those who are taught.
5 (CW)The Lord God has opened my ear,
(CX)and I was not rebellious;
I turned not backward.
6 (CY)I gave my back to those who strike,
and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard;
I hid not my face
from disgrace and spitting.
7 But the Lord God helps me;
therefore I have not been disgraced;
(CZ)therefore I have set my face like a flint,
and I know that I shall not be put to shame.
8 (DA)He who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me?
Let us stand up together.
Who is my adversary?
Let him come near to me.
9 (DB)Behold, the Lord God helps me;
who will declare me guilty?
Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment;
the moth will eat them up.
10 Who among you fears the Lord
and obeys (DC)the voice of his servant?
(DD)Let him who walks in darkness
and has no light
trust in the name of the Lord
and rely on his God.
11 Behold, all you who kindle a fire,
who equip yourselves with burning torches!
Walk by the light of your fire,
and by the torches that you have kindled!
(DE)This you have from my hand:
you shall lie down in torment.
The Lord's Comfort for Zion
51 (DF)“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,
you who seek the Lord:
look to the rock from which you were hewn,
and to the quarry from which you were dug.
2 Look to Abraham your father
and to Sarah who bore you;
for (DG)he was but one when I called him,
that I might bless him and multiply him.
3 For the Lord (DH)comforts Zion;
he comforts all her waste places
and makes her wilderness like (DI)Eden,
her desert like (DJ)the garden of the Lord;
(DK)joy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and the voice of song.
4 (DL)“Give attention to me, my people,
and give ear to me, my nation;
(DM)for a law[i] will go out from me,
and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples.
5 (DN)My righteousness draws near,
my salvation has gone out,
and my arms will judge the peoples;
(DO)the coastlands hope for me,
and for my arm they wait.
6 (DP)Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
and look at the earth beneath;
(DQ)for the heavens vanish like smoke,
the earth will wear out like a garment,
and they who dwell in it will die in like manner;[j]
(DR)but my salvation will be forever,
and my righteousness will never be dismayed.
7 (DS)“Listen to me, you who know righteousness,
the people (DT)in whose heart is my law;
(DU)fear not the reproach of man,
nor be dismayed at their revilings.
8 (DV)For the moth will eat them up like a garment,
and the worm will eat them like wool,
(DW)but my righteousness will be forever,
and my salvation to all generations.”
9 (DX)Awake, awake, (DY)put on strength,
O (DZ)arm of the Lord;
awake, (EA)as in days of old,
the generations of long ago.
Was it not you who cut (EB)Rahab in pieces,
who pierced (EC)the dragon?
10 (ED)Was it not you who dried up the sea,
the waters of the great deep,
who made the depths of the sea a way
for the redeemed to pass over?
11 (EE)And the ransomed of the Lord shall return
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
12 “I, I am he (EF)who comforts you;
who are you that you are afraid of (EG)man who dies,
of the son of man who is made (EH)like grass,
13 and have forgotten the Lord, your Maker,
(EI)who stretched out the heavens
and (EJ)laid the foundations of the earth,
and you fear continually all the day
because of the wrath of (EK)the oppressor,
when he sets himself to destroy?
And where is the wrath of (EL)the oppressor?
14 (EM)He who is bowed down shall speedily be released;
he shall not die and go down (EN)to the pit,
neither shall his bread be lacking.
15 I am the Lord your God,
(EO)who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
the Lord of hosts is his name.
16 (EP)And I have put my words in your mouth
(EQ)and covered you in the shadow of my hand,
(ER)establishing[k] the heavens
and (ES)laying the foundations of the earth,
and saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’”
17 (ET)Wake yourself, wake yourself,
stand up, O Jerusalem,
(EU)you who have drunk from the hand of the Lord
the cup of his wrath,
who have drunk to the dregs
the bowl, (EV)the cup of staggering.
18 (EW)There is none to guide her
among all the sons she has borne;
there is none to take her by the hand
among all the sons she has brought up.
19 (EX)These two things have happened to you—
who will console you?—
devastation and destruction, famine and sword;
who will comfort you?[l]
20 (EY)Your sons have fainted;
they lie at the head of every street
like an (EZ)antelope (FA)in a net;
they are full of the wrath of the Lord,
the rebuke of your God.
21 (FB)Therefore hear this, you who are afflicted,
who are drunk, but not with wine:
22 Thus says your Lord, the Lord,
your God (FC)who pleads the cause of his people:
“Behold, I have taken from your hand (FD)the cup of staggering;
the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more;
23 (FE)and I will put it into the hand of your tormentors,
(FF)who have said to you,
‘Bow down, that we may pass over’;
and (FG)you have made your back like the ground
and like the street for them to pass over.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 48:10 Or I have chosen
- Isaiah 48:11 Hebrew lacks my name
- Isaiah 49:3 Or I will display my beauty
- Isaiah 49:12 Hebrew from the sea
- Isaiah 49:12 Dead Sea Scroll; Masoretic Text Sinim
- Isaiah 49:17 Dead Sea Scroll; Masoretic Text Your children make haste
- Isaiah 49:22 Hebrew in their bosom
- Isaiah 49:24 Dead Sea Scroll, Syriac, Vulgate (see also verse 25); Masoretic Text of a righteous man
- Isaiah 51:4 Or for teaching; also verse 7
- Isaiah 51:6 Or will die like gnats
- Isaiah 51:16 Or planting
- Isaiah 51:19 Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate; Masoretic Text how shall I comfort you
John 3
English Standard Version
You Must Be Born Again
3 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named (A)Nicodemus, (B)a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus[a] (C)by night and said to him, (D)“Rabbi, (E)we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do (F)unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is (G)born (H)again[b] he cannot (I)see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born (J)of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 (K)That which is born of the flesh is (L)flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.[c] 7 (M)Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You[d] must be born (N)again.’ 8 (O)The wind[e] blows (P)where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
9 Nicodemus said to him, (Q)“How can these things be?” 10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel (R)and yet you do not understand these things? 11 Truly, truly, I say to you, (S)we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but (T)you[f] do not receive our testimony. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 (U)No one has (V)ascended into heaven except (W)he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.[g] 14 And (X)as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man (Y)be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes (Z)in him (AA)may have eternal life.[h]
For God So Loved the World
16 “For (AB)God so loved (AC)the world,[i] (AD)that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not (AE)perish but have eternal life. 17 For (AF)God did not send his Son into the world (AG)to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 (AH)Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not (AI)believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 (AJ)And this is the judgment: (AK)the light has come into the world, and (AL)people loved the darkness rather than the light because (AM)their works were evil. 20 (AN)For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, (AO)lest his works should be exposed. 21 But whoever (AP)does what is true (AQ)comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
John the Baptist Exalts Christ
22 After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and (AR)was baptizing. 23 John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized 24 (for (AS)John had not yet been put in prison).
25 Now a discussion arose between some of John's disciples and a Jew over (AT)purification. 26 And they came to John and said to him, (AU)“Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, (AV)to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and (AW)all are going to him.” 27 John answered, (AX)“A person cannot receive even one thing (AY)unless it is given him (AZ)from heaven. 28 You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, (BA)‘I am not the Christ, but (BB)I have been sent before him.’ 29 (BC)The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. (BD)The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, (BE)rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. 30 (BF)He must increase, but I must decrease.”[j]
31 (BG)He who comes from above (BH)is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and (BI)speaks in an earthly way. (BJ)He who comes from heaven (BK)is above all. 32 (BL)He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, (BM)yet no one receives his testimony. 33 Whoever receives his testimony (BN)sets his seal to this, (BO)that God is true. 34 For he whom (BP)God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit (BQ)without measure. 35 (BR)The Father loves the Son and (BS)has given all things into his hand. 36 (BT)Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; (BU)whoever does not obey the Son shall not (BV)see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.
Footnotes
- John 3:2 Greek him
- John 3:3 Or from above; the Greek is purposely ambiguous and can mean both again and from above; also verse 7
- John 3:6 The same Greek word means both wind and spirit
- John 3:7 The Greek for you is plural here
- John 3:8 The same Greek word means both wind and spirit
- John 3:11 The Greek for you is plural here; also four times in verse 12
- John 3:13 Some manuscripts add who is in heaven
- John 3:15 Some interpreters hold that the quotation ends at verse 15
- John 3:16 Or For this is how God loved the world
- John 3:30 Some interpreters hold that the quotation continues through verse 36
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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