Proverbs 29

English Standard Version

29 ^(A)He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck,
    will suddenly be ^(B)broken ^(C)beyond healing.
²When ^(D)the righteous increase, the people rejoice,
    but when ^(E)the wicked rule, the people groan.
³He who ^(F)loves wisdom makes his father glad,
    but ^(G)a companion of prostitutes ^(H)squanders his wealth.
⁴By justice a king ^(I)builds up the land,
    but he who exacts gifts^[a] tears it down.
⁵^(J)A man who flatters his neighbor
    spreads ^(K)a net for his feet.
⁶An evil man is ^(L)ensnared in his transgression,
    but a righteous man ^(M)sings and rejoices.
⁷A righteous man ^(N)knows the rights of the poor;
    a wicked man does not ^(O)understand such knowledge.
⁸^(P)Scoffers set a city aflame,
    but the wise turn away wrath.
⁹If a wise man has an argument with a fool,
    the fool only rages and laughs, and there is ^(Q)no quiet.
¹⁰Bloodthirsty men ^(R)hate one who is blameless
    and seek the life of the upright.^[b]
¹¹A fool gives full vent to his spirit,
    but a wise man quietly holds it back.
¹²If a ruler listens to falsehood,
    all his officials will be wicked.
¹³The poor man and the oppressor ^(S)meet together;
    the Lord ^(T)gives light to the eyes of both.
¹⁴If a king ^(U)faithfully judges the poor,
    his throne will ^(V)be established forever.
¹⁵^(W)The rod and reproof give wisdom,
    but a child left to himself ^(X)brings shame to his mother.
¹⁶When the wicked increase, transgression increases,
    but ^(Y)the righteous will look upon their downfall.
¹⁷^(Z)Discipline your son, and he will give you rest;
    he will give delight to your heart.
¹⁸Where ^(AA)there is no prophetic vision the people ^(AB)cast off restraint,^[c]
    but blessed is he who ^(AC)keeps the law.
¹⁹By mere words a servant is not disciplined,
    for though he understands, he will not respond.
²⁰Do you see a man who is hasty in his words?
    ^(AD)There is more hope for a fool than for him.
²¹Whoever pampers his servant from childhood
    will in the end find him his heir.^[d]
²²^(AE)A man of wrath stirs up strife,
    and one given to anger causes much transgression.
²³^(AF)One's pride will bring him low,
    ^(AG)but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.
²⁴The partner of a thief ^(AH)hates his own life;
    ^(AI)he hears the curse, but discloses nothing.
²⁵^(AJ)The fear of man lays a snare,
    but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.
²⁶Many ^(AK)seek the face of a ruler,
    but it is from the Lord that a man ^(AL)gets justice.
²⁷^(AM)An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous,
    but one whose way is straight is an abomination to the wicked.

Footnotes

Proverbs 29:4 Or who taxes heavily
Proverbs 29:10 Or but the upright seek his soul
Proverbs 29:18 Or the people are discouraged
Proverbs 29:21 The meaning of the Hebrew word rendered his heir is uncertain

Isaiah 64-65

English Standard Version

64 ^(A)Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down,
    ^(B)that the mountains might quake at your presence—
²^[a] as when fire kindles brushwood
    and the fire causes water to boil—
^(C)to make your name known to your adversaries,
    and that the nations might tremble at your presence!
³^(D)When you did awesome things that we did not look for,
    you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.
⁴^(E)From of old no one has heard
    or perceived by the ear,
^(F)no eye has seen a God besides you,
    who acts for those who wait for him.
⁵You meet him who joyfully works righteousness,
    those who remember you in your ways.
Behold, you were angry, and we sinned;
    in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?^[b]
⁶^(G)We have all become like one who is unclean,
    and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.
^(H)We all fade like a leaf,
    and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
⁷^(I)There is no one who calls upon your name,
    who rouses himself to take hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us,
    and have made us melt in^[c] the hand of our iniquities.

⁸^(J)But now, O Lord, you are our Father;
    ^(K)we are the clay, and you are our potter;
    ^(L)we are all the work of your hand.
⁹^(M)Be not so terribly angry, O Lord,
    ^(N)and remember not iniquity forever.
    Behold, please look, we are all your people.
¹⁰^(O)Your holy cities have become a wilderness;
    Zion has become a wilderness,
    Jerusalem a desolation.
¹¹^(P)Our holy and beautiful^[d] house,
    where our fathers praised you,
has been burned by fire,
    and all our pleasant places have become ruins.
¹²^(Q)Will you restrain yourself at these things, O Lord?
    Will you keep silent, and afflict us so terribly?

Judgment and Salvation

65 ^(R)I was ready to be sought by ^(S)those who did not ask for me;
    I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me.
I said, “Here I am, here I am,”
    to a nation that was not called by^[e] my name.
²^(T)I spread out my hands all the day
    to a rebellious people,
who walk in a way that is not good,
    following their own devices;
³a people who provoke me
    to my face continually,
^(U)sacrificing in gardens
    and making offerings on bricks;
⁴who sit in tombs,
    and spend the night in secret places;
^(V)who eat pig's flesh,
    and broth of tainted meat is in their vessels;
⁵who say, “Keep to yourself,
    do not come near me, for I am too holy for you.”
^(W)These are a smoke in my nostrils,
    a fire that burns all the day.
⁶Behold, ^(X)it is written before me:
    ^(Y)“I will not keep silent, but I will repay;
^(Z)I will indeed repay into their lap
⁷    both your iniquities ^(AA)and your fathers' iniquities together,
says the Lord;
^(AB)because they made offerings on the mountains
    ^(AC)and insulted me on the hills,
I will measure into their lap
    payment for their former deeds.”^[f]

⁸Thus says the Lord:
^(AD)“As the new wine is found in the cluster,
    and they say, ‘Do not destroy it,
    for there is a blessing in it,’
so I will do for my servants' sake,
    ^(AE)and not destroy them all.
⁹^(AF)I will bring forth offspring from Jacob,
    and from Judah possessors of my mountains;
my chosen shall possess it,
    and my servants shall dwell there.
¹⁰^(AG)Sharon shall become a pasture for flocks,
    and ^(AH)the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down,
    for my people ^(AI)who have sought me.
¹¹But ^(AJ)you who forsake the Lord,
    who forget ^(AK)my holy mountain,
who ^(AL)set a table for Fortune
    and ^(AM)fill cups of mixed wine for Destiny,
¹²I will destine you to the sword,
    and all of you shall bow down to the slaughter,
^(AN)because, when I called, you did not answer;
    when I spoke, you did not listen,
^(AO)but you did what was evil in my eyes
    and chose what I did not delight in.”

¹³Therefore thus says the Lord God:
“Behold, ^(AP)my servants shall eat,
    but you shall be hungry;
behold, my servants shall drink,
    but you shall be thirsty;
behold, my servants shall rejoice,
    but you shall be put to shame;
¹⁴behold, ^(AQ)my servants shall sing for gladness of heart,
    but you shall cry out for pain of heart
    and shall wail for breaking of spirit.
¹⁵You shall leave your name to ^(AR)my chosen ^(AS)for a curse,
    and the Lord God will put you to death,
    but his servants ^(AT)he will call by another name,
¹⁶so that he who ^(AU)blesses himself in the land
    shall bless himself by ^(AV)the God of truth,
and he who takes an oath in the land
    shall swear by ^(AW)the God of truth;
^(AX)because the former troubles are forgotten
    and are hidden from my eyes.

New Heavens and a New Earth

¹⁷“For behold, ^(AY)I create new heavens
    and a new earth,
and the former things shall not be remembered
    or come into mind.
¹⁸But be glad and rejoice forever
    in that which I create;
for behold, ^(AZ)I create Jerusalem to be a joy,
    and her people to be a gladness.
¹⁹^(BA)I will rejoice in Jerusalem
    and be glad in my people;
^(BB)no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping
    and the cry of distress.
²⁰No more shall there be in it
    an infant who lives but a few days,
    or an old man who does not fill out his days,
for ^(BC)the young man shall die a hundred years old,
    and ^(BD)the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.
²¹^(BE)They shall build houses and inhabit them;
    they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
²²^(BF)They shall not build and another inhabit;
    they shall not plant and another eat;
^(BG)for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
    and my chosen shall long enjoy^[g] the work of their hands.
²³^(BH)They shall not labor in vain
    ^(BI)or bear children for calamity,^[h]
for ^(BJ)they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord,
    and their descendants with them.
²⁴^(BK)Before they call I will answer;
    ^(BL)while they are yet speaking I will hear.
²⁵^(BM)The wolf and the lamb shall graze together;
    the lion shall eat straw like the ox,
    and ^(BN)dust shall be the serpent's food.
^(BO)They shall not hurt or destroy
    in all my holy mountain,”
says the Lord.

Footnotes

Isaiah 64:2 Ch 64:1 in Hebrew
Isaiah 64:5 Or in your ways is continuance, that we might be saved
Isaiah 64:7 Masoretic Text; Septuagint, Syriac, Targum have delivered us into
Isaiah 64:11 Or holy and glorious
Isaiah 65:1 Or that did not call upon
Isaiah 65:7 Or I will first measure their payment into their lap
Isaiah 65:22 Hebrew shall wear out
Isaiah 65:23 Or for sudden terror

2 Peter 2

English Standard Version

False Prophets and Teachers

2 But ^(A)false prophets also arose among the people, ^(B)just as there will be false teachers among you, who will ^(C)secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master ^(D)who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. ²And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth ^(E)will be blasphemed. ³And ^(F)in their greed they will exploit you ^(G)with false words. ^(H)Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

⁴For if God did not spare ^(I)angels when they sinned, but ^(J)cast them into hell^[a] and committed them to chains^[b] of gloomy darkness ^(K)to be kept until the judgment; ⁵if he did not spare the ancient world, but ^(L)preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought ^(M)a flood upon the world of the ungodly; ⁶if by ^(N)turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, ^(O)making them an example of ^(P)what is going to happen to the ungodly;^[c] ⁷and ^(Q)if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked ⁸(for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, ^(R)he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); ⁹then ^(S)the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials,^[d] and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, ¹⁰and especially ^(T)those who indulge^[e] in the lust of defiling passion and ^(U)despise authority.

Bold and willful, they do not tremble ^(V)as they blaspheme the glorious ones, ¹¹^(W)whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord. ¹²^(X)But these, like irrational animals, ^(Y)creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction, ¹³suffering wrong as ^(Z)the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure ^(AA)to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions,^[f] while ^(AB)they feast with you. ¹⁴They have eyes full of adultery,^[g] ^(AC)insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts ^(AD)trained in greed. ^(AE)Accursed children! ¹⁵Forsaking the right way, ^(AF)they have gone astray. They have followed ^(AG)the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved ^(AH)gain from wrongdoing, ¹⁶but was rebuked for his own transgression; ^(AI)a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet's madness.

¹⁷^(AJ)These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm. ^(AK)For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved. ¹⁸For, ^(AL)speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh those who are barely ^(AM)escaping from those who live in error. ¹⁹They promise them ^(AN)freedom, ^(AO)but they themselves are slaves^[h] of corruption. For whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved. ²⁰For if, ^(AP)after they have escaped the defilements of the world ^(AQ)through the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, ^(AR)the last state has become worse for them than the first. ²¹For ^(AS)it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from ^(AT)the holy commandment delivered to them. ²²What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The ^(AU)dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”

Footnotes

2 Peter 2:4 Greek Tartarus
2 Peter 2:4 Some manuscripts pits
2 Peter 2:6 Some manuscripts an example to those who were to be ungodly
2 Peter 2:9 Or temptations
2 Peter 2:10 Greek who go after the flesh
2 Peter 2:13 Some manuscripts love feasts
2 Peter 2:14 Or eyes full of an adulteress
2 Peter 2:19 For the contextual rendering of the Greek word doulos, see Preface