21 Do you not know?
    Have you not heard?(A)
Has it not been told(B) you from the beginning?(C)
    Have you not understood(D) since the earth was founded?(E)
22 He sits enthroned(F) above the circle of the earth,
    and its people are like grasshoppers.(G)
He stretches out the heavens(H) like a canopy,(I)
    and spreads them out like a tent(J) to live in.(K)
23 He brings princes(L) to naught
    and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing.(M)
24 No sooner are they planted,
    no sooner are they sown,
    no sooner do they take root(N) in the ground,
than he blows(O) on them and they wither,(P)
    and a whirlwind sweeps them away like chaff.(Q)

25 “To whom will you compare me?(R)
    Or who is my equal?” says the Holy One.(S)
26 Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:(T)
    Who created(U) all these?
He who brings out the starry host(V) one by one
    and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,(W)
    not one of them is missing.(X)

27 Why do you complain, Jacob?
    Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord;
    my cause is disregarded by my God”?(Y)
28 Do you not know?
    Have you not heard?(Z)
The Lord is the everlasting(AA) God,
    the Creator(AB) of the ends of the earth.(AC)
He will not grow tired or weary,(AD)
    and his understanding no one can fathom.(AE)
29 He gives strength(AF) to the weary(AG)
    and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
    and young men(AH) stumble and fall;(AI)
31 but those who hope(AJ) in the Lord
    will renew their strength.(AK)
They will soar on wings like eagles;(AL)
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint.(AM)

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18 Who is a God(A) like you,
    who pardons sin(B) and forgives(C) the transgression
    of the remnant(D) of his inheritance?(E)
You do not stay angry(F) forever
    but delight to show mercy.(G)
19 You will again have compassion on us;
    you will tread our sins underfoot
    and hurl all our iniquities(H) into the depths of the sea.(I)

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22 “My people are fools;(A)
    they do not know me.(B)
They are senseless children;
    they have no understanding.(C)
They are skilled in doing evil;(D)
    they know not how to do good.”(E)

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53 Who has believed our message(A)
    and to whom has the arm(B) of the Lord been revealed?(C)
He grew up before him like a tender shoot,(D)
    and like a root(E) out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
    nothing in his appearance(F) that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by mankind,
    a man of suffering,(G) and familiar with pain.(H)
Like one from whom people hide(I) their faces
    he was despised,(J) and we held him in low esteem.

Surely he took up our pain
    and bore our suffering,(K)
yet we considered him punished by God,(L)
    stricken by him, and afflicted.(M)
But he was pierced(N) for our transgressions,(O)
    he was crushed(P) for our iniquities;
the punishment(Q) that brought us peace(R) was on him,
    and by his wounds(S) we are healed.(T)
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,(U)
    each of us has turned to our own way;(V)
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity(W) of us all.

He was oppressed(X) and afflicted,
    yet he did not open his mouth;(Y)
he was led like a lamb(Z) to the slaughter,(AA)
    and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
    so he did not open his mouth.
By oppression[a] and judgment(AB) he was taken away.
    Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;(AC)
    for the transgression(AD) of my people he was punished.[b]
He was assigned a grave with the wicked,(AE)
    and with the rich(AF) in his death,
though he had done no violence,(AG)
    nor was any deceit in his mouth.(AH)

10 Yet it was the Lord’s will(AI) to crush(AJ) him and cause him to suffer,(AK)
    and though the Lord makes[c] his life an offering for sin,(AL)
he will see his offspring(AM) and prolong his days,
    and the will of the Lord will prosper(AN) in his hand.
11 After he has suffered,(AO)
    he will see the light(AP) of life[d] and be satisfied[e];
by his knowledge[f] my righteous servant(AQ) will justify(AR) many,
    and he will bear their iniquities.(AS)
12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,[g](AT)
    and he will divide the spoils(AU) with the strong,[h]
because he poured out his life unto death,(AV)
    and was numbered with the transgressors.(AW)
For he bore(AX) the sin of many,(AY)
    and made intercession(AZ) for the transgressors.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 53:8 Or From arrest
  2. Isaiah 53:8 Or generation considered / that he was cut off from the land of the living, / that he was punished for the transgression of my people?
  3. Isaiah 53:10 Hebrew though you make
  4. Isaiah 53:11 Dead Sea Scrolls (see also Septuagint); Masoretic Text does not have the light of life.
  5. Isaiah 53:11 Or (with Masoretic Text) 11 He will see the fruit of his suffering / and will be satisfied
  6. Isaiah 53:11 Or by knowledge of him
  7. Isaiah 53:12 Or many
  8. Isaiah 53:12 Or numerous

Paul’s Anguish Over Israel

I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying,(A) my conscience confirms(B) it through the Holy Spirit— I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself(C) were cursed(D) and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people,(E) those of my own race,(F) the people of Israel.(G) Theirs is the adoption to sonship;(H) theirs the divine glory,(I) the covenants,(J) the receiving of the law,(K) the temple worship(L) and the promises.(M) Theirs are the patriarchs,(N) and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah,(O) who is God over all,(P) forever praised![a](Q) Amen.

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Footnotes

  1. Romans 9:5 Or Messiah, who is over all. God be forever praised! Or Messiah. God who is over all be forever praised!

Warnings From Israel’s History

10 For I do not want you to be ignorant(A) of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud(B) and that they all passed through the sea.(C) They were all baptized into(D) Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food(E) and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock(F) that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.(G)

Now these things occurred as examples(H) to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. Do not be idolaters,(I) as some of them were; as it is written: “The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.”[a](J) We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died.(K) We should not test Christ,[b](L) as some of them did—and were killed by snakes.(M) 10 And do not grumble, as some of them did(N)—and were killed(O) by the destroying angel.(P)

11 These things happened to them as examples(Q) and were written down as warnings for us,(R) on whom the culmination of the ages has come.(S) 12 So, if you think you are standing firm,(T) be careful that you don’t fall!

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Corinthians 10:7 Exodus 32:6
  2. 1 Corinthians 10:9 Some manuscripts test the Lord

28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’[a](A) As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’[b]

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Footnotes

  1. Acts 17:28 From the Cretan philosopher Epimenides
  2. Acts 17:28 From the Cilician Stoic philosopher Aratus

The Incarnation of the Word of Life

That which was from the beginning,(A) which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes,(B) which we have looked at and our hands have touched(C)—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared;(D) we have seen it and testify to it,(E) and we proclaim to you the eternal life,(F) which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard,(G) so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.(H) We write this(I) to make our[a] joy complete.(J)

Light and Darkness, Sin and Forgiveness

This is the message we have heard(K) from him and declare to you: God is light;(L) in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness,(M) we lie and do not live out the truth.(N) But if we walk in the light,(O) as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all[b] sin.(P)

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Footnotes

  1. 1 John 1:4 Some manuscripts your
  2. 1 John 1:7 Or every

23 But these people have stubborn and rebellious(A) hearts;
    they have turned aside(B) and gone away.
24 They do not say to themselves,
    ‘Let us fear(C) the Lord our God,
who gives autumn and spring rains(D) in season,
    who assures us of the regular weeks of harvest.’(E)
25 Your wrongdoings have kept these away;
    your sins have deprived you of good.(F)

26 “Among my people are the wicked(G)
    who lie in wait(H) like men who snare birds
    and like those who set traps(I) to catch people.
27 Like cages full of birds,
    their houses are full of deceit;(J)
they have become rich(K) and powerful
28     and have grown fat(L) and sleek.
Their evil deeds have no limit;
    they do not seek justice.
They do not promote the case of the fatherless;(M)
    they do not defend the just cause of the poor.(N)
29 Should I not punish them for this?”
    declares the Lord.
“Should I not avenge(O) myself
    on such a nation as this?

30 “A horrible(P) and shocking thing
    has happened in the land:
31 The prophets prophesy lies,(Q)
    the priests(R) rule by their own authority,
and my people love it this way.
    But what will you do in the end?(S)

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23 She said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Tell the man who sent you to me, 24 ‘This is what the Lord says: I am going to bring disaster(A) on this place and its people(B)—all the curses(C) written in the book that has been read in the presence of the king of Judah. 25 Because they have forsaken me(D) and burned incense to other gods and aroused my anger by all that their hands have made,[a] my anger will be poured out on this place and will not be quenched.’ 26 Tell the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says concerning the words you heard:

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Chronicles 34:25 Or by everything they have done

For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us,(A) so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.

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