Isaiah 21-22
English Standard Version
Fallen, Fallen Is Babylon
21 The (A)oracle concerning the wilderness of (B)the sea.
(C)As whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on,
it comes from the wilderness,
from a terrible land.
2 A stern vision is told to me;
(D)the traitor betrays,
and the destroyer destroys.
Go up, O (E)Elam;
lay siege, O (F)Media;
all the (G)sighing she has caused
I bring to an end.
3 Therefore my loins are filled with anguish;
(H)pangs have seized me,
like the pangs of a woman in labor;
I am bowed down so that I cannot hear;
I am dismayed so that I cannot see.
4 My heart staggers; horror has appalled me;
(I)the twilight I longed for
has been turned for me into trembling.
5 (J)They prepare the table,
they spread the rugs,[a]
they eat, they drink.
Arise, O princes;
(K)oil the shield!
6 For thus the Lord said to me:
“Go, set a watchman;
let him announce what he sees.
7 When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs,
riders on donkeys, riders on camels,
let him listen diligently,
very diligently.”
8 Then he who saw cried out:[b]
(L)“Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord,
continually by day,
and at my post I am stationed
whole nights.
9 And behold, here come riders,
horsemen in pairs!”
(M)And he answered,
(N)“Fallen, fallen is Babylon;
(O)and all the carved images of her gods
he has shattered to the ground.”
10 O (P)my threshed and winnowed one,
what I have heard from the Lord of hosts,
the God of Israel, I announce to you.
11 The (Q)oracle concerning (R)Dumah.
One is calling to me from (S)Seir,
“Watchman, what time of the night?
Watchman, what time of the night?”
12 The watchman says:
“Morning comes, and also (T)the night.
If you will inquire, (U)inquire;
come back again.”
13 The (V)oracle concerning (W)Arabia.
In the thickets in (X)Arabia you will lodge,
O (Y)caravans of (Z)Dedanites.
14 To the thirsty bring water;
meet the fugitive with bread,
O inhabitants of the land of (AA)Tema.
15 For they have fled from the swords,
from the drawn sword,
from the bent bow,
and from the press of battle.
16 For thus the Lord said to me, “Within a year, (AB)according to the years of a hired worker, all the glory of (AC)Kedar will come to an end. 17 And the remainder of the archers of the mighty men of the sons of (AD)Kedar will be few, (AE)for the Lord, the God of Israel, has spoken.”
An Oracle Concerning Jerusalem
22 The (AF)oracle concerning (AG)the valley of vision.
What do you mean that you have gone up,
all of you, to the housetops,
2 you who are full of shoutings,
tumultuous city, (AH)exultant town?
Your slain are (AI)not slain with the sword
or dead in battle.
3 (AJ)All your leaders have fled together;
without the bow they were captured.
All of you who were found were captured,
though they had fled far away.
4 Therefore I said:
“Look away from me;
(AK)let me weep bitter tears;
do not labor to comfort me
concerning the destruction of the daughter of my people.”
5 (AL)For the Lord God of hosts has (AM)a day
of tumult and (AN)trampling and (AO)confusion
in (AP)the valley of vision,
a battering down of walls
and a shouting to the mountains.
6 And (AQ)Elam bore the quiver
with chariots and horsemen,
and (AR)Kir uncovered the shield.
7 Your choicest valleys were full of chariots,
and the horsemen took their stand at the gates.
8 He has taken away (AS)the covering of Judah.
In that day you looked to (AT)the weapons of the House of the Forest, 9 and you saw that (AU)the breaches of the city of David were many. (AV)You collected the waters of the lower pool, 10 and you counted the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall. 11 (AW)You made a reservoir between (AX)the two walls for the water of (AY)the old pool. But (AZ)you did not look to him who did it, or see him who planned it long ago.
12 In that day (BA)the Lord God of hosts
called for weeping and mourning,
for (BB)baldness and (BC)wearing sackcloth;
13 and behold, joy and gladness,
killing oxen and slaughtering sheep,
eating flesh and drinking wine.
(BD)“Let us eat and drink,
for tomorrow we die.”
14 The Lord of hosts (BE)has revealed himself in my ears:
“Surely (BF)this iniquity will not be atoned for you (BG)until you die,”
says the Lord God of hosts.
15 Thus says the Lord God of hosts, “Come, go to this steward, to (BH)Shebna, who is over the household, and say to him: 16 What have you to do here, and whom have you here, (BI)that you have cut out here a tomb for yourself, you (BJ)who cut out a tomb on the height and carve a dwelling for yourself in the rock? 17 Behold, the Lord will hurl you away violently, O you strong man. (BK)He will seize firm hold on you 18 and whirl you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a wide land. There you shall die, and there shall be (BL)your glorious chariots, you shame of your master's house. 19 (BM)I will thrust you from your office, and you will be pulled down from your station. 20 In that day I will call my servant (BN)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, 21 and (BO)I will clothe him with your robe, and will bind your sash on him, and will commit your authority to his hand. And he shall be (BP)a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. 22 And I will place (BQ)on his shoulder (BR)the key of the house of David. (BS)He shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open. 23 And I will fasten him (BT)like a peg in a secure place, and he will become (BU)a throne of honor to his father's house. 24 And they will hang on him the whole honor of his father's house, the offspring and issue, every small vessel, from the cups to all the flagons. 25 In that day, declares the Lord of hosts, (BV)the peg that was fastened in a secure place will give way, and it will be cut down and fall, and the load that was on it will be cut off, for the Lord has spoken.”
Footnotes
- Isaiah 21:5 Or they set the watchman
- Isaiah 21:8 Dead Sea Scroll, Syriac; Masoretic Text Then a lion cried out, or Then he cried out like a lion
1 Corinthians 8:1-9:11
English Standard Version
Food Offered to Idols
8 Now concerning[a] (A)food offered to idols: we know that (B)“all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” (C)puffs up, (D)but love builds up. 2 (E)If anyone imagines that he knows something, (F)he does not yet know as he ought to know. 3 But if anyone loves God, (G)he is known by God.[b]
4 Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that (H)“an idol has no real existence,” and that (I)“there is no God but one.” 5 For although there may be (J)so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”— 6 yet (K)for us there is one God, the Father, (L)from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and (M)one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and (N)through whom we exist.
7 However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, (O)through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and (P)their conscience, being weak, is defiled. 8 (Q)Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. 9 But take care (R)that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block (S)to the weak. 10 For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating[c] in an idol's temple, will he not be encouraged,[d] if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? 11 And so by your knowledge this weak person is (T)destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. 12 Thus, sinning against your brothers[e] and (U)wounding their conscience when it is weak, (V)you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, (W)if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.
Paul Surrenders His Rights
9 (X)Am I not free? (Y)Am I not an apostle? (Z)Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? (AA)Are not you my workmanship in the Lord? 2 If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you, for you are (AB)the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
3 This is my defense to those who would examine me. 4 (AC)Do we not have the right to eat and drink? 5 (AD)Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife,[f] as do the other apostles and (AE)the brothers of the Lord and (AF)Cephas? 6 Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? 7 (AG)Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? (AH)Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Or who tends a flock without getting some of the milk?
8 Do I say these things on human authority? Does not the Law say the same? 9 For it is written in the Law of Moses, (AI)“You shall not muzzle an ox when it treads out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? 10 Does he not certainly speak for our sake? It was written (AJ)for our sake, because (AK)the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of sharing in the crop. 11 (AL)If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?
Footnotes
- 1 Corinthians 8:1 The expression Now concerning introduces a reply to a question in the Corinthians' letter; see 7:1
- 1 Corinthians 8:3 Greek him
- 1 Corinthians 8:10 Greek reclining at table
- 1 Corinthians 8:10 Or fortified; Greek built up
- 1 Corinthians 8:12 Or brothers and sisters
- 1 Corinthians 9:5 Greek a sister as wife
Psalm 104:23-29
English Standard Version
23 (A)Man goes out to his work
and to his labor until the evening.
24 O Lord, how manifold are your works!
In (B)wisdom have you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
25 Here is the sea, great and wide,
(C)which teems with creatures innumerable,
living things both small and great.
26 There go the ships,
and (D)Leviathan, which you formed to (E)play in it.[a]
27 These (F)all look to you,
to (G)give them their food in due season.
28 When you give it to them, they gather it up;
when you (H)open your hand, they are filled with good things.
29 When you (I)hide your face, they are (J)dismayed;
when you (K)take away their breath, they die
and (L)return to their dust.
Footnotes
- Psalm 104:26 Or you formed to play with
Proverbs 22:5-7
English Standard Version
5 (A)Thorns and snares are in the way of the crooked;
whoever (B)guards his soul will keep far from them.
6 (C)Train up a child in the way he should go;
even when he is old he will not depart from it.
7 (D)The rich rules over the poor,
and the borrower is the slave of the lender.
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
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