Isaiah 28:9-22

New King James Version

⁹“Whom^(A) will he teach knowledge?
And whom will he make to understand the message?
Those just weaned from milk?
Those just drawn from the breasts?
¹⁰^(B)For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept,
Line upon line, line upon line,
Here a little, there a little.”

¹¹For with ^(C)stammering lips and another tongue
He will speak to this people,
¹²To whom He said, “This is the ^(D)rest with which
You may cause the weary to rest,”
And, “This is the refreshing”;
Yet they would not hear.
¹³But the word of the Lord was to them,
“Precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
Line upon line, line upon line,
Here a little, there a little,”
That they might go and fall backward, and be broken
And snared and caught.

¹⁴Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scornful men,
Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,
¹⁵Because you have said, “We have made a covenant with death,
And with Sheol we are in agreement.
When the overflowing scourge passes through,
It will not come to us,
^(E)For we have made lies our refuge,
And under falsehood we have hidden ourselves.”

A Cornerstone in Zion

¹⁶Therefore thus says the Lord God:

“Behold, I lay in Zion ^(F)a stone for a foundation,
A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation;
Whoever believes will not act hastily.
¹⁷Also I will make justice the measuring line,
And righteousness the plummet;
The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies,
And the waters will overflow the hiding place.
¹⁸Your covenant with death will be annulled,
And your agreement with Sheol will not stand;
When the overflowing scourge passes through,
Then you will be trampled down by it.
¹⁹As often as it goes out it will take you;
For morning by morning it will pass over,
And by day and by night;
It will be a terror just to understand the report.”

²⁰For the bed is too short to stretch out on,
And the covering so narrow that one cannot wrap himself in it.
²¹For the Lord will rise up as at Mount ^(G)Perazim,
He will be angry as in the Valley of ^(H)Gibeon—
That He may do His work, ^(I)His awesome work,
And bring to pass His act, His ^[a]unusual act.
²²Now therefore, do not be mockers,
Lest your bonds be made strong;
For I have heard from the Lord God of hosts,
^(J)A ^[b]destruction determined even upon the whole earth.

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Footnotes

Isaiah 28:21 Lit. foreign
Isaiah 28:22 Lit. complete end

Matthew 3:1-12

New King James Version

John the Baptist Prepares the Way^(A)

3 In those days ^(B)John the Baptist came preaching ^(C)in the wilderness of Judea, ²and saying, “Repent, for ^(D)the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” ³For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying:

^(E)“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
^(F)‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
Make His paths straight.’ ”

⁴Now ^(G)John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was ^(H)locusts and ^(I)wild honey. ⁵^(J)Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him ⁶^(K)and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.

⁷But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, ^(L)“Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from ^(M)the wrath to come? ⁸Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, ⁹and do not think to say to yourselves, ^(N)‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. ¹⁰And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. ^(O)Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ¹¹^(P)I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. ^(Q)He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit ^[a]and fire. ¹²^(R)His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will ^(S)burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

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Footnotes

Matthew 3:11 M omits and fire

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11

New King James Version

The Day of the Lord

5 But concerning ^(A)the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. ²For you yourselves know perfectly that ^(B)the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. ³For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then ^(C)sudden destruction comes upon them, ^(D)as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. ⁴^(E)But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. ⁵You are all ^(F)sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. ⁶^(G)Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but ^(H)let us watch and be ^[a]sober. ⁷For ^(I)those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk ^(J)are drunk at night. ⁸But let us who are of the day be sober, ^(K)putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. ⁹For ^(L)God did not appoint us to wrath, ^(M)but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁰^(N)who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.