2 Thessalonians 2

New King James Version

The Great Apostasy

2 Now, brethren, ^(A)concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ ^(B)and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, ²^(C)not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of ^[a]Christ had come. ³Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come ^(D)unless the falling away comes first, and ^(E)the man of ^[b]sin is revealed, ^(F)the son of perdition, ⁴who opposes and ^(G)exalts himself ^(H)above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits ^[c]as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

⁵Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? ⁶And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. ⁷For ^(I)the ^[d]mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only ^[e]He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. ⁸And then the lawless one will be revealed, ^(J)whom the Lord will consume ^(K)with the breath of His mouth and destroy ^(L)with the brightness of His coming. ⁹The coming of the lawless one is ^(M)according to the working of Satan, with all power, ^(N)signs, and lying wonders, ¹⁰and with all unrighteous deception among ^(O)those who perish, because they did not receive ^(P)the love of the truth, that they might be saved. ¹¹And ^(Q)for this reason God will send them strong delusion, ^(R)that they should believe the lie, ¹²that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but ^(S)had pleasure in unrighteousness.

Stand Fast

¹³But we are ^[f]bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God ^(T)from the beginning ^(U)chose you for salvation ^(V)through ^[g]sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, ¹⁴to which He called you by our gospel, for ^(W)the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. ¹⁵Therefore, brethren, ^(X)stand fast and hold ^(Y)the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our ^[h]epistle.

¹⁶Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, ^(Z)who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and ^(AA)good hope by grace, ¹⁷comfort your hearts ^(AB)and ^[i]establish you in every good word and work.

Footnotes

2 Thessalonians 2:2 NU the Lord
2 Thessalonians 2:3 NU lawlessness
2 Thessalonians 2:4 NU omits as God
2 Thessalonians 2:7 hidden truth
2 Thessalonians 2:7 Or he
2 Thessalonians 2:13 under obligation
2 Thessalonians 2:13 being set apart by
2 Thessalonians 2:15 letter
2 Thessalonians 2:17 strengthen

Isaiah 27-28

New King James Version

Israel Will Be Restored

27 In that day the Lord with His severe sword, great and strong,
Will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent,
^(A)Leviathan that twisted serpent;
And He will slay ^(B)the reptile that is in the sea.

The Restoration of Israel

²In that day ^(C)sing to her,
^(D)“A vineyard of ^[a]red wine!
³^(E)I, the Lord, keep it,
I water it every moment;
Lest any hurt it,
I keep it night and day.
⁴Fury is not in Me.
Who would set ^(F)briers and thorns
Against Me in battle?
I would go through them,
I would burn them together.
⁵Or let him take hold ^(G)of My strength,
That he may ^(H)make peace with Me;
And he shall make peace with Me.”

⁶Those who come He shall cause ^(I)to take root in Jacob;
Israel shall blossom and bud,
And fill the face of the world with fruit.

⁷^(J)Has He struck ^[b]Israel as He struck those who struck him?
Or has He been slain according to the slaughter of those who were slain by Him?
⁸^(K)In measure, by sending it away,
You contended with it.
^(L)He removes it by His rough wind
In the day of the east wind.
⁹Therefore by this the iniquity of Jacob will be covered;
And this is all the fruit of taking away his sin:
When he makes all the stones of the altar
Like chalkstones that are beaten to dust,
^[c]Wooden images and incense altars shall not stand.

¹⁰Yet the fortified city will be ^(M)desolate,
The habitation forsaken and left like a wilderness;
There the calf will feed, and there it will lie down
And consume its branches.
¹¹When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off;
The women come and set them on fire.
For ^(N)it is a people of no understanding;
Therefore He who made them will ^(O)not have mercy on them,
And ^(P)He who formed them will show them no favor.

¹²And it shall come to pass in that day
That the Lord will thresh,
From the channel of ^[d]the River to the Brook of Egypt;
And you will be ^(Q)gathered one by one,
O you children of Israel.

¹³^(R)So it shall be in that day:
^(S)The great trumpet will be blown;
They will come, who are about to perish in the land of Assyria,
And they who are outcasts in the land of ^(T)Egypt,
And shall ^(U)worship the Lord in the holy mount at Jerusalem.

Woe to Ephraim and Jerusalem

28 Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim,
Whose glorious beauty is a fading flower
Which is at the head of the ^[e]verdant valleys,
To those who are overcome with wine!
²Behold, the Lord has a mighty and strong one,
^(V)Like a tempest of hail and a destroying storm,
Like a flood of mighty waters overflowing,
Who will bring them down to the earth with His hand.
³The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim,
Will be trampled underfoot;
⁴And the glorious beauty is a fading flower
Which is at the head of the ^[f]verdant valley,
Like the first fruit before the summer,
Which an observer sees;
He eats it up while it is still in his hand.

⁵In that day the Lord of hosts will be
For a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty
To the remnant of His people,
⁶For a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment,
And for strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.

⁷But they also ^(W)have erred through wine,
And through intoxicating drink are out of the way;
^(X)The priest and the prophet have erred through intoxicating drink,
They are swallowed up by wine,
They are out of the way through intoxicating drink;
They err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
⁸For all tables are full of vomit and filth;
No place is clean.

⁹“Whom^(Y) 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^(Z)For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept,
Line upon line, line upon line,
Here a little, there a little.”

¹¹For with ^(AA)stammering lips and another tongue
He will speak to this people,
¹²To whom He said, “This is the ^(AB)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,
^(AC)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 ^(AD)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 ^(AE)Perazim,
He will be angry as in the Valley of ^(AF)Gibeon—
That He may do His work, ^(AG)His awesome work,
And bring to pass His act, His ^[g]unusual act.
²²Now therefore, do not be mockers,
Lest your bonds be made strong;
For I have heard from the Lord God of hosts,
^(AH)A ^[h]destruction determined even upon the whole earth.

Listen to the Teaching of God

²³Give ear and hear my voice,
Listen and hear my speech.
²⁴Does the plowman keep plowing all day to sow?
Does he keep turning his soil and breaking the clods?
²⁵When he has leveled its surface,
Does he not sow the black cummin
And scatter the cummin,
Plant the wheat in rows,
The barley in the appointed place,
And the ^[i]spelt in its place?
²⁶For He instructs him in right judgment,
His God teaches him.

²⁷For the black cummin is not threshed with a threshing sledge,
Nor is a cartwheel rolled over the cummin;
But the black cummin is beaten out with a stick,
And the cummin with a rod.
²⁸Bread flour must be ground;
Therefore he does not thresh it forever,
Break it with his cartwheel,
Or crush it with his horsemen.
²⁹This also comes from the Lord of hosts,
^(AI)Who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in ^[j]guidance.

Footnotes

Isaiah 27:2 So with MT (Kittel’s Biblia Hebraica), Bg., Vg.; MT (Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia), some Heb. mss., LXX delight; Tg. choice vineyard
Isaiah 27:7 Lit. him
Isaiah 27:9 Heb. Asherim, Canaanite deities
Isaiah 27:12 The Euphrates
Isaiah 28:1 Lit. valleys of fatness
Isaiah 28:4 Lit. valley of fatness
Isaiah 28:21 Lit. foreign
Isaiah 28:22 Lit. complete end
Isaiah 28:25 rye
Isaiah 28:29 sound wisdom

Psalm 118

New King James Version

Praise to God for His Everlasting Mercy

118 Oh, ^(A)give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!
^(B)For His mercy endures forever.

²^(C)Let Israel now say,
“His mercy endures forever.”
³Let the house of Aaron now say,
“His mercy endures forever.”
⁴Let those who fear the Lord now say,
“His mercy endures forever.”

⁵^(D)I called on the Lord in distress;
The Lord answered me and ^(E)set me in a broad place.
⁶^(F)The Lord is on my side;
I will not fear.
What can man do to me?
⁷^(G)The Lord is for me among those who help me;
Therefore ^(H)I shall see my desire on those who hate me.
⁸^(I)It is better to trust in the Lord
Than to put confidence in man.
⁹^(J)It is better to trust in the Lord
Than to put confidence in princes.

¹⁰All nations surrounded me,
But in the name of the Lord I will destroy them.
¹¹They ^(K)surrounded me,
Yes, they surrounded me;
But in the name of the Lord I will destroy them.
¹²They surrounded me ^(L)like bees;
They were quenched ^(M)like a fire of thorns;
For in the name of the Lord I will ^[a]destroy them.
¹³You pushed me violently, that I might fall,
But the Lord helped me.
¹⁴^(N)The Lord is my strength and song,
And He has become my salvation.

¹⁵The voice of rejoicing and salvation
Is in the tents of the righteous;
The right hand of the Lord does valiantly.
¹⁶^(O)The right hand of the Lord is exalted;
The right hand of the Lord does valiantly.
¹⁷^(P)I shall not die, but live,
And ^(Q)declare the works of the Lord.
¹⁸The Lord has ^(R)chastened^[b] me severely,
But He has not given me over to death.

¹⁹^(S)Open to me the gates of righteousness;
I will go through them,
And I will praise the Lord.
²⁰^(T)This is the gate of the Lord,
^(U)Through which the righteous shall enter.

²¹I will praise You,
For You have ^(V)answered me,
And have become my salvation.

²²^(W)The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone.
²³^[c]This was the Lord’s doing;
It is marvelous in our eyes.
²⁴This is the day the Lord has made;
We will rejoice and be glad in it.

²⁵Save now, I pray, O Lord;
O Lord, I pray, send now prosperity.
²⁶^(X)Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
We have blessed you from the house of the Lord.
²⁷God is the Lord,
And He has given us ^(Y)light;
Bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.
²⁸You are my God, and I will praise You;
^(Z)You are my God, I will exalt You.