Isaiah's Vision of the Lord

In the year that (A)King Uzziah died I (B)saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train[a] of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had (C)six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said:

(D)“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
(E)the whole earth is full of his glory!”[b]

And (F)the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and (G)the house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! (H)For I am lost; (I)for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the (J)King, the Lord of hosts!”

Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he (K)touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”

Isaiah's Commission from the Lord

And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for (L)us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” And he said, “Go, and say to this people:

(M)“‘Keep on hearing,[c] but do not understand;
keep on seeing,[d] but do not perceive.’
10 (N)Make the heart of this people (O)dull,[e]
    and their ears heavy,
    and blind their eyes;
(P)lest they see with their eyes,
    and hear with their ears,
and understand with their hearts,
    and turn and be healed.”
11 Then I said, (Q)“How long, O Lord?”
And he said:
“Until (R)cities lie waste
    without inhabitant,
and houses without people,
    and the land is a desolate waste,
12 and the Lord removes people far away,
    and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.
13 (S)And though a tenth remain in it,
    it will be burned[f] again,
like a terebinth or an oak,
    whose stump (T)remains
    when it is felled.”
(U)The holy seed[g] is its stump.

Isaiah Sent to King Ahaz

In the days of (V)Ahaz the son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, (W)Rezin the king of Syria and (X)Pekah the son of Remaliah the king of Israel came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not yet mount an attack against it. When the house of David was told, (Y)“Syria is in league with[h] (Z)Ephraim,” the heart of Ahaz[i] and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.

And the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and (AA)Shear-jashub[j] your son, at the end of (AB)the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer's Field. And say to him, (AC)‘Be careful, (AD)be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two (AE)smoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and (AF)the son of Remaliah. Because Syria, with Ephraim and (AG)the son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you, saying, “Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it[k] for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,” thus says the Lord God:

(AH)“‘It shall not stand,
    and it shall not come to pass.
For the head of Syria is (AI)Damascus,
    and the head of Damascus is Rezin.
And within sixty-five years
    Ephraim will be shattered from being a people.
And the head of Ephraim is Samaria,
    and the head of Samaria is (AJ)the son of Remaliah.
(AK)If you[l] are not firm in faith,
    you will not be firm at all.’”

The Sign of Immanuel

10 Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz: 11 “Ask (AL)a sign of the Lord your[m] God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” 12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” 13 And he[n] said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you (AM)weary my God also? 14 Therefore the (AN)Lord himself will give you a sign. (AO)Behold, the (AP)virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name (AQ)Immanuel.[o] 15 He shall eat (AR)curds and honey when he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 (AS)For before the boy knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land whose two kings you dread will be (AT)deserted. 17 (AU)The Lord will bring upon you and upon your people and upon your father's house such days as have not come since the day that (AV)Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria!”

18 In that day the Lord will (AW)whistle for the fly that is at the end of the streams of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria. 19 And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines, and (AX)in the clefts of the rocks, and on all the thornbushes, and on all the pastures.[p]

20 In that day (AY)the Lord will (AZ)shave with a razor that is (BA)hired beyond (BB)the River[q]—with the king of Assyria—the head and the hair of the feet, and it will sweep away the beard also.

21 (BC)In that day a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep, 22 and because of the abundance of milk that they give, he will eat curds, for everyone who is left in the land will eat (BD)curds and honey.

23 In that day every place where there used to be a thousand vines, worth a thousand shekels[r] of silver, will become (BE)briers and thorns. 24 (BF)With bow and arrows a man will come there, for all the land will be briers and thorns. 25 (BG)And as for all the hills that used to be hoed with a hoe, you will not come there for fear (BH)of briers and thorns, but they will become a place where cattle are let loose and where sheep tread.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 6:1 Or hem
  2. Isaiah 6:3 Or may his glory fill the whole earth
  3. Isaiah 6:9 Or Hear indeed
  4. Isaiah 6:9 Or see indeed
  5. Isaiah 6:10 Hebrew fat
  6. Isaiah 6:13 Or purged
  7. Isaiah 6:13 Or offspring
  8. Isaiah 7:2 Hebrew Syria has rested upon
  9. Isaiah 7:2 Hebrew his heart
  10. Isaiah 7:3 Shear-jashub means A remnant shall return
  11. Isaiah 7:6 Hebrew let us split it open
  12. Isaiah 7:9 The Hebrew for you is plural in verses 9, 13, 14
  13. Isaiah 7:11 The Hebrew for you and your is singular in verses 11, 16, 17
  14. Isaiah 7:13 That is, Isaiah
  15. Isaiah 7:14 Immanuel means God is with us
  16. Isaiah 7:19 Or watering holes, or brambles
  17. Isaiah 7:20 That is, the Euphrates
  18. Isaiah 7:23 A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams

Paul's Sufferings as an Apostle

16 I repeat, (A)let no one think me foolish. But even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. 17 What I am saying (B)with this boastful confidence, (C)I say not as the Lord would[a] but as a fool. 18 Since (D)many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast. 19 For you gladly bear with fools, (E)being wise yourselves! 20 For you bear it if someone (F)makes slaves of you, or (G)devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or (H)strikes you in the face. 21 To my shame, I must say, (I)we were too weak for that!

But whatever anyone else dares to boast of—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that. 22 Are they Hebrews? (J)So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they offspring of Abraham? So am I. 23 Are they (K)servants of Christ? (L)I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, (M)far more imprisonments, (N)with countless beatings, and (O)often near death. 24 Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the (P)forty lashes less one. 25 Three times I was (Q)beaten with rods. (R)Once I was stoned. Three times I (S)was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; 26 on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, (T)danger from my own people, (U)danger from Gentiles, (V)danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; 27 (W)in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, (X)in hunger and thirst, often without food,[b] in cold and exposure. 28 And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for (Y)all the churches. 29 (Z)Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?

30 (AA)If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. 31 (AB)The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, (AC)he who is blessed forever, (AD)knows that I am not lying. 32 At Damascus, the governor under King Aretas (AE)was guarding the city of Damascus in order to seize me, 33 (AF)but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.

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Footnotes

  1. 2 Corinthians 11:17 Greek not according to the Lord
  2. 2 Corinthians 11:27 Or often in fasting

The Lord Upholds My Life

To the choirmaster: with (A)stringed instruments. A Maskil[a] of David, (B)when the Ziphites went and told Saul, “Is not David hiding among us?”

54 O God, save me by your (C)name,
    and vindicate me by your might.
O God, (D)hear my prayer;
    give ear to the words of my mouth.

(E)For (F)strangers[b] have risen against me;
    ruthless men (G)seek my life;
    they do not set God before themselves. Selah

Behold, (H)God is my helper;
    the Lord is the upholder of my life.
He will return the evil to my enemies;
    in your (I)faithfulness (J)put an end to them.

With a freewill offering I will sacrifice to you;
    I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, (K)for it is good.
For he has delivered me from every trouble,
    and my eye has (L)looked in triumph on my enemies.

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 54:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term
  2. Psalm 54:3 Some Hebrew manuscripts and Targum insolent men (compare Psalm 86:14)

23 When you sit down to eat with a ruler,
    observe carefully what[a] is before you,
and put a knife to your throat
    if you are given to appetite.
(A)Do not desire his delicacies,
    for they are deceptive food.

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Footnotes

  1. Proverbs 23:1 Or who

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