Isaiah 6-7
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Isaiah’s Call and Mission
6 In the year that King Uzziah(A) died, I saw the Lord(B) seated on a high and lofty(C) throne,(D) and His robe[a] filled the temple. 2 Seraphim[b] were standing above Him; each one had six wings:(E) with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.(F) 3 And one called to another:
4 The foundations of the doorways shook(I) at the sound of their voices, and the temple was filled with smoke.
5 Then I said:
Woe is me(J) for I am ruined[c]
because I am a man of unclean lips
and live among a people of unclean lips,(K)
and because my eyes have seen the King,
the Lord of Hosts.
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, and in his hand was a glowing coal that he had taken from the altar(L) with tongs. 7 He touched my mouth(M) with it and said:
Now that this has touched your lips,
your wickedness is removed
and your sin is atoned for.(N)
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying:
Who should I send?
Who will go for Us?
I said:
Here I am. Send me.
9 And He replied:
Go! Say to these people:
Keep listening, but do not understand;(O)
keep looking, but do not perceive.
10 Dull the minds[d] of these people;
deafen their ears and blind their eyes;
otherwise they might see with their eyes
and hear with their ears,
understand with their minds,
turn back, and be healed.(P)
11 Then I said, “Until when, Lord?”(Q) And He replied:
Until cities lie in ruins without inhabitants,(R)
houses are without people,
the land is ruined and desolate,
12 and the Lord drives the people far away,
leaving great emptiness in the land.
13 Though a tenth will remain in the land,
it will be burned again.
Like the terebinth or the oak
that leaves a stump when felled,
the holy seed(S) is the stump.(T)
The Message to Ahaz
7 This took place during the reign of Ahaz, son of Jotham, son of Uzziah king of Judah:(U) Rezin king of Aram, along with Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, waged war against Jerusalem,(V) but he could not succeed. 2 When it became known to the house of David(W) that Aram had occupied Ephraim,(X) the heart of Ahaz[e] and the hearts of his people trembled like trees of a forest shaking in the wind.
3 Then the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out with your son Shear-jashub(Y) to meet Ahaz at the end of the conduit of the upper pool,(Z) by the road to the Fuller’s Field. 4 Say to him: Calm down and be quiet. Don’t be afraid or cowardly(AA) because of these two smoldering stubs of firebrands, the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram, and the son of Remaliah. 5 For Aram, along with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has plotted harm against you. They say, 6 ‘Let us go up against Judah, terrorize it, and conquer it for ourselves. Then we can install Tabeel’s son as king in it.’”
7 This is what the Lord God says:
It will not happen; it will not occur.(AB)
8 The[f] head of Aram is Damascus,
the head of Damascus is Rezin
(within 65 years
Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people),
9 the head of Ephraim is Samaria,
and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.
If you do not stand firm in your faith,
then you will not stand at all.
The Immanuel Prophecy
10 Then the Lord spoke again to Ahaz: 11 “Ask for a sign(AC) from the Lord your God—from the depths of Sheol to the heights of heaven.”
12 But Ahaz replied, “I will not ask. I will not test the Lord.”
13 Isaiah(AD) said, “Listen, house of David! Is it not enough for you to try the patience of men? Will you also try the patience of my God?(AE) 14 Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you[g] a sign: The virgin will conceive,[h] have a son, and name him Immanuel.[i](AF) 15 By the time he learns to reject what is bad and choose what is good,(AG) he will be eating butter[j] and honey.(AH) 16 For before the boy knows to reject what is bad and choose what is good, the land of the two kings you dread will be abandoned. 17 The Lord will bring on you, your people, and the house of your father, such a time as has never been since Ephraim separated from Judah(AI)—the king of Assyria(AJ) is coming.”
18 On that day(AK)
the Lord will whistle(AL) to the fly
that is at the farthest streams of the Nile
and to the bee that is in the land of Assyria.
19 All of them will come and settle
in the steep ravines, in the clefts of the rocks,(AM)
in all the thornbushes, and in all the water holes.
20 On that day the Lord will use a razor(AN) hired from beyond the Euphrates River—the king of Assyria(AO)—to shave the head, the hair on the legs, and to remove the beard as well.
21 On that day
a man will raise a young cow and two sheep,
22 and from the abundant milk they give
he will eat butter,
for every survivor in the land will eat butter and honey.(AP)
23 And on that day
every place where there were 1,000 vines,
worth 1,000 pieces of silver,
will become thorns and briers.(AQ)
24 A man will go there with bow and arrows
because the whole land will be thorns and briers.
25 You will not go to all the hills
that were once tilled with a hoe,
for fear of the thorns and briers.
Those hills will be places for oxen to graze
and for sheep to trample.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 6:1 Lit seam
- Isaiah 6:2 = heavenly beings
- Isaiah 6:5 Or I must be silent
- Isaiah 6:10 Lit heart
- Isaiah 7:2 Lit Aram has rested upon Ephraim, his heart
- Isaiah 7:8 Lit For the
- Isaiah 7:14 In Hb, the word you is pl
- Isaiah 7:14 Or virgin is pregnant, will
- Isaiah 7:14 = God With Us
- Isaiah 7:15 Or sour milk
2 Corinthians 11:16-33
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Paul’s Sufferings for Christ
16 I repeat: No one should consider me a fool. But if you do, at least accept me as a fool, so I too may boast a little. 17 What I say in this matter[a] of boasting, I don’t speak as the Lord would, but foolishly. 18 Since many boast in an unspiritual way,[b] I will also boast. 19 For you, being so wise, gladly put up with fools!(A) 20 In fact, you put up with it if someone enslaves you, if someone devours(B) you, if someone captures you, if someone dominates you, or if someone hits(C) you in the face. 21 I say this to our shame: We have been weak.
But in whatever anyone dares to boast—I am talking foolishly—I also dare:
22 Are they Hebrews?(D) So am I.
Are they Israelites? So am I.
Are they the seed of Abraham?(E) So am I.
23 Are they servants of Christ?
I’m talking like a madman—I’m a better one:
with far more labors,
many more imprisonments,
far worse beatings, near death[c] many times.
24 Five times I received 39 lashes from Jews.(F)
25 Three times I was beaten with rods by the Romans.(G)
Once I was stoned by my enemies.[d](H)
Three times I was shipwrecked.(I)
I have spent a night and a day
in the open sea.
26 On frequent journeys, I faced
dangers from rivers,
dangers from robbers,(J)
dangers from my own people,(K)
dangers from the Gentiles,
dangers in the city,
dangers in the open country,
dangers on the sea,
and dangers among false brothers;
27 labor and hardship,
many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst,
often without food, cold, and lacking clothing.(L)
28 Not to mention[e] other things, there is the daily pressure on me: my care for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble,(M) and I do not burn with indignation? 30 If boasting is necessary, I will boast about my weaknesses. 31 The God and Father(N) of the Lord Jesus, who is praised forever, knows I am not lying. 32 In Damascus,(O) the governor under King Aretas[f] guarded the city of the Damascenes in order to arrest me, 33 so I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.(P)
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 2 Corinthians 11:17 Or business, or confidence
- 2 Corinthians 11:18 Lit boast according to the flesh
- 2 Corinthians 11:23 Lit and in deaths
- 2 Corinthians 11:25 A common Jewish method of capital punishment; Ac 14:5
- 2 Corinthians 11:28 Lit Apart from
- 2 Corinthians 11:32 Aretus IV (9 b.c.–a.d. 40), a Nabatean Arab king
Psalm 54
Holman Christian Standard Bible
Psalm 54
Prayer for Deliverance
For the choir director: with stringed instruments. A Davidic Maskil. When the Ziphites went and said to Saul, “Is David not hiding among us?”(A)
1 God, save me by Your name,
and vindicate me by Your might!(B)
2 God, hear my prayer;
listen to the words of my mouth.(C)
3 For strangers rise up against me,
and violent men seek my life.
They have no regard for God.[a](D)
4 God is my helper;
the Lord is the sustainer of my life.[b](E)
5 He will repay my adversaries for their evil.
Because of Your faithfulness, annihilate them.(F)
6 I will sacrifice a freewill offering to You.(G)
I will praise Your name, Yahweh,
because it is good.(H)
7 For He has delivered me from every trouble,
and my eye has looked down on my enemies.(I)
Footnotes
- Psalm 54:3 Lit They do not set God before them
- Psalm 54:4 Or is with those who sustain my life
Proverbs 23:1-3
Holman Christian Standard Bible
23 When you sit down to dine with a ruler,
consider carefully what[a] is before you,
2 and put a knife to your throat
if you have a big[b] appetite;
3 don’t desire his choice food,(A)
for that food is deceptive.
Footnotes
- Proverbs 23:1 Or who
- Proverbs 23:2 Lit you are the master of an
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