Isaiah 55

New American Standard Bible

The Free Offer of Mercy

55 “^[a]You there! Everyone who ^(A)thirsts, come to the waters;
And you who have ^(B)no ^[b]money come, buy and eat.
Come, buy ^(C)wine and milk
^(D)Without money and without cost.
²Why do you ^[c]spend money for what is ^(E)not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and ^(F)eat what is good,
And ^(G)delight yourself in abundance.
³^(H)Incline your ear and come to Me.
Listen, that ^[d]you may ^(I)live;
And I will make ^(J)an everlasting covenant with you,
According to the ^(K)faithful mercies ^[e]shown to David.
⁴Behold, I have made ^(L)him a witness to the peoples,
A ^(M)leader and commander for the peoples.
⁵Behold, you will call a ^(N)nation you do not know,
And a nation which does not know you will ^(O)run to you,
Because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel;
For He has ^(P)glorified you.”

⁶^(Q)Seek the Lord while He may be found;
^(R)Call upon Him while He is near.
⁷^(S)Let the wicked abandon his way,
And the unrighteous person his ^(T)thoughts;
And let him ^(U)return to the Lord,
And He will have ^(V)compassion on him,
And to our God,
For He will ^(W)abundantly pardon.
⁸“For My thoughts are not ^(X)your thoughts,
Nor are ^(Y)your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
⁹“For ^(Z)as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.
¹⁰For as the ^(AA)rain and the snow come down from heaven,
And do not return there without watering the earth
And making it produce and sprout,
And providing ^(AB)seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
¹¹So will My ^(AC)word be which goes out of My mouth;
It will ^(AD)not return to Me empty,
Without ^(AE)accomplishing what I desire,
And without succeeding in the purpose for which I sent it.
¹²For you will go out with ^(AF)joy
And be led in ^(AG)peace;
The ^(AH)mountains and the hills will break into shouts of joy before you,
And all the ^(AI)trees of the field will clap their hands.
¹³Instead of the ^(AJ)thorn bush, the ^(AK)juniper will come up,
And instead of the ^(AL)stinging nettle, the myrtle will come up;
And ^[f]it will be a ^[g]^(AM)memorial to the Lord,
An everlasting ^(AN)sign which ^(AO)will not be eliminated.”

Footnotes

Isaiah 55:1 Lit Hoy
Isaiah 55:1 Lit silver
Isaiah 55:2 Lit weigh out silver
Isaiah 55:3 Lit your soul
Isaiah 55:3 Lit of David
Isaiah 55:13 I.e., the transformation of the desert
Isaiah 55:13 Lit name

Matthew 3

New American Standard Bible

The Preaching of John the Baptist

3 Now ^(A)in those days ^(B)John the Baptist *^[a]came, ^[b]preaching in the ^(C)wilderness of Judea, saying, ²“^(D)Repent, for ^(E)the kingdom of heaven has come near.” ³For this is the ^(F)one referred to ^[c]by Isaiah the prophet when he said,

“^(G)The voice of one ^[d]calling ^[e]out in the wilderness,
‘^(H)Prepare the way of the Lord,
Make His paths straight!’”

⁴Now John himself had ^[f]^(I)a garment of camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist; and his food was ^(J)locusts and wild honey. ⁵At that time Jerusalem ^(K)was going out to him, and all Judea and all ^(L)the region around the Jordan; ⁶and they were being ^(M)baptized by him in the Jordan River, as they confessed their sins.

⁷But when he saw many of the ^(N)Pharisees and ^(O)Sadducees coming for ^[g]baptism, he said to them, “You ^[h]^(P)offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from ^(Q)the wrath to come? ⁸^(R)Therefore produce fruit ^(S)consistent with repentance; ⁹and do not assume that you can say to yourselves, ‘^(T)We have Abraham as our father’; for I tell you that God is able, from these stones, to raise up children for Abraham. ¹⁰And the ^(U)axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore, ^(V)every tree that does not bear good fruit is being cut down and thrown into the fire.

¹¹“As for me, ^(W)I baptize you ^[i]with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; ^(X)He will baptize you ^[j]with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹²His ^(Y)winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will ^(Z)gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the ^(AA)chaff with ^(AB)unquenchable fire.”

The Baptism of Jesus

¹³^(AC)Then Jesus *arrived ^(AD)from Galilee at the Jordan, coming to John to be baptized by him. ¹⁴But John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I have the need to be baptized by You, and yet You are coming to me?” ¹⁵But Jesus, answering, said to him, “Allow it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us ^(AE)to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he *allowed Him. ¹⁶After He was baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened, and ^[k]^(AF)he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove and ^[l]settling on Him, ¹⁷and behold, a voice from the heavens said, “^(AG)This is ^[m]My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”