Isaiah 32-33
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 32
The Kingdom of Justice
1 See, a king will reign justly
and princes will rule rightly.(A)
2 Each of them will be like a shelter from the wind,
a refuge from the rain.
They will be like streams of water in a dry country,
like the shade of a great rock in a parched land.(B)
3 The eyes of those who see will not be closed;
the ears of those who hear will be attentive.(C)
4 The hasty of heart shall take thought to know,
and tongues of stutterers shall speak readily and clearly.
5 No more will the fool be called noble,
nor the deceiver be considered honorable.(D)
6 For the fool speaks folly,
his heart plans evil:
Godless actions,
perverse speech against the Lord,
Letting the hungry go empty
and the thirsty without drink.(E)
7 The deceits of the deceiver are evil,
he plans devious schemes:
To ruin the poor with lies,
and the needy when they plead their case.(F)
8 But the noble plan noble deeds,
and in noble deeds they persist.
The Women of Jerusalem
9 You women so complacent, rise up and hear my voice,
daughters so confident, give heed to my words.(G)
10 In a little more than a year
your confidence will be shaken;
For the vintage will fail,
no fruit harvest will come in.(H)
11 Tremble, you who are so complacent!
Shudder, you who are so confident!
Strip yourselves bare,
with only a loincloth for cover.(I)
12 Beat your breasts
for the pleasant fields,
for the fruitful vine;(J)
13 For the soil of my people,
overgrown with thorns and briers;
For all the joyful houses,
the exultant city.(K)
14 The castle[a] will be forsaken,
the noisy city deserted;
Citadel and tower will become wasteland forever,
the joy of wild donkeys, the pasture of flocks;(L)
15 [b]Until the spirit from on high
is poured out on us.
And the wilderness becomes a garden land
and the garden land seems as common as forest.(M)
16 Then judgment will dwell in the wilderness
and justice abide in the garden land.
17 The work of justice will be peace;
the effect of justice, calm and security forever.(N)
18 My people will live in peaceful country,
in secure dwellings and quiet resting places.(O)
19 And the forest will come down completely,
the city will be utterly laid low.[c](P)
20 Happy are you who sow beside every stream,
and let the ox and the donkey go freely!(Q)
Chapter 33
Overthrow of Assyria[d]
1 Ah! You destroyer never destroyed,
betrayer never betrayed!
When you have finished destroying, you will be destroyed;
when you have stopped betraying, you will be betrayed.(R)
2 Lord, be gracious to us; for you we wait.
Be our strength every morning,
our salvation in time of trouble!(S)
3 At the roaring sound, peoples flee;
when you rise in your majesty, nations are scattered.(T)
4 Spoil is gathered up as caterpillars gather,
an onrush like the rush of locusts.(U)
5 The Lord is exalted, enthroned on high;
he fills Zion with right and justice.(V)
6 That which makes her seasons certain,
her wealth, salvation, wisdom, and knowledge,
is the fear of the Lord, her treasure.(W)
7 See, the men of Ariel cry out in the streets,
the messengers of Shalem[e] weep bitterly.
8 The highways are desolate,
travelers have quit the paths,
Covenants are broken, witnesses spurned;
yet no one gives it a thought.(X)
9 The country languishes in mourning,
Lebanon withers with shame;
Sharon[f] is like the Arabah,
Bashan and Carmel are stripped bare.(Y)
10 Now I will rise up, says the Lord,
now exalt myself,
now lift myself up.(Z)
11 You conceive dry grass, bring forth stubble;
my spirit shall consume you like fire.
12 The peoples shall be burned to lime,
thorns cut down to burn in fire.(AA)
13 Hear, you who are far off, what I have done;
you who are near, acknowledge my might.
14 In Zion sinners are in dread,
trembling grips the impious:
“Who of us can live with consuming fire?
who of us can live with everlasting flames?”(AB)
15 Whoever walks righteously and speaks honestly,
who spurns what is gained by oppression,
Who waves off contact with a bribe,
who stops his ears so as not to hear of bloodshed,
who closes his eyes so as not to look on evil—(AC)
16 That one shall dwell on the heights,
with fortresses of rock for stronghold,
food and drink in steady supply.
17 Your eyes will see a king[g] in his splendor,
they will look upon a vast land.(AD)
18 Your mind will dwell on the terror:
“Where is the one who counted, where the one who weighed?
Where the one who counted the towers?”(AE)
19 You shall no longer see a defiant people,
a people of speech too obscure to comprehend,
stammering in a tongue not understood.(AF)
20 Look to Zion, the city of our festivals;
your eyes shall see Jerusalem
as a quiet abode, a tent not to be struck,
Whose pegs will never be pulled up,
nor any of its ropes severed.(AG)
21 Indeed the Lord in majesty will be there for us
a place of rivers and wide streams
on which no galley may go,
where no majestic ship[h] may pass.(AH)
22 For the Lord is our judge,
the Lord is our lawgiver,
the Lord is our king;
he it is who will save us.
23 The rigging hangs slack;
it cannot hold the mast in place,
nor keep the sail spread out.
Then the blind will divide great spoils
and the lame will carry off the loot.(AI)
24 No one who dwells there will say, “I am sick”;
the people who live there will be forgiven their guilt.(AJ)
Footnotes
- 32:14 The castle: the fortified royal palace in Jerusalem. Citadel: Ophel, the fortified hill, with its stronghold called “the great projecting tower” (Neh 3:27).
- 32:15–18, 20 Extraordinary peace and prosperity will come to Israel under just rulers.
- 32:19 Probably from a different context, perhaps after v. 14a.
- 33:1–24 After an introductory address to Assyria (v. 1), there follows a prayer on behalf of Jerusalem which recalls what God had done in the past (vv. 2–6) and a description of the present situation (vv. 7–9). In response, the Lord announces a judgment on Assyria (vv. 10–12) that will lead to the purification of Jerusalem’s inhabitants (vv. 13–16). The text ends with an idealized portrait of the redeemed Jerusalem of the future (vv. 17–24).
- 33:7 Ariel…Shalem: Jerusalem; cf. 29:1; Gn 14:18; Ps 76:3. There is a play on words between “Shalem,” the city name, and shalom, Heb. for “peace.”
- 33:9 Sharon: the fertile plain near the Mediterranean.
- 33:17 King: either the ideal Davidic king or God; cf. v. 22.
- 33:21–23 Galley…majestic ship: of a foreign oppressor. Though the broad streams of the future Jerusalem will make it accessible by boat, no foreign invader will succeed in a naval attack on the city, for the Lord will protect it, the enemy fleet will be disabled, and even the weakest inhabitants will gather much plunder from the defeated enemy.
Wisdom 19:13-22
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
13 And the punishments came upon the sinners
not without forewarnings from the violence of the thunderbolts.
For they justly suffered for their own misdeeds,
since they treated their guests with the more grievous[a] hatred.(A)
14 For those others[b] did not receive unfamiliar visitors,(B)
but these were enslaving beneficent guests.
15 And not that only; but what punishment was to be theirs[c]
since they received strangers unwillingly!
16 Yet these,[d] after welcoming them with festivities,
oppressed with awful toils
those who had shared with them the same rights.(C)
17 And they were struck with blindness,[e]
as those others had been at the doors of the righteous man—
When, surrounded by yawning darkness,
each sought the entrance of his own door.(D)
18 For the elements, in ever-changing harmony,
like strings of the harp, produce new melody,
while the flow of music steadily persists.
And this can be perceived exactly from a review of what took place.
19 For land creatures were changed into water creatures,
and those that swam went over on land.
20 Fire in water maintained its own strength,(E)
and water forgot its quenching nature;
21 Flames, by contrast, neither consumed the flesh
of the perishable animals that went about in them,
nor melted the icelike, quick-melting kind of ambrosial food.
22 For every way, Lord! you magnified and glorified your people;
unfailing, you stood by them in every time and circumstance.(F)
Footnotes
- 19:13 More grievous: than that of the people of Sodom (Gn 19) with whom the Egyptians are compared.
- 19:14 Others: the people of Sodom refused to receive strangers. Beneficent: because of the services rendered by Joseph.
- 19:15 Theirs: the people of Sodom.
- 19:16 These: the Egyptians.
- 19:17 Blindness: the plague of darkness. Righteous man: Lot (Gn 19:11).
2 Peter 1
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
I. Address
Chapter 1
Greeting. 1 [a]Symeon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of equal value to ours through the righteousness of our God and savior Jesus Christ: 2 may grace and peace be yours in abundance through knowledge[b] of God and of Jesus our Lord.
II. Exhortation to Christian Virtue
The Power of God’s Promise.[c] 3 His divine power has bestowed on us everything that makes for life and devotion, through the knowledge of him(A) who called us by his own glory and power.[d] 4 Through these, he has bestowed on us the precious and very great promises, so that through them you may come to share in the divine nature, after escaping from the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire.(B) 5 [e]For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, virtue with knowledge,(C) 6 knowledge with self-control, self-control with endurance, endurance with devotion, 7 devotion with mutual affection, mutual affection with love. 8 If these are yours and increase in abundance, they will keep you from being idle or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 (D)Anyone who lacks them is blind and shortsighted, forgetful of the cleansing of his past sins. 10 [f]Therefore, brothers, be all the more eager to make your call and election firm, for, in doing so, you will never stumble. 11 For, in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.
Apostolic Witness. 12 [g]Therefore, I will always remind you of these things, even though you already know them and are established in the truth you have. 13 I think it right, as long as I am in this “tent,”[h] to stir you up by a reminder, 14 since I know that I will soon have to put it aside, as indeed our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me.(E) 15 I shall also make every effort to enable you always to remember these things after my departure.
16 We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming[i] of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty.(F) 17 For he received honor and glory from God the Father[j] when that unique declaration came to him from the majestic glory, “This is my Son, my beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”(G) 18 We[k] ourselves heard this voice come from heaven while we were with him on the holy mountain. 19 (H)Moreover, we possess the prophetic message that is altogether reliable. You will do well to be attentive to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. 20 [l]Know this first of all, that there is no prophecy of scripture that is a matter of personal interpretation, 21 for no prophecy ever came through human will; but rather human beings moved by the holy Spirit spoke under the influence of God.
Footnotes
- 1:1 Symeon Peter: on the authorship of 2 Peter, see Introduction; on the spelling here of the Hebrew name Šim‘ôn, cf. Acts 15:14. The greeting is especially similar to those in 1 Peter and Jude. The words translated our God and savior Jesus Christ could also be rendered “our God and the savior Jesus Christ”; cf. 2 Pt 1:11; 2:20; 3:2, 18.
- 1:2 Knowledge: a key term in the letter (2 Pt 1:3, 8; 2:20; 3:18), perhaps used as a Christian emphasis against gnostic claims.
- 1:3–4 Christian life in its fullness is a gift of divine power effecting a knowledge of Christ and the bestowal of divine promises (2 Pt 3:4, 9). To share in the divine nature, escaping from a corrupt world, is a thought found elsewhere in the Bible but expressed only here in such Hellenistic terms, since it is said to be accomplished through knowledge (2 Pt 1:3); cf. 2 Pt 1:2; 2:20; but see also Jn 15:4; 17:22–23; Rom 8:14–17; Hb 3:14; 1 Jn 1:3; 3:2.
- 1:3 By his own glory and power: the most ancient papyrus and the best codex read “through glory and power.”
- 1:5–9 Note the climactic gradation of qualities (2 Pt 1:5–7), beginning with faith and leading to the fullness of Christian life, which is love; cf. Rom 5:3–4; Gal 5:6, 22 for a similar series of “virtues,” though the program and sense here are different than in Paul. The fruit of these is knowledge of Christ (2 Pt 1:8) referred to in 2 Pt 1:3; their absence is spiritual blindness (2 Pt 1:9).
- 1:10–11 Perseverance in the Christian vocation is the best preventative against losing it and the safest provision for attaining its goal, the kingdom. Kingdom of…Christ, instead of “God,” is unusual; cf. Col 1:13 and Mt 13:41, as well as the righteousness of…Christ (2 Pt 1:1).
- 1:12–19 The purpose in writing is to call to mind the apostle’s witness to the truth, even as he faces the end of his life (2 Pt 1:12–15), his eyewitness testimony to Christ (1 Pt 1:16–18), and the true prophetic message (2 Pt 1:19) through the Spirit in scripture (2 Pt 1:20–21), in contrast to what false teachers are setting forth (2 Pt 2).
- 1:13 Tent: a biblical image for transitory human life (Is 38:12), here combined with a verb that suggests not folding or packing up a tent but its being discarded in death (cf. 2 Cor 5:1–4).
- 1:16 Coming: in Greek parousia, used at 2 Pt 3:4, 12 of the second coming of Christ. The word was used in the extrabiblical writings for the visitation of someone in authority; in Greek cult and Hellenistic Judaism it was used for the manifestation of the divine presence. That the apostles made known has been interpreted to refer to Jesus’ transfiguration (2 Pt 1:17) or to his entire first coming or to his future coming in power (2 Pt 3).
- 1:17 The author assures the readers of the reliability of the apostolic message (including Jesus’ power, glory, and coming; cf. note on 2 Pt 1:16) by appeal to the transfiguration of Jesus in glory (cf. Mt 17:1–8 and parallels) and by appeal to the prophetic message (2 Pt 1:19; perhaps Nm 24:17). Here, as elsewhere, the New Testament insists on continued reminders as necessary to preserve the historical facts about Jesus and the truths of the faith; cf. 2 Pt 3:1–2; 1 Cor 11:2; 15:1–3. My Son, my beloved: or, “my beloved Son.”
- 1:18 We: at Jesus’ transfiguration, referring to Peter, James, and John (Mt 17:1).
- 1:20–21 Often cited, along with 2 Tm 3:16, on the “inspiration” of scripture or against private interpretation, these verses in context are directed against the false teachers of 2 Pt 2 and clever tales (2 Pt 1:16). The prophetic word in scripture comes admittedly through human beings (2 Pt 1:21), but moved by the holy Spirit, not from their own interpretation, and is a matter of what the author and Spirit intended, not the personal interpretation of false teachers. Instead of under the influence of God, some manuscripts read “holy ones of God.”
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.