Isaiah 43:26
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
26 Accuse me; let us go to trial;
set forth your case, so that you may be proved right.(A)
Isaiah 1:18
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18 Come now, let us argue it out,
says the Lord:
If your sins are like scarlet,
will they become like snow?
If they are red like crimson,
will they become like wool?(A)
Isaiah 43:9
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9 Let all the nations gather together,
and let the peoples assemble.
Who among them declared this
and foretold to us the former things?
Let them bring their witnesses to justify them,
and let them hear and say, “It is true.”(A)
Romans 8:33
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33 Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.(A)
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Psalm 141:2
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2 Let my prayer be counted as incense before you
and the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice.(A)
Jeremiah 2:21-35
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21 Yet I planted you as a choice vine
from the purest stock.
How then did you turn degenerate
and become a wild vine?(A)
22 Though you wash yourself with lye
and use much soap,
the stain of your guilt is still before me,
says the Lord God.(B)
23 How can you say, “I am not defiled;
I have not gone after the Baals”?
Look at your way in the valley;
know what you have done:
a restive young camel interlacing her tracks,(C)
24 a wild ass at home in the wilderness
in her heat sniffing the wind!
Who can restrain her lust?
None who seek her need weary themselves;
in her month they will find her.(D)
25 Keep your feet from going bare
and your throat from thirst.
But you said, “It is no use,
for I have loved strangers,
and after them I will go.”(E)
26 As a thief is shamed when caught,
so the house of Israel shall be shamed:
they, their kings, their officials,
their priests, and their prophets,(F)
27 who say to a tree, “You are my father,”
and to a stone, “You gave me birth.”
For they have turned their backs to me
and not their faces.
But in the time of their trouble they say,
“Come and save us!”(G)
28 But where are your gods
that you made for yourself?
Let them come, if they can save you,
in your time of trouble,
for you have as many gods
as you have towns, O Judah.(H)
29 Why do you complain against me?
You have all rebelled against me,
says the Lord.(I)
30 In vain I have struck down your children;
they accepted no correction.
Your own sword devoured your prophets
like a ravening lion.(J)
31 And you, O generation, behold the word of the Lord![a]
Have I been a wilderness to Israel
or a land of thick darkness?
Why then do my people say, “We are free;
we will come to you no more”?(K)
32 Can a young woman forget her ornaments
or a bride her attire?
Yet my people have forgotten me,
days without number.(L)
33 How well you direct your course
to seek lovers!
So that even to wicked women
you have taught your ways.
34 Also on your skirts is found
the lifeblood of the innocent poor,
though you did not catch them breaking in.
Yet in spite of all these things[b](M)
35 you say, “I am innocent;
surely his anger has turned from me.”
Now I am bringing you to judgment
for saying, “I have not sinned.”(N)
Romans 10:3
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3 Not knowing the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they have not submitted to God’s righteousness.(A)
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Isaiah 41:1
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Israel Assured of God’s Help
41 Listen to me in silence, O coastlands;
let the peoples renew their strength;
let them approach, then let them speak;
let us together draw near for judgment.(A)
Job 40:7-8
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7 “Gird up your loins like a man;
I will question you, and you declare to me.(A)
8 Will you even put me in the wrong?
Will you condemn me that you may be justified?(B)
Isaiah 50:8
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8 he who vindicates me is near.
Who will contend with me?
Let us stand in court together.
Who are my adversaries?
Let them confront me.(A)
Job 16:21
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Footnotes
- 16.21 Syr Vg Tg: Heb and
Genesis 32:12
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12 Yet you have said, ‘I will surely do you good and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted because of their number.’ ”(A)
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Romans 11:35
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35 “Or who has given a gift to him,
to receive a gift in return?”
Luke 16:15
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15 So he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of others, but God knows your hearts, for what is prized by humans is an abomination in the sight of God.(A)
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Ezekiel 36:37
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37 Thus says the Lord God: I will also let the house of Israel ask me to do this for them: to multiply their people like sheep.
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Job 23:3-6
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3 Oh, that I knew where I might find him,
that I might come even to his dwelling!(A)
4 I would lay my case before him
and fill my mouth with arguments.(B)
5 I would learn what he would answer me
and understand what he would say to me.
6 Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power?
No, but he would give heed to me.
Luke 18:9-14
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The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector
9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’(A) 13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven but was beating his breast and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’(B) 14 I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other, for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”(C)
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Luke 10:29
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29 But wanting to vindicate himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”(A)
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Job 40:4-5
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4 “See, I am of small account; what shall I answer you?
I lay my hand on my mouth.(A)
5 I have spoken once, and I will not answer,
twice but will proceed no further.”(B)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.