Isaiah 35

English Standard Version

The Ransomed Shall Return

35 ^(A)The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad;
    ^(B)the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus;
²it shall blossom abundantly
    and rejoice with joy and singing.
^(C)The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
    the majesty of ^(D)Carmel and ^(E)Sharon.
^(F)They shall see the glory of the Lord,
    the majesty of our God.

³^(G)Strengthen the weak hands,
    and make firm the feeble knees.
⁴Say to those who have an anxious heart,
    “Be strong; fear not!
^(H)Behold, your God
    will come with vengeance,
with the recompense of God.
    He will come and save you.”

⁵^(I)Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
    and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
⁶^(J)then shall the lame man leap like a deer,
    and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
^(K)For waters break forth in the wilderness,
    and streams in the desert;
⁷^(L)the burning sand shall become a pool,
    and the thirsty ground springs of water;
in the haunt of ^(M)jackals, where they lie down,
    the grass shall become reeds and rushes.

⁸^(N)And a highway shall be there,
    and it shall be called the Way of Holiness;
^(O)the unclean shall not pass over it.
    It shall belong to those who walk on the way;
    even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.^[a]
⁹No lion shall be there,
    nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;
they shall not be found there,
    but the redeemed shall walk there.
¹⁰^(P)And the ransomed of the Lord shall return
    and come to Zion with singing;
^(Q)everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
    they shall obtain gladness and joy,
    and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Footnotes

Isaiah 35:8 Or if they are fools, they shall not wander in it

Isaiah 30:8-21

English Standard Version

A Rebellious People

⁸And now, go, ^(A)write it before them on a tablet
    and inscribe it in a book,
that it may be for the time to come
    as a witness forever.^[a]
⁹^(B)For they are a rebellious people,
    lying children,
children unwilling to hear
    the instruction of the Lord;
¹⁰^(C)who say to ^(D)the seers, “Do not see,”
    and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right;
speak to us ^(E)smooth things,
    prophesy illusions,
¹¹leave the way, turn aside from the path,
    let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”
¹²Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel,
“Because you despise this word
    and trust in ^(F)oppression and perverseness
    and rely on them,
¹³therefore this iniquity shall be to you
    ^(G)like a breach in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse,
    whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant;
¹⁴and its breaking is ^(H)like that of a potter's vessel
    that is smashed so ruthlessly
that among its fragments not a shard is found
    with which to take fire from the hearth,
    or to dip up water out of the cistern.”

¹⁵For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel,
“In ^(I)returning^[b] and ^(J)rest you shall be saved;
    in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”
But you were unwilling, ¹⁶and you said,
“No! We will flee upon ^(K)horses”;
    therefore you shall flee away;
and, “We will ride upon swift steeds”;
    therefore your pursuers shall be swift.
¹⁷^(L)A thousand shall flee at the threat of one;
    at the threat of five you shall flee,
till you are left
    like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain,
    like a signal on a hill.

The Lord Will Be Gracious

¹⁸Therefore the Lord ^(M)waits to be gracious to you,
and therefore he ^(N)exalts himself to show mercy to you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
^(O)blessed are all those who wait for him.

¹⁹For a people shall dwell ^(P)in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. ²⁰And though the Lord give you the ^(Q)bread of adversity and the ^(R)water of affliction, ^(S)yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. ²¹^(T)And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is ^(U)the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.

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Footnotes

Isaiah 30:8 Some Hebrew manuscripts, Syriac, Targum, Vulgate, and Greek versions; Masoretic Text forever and ever
Isaiah 30:15 Or repentance

Matthew 25:31-46

English Standard Version

The Final Judgment

³¹^(A)“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, ^(B)then he will sit on his glorious throne. ³²Before him ^(C)will be gathered ^(D)all the nations, and ^(E)he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates ^(F)the sheep from the goats. ³³And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. ³⁴Then ^(G)the King will say to ^(H)those on his right, ‘Come, you ^(I)who are blessed by my Father, ^(J)inherit ^(K)the kingdom ^(L)prepared for you ^(M)from the foundation of the world. ³⁵For ^(N)I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you ^(O)gave me drink, ^(P)I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶^(Q)I was naked and you clothed me, ^(R)I was sick and you ^(S)visited me, ^(T)I was in prison and you came to me.’ ³⁷Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? ³⁸And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? ³⁹And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ ⁴⁰And ^(U)the King will answer them, ^(V)‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these ^(W)my brothers,^[a] you did it to me.’

⁴¹“Then he will say to those on his left, ^(X)‘Depart from me, you ^(Y)cursed, into ^(Z)the eternal fire prepared for ^(AA)the devil and his angels. ⁴²For ^(AB)I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, ⁴³I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ ⁴⁴Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ ⁴⁵Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, ^(AC)you did not do it to me.’ ⁴⁶And these will go away ^(AD)into eternal punishment, but the righteous ^(AE)into ^(AF)eternal life.”

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Footnotes

Matthew 25:40 Or brothers and sisters

Revelation 14:13-15:4

English Standard Version

¹³And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: ^(A)Blessed are the dead ^(B)who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, ^(C)“that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”

The Harvest of the Earth

¹⁴Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one ^(D)like a son of man, ^(E)with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand. ¹⁵And another angel ^(F)came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, ^(G)“Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for ^(H)the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.” ¹⁶So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped.

¹⁷Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. ¹⁸And another angel came out from the altar, ^(I)the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, ^(J)for its grapes are ripe.” ¹⁹So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great ^(K)winepress of the wrath of God. ²⁰And ^(L)the winepress was trodden ^(M)outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as ^(N)a horse's bridle, for 1,600 stadia.^[a]

The Seven Angels with Seven Plagues

15 Then ^(O)I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, ^(P)seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished.

²And I saw ^(Q)what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire—and also those ^(R)who had conquered the beast and its image and ^(S)the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass ^(T)with harps of God in their hands. ³And they sing ^(U)the song of Moses, ^(V)the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,

^(W)“Great and amazing are your deeds,
    O Lord God the Almighty!
^(X)Just and true are your ways,
    O King of the nations!^[b]
⁴^(Y)Who will not fear, O Lord,
    and glorify your name?
For you alone are ^(Z)holy.
    ^(AA)All nations will come
    and worship you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.”