Isaiah 40:1
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Isaiah 40:15-31
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
15 Even the nations are like a drop from a bucket
and are accounted as dust on the scales;
see, he takes up the isles like fine dust.(A)
16 Lebanon would not provide fuel enough,
nor are its animals enough for a burnt offering.]][a]
17 All the nations are as nothing before him;
they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.(B)
18 To whom, then, will you liken God,
or what likeness compare with him?(C)
19 An idol? A workman casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
and casts for it silver chains.(D)
20 As a gift one chooses mulberry wood[b]
—wood that will not rot—
then seeks out a skilled artisan
to set up an image that will not topple.(E)
21 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?(F)
22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain
and spreads them like a tent to live in,(G)
23 who brings princes to naught
and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.(H)
24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows upon them, and they wither,
and the tempest carries them off like stubble.(I)
25 To whom, then, will you compare me,
or who is my equal? says the Holy One.(J)
26 Lift up your eyes on high and see:
Who created these?
He who brings out their host and numbers them,
calling them all by name;
because he is great in strength,
mighty in power,
not one is missing.(K)
27 Why do you say, O Jacob,
and assert, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my right is disregarded by my God”?(L)
28 Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.(M)
29 He gives power to the faint
and strengthens the powerless.(N)
30 Even youths will faint and be weary,
and the young will fall exhausted,
31 but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.(O)
Matthew 5:1-10
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Beatitudes
5 When Jesus[a] saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him.(A) 2 And he began to speak and taught them, saying:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.(B)
4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.(C)
5 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.(D)
7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.(E)
9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.(F)
10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.(G)
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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.