Isaiah 42:1-9
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Servant, a Light to the Nations
42 Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my spirit upon him;
he will bring forth justice to the nations.(A)
2 He will not cry out or lift up his voice
or make it heard in the street;
3 a bruised reed he will not break,
and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;
he will faithfully bring forth justice.(B)
4 He will not grow faint or be crushed
until he has established justice in the earth,
and the coastlands wait for his teaching.(C)
5 Thus says God, the Lord,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
who gives breath to the people upon it
and spirit to those who walk in it:(D)
6 I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness;
I have taken you by the hand and kept you;
I have given you as a covenant to the people,[a]
a light to the nations,(E)
7 to open the eyes that are blind,
to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
from the prison those who sit in darkness.(F)
8 I am the Lord; that is my name;
my glory I give to no other,
nor my praise to idols.(G)
9 See, the former things have come to pass,
and new things I now declare;
before they spring forth,
I tell you of them.(H)
Footnotes
- 42.6 Meaning of Heb uncertain
John 15:1-16
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Jesus the True Vine
15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. 2 He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes[a] to make it bear more fruit. 3 You have already been cleansed[b] by the word that I have spoken to you.(A) 4 Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.(B) 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. 6 Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.(C) 8 My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become[c] my disciples.(D) 9 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.(E) 11 I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.(F)
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.(G) 13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.(H) 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.(I) 15 I do not call you servants[d] any longer, because the servant[e] does not know what the master is doing, but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name.(J)
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Wisdom of Solomon 2
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
2 For they reasoned unsoundly, saying to themselves,
“Short and sorrowful is our life,
and there is no remedy when a life comes to its end,
and no one has been known to return from Hades.
2 For we were born by mere chance,
and hereafter we shall be as though we had never been,
for the breath in our nostrils is smoke,
and reason is a spark kindled by the beating of our hearts;(A)
3 when it is extinguished, the body will turn to ashes,
and the spirit will dissolve like empty air.(B)
4 Our name will be forgotten in time,
and no one will remember our works;
our life will pass away like the traces of a cloud
and be scattered like mist
that is chased by the rays of the sun
and overcome by its heat.(C)
5 For our allotted time is the passing of a shadow,
and there is no return from our death,
because it is sealed up and no one turns back.(D)
6 “Come, therefore, let us enjoy the good things that exist
and make use of the creation to the full as in youth.(E)
7 Let us take our fill of costly wine and perfumes,
and let no flower of spring pass us by.
8 Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds before they wither.
9 Let no meadow be free from our revelry;
everywhere let us leave signs of enjoyment,
because this is our portion, and this our lot.(F)
10 Let us oppress the righteous poor man;
let us not spare the widow
or regard the gray hairs of the aged.
11 But let our might be our law of right,
for what is weak proves itself to be useless.
12 “Let us lie in wait for the righteous man,
because he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions;
he reproaches us for sins against the law
and accuses us of sins against our training.(G)
13 He professes to have knowledge of God
and calls himself a child of the Lord.
14 He became to us a reproof of our thoughts;
the very sight of him is a burden to us,
15 because his manner of life is unlike that of others,
and his ways are strange.(H)
16 We are considered by him as something base,
and he avoids our ways as unclean;
he calls the last end of the righteous happy
and boasts that God is his father.(I)
17 Let us see if his words are true,
and let us test what will happen at the end of his life,
18 for if the righteous man is God’s child, he will help him
and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries.(J)
19 Let us test him with insult and torture,
so that we may find out how reasonable he is
and make trial of his forbearance.(K)
20 Let us condemn him to a shameful death,
for, according to what he says, he will be protected.”
Error of the Wicked
21 Thus they reasoned, but they were led astray,
for their wickedness blinded them,(L)
22 and they did not know the secret purposes of God,
nor hoped for the wages of holiness,
nor discerned the prize for blameless souls,(M)
23 for God created us for incorruption
and made us in the image of his own eternity,[a](N)
24 but through an adversary’s[b] envy death entered the world,
and those who belong to his company experience it.(O)
John 15:17-27
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
17 I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.
The World’s Hatred
18 “If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me before it hated you.(A) 19 If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you, ‘Slaves are not greater than their master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept my word, they will keep yours also.(B) 21 But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.(C) 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.(D) 23 Whoever hates me hates my Father also.(E) 24 If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not have sin. But now they have seen and hated both me and my Father.(F) 25 It was to fulfill the word that is written in their law, ‘They hated me without a cause.’(G)
26 “When the Advocate[a] comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf.(H) 27 You also are to testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.(I)
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- 15.26 Or Helper or Comforter
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.