Isaiah 45:9-25
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
9 Woe to those who strive with their Maker,
earthen vessels with the potter![a]
Does the clay say to the one who fashions it, “What are you making”?
or “Your work has no handles”?(A)
10 Woe to anyone who says to a father, “What are you fathering?”
or to a woman, “With what are you in labor?”
11 Thus says the Lord,
the Holy One of Israel and its Maker:
Will you question me[b] about my children
or command me concerning the work of my hands?(B)
12 I made the earth
and created humankind upon it;
it was my hands that stretched out the heavens,
and I commanded all their host.(C)
13 I have aroused Cyrus[c] in righteousness,
and I will make all his paths straight;
he shall build my city
and set my exiles free,
not for price or reward,
says the Lord of hosts.(D)
14 Thus says the Lord:
The wealth of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush
and the Sabeans, tall of stature,
shall come over to you and be yours;
they shall follow you;
they shall come over in chains and bow down to you.
They will make supplication to you, saying,
“God is with you alone, and there is no other;
there is no god besides him.”(E)
15 Truly, you are a God who hides himself,
O God of Israel, the Savior.(F)
16 All of them are put to shame and confounded;
the makers of idols go in disgrace together.(G)
17 But Israel is saved by the Lord
with everlasting salvation;
you shall not be put to shame or confounded
ever again.(H)
18 For thus says the Lord,
who created the heavens
(he is God!),
who formed the earth and made it
(he established it;
he did not create it a chaos;
he formed it to be inhabited!):
I am the Lord, and there is no other.(I)
19 I did not speak in secret
in a land of darkness;
I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,
“Seek me in chaos.”
I the Lord speak the truth;
I declare what is right.(J)
Idols Cannot Save Babylon
20 Assemble yourselves and come together;
draw near, you survivors of the nations!
They have no knowledge—
those who carry about their wooden idols
and keep on praying to a god
that cannot save.(K)
21 Declare and present your case;
take counsel together![d]
Who told this long ago?
Who declared it of old?
Was it not I, the Lord?
There is no other god besides me,
a righteous God and a Savior;
there is no one besides me.(L)
22 Turn to me and be saved,
all the ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.(M)
23 By myself I have sworn;
from my mouth has gone forth in righteousness
a word that shall not return:
“To me every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear.”(N)
24 Only in the Lord, it shall be said of me,
are righteousness and strength;
all who were incensed against him
shall come to him and be ashamed.(O)
25 In the Lord all the offspring of Israel
shall triumph and glory.(P)
Amos 5:6-24
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
6 Seek the Lord and live,
or he will break out against the house of Joseph like fire,
and it will devour Bethel, with no one to quench it.(A)
7 Ah, you who turn justice to wormwood
and bring righteousness to the ground!
8 The one who made the Pleiades and Orion
and turns deep darkness into the morning
and darkens the day into night,
who calls for the water of the sea
and pours it out on the surface of the earth,
the Lord is his name,(B)
9 who makes destruction flash out against the strong,
so that destruction comes upon the fortress.
10 They hate the one who reproves in the gate,
and they abhor the one who speaks the truth.(C)
11 Therefore because you trample on the poor
and take from them levies of grain,
you have built houses of hewn stone,
but you shall not live in them;
you have planted pleasant vineyards,
but you shall not drink their wine.(D)
12 For I know how many are your transgressions
and how great are your sins—
you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe
and push aside the needy in the gate.(E)
13 Therefore the prudent will keep silent in such a time,
for it is an evil time.
14 Seek good and not evil,
that you may live,
and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you,
just as you have said.(F)
15 Hate evil and love good,
and establish justice in the gate;
it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts,
will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.(G)
16 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord:
In all the squares there shall be wailing,
and in all the streets they shall say, “Alas! Alas!”
They shall call the farmers to mourning
and those skilled in lamentation to wailing;(H)
17 in all the vineyards there shall be wailing,
for I will pass through the midst of you,
says the Lord.(I)
The Day of the Lord a Dark Day
18 Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord!
Why do you want the day of the Lord?
It is darkness, not light,(J)
19 as if someone fled from a lion
and was met by a bear
or went into the house and rested a hand against the wall
and was bitten by a snake.(K)
20 Is not the day of the Lord darkness, not light,
and gloom with no brightness in it?(L)
21 I hate, I despise your festivals,
and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.(M)
22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them,
and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals
I will not look upon.(N)
23 Take away from me the noise of your songs;
I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
24 But let justice roll down like water
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.(O)
Ephesians 2
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
From Death to Life
2 You were dead through the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world,[a] following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient.[b](A) 3 All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, doing the will of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else,(B) 4 but God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us(C) 5 even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ[c]—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places[d] in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— 9 not the result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we may walk in them.(D)
One in Christ
11 So then, remember that at one time you gentiles by birth,[e] called “the uncircumcision” by those who are called “the circumcision”—a circumcision made in the flesh by human hands(E)— 12 remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.(F) 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.(G) 14 For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us,(H) 15 abolishing the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace,(I) 16 and might reconcile both to God in one body[f] through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it.[g](J) 17 So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, 18 for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father.(K) 19 So then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God,(L) 20 built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone;[h](M) 21 in him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord,(N) 22 in whom you also are built together spiritually[i] into a dwelling place for God.
John 6:41-71
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
41 Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”(A) 43 Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me, and I will raise that person up on the last day.(B) 45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.(C) 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father.(D) 47 Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life.(E) 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”(F)
52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”(G) 53 So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.(H) 54 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day,(I) 55 for my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them.(J) 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which the ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” 59 He said these things while he was teaching in a synagogue at Capernaum.
The Words of Eternal Life
60 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” 61 But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you?(K) 62 Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?(L) 63 It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who were the ones who did not believe and who was the one who would betray him.(M) 65 And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.”(N)
66 Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. 67 So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”[a](O) 70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? Yet one of you is a devil.”(P) 71 He was speaking of Judas son of Simon Iscariot,[b] for he, though one of the twelve, was going to betray him.
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