Isaiah 48
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
God the Creator and Redeemer
48 Hear this, O house of Jacob,
who are called by the name of Israel
and who came forth from the loins[a] of Judah,
who swear by the name of the Lord
and invoke the God of Israel
but not in truth or right.(A)
2 For they call themselves after the holy city
and lean on the God of Israel;
the Lord of hosts is his name.(B)
3 The former things I declared long ago;
they went out from my mouth, and I made them known;
then suddenly I did them, and they came to pass.(C)
4 Because I know that you are obstinate,
and your neck is an iron sinew
and your forehead brass,(D)
5 I declared them to you from long ago,
before they came to pass I announced them to you,
so that you would not say, “My idol did them;
my carved image and my cast image commanded them.”(E)
6 You have heard; now see all this;
and will you not declare it?
From this time forward I tell you new things,
hidden things that you have not known.(F)
7 They are created now, not long ago;
before today you have never heard of them,
so that you could not say, “I already knew them.”
8 You have never heard; you have never known;
from of old your ear has not been opened.
For I knew that you would act very treacherously
and that from birth you were called a rebel.(G)
9 For my name’s sake I defer my anger;
for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you,
so that I may not cut you off.(H)
10 See, I have refined you but not like[b] silver;
I have tested you in the furnace of adversity.(I)
11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,
for why should my name[c] be profaned?
My glory I will not give to another.(J)
12 Listen to me, O Jacob,
and Israel, whom I called:
I am he; I am the first,
and I am the last.(K)
13 My hand laid the foundation of the earth,
and my right hand spread out the heavens;
when I summon them,
they stand at attention.(L)
14 Assemble, all of you, and hear!
Who among them has declared these things?
The one the Lord loves shall perform his purpose against Babylon,
and his arm shall be against the Chaldeans.(M)
15 I, even I, have spoken and called him;
I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way.(N)
16 Draw near to me; hear this!
From the beginning I have not spoken in secret;
from the time it came to be I have been there.
And now the Lord God has sent me and his spirit.(O)
17 Thus says the Lord,
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
I am the Lord your God,
who teaches you how to succeed,
who leads you in the way you should go.(P)
18 O that you had paid attention to my commandments!
Then your prosperity would have been like a river
and your success like the waves of the sea;(Q)
19 your offspring would have been like the sand
and your descendants like its grains;
their name would never be cut off
or destroyed from before me.(R)
20 Go out from Babylon; flee from Chaldea;
declare this with a shout of joy; proclaim it;
send it forth to the end of the earth;
say, “The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob!”(S)
21 They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts;
he made water flow for them from the rock;
he split open the rock, and the water gushed out.(T)
22 “There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”(U)
Mark 9:33-50
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Who Is the Greatest?
33 Then they came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” 34 But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest.(A) 35 He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.”(B) 36 Then he took a little child and put it among them, and taking it in his arms he said to them,(C) 37 “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”(D)
Another Exorcist
38 John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name,[a] and we tried to stop him because he was not following us.”(E) 39 But Jesus said, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. 40 Whoever is not against us is for us.(F) 41 For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.(G)
Temptations to Sin
42 “If any of you cause one of these little ones who believe in me[b] to sin,[c] it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea.(H) 43 If your hand causes you to sin,[d] cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell,[e] to the unquenchable fire.[f](I) 45 And if your foot causes you to sin,[g] cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell.[h][i](J) 47 And if your eye causes you to sin,[j] tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell,[k](K) 48 where their worm never dies and the fire is never quenched.(L)
49 “For everyone will be salted with fire.[l](M) 50 Salt is good, but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it?[m] Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”(N)
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 9.38 Other ancient authorities add who does not follow us
- 9.42 Other ancient authorities lack in me
- 9.42 Or stumble
- 9.43 Or stumble
- 9.43 Gk Gehenna
- 9.43 Other ancient authorities add 9.44 and 9.46, which are identical to 9.48
- 9.45 Or stumble
- 9.45 Gk Gehenna
- 9.45 Other ancient authorities add 9.44 and 9.46, which are identical to 9.48
- 9.47 Or stumble
- 9.47 Gk Gehenna
- 9.49 Other ancient authorities add or substitute and every sacrifice will be salted with salt
- 9.50 Or how can you restore its saltiness?
Isaiah 49:1-13
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Servant’s Mission
49 Listen to me, O coastlands;
pay attention, you peoples from far away!
The Lord called me before I was born;
while I was in my mother’s womb he named me.(A)
2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword;
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow;
in his quiver he hid me away.(B)
3 And he said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”(C)
4 But I said, “I have labored in vain;
I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
yet surely my cause is with the Lord
and my reward with my God.”(D)
5 And now the Lord says,
who formed me in the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him,
and that Israel might be gathered to him,
for I am honored in the sight of the Lord,
and my God has become my strength—(E)
6 he says,
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to restore the survivors of Israel;
I will give you as a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”(F)
7 Thus says the Lord,
the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations,
the slave of rulers,
“Kings shall see and stand up;
princes, and they shall prostrate themselves,
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”(G)
Zion’s Children to Be Brought Home
8 Thus says the Lord:
In a time of favor I have answered you;
on a day of salvation I have helped you;
I have kept you and given you
as a covenant to the people,[a]
to establish the land,
to apportion the desolate heritages,(H)
9 saying to the prisoners, “Come out,”
to those who are in darkness, “Show yourselves.”
They shall feed along the ways;
on all the bare heights[b] shall be their pasture;(I)
10 they shall not hunger or thirst,
neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them down,
for he who has pity on them will lead them
and by springs of water will guide them.(J)
11 And I will turn all my mountains into a road,
and my highways shall be raised up.(K)
12 Look, some shall come from far away,
some from the north and from the west,
and some from the land of Syene.[c](L)
13 Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;
break forth, O mountains, into singing!
For the Lord has comforted his people
and will have compassion on his suffering ones.(M)
Revelation 21:15-22:5
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
15 The angel[a] who talked to me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls.(A) 16 The city has four equal sides, its length the same as its width, and he measured the city with his rod, twelve thousand stadia; its length and width and height are equal. 17 He also measured its wall, one hundred forty-four cubits by human measurement, which the angel was using. 18 The wall is built of jasper, while the city is pure gold, clear as glass. 19 The foundations of the wall of the city are adorned with every jewel; the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. 21 And the twelve gates are twelve pearls, each of the gates is a single pearl, and the street of the city is pure gold, transparent as glass.
22 I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb.(B) 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.(C) 25 Its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there.(D) 26 People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. 27 But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.(E)
The River of Life
22 Then the angel[b] showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb(F) 2 through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life[c] with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month, and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.(G) 3 Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him;(H) 4 they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.(I) 5 And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.(J)
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.