Isaiah 56:1-8

New King James Version

Salvation for the Gentiles

56 Thus says the Lord:

“Keep justice, and do righteousness,
^(A)For My salvation is about to come,
And My righteousness to be revealed.
²Blessed is the man who does this,
And the son of man who lays hold on it;
^(B)Who keeps from defiling the Sabbath,
And keeps his hand from doing any evil.”

³Do not let ^(C)the son of the foreigner
Who has joined himself to the Lord
Speak, saying,
“The Lord has utterly separated me from His people”;
Nor let the ^(D)eunuch say,
“Here I am, a dry tree.”
⁴For thus says the Lord:
“To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths,
And choose what pleases Me,
And hold fast My covenant,
⁵Even to them I will give in ^(E)My house
And within My walls a place ^(F)and a name
Better than that of sons and daughters;
I will give ^[a]them an everlasting name
That shall not be cut off.

⁶“Also the sons of the foreigner
Who join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him,
And to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants—
Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath,
And holds fast My covenant—
⁷Even them I will ^(G)bring to My holy mountain,
And make them joyful in My ^(H)house of prayer.
^(I)Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
Will be ^(J)accepted on My altar;
For ^(K)My house shall be called a house of prayer ^(L)for all nations.”
⁸The Lord God, ^(M)who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says,
^(N)“Yet I will gather to him
Others besides those who are gathered to him.”

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Footnotes

Isaiah 56:5 Lit. him

Mark 11:27-12:12

New King James Version

Jesus’ Authority Questioned^(A)

²⁷Then they came again to Jerusalem. ^(B)And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to Him. ²⁸And they said to Him, “By what ^(C)authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority to do these things?”

²⁹But Jesus answered and said to them, “I also will ask you one question; then answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things: ³⁰The ^(D)baptism of John—was it from heaven or from men? Answer Me.”

³¹And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ ³²But if we say, ‘From men’ ”—they feared the people, for ^(E)all counted John to have been a prophet indeed. ³³So they answered and said to Jesus, “We do not know.”

And Jesus answered and said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

The Parable of the Wicked Vinedressers^(F)

12 Then ^(G)He began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a place for the wine vat and built a tower. And he leased it to ^[a]vinedressers and went into a far country. ²Now at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that he might receive some of the fruit of the vineyard from the vinedressers. ³And they took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. ⁴Again he sent them another servant, ^[b]and at him they threw stones, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated. ⁵And again he sent another, and him they killed; and many others, ^(H)beating some and killing some. ⁶Therefore still having one son, his beloved, he also sent him to them last, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ⁷But those ^[c]vinedressers said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ ⁸So they took him and ^(I)killed him and cast him out of the vineyard.

⁹“Therefore what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vinedressers, and give the vineyard to others. ¹⁰Have you not even read this Scripture:

^(J)‘The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief cornerstone.
¹¹This was the Lord’s doing,
And it is marvelous in our eyes’?”

¹²^(K)And they sought to lay hands on Him, but feared the multitude, for they knew He had spoken the parable against them. So they left Him and went away.

Footnotes

Mark 12:1 tenant farmers
Mark 12:4 NU omits and at him they threw stones
Mark 12:7 tenant farmers

Isaiah 57:15-21

New King James Version

¹⁵For thus says the High and Lofty One
Who inhabits eternity, ^(A)whose name is Holy:
^(B)“I dwell in the high and holy place,
^(C)With him who has a contrite and humble spirit,
^(D)To revive the spirit of the humble,
And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
¹⁶^(E)For I will not contend forever,
Nor will I always be angry;
For the spirit would fail before Me,
And the souls ^(F)which I have made.
¹⁷For the iniquity of ^(G)his covetousness
I was angry and struck him;
^(H)I hid and was angry,
^(I)And he went on ^[a]backsliding in the way of his heart.
¹⁸I have seen his ways, and ^(J)will heal him;
I will also lead him,
And restore comforts to him
And to ^(K)his mourners.

¹⁹“I create ^(L)the fruit of the lips:
Peace, peace ^(M)to him who is far off and to him who is near,”
Says the Lord,
“And I will heal him.”
²⁰^(N)But the wicked are like the troubled sea,
When it cannot rest,
Whose waters cast up mire and dirt.

²¹“There^(O) is no peace,”
Says my God, “for the wicked.”

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Footnotes

Isaiah 57:17 Or turning back

2 Peter 1

New King James Version

Greeting the Faithful

1 Simon Peter, a bondservant and ^(A)apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who have ^[a]obtained ^(B)like^[b] precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:

²^(C)Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, ³as His ^(D)divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him ^(E)who called us by glory and virtue, ⁴^(F)by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be ^(G)partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the ^[c]corruption that is in the world through lust.

Fruitful Growth in the Faith

⁵But also for this very reason, ^(H)giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue ^(I)knowledge, ⁶to knowledge self-control, to self-control ^[d]perseverance, to perseverance godliness, ⁷to godliness brotherly kindness, and ^(J)to brotherly kindness love. ⁸For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither ^[e]barren ^(K)nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹For he who lacks these things is ^(L)shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

¹⁰Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent ^(M)to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; ¹¹for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Peter’s Approaching Death

¹²For this reason ^(N)I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, ^(O)though you know and are established in the present truth. ¹³Yes, I think it is right, ^(P)as long as I am in this ^[f]tent, ^(Q)to stir you up by reminding you, ¹⁴^(R)knowing that shortly I must ^[g]put off my tent, just as ^(S)our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. ¹⁵Moreover I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my ^[h]decease.

The Trustworthy Prophetic Word^(T)

¹⁶For we did not follow ^(U)cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the ^(V)power and ^(W)coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were ^(X)eyewitnesses of His majesty. ¹⁷For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: ^(Y)“This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” ¹⁸And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on ^(Z)the holy mountain.

¹⁹^[i]And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a ^(AA)light that shines in a dark place, ^(AB)until ^(AC)the day dawns and the morning star rises in your ^(AD)hearts; ²⁰knowing this first, that ^(AE)no prophecy of Scripture is of any private ^[j]interpretation, ²¹for ^(AF)prophecy never came by the will of man, ^(AG)but ^[k]holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.