Isaiah 6
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
A Vision of God in the Temple
6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty, and the hem of his robe filled the temple.(A) 2 Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.(B) 3 And one called to another and said,
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”(C)
4 The pivots[a] on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. 5 And I said, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”(D)
6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 The seraph[b] touched my mouth with it and said, “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.”(E) 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”(F) 9 And he said, “Go and say to this people:
‘Keep listening, but do not comprehend;
keep looking, but do not understand.’(G)
10 Make the mind of this people dull,
and stop their ears,
and shut their eyes,
so that they may not look with their eyes
and listen with their ears
and comprehend with their minds
and turn and be healed.”(H)
11 Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said,
“Until cities lie waste
without inhabitant,
and houses without people,
and the land is utterly desolate;(I)
12 until the Lord sends everyone far away,
and vast is the emptiness in the midst of the land.(J)
13 Even if a tenth part remain in it,
it will be burned again,
like a terebinth or an oak
whose stump remains standing
when it is felled.”[c]
(The holy seed is its stump.)(K)
Mark 1:21-45
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Man with an Unclean Spirit
21 They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught.(A) 22 They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes.(B) 23 Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, 24 and he cried out, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.”(C) 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet and come out of him!”(D) 26 And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 27 They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He[a] commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”(E) 28 At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.
Jesus Heals Many at Simon’s House
29 As soon as they[b] left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.(F) 30 Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. 31 He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.
32 That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed by demons.(G) 33 And the whole city was gathered around the door. 34 And he cured many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons, and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.(H)
A Preaching Tour in Galilee
35 In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.(I) 36 And Simon and his companions hunted for him. 37 When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” 38 He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also, for that is what I came out to do.”(J) 39 And he went throughout all Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.(K)
Jesus Cleanses a Man with a Skin Disease
40 A man with a skin disease came to him begging him, and kneeling[c] he said to him, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”(L) 41 Moved with pity,[d] Jesus[e] stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I am willing. Be made clean!” 42 Immediately the skin disease left him, and he was made clean. 43 After sternly warning him he sent him away at once, 44 saying to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded as a testimony to them.”(M) 45 But he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the word, so that Jesus[f] could no longer go into a town openly but stayed out in the country, and people came to him from every quarter.(N)
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Isaiah 8:16-9:7
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Disciples of Isaiah
16 Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples.(A) 17 I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him.(B) 18 See, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.(C) 19 Now if people say to you, “Consult the ghosts and the familiar spirits that chirp and mutter; should not a people consult their gods, the dead on behalf of the living,(D) 20 for teaching and for instruction?” surely those who speak like this will have no dawn!(E) 21 They will pass through the land,[a] greatly distressed and hungry; when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will curse[b] their king and their gods. They will turn their faces upward,(F) 22 or they will look to the earth, but they will see only distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish, and they will be thrust into thick darkness.[c](G)
The Righteous Reign of the Coming King
9 [d]But there will be no gloom for those who were in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.(H)
2 [e]The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness—
on them light has shined.(I)
3 You have multiplied exultation;[f]
you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you
as with joy at the harvest,
as people exult when dividing plunder.(J)
4 For the yoke of their burden
and the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor,
you have broken as on the day of Midian.(K)
5 For all the boots of the tramping warriors
and all the garments rolled in blood
shall be burned as fuel for the fire.(L)
6 For a child has been born for us,
a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders,
and he is named
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.(M)
7 Great will be his authority,[g]
and there shall be endless peace
for the throne of David and his kingdom.
He will establish and uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time onward and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.(N)
Revelation 7
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The 144,000 of Israel Sealed
7 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind could blow on earth or sea or against any tree.(A) 2 I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to damage earth and sea, 3 saying, “Do not damage the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have marked the servants of our God with a seal on their foreheads.”(B)
4 And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the people of Israel:(C)
5 From the tribe of Judah twelve thousand sealed,
from the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Gad twelve thousand,
6 from the tribe of Asher twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand,
7 from the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Levi twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand,
8 from the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand,
from the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand sealed.
The Multitude from Every Nation
9 After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands.(D) 10 They cried out in a loud voice, saying,
“Salvation belongs to our God who is seated on the throne and to the Lamb!”(E)
11 And all the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 singing,
“Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom
and thanksgiving and honor
and power and might
be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”(F)
13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, robed in white, and where have they come from?” 14 I said to him, “Sir, you are the one who knows.” Then he said to me, “These are they who have come out of the great ordeal; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.(G)
15 For this reason they are before the throne of God
and worship him day and night within his temple,
and the one who is seated on the throne will shelter them.(H)
16 They will hunger no more and thirst no more;
the sun will not strike them,
nor any scorching heat,(I)
17 for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of the water of life,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”(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.