Isaiah 8

New American Standard Bible

Damascus and Samaria Fall

8 Then the Lord said to me, “Take for yourself a large tablet and ^(A)write on it ^[a]in ordinary letters: ^[b]^(B)Maher-shalal-hash-baz. ²And ^[c]I will take to Myself faithful witnesses for testimony, ^(C)Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.” ³So I approached the prophetess, and she conceived and gave birth to a son. Then the Lord said to me, “Name him ^[d]^(D)Maher-shalal-hash-baz; ⁴for ^(E)before the boy knows how to cry out ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of ^(F)Damascus and the spoils of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”

⁵Again the Lord spoke to me further, saying,

⁶“Inasmuch as these people have ^(G)rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah
And rejoice in ^(H)Rezin and the son of Remaliah;
⁷Now therefore, behold, the Lord is about to bring on them the ^(I)strong and abundant waters of the ^(J)Euphrates River,
That is, the ^(K)king of Assyria and all his glory;
And it will ^(L)rise over all its channels and go over all its banks.
⁸Then ^(M)it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass through,
It will ^(N)reach as far as the neck;
And the spread of its wings will ^[e]fill the expanse of ^[f]your land, ^(O)Immanuel.

A Believing Remnant

⁹“^(P)Be broken, you peoples, and be ^[g]^(Q)shattered;
And listen, all remote places of the earth.
^[h]Get ready, yet be ^[i]shattered;
^[j]Get ready, yet be ^[k]shattered.
¹⁰^(R)Devise a plan, but it will fail;
State a ^[l]proposal, but ^(S)it will not stand,
For ^[m]^(T)God is with us.”

¹¹For so the Lord spoke to me ^[n]with ^(U)mighty power and instructed me ^(V)not to walk in the way of this people, saying,

¹²“You are not to say, ‘It is a ^(W)conspiracy!’
Regarding everything that this people call a conspiracy,
And ^(X)you are not to fear ^[o]what they fear or be in dread of it.
¹³It is the ^(Y)Lord of armies ^(Z)whom you are to regard as holy.
And He shall be your fear,
And He shall be your dread.
¹⁴Then He will become a ^(AA)sanctuary;
But to both houses of Israel, He will be a ^(AB)stone of stumbling and a rock ^[p]of offense,
And a snare and a ^(AC)trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
¹⁵Many ^(AD)will stumble over them,
Then they will fall and be broken;
They will be snared and caught.”

¹⁶^(AE)Bind up the testimony, ^(AF)seal the ^[q]Law among ^(AG)my disciples. ¹⁷And I will ^(AH)wait for the Lord ^(AI)who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob; I will wait eagerly for Him. ¹⁸^(AJ)Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are for ^(AK)signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of armies, who ^(AL)dwells on Mount Zion.

¹⁹When they say to you, “^(AM)Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter,” should a people not ^(AN)consult their God? Should they ^(AO)consult the dead in behalf of the living? ²⁰To the ^[r]^(AP)Law and to the testimony! If they do not speak in accordance with this word, it is because ^(AQ)they have no dawn. ²¹They will pass through ^[s]the land ^(AR)dejected and hungry, and it will turn out that when they are hungry, they will become enraged and curse ^[t]their king and their God as they face upward. ²²Then they will ^(AS)look to the earth, and behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be ^(AT)driven away into darkness.

Footnotes

Isaiah 8:1 Lit with the stylus of man
Isaiah 8:1 I.e., swift is the plunder, speedy is the prey
Isaiah 8:2 Another reading is take for me
Isaiah 8:3 I.e., swift is the plunder, speedy is the prey
Isaiah 8:8 Lit be the fullness of
Isaiah 8:8 Or Your
Isaiah 8:9 Or dismayed
Isaiah 8:9 Lit Belt up your waist
Isaiah 8:9 Or dismayed
Isaiah 8:9 Lit Belt up your waist
Isaiah 8:9 Or dismayed
Isaiah 8:10 Lit word
Isaiah 8:10 Heb Immanu-el
Isaiah 8:11 Lit according to the strength of hand
Isaiah 8:12 Lit their fear
Isaiah 8:14 Or to trip on
Isaiah 8:16 Or teaching
Isaiah 8:20 Or teaching
Isaiah 8:21 Lit it
Isaiah 8:21 Or by their king

Psalm 33:1-12

New American Standard Bible

Praise to the Creator and Protector.

33 ^(A)Sing for joy in the Lord, you righteous ones;
Praise is ^(B)becoming to the upright.
²Give thanks to the Lord with the ^(C)lyre;
Sing praises to Him with a ^(D)harp of ten strings.
³Sing to Him a ^(E)new song;
Play skillfully with ^(F)a shout of joy.
⁴For the word of the Lord ^(G)is right,
And all His work is done ^(H)in faithfulness.
⁵He ^(I)loves righteousness and justice;
The ^(J)earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.

⁶By the ^(K)word of the Lord the heavens were made,
And ^(L)by the breath of His mouth ^(M)all their ^[a]lights.
⁷He gathers the ^(N)waters of the sea together ^[b]as a heap;
He puts the depths in storehouses.
⁸Let ^(O)all the earth fear the Lord;
Let all the inhabitants of the world ^(P)stand in awe of Him.
⁹For ^(Q)He spoke, and it was done;
He commanded, and it ^[c]stood firm.
¹⁰The Lord ^(R)nullifies the plan of nations;
He frustrates the plans of peoples.
¹¹The ^(S)plan of the Lord stands forever,
The ^(T)plans of His heart from generation to generation.
¹²Blessed is the ^(U)nation whose God is the Lord,
The people He has ^(V)chosen for His own inheritance.

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Footnotes

Psalm 33:6 Lit host; i.e., sun, stars, etc.
Psalm 33:7 Some ancient versions in a water skin; i.e., container
Psalm 33:9 Or stood forth

Matthew 16:13-28

New American Standard Bible

Peter’s Confession of Christ

¹³^(A)Now when Jesus came into the region of ^(B)Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, “Who do people say that ^(C)the Son of Man is?” ¹⁴And they said, “Some say ^(D)John the Baptist; and others, ^[a]^(E)Elijah; and still others, ^[b]Jeremiah, or one of the other prophets.” ¹⁵He *said to them, “But who do you yourselves say that I am?” ¹⁶Simon Peter answered, “You are ^(F)the ^[c]Christ, ^(G)the Son of ^(H)the living God.” ¹⁷And Jesus said to him, “Blessed are you, ^(I)Simon ^[d]Barjona, because ^(J)flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. ¹⁸And I also say to you that you are ^[e]^(K)Peter, and upon this ^[f]rock I will build My church; and the gates of ^(L)Hades will not overpower it. ¹⁹I will give you ^(M)the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and ^(N)whatever you ^[g]bind on earth ^[h]shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you ^[i]loose on earth ^[j]shall have been loosed in heaven.” ²⁰^(O)Then He gave the disciples strict orders that they were to tell no one that He was ^(P)the ^[k]Christ.

Jesus Foretells His Death

²¹^(Q)From that time ^[l]Jesus began to ^[m]point out to His disciples that it was necessary for Him to go to Jerusalem and to ^(R)suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and to be killed, and to be raised up on the third day. ²²And yet Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “^[n]God forbid it, Lord! This shall never ^[o]happen to You!” ²³But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, ^(S)Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on ^[p]God’s purposes, but men’s.”

Discipleship Is Costly

²⁴Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, ^(T)take up his cross, and follow Me. ²⁵For ^(U)whoever wants to save his ^[q]life will lose it; but whoever loses his ^[r]life for My sake will find it. ²⁶For what good will it do a person if he gains the whole world, but ^[s]forfeits his soul? Or what will a person give in exchange for his soul? ²⁷For the ^(V)Son of Man ^(W)is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and ^(X)will then repay every person according to his ^[t]deeds.

²⁸“Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the ^(Y)Son of Man ^(Z)coming in His kingdom.”

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