Isaiah 9:8-10:4
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Judgment on Arrogance and Oppression
8 The Lord sent a word against Jacob,
and it fell on Israel,
9 and all the people knew it—
Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria—
but in pride and arrogance of heart they said:(A)
10 “The bricks have fallen,
but we will build with dressed stones;
the sycamores have been cut down,
but we will put cedars in their place.”
11 So the Lord raised adversaries[a] against them
and stirred up their enemies,(B)
12 the Arameans on the east and the Philistines on the west,
and they devoured Israel with open mouth.
For all this his anger has not turned away;
his hand is stretched out still.(C)
13 The people did not turn to him who struck them
or seek the Lord of hosts.(D)
14 So the Lord cut off from Israel head and tail,
palm branch and reed in one day—(E)
15 elders and dignitaries are the head,
and prophets who teach lies are the tail,(F)
16 for those who led this people led them astray,
and those who were led by them were left in confusion.(G)
17 That is why the Lord did not have pity on[b] their young people
or compassion on their orphans and widows,
for everyone was godless and an evildoer,
and every mouth spoke folly.
For all this his anger has not turned away;
his hand is stretched out still.(H)
18 For wickedness burned like a fire,
consuming briers and thorns;
it kindled the thickets of the forest,
and they swirled upward in a column of smoke.(I)
19 Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts
the land was burned,
and the people became like fuel for the fire;
no one spared another.(J)
20 They gorged on the right but still were hungry,
and they devoured on the left but were not satisfied;
they devoured the flesh of their own kindred;[c](K)
21 Manasseh devoured Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh,
and together they were against Judah.
For all this his anger has not turned away;
his hand is stretched out still.(L)
10 Woe to those who make iniquitous decrees,
who write oppressive statutes,(M)
2 to turn aside the needy from justice
and to rob the poor of my people of their right,
to make widows their spoil
and to plunder orphans!(N)
3 What will you do on the day of punishment,
in the calamity that will come from far away?
To whom will you flee for help,
and where will you leave your wealth,(O)
4 so as not to crouch among the prisoners
or fall among the slain?
For all this his anger has not turned away;
his hand is stretched out still.(P)
Mark 2:1-22
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Jesus Heals a Paralytic
2 When he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. 2 So many gathered around that there was no longer room for them, not even in front of the door, and he was speaking the word to them.(A) 3 Then some people[a] came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them.(B) 4 And when they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and after having dug through it, they let down the mat on which the paralytic lay. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Child, your sins are forgiven.” 6 Now some of the scribes were sitting there questioning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this fellow speak in this way? It is blasphemy! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”(C) 8 At once Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were discussing these questions among themselves, and he said to them, “Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? 9 Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and take your mat and walk’? 10 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— 11 “I say to you, stand up, take your mat, and go to your home.” 12 And he stood up and immediately took the mat and went out before all of them, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”(D)
Jesus Calls Levi
13 Jesus[b] went out again beside the sea; the whole crowd gathered around him, and he taught them.(E) 14 As he was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax-collection station, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him.(F)
15 And as he sat at dinner[c] in Levi’s[d] house, many tax collectors and sinners were also sitting[e] with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 When the scribes of[f] the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat[g] with tax collectors and sinners?”(G) 17 When Jesus heard this, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick; I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.”(H)
The Question about Fasting
18 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, and people[h] came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 19 Jesus said to them, “The wedding attendants cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20 The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.(I)
21 “No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. 22 Similarly, no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins, but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.”[i]
Read full chapter
Isaiah 10:5-23
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Arrogant Assyria Also Judged
5 Woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger—
the club in their hands is my fury!(A)
6 Against a godless nation I send him,
and against the people of my wrath I command him,
to take spoil and seize plunder,
and to tread them down like the mire of the streets.(B)
7 But this is not what he intends,
nor does he have this in mind,
but it is in his heart to destroy
and to cut off nations not a few.(C)
8 For he says:
“Are not my commanders all kings?(D)
9 Is not Calno like Carchemish?
Is not Hamath like Arpad?
Is not Samaria like Damascus?(E)
10 As my hand has reached to the kingdoms of the idols
whose images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,(F)
11 shall I not do to Jerusalem and her idols
what I have done to Samaria and her images?”
12 When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he[a] will punish the arrogant boasting of the king of Assyria and his haughty pride.(G) 13 For he says:
“By the strength of my hand I have done it,
and by my wisdom, for I have understanding;
I have removed the boundaries of peoples
and have plundered their treasures;
like a bull I have brought down those who sat on thrones.(H)
14 My hand has found, like a nest,
the wealth of the peoples,
and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken,
so I have gathered all the earth,
and there was none that moved a wing
or opened its mouth or chirped.”(I)
15 Shall the ax vaunt itself over the one who wields it
or the saw magnify itself against the one who handles it?
As if a rod should raise the one who lifts it up,
or as if a staff should lift the one who is not wood!(J)
16 Therefore the Sovereign, the Lord of hosts,
will send wasting sickness among his stout warriors,
and under his glory a burning will be kindled
like the burning of fire.(K)
17 The light of Israel will become a fire
and his Holy One a flame,
and it will burn and devour
his thorns and briers in one day.(L)
18 The glory of his forest and his fruitful land
the Lord will destroy, both soul and body,
and it will be as when an invalid wastes away.(M)
19 The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few
that a child can write them down.(N)
The Repentant Remnant of Israel
20 On that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer lean on the one who struck them but will lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.(O) 21 A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.(P) 22 For though your people, O Israel, were like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed, an overwhelming verdict.(Q) 23 For the Lord God of hosts will make a full end, as decreed, in all the earth.[b](R)
Read full chapter
Revelation 8
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Seventh Seal and the Golden Censer
8 When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.(A) 2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.(B)
3 Another angel with a golden censer came and stood at the altar; he was given a great quantity of incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar that is before the throne.(C) 4 And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.(D) 5 Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.(E)
The Seven Trumpets
6 Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets made ready to blow them.[a]
7 The first angel blew his trumpet, and there came hail and fire, mixed with blood, and they were hurled to the earth, and a third of the earth was burned up, and a third of the trees were burned up, and all green grass was burned up.(F)
8 The second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain, burning with fire, was thrown into the sea.(G) 9 A third of the sea became blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
10 The third angel blew his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, blazing like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.(H) 11 The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many died from the water because it was made bitter.(I)
12 The fourth angel blew his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of their light was darkened; a third of the day was kept from shining and likewise the night.(J)
13 Then I looked, and I heard an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew in midheaven, “Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth, at the blasts of the other trumpets that the three angels are about to blow!”(K)
Footnotes
- 8.6 Other ancient authorities read made themselves ready to blow
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.