Isaiah 13

New American Standard Bible

Prophecies about Babylon

13 The ^(A)pronouncement concerning ^(B)Babylon which ^(C)Isaiah the son of Amoz saw:

²^(D)Lift up a flag on the ^[a]^(E)bare hill,
Raise your voice to them,
^(F)Wave the hand that they may ^(G)enter the doors of the nobles.
³I have commanded My consecrated ones,
I have also called for My ^(H)warriors
Who boast in My eminence,
To execute My anger.
⁴A ^(I)sound of a roar on the mountains,
Like that of many people!
A sound of an uproar of kingdoms,
Of nations gathered together!
The Lord of armies is mustering the army for battle.
⁵They are coming from a distant country,
From the ^[b]^(J)farthest horizons,
The Lord and the weapons of His ^(K)indignation,
To ^(L)destroy the whole land.

Judgment on the Day of the Lord

⁶Wail, for the ^(M)day of the Lord is near!
It will come as ^(N)destruction from ^[c]the Almighty.
⁷Therefore ^(O)all hands will fall limp,
And every human ^(P)heart will melt.
⁸They will be ^(Q)terrified,
Pains and anguish will take hold of them;
They will ^(R)writhe like a woman in labor,
They will look at one another in astonishment,
Their faces aflame.
⁹Behold, ^(S)the day of the Lord is coming,
Cruel, with fury and burning anger,
To make the land a desolation;
And He will exterminate its sinners from it.
¹⁰For the ^(T)stars of heaven and their constellations
Will not flash their light;
The ^(U)sun will be dark when it rises
And the moon will not shed its light.
¹¹So I will ^(V)punish the world for its evil
And the ^(W)wicked for their wrongdoing;
I will also put an end to the ^(X)audacity of the proud
And humiliate the ^(Y)arrogance of the ^[d]^(Z)tyrants.
¹²I will make mortal man ^(AA)scarcer than pure gold
And mankind than the ^(AB)gold of Ophir.
¹³Therefore I will make the ^(AC)heavens tremble,
And ^(AD)the earth will be shaken from its place
At the fury of the Lord of armies
In ^(AE)the day of His burning anger.
¹⁴And it will be that, like a hunted gazelle,
Or like ^(AF)sheep with no one to gather them,
Each of them will turn to his own people,
And each of them will flee to his own land.
¹⁵Anyone who is found will be ^(AG)thrust through,
And anyone who is captured will fall by the sword.
¹⁶Their ^(AH)little ones also will be dashed to pieces
Before their eyes;
Their houses will be plundered
And their wives raped.

Babylon Will Fall to the Medes

¹⁷Behold, I am going to ^(AI)stir up the Medes against them,
Who will not value silver or ^(AJ)take pleasure in gold.
¹⁸And their bows will ^[e]mow down the ^(AK)young men,
They will not even have compassion on the fruit of the womb,
Nor will their ^(AL)eye pity ^[f]children.
¹⁹And ^(AM)Babylon, the ^(AN)beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldeans’ pride,
Will be as when God ^(AO)overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
²⁰It will ^(AP)never be inhabited or lived in from generation to generation;
Nor will the ^(AQ)Arab pitch his tent there,
Nor will shepherds allow their flocks to lie down there.
²¹But ^(AR)desert creatures will lie down there,
And their houses will be full of ^[g]owls;
Ostriches also will live there, and ^[h]shaggy goats will frolic there.
²²^[i]Hyenas will howl in their fortified towers
And jackals in their luxurious ^(AS)palaces.
Her fateful time also ^[j]will soon come,
And her days will not be prolonged.

Footnotes

Isaiah 13:2 Or wind-swept mountain
Isaiah 13:5 Lit end of heaven
Isaiah 13:6 Heb Shaddai
Isaiah 13:11 Or violent
Isaiah 13:18 Lit dash in pieces
Isaiah 13:18 Lit sons
Isaiah 13:21 Or howling creatures
Isaiah 13:21 Or goat demons
Isaiah 13:22 Or howling creatures
Isaiah 13:22 Lit is near to come

Galatians 1

New American Standard Bible

Introduction

1 Paul, ^(A)an apostle (^(B)not sent from men nor through human agency, but ^(C)through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who ^(D)raised Him from the dead), ²and all ^(E)the brothers who are with me,

To ^(F)the churches of Galatia:

³^(G)Grace to you and peace from ^[a]God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴who ^(H)gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from ^(I)this present evil ^[b]age, according to the will of ^(J)our God and Father, ⁵^(K)to whom be the glory forevermore. Amen.

Distortion of the Gospel

⁶I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting ^(L)Him who called you ^[c]by the grace of Christ, for a ^(M)different gospel, ⁷which is not just another account; but there are some who are ^(N)disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. ⁸But even if we, or ^(O)an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be ^[d]^(P)accursed! ⁹As we ^(Q)have said before, even now I say again: ^(R)if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be ^[e]^(S)accursed!

¹⁰For am I now ^(T)seeking the favor of people, or of God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a ^(U)bond-servant of Christ.

Paul Defends His Ministry

¹¹For ^(V)I would have you know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel which was preached by me is ^(W)not ^[f]of human invention. ¹²For ^(X)I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a ^(Y)revelation of Jesus Christ.

¹³For you have heard of ^(Z)my former way of life in Judaism, how I ^(AA)used to persecute ^(AB)the church of God beyond measure and ^(AC)tried to destroy it; ¹⁴and I ^(AD)was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my ^[g]countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ^(AE)ancestral traditions. ¹⁵But when ^[h]He who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and ^(AF)called me through His grace was pleased ¹⁶to reveal His Son in me so that I might ^(AG)preach Him among the Gentiles, ^(AH)I did not immediately consult with ^[i]^(AI)flesh and blood, ¹⁷^(AJ)nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me; but I went away to Arabia, and returned once more to ^(AK)Damascus.

¹⁸Then ^(AL)three years later I went up ^(AM)to Jerusalem to ^[j]become acquainted with ^[k]^(AN)Cephas, and stayed with him for fifteen days. ¹⁹But I did not see another one of the apostles except ^[l]^(AO)James, the Lord’s brother. ²⁰(Now in what I am writing to you, ^[m]I assure you ^(AP)before God that I am not lying.) ²¹Then ^(AQ)I went into the regions of ^(AR)Syria and ^(AS)Cilicia. ²²I was still unknown by ^[n]sight to ^(AT)the churches of Judea which are ^(AU)in Christ; ²³but they only kept hearing, “The man who once persecuted us is now preaching ^(AV)the faith which he once ^(AW)tried to destroy.” ²⁴And they ^(AX)were glorifying God ^[o]because of me.

Footnotes

Galatians 1:3 One early ms God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ
Galatians 1:4 Or world
Galatians 1:6 Lit in
Galatians 1:8 Gr anathema
Galatians 1:9 Gr anathema
Galatians 1:11 Lit according to man
Galatians 1:14 Lit race
Galatians 1:15 One early ms God who
Galatians 1:16 I.e., people
Galatians 1:18 Or visit
Galatians 1:18 I.e., Peter
Galatians 1:19 Or Jacob
Galatians 1:20 Lit behold before God
Galatians 1:22 Lit face
Galatians 1:24 Lit in me

Psalm 55

New American Standard Bible

Prayer for the Destruction of the Treacherous.

For the music director; on stringed instruments. A ^[a]Maskil of David.

55 ^(A)Listen to my prayer, God;
And ^(B)do not hide Yourself from my pleading.
²Give Your ^(C)attention to me and answer me;
I am restless in my ^(D)complaint and ^[b]^(E)severely distracted,
³Because of the voice of the enemy,
Because of the ^(F)pressure of the wicked;
For they ^(G)bring down ^[c]trouble upon me
And in anger they ^(H)hold a grudge against me.

⁴My ^(I)heart is in anguish within me,
And the terrors of ^(J)death have fallen upon me.
⁵Fear and ^(K)trembling come upon me,
And ^[d]^(L)horror has ^[e]overwhelmed me.
⁶I said, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and ^[f]^(M)be at rest.
⁷Behold, I would flee far away,
I would ^(N)spend my nights in the wilderness. Selah
⁸I would hurry to my place of refuge
From the ^(O)stormy wind and heavy gale.”

⁹Confuse them, Lord, ^(P)divide their tongues,
For I have seen ^(Q)violence and strife in the city.
¹⁰Day and night they go around her upon her walls,
And evil and harm are in her midst.
¹¹^(R)Destruction is in her midst;
^(S)Oppression and deceit do not depart from her ^[g]streets.

¹²For it is ^(T)not an enemy who taunts me,
Then I could endure it;
Nor is it one who hates me who ^(U)has exalted himself against me,
Then I could hide myself from him.
¹³But it is you, a man ^[h]my equal,
My ^(V)companion and my ^(W)confidant;
¹⁴We who had sweet ^[i]fellowship together,
^(X)Walked in the house of God among the commotion.
¹⁵May ^[j]death come ^(Y)deceitfully upon them;
May they ^(Z)go down alive to ^[k]Sheol,
For evil is in their dwelling, in their midst.

¹⁶As for me, I shall ^(AA)call upon God,
And the Lord will save me.
¹⁷^(AB)Evening and ^(AC)morning and at ^(AD)noon, I will complain and moan,
And He will hear my voice.
¹⁸He will ^(AE)redeem my soul in peace ^[l]from the battle which is against me,
For they are ^(AF)many who are aggressive toward me.
¹⁹God will ^(AG)hear and humiliate them—
Even the one ^(AH)who ^[m]sits enthroned from ancient times— Selah
With whom there ^[n]is no change,
And who ^(AI)do not fear God.
²⁰He has put forth his hands against ^(AJ)those who were at peace with him;
He has ^[o]^(AK)violated his covenant.
²¹His ^[p]speech was ^(AL)smoother than butter,
But his heart was war;
His words were ^(AM)softer than oil,
Yet they were drawn ^(AN)swords.

²²^(AO)Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will sustain you;
^(AP)He will never allow the righteous to ^[q]^(AQ)be shaken.
²³But You, God, will bring them down to the ^(AR)pit of destruction;
^(AS)Men of bloodshed and deceit will ^(AT)not live out half their days.
But I will ^(AU)trust in You.