Isaiah 30:8-21

New King James Version

A Rebellious People

⁸Now go, ^(A)write it before them on a tablet,
And note it on a scroll,
That it may be for time to come,
Forever and ever:
⁹That ^(B)this is a rebellious people,
Lying children,
Children who will not hear the law of the Lord;
¹⁰^(C)Who say to the seers, “Do not see,”
And to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us right things;
^(D)Speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits.
¹¹Get out of the way,
Turn aside from the path,
Cause the Holy One of Israel
To cease from before us.”

¹²Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel:

“Because you ^(E)despise this word,
And trust in oppression and perversity,
And rely on them,
¹³Therefore this iniquity shall be to you
^(F)Like a breach ready to fall,
A bulge in a high wall,
Whose breaking ^(G)comes suddenly, in an instant.
¹⁴And ^(H)He shall break it like the breaking of the potter’s vessel,
Which is broken in pieces;
He shall not spare.
So there shall not be found among its fragments
^[a]A shard to take fire from the hearth,
Or to take water from the cistern.”

¹⁵For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel:

^(I)“In returning and rest you shall be saved;
In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.”
^(J)But you would not,
¹⁶And you said, “No, for we will flee on horses”—
Therefore you shall flee!
And, “We will ride on swift horses”—
Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift!

¹⁷^(K)One thousand shall flee at the threat of one,
At the threat of five you shall flee,
Till you are left as a ^[b]pole on top of a mountain
And as a banner on a hill.

God Will Be Gracious

¹⁸Therefore the Lord will wait, that He may be ^(L)gracious to you;
And therefore He will be exalted, that He may have mercy on you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
^(M)Blessed are all those who ^(N)wait for Him.

¹⁹For the people ^(O)shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem;
You shall ^(P)weep no more.
He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry;
When He hears it, He will ^(Q)answer you.
²⁰And though the Lord gives you
^(R)The bread of adversity and the water of ^[c]affliction,
Yet ^(S)your teachers will not be moved into a corner anymore,
But your eyes shall see your teachers.
²¹Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying,
“This is the way, walk in it,”
Whenever you ^(T)turn to the right hand
Or whenever you turn to the left.

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Footnotes

Isaiah 30:14 A piece of broken pottery
Isaiah 30:17 A tree stripped of branches
Isaiah 30:20 oppression

Matthew 3

New King James Version

John the Baptist Prepares the Way^(A)

3 In those days ^(B)John the Baptist came preaching ^(C)in the wilderness of Judea, ²and saying, “Repent, for ^(D)the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” ³For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying:

^(E)“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
^(F)‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
Make His paths straight.’ ”

⁴Now ^(G)John himself was clothed in camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist; and his food was ^(H)locusts and ^(I)wild honey. ⁵^(J)Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him ⁶^(K)and were baptized by him in the Jordan, confessing their sins.

⁷But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, ^(L)“Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from ^(M)the wrath to come? ⁸Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, ⁹and do not think to say to yourselves, ^(N)‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. ¹⁰And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. ^(O)Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ¹¹^(P)I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. ^(Q)He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit ^[a]and fire. ¹²^(R)His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather His wheat into the barn; but He will ^(S)burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

John Baptizes Jesus^(T)

¹³^(U)Then Jesus came ^(V)from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. ¹⁴And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?”

¹⁵But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him.

¹⁶^(W)When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and ^[b]He saw ^(X)the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. ¹⁷^(Y)And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, ^(Z)“This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Footnotes

Matthew 3:11 M omits and fire
Matthew 3:16 Or he

Revelation 21:9-22

New King James Version

The New Jerusalem^(A)

⁹Then one of ^(B)the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came ^[a]to me and talked with me, saying, “Come, I will show you ^(C)the ^[b]bride, the Lamb’s wife.” ¹⁰And he carried me away ^(D)in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me ^(E)the ^[c]great city, the ^[d]holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, ¹¹^(F)having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. ¹²Also she had a great and high wall with ^(G)twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: ¹³^(H)three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west.

¹⁴Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and ^(I)on them were the ^[e]names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. ¹⁵And he who talked with me ^(J)had a gold reed to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. ¹⁶The city is laid out as a square; its length is as great as its breadth. And he measured the city with the reed: twelve thousand ^[f]furlongs. Its length, breadth, and height are equal. ¹⁷Then he measured its wall: one hundred and forty-four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. ¹⁸The construction of its wall was of jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. ¹⁹^(K)The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones: the first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, ²⁰the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. ²¹The twelve gates were twelve ^(L)pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. ^(M)And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.