Isaiah 4-6
English Standard Version
4 (A)And seven women (B)shall take hold of (C)one man in that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name; (D)take away our reproach.”
The Branch of the Lord Glorified
2 In that day (E)the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and (F)the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. 3 (G)And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called (H)holy, everyone who has (I)been recorded for life in Jerusalem, 4 when (J)the Lord shall have washed away the filth of (K)the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by (L)a spirit of burning.[a] 5 Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies (M)a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be (N)a canopy. 6 (O)There will be a (P)booth for shade by day from the heat, and (Q)for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.
The Vineyard of the Lord Destroyed
5 Let me sing for my beloved
my love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had (R)a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
2 He dug it and cleared it of stones,
and planted it with (S)choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it,
and hewed out a wine vat in it;
and (T)he looked for it to yield grapes,
but it yielded wild grapes.
3 And now, O inhabitants of Jerusalem
and men of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
4 (U)What more was there to do for my vineyard,
that I have not done in it?
(V)When I looked for it to yield grapes,
why did it yield wild grapes?
5 And now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove (W)its hedge,
and it shall be devoured;[b]
(X)I will break down its wall,
and it shall be trampled down.
6 I will make it a waste;
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
and (Y)briers and thorns shall grow up;
(Z)I will also command the clouds
that they rain no rain upon it.
7 (AA)For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah
are his pleasant planting;
and he looked for justice,
but behold, bloodshed;[c]
for righteousness,
but behold, an outcry![d]
Woe to the Wicked
8 Woe to those who (AB)join house to house,
who add field to field,
until there is no more room,
and you are made to dwell alone
in the midst of the land.
9 The Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing:
(AC)“Surely many houses shall be desolate,
large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.
10 (AD)For ten acres[e] of vineyard shall yield but one bath,
and a (AE)homer of seed shall yield but an ephah.”[f]
11 Woe to those who (AF)rise early in the morning,
that they may run after strong drink,
who tarry late into the evening
as wine inflames them!
12 (AG)They have lyre and harp,
tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts,
(AH)but they do not regard the deeds of the Lord,
or see the work of his hands.
13 Therefore my people go into exile
(AI)for lack of knowledge;[g]
their (AJ)honored men go hungry,[h]
and their multitude is parched with thirst.
14 Therefore Sheol has (AK)enlarged its appetite
and opened (AL)its mouth beyond measure,
and the nobility of Jerusalem[i] and her multitude will go down,
her revelers and he who (AM)exults in her.
15 (AN)Man is humbled, and each one is brought low,
and the eyes of the haughty[j] are brought low.
16 (AO)But the Lord of hosts is exalted[k] in justice,
and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.
17 Then shall the lambs graze (AP)as in their pasture,
and (AQ)nomads shall eat among the ruins of the rich.
18 Woe to those who draw iniquity with (AR)cords of falsehood,
who draw sin as with cart ropes,
19 who say: (AS)“Let him be quick,
let him speed his work
that we may see it;
let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near,
and let it come, that we may know it!”
20 Woe to (AT)those who call evil good
and good evil,
(AU)who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe to those who are (AV)wise in their own eyes,
and shrewd in their own sight!
22 Woe to those who are (AW)heroes at drinking wine,
and valiant men in mixing strong drink,
23 who (AX)acquit the guilty for a bribe,
and deprive the innocent of his right!
24 Therefore, (AY)as the tongue of fire devours the stubble,
and as dry grass sinks down in the flame,
so (AZ)their root will be (BA)as rottenness,
and their blossom go up like dust;
for they have (BB)rejected the law of the Lord of hosts,
and have (BC)despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25 Therefore (BD)the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people,
and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them,
and (BE)the mountains quaked;
and their corpses were (BF)as refuse
in the midst of the streets.
(BG)For all this his anger has not turned away,
and his hand is stretched out still.
26 He will (BH)raise a signal for nations far away,
and (BI)whistle for them (BJ)from the ends of the earth;
and behold, quickly, speedily they come!
27 (BK)None is weary, none stumbles,
none slumbers or sleeps,
not a waistband is loose,
not a sandal strap broken;
28 (BL)their arrows are sharp,
all their bows bent,
their horses' hoofs seem like flint,
and their wheels (BM)like the whirlwind.
29 Their roaring is like a lion,
like young lions they roar;
they growl and (BN)seize their prey;
they carry it off, and none can rescue.
30 They will growl over it on that day,
like the growling of the sea.
And if one looks to the land,
behold, (BO)darkness and distress;
and the light is darkened by its clouds.
Isaiah's Vision of the Lord
6 In the year that (BP)King Uzziah died I (BQ)saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train[l] of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had (BR)six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said:
4 And (BU)the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and (BV)the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! (BW)For I am lost; (BX)for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the (BY)King, the Lord of hosts!”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. 7 And he (BZ)touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
Isaiah's Commission from the Lord
8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for (CA)us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.” 9 And he said, “Go, and say to this people:
(CB)“‘Keep on hearing,[n] but do not understand;
keep on seeing,[o] but do not perceive.’
10 (CC)Make the heart of this people (CD)dull,[p]
and their ears heavy,
and blind their eyes;
(CE)lest they see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears,
and understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.”
11 Then I said, (CF)“How long, O Lord?”
And he said:
“Until (CG)cities lie waste
without inhabitant,
and houses without people,
and the land is a desolate waste,
12 and the Lord removes people far away,
and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.
13 (CH)And though a tenth remain in it,
it will be burned[q] again,
like a terebinth or an oak,
whose stump (CI)remains
when it is felled.”
(CJ)The holy seed[r] is its stump.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 4:4 Or purging
- Isaiah 5:5 Or grazed over; compare Exodus 22:5
- Isaiah 5:7 The Hebrew words for justice and bloodshed sound alike
- Isaiah 5:7 The Hebrew words for righteous and outcry sound alike
- Isaiah 5:10 Hebrew ten yoke, the area ten yoke of oxen can plow in a day
- Isaiah 5:10 A bath was about 6 gallons or 22 liters; a homer was about 6 bushels or 220 liters; an ephah was about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters
- Isaiah 5:13 Or without their knowledge
- Isaiah 5:13 Or die of hunger
- Isaiah 5:14 Hebrew her nobility
- Isaiah 5:15 Hebrew high
- Isaiah 5:16 Hebrew high
- Isaiah 6:1 Or hem
- Isaiah 6:3 Or may his glory fill the whole earth
- Isaiah 6:9 Or Hear indeed
- Isaiah 6:9 Or see indeed
- Isaiah 6:10 Hebrew fat
- Isaiah 6:13 Or purged
- Isaiah 6:13 Or offspring
Matthew 23
English Standard Version
Seven Woes to the Scribes and Pharisees
23 Then Jesus (A)said to the crowds and to his disciples, 2 (B)“The scribes and the Pharisees (C)sit on Moses' seat, 3 so do and observe whatever they tell you, (D)but not the works they do. (E)For they preach, but do not practice. 4 (F)They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear,[a] and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. 5 (G)They do all their deeds (H)to be seen by others. For they make (I)their phylacteries broad and (J)their fringes long, 6 and they (K)love the place of honor at feasts and (L)the best seats in the synagogues 7 and (M)greetings in (N)the marketplaces and being called (O)rabbi[b] by others. 8 (P)But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are (Q)all brothers.[c] 9 (R)And call no man your father on earth, for (S)you have one Father, who is in heaven. 10 Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, (T)the Christ. 11 (U)The greatest among you shall be your servant. 12 (V)Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
13 “But woe (W)to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you (X)shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you (Y)neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.[d] 15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single (Z)proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a (AA)child of (AB)hell[e] as yourselves.
16 “Woe to (AC)you, (AD)blind guides, who say, (AE)‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ 17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or (AF)the temple that has made the gold sacred? 18 And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by (AG)the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ 19 You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or (AH)the altar that makes the gift sacred? 20 So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. 21 And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by (AI)him who dwells in it. 22 And whoever swears by (AJ)heaven swears by (AK)the throne of God and by (AL)him who sits upon it.
23 (AM)“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For (AN)you tithe mint and dill and (AO)cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: (AP)justice and mercy and faithfulness. (AQ)These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing (AR)a camel!
25 (AS)“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For (AT)you clean the outside of (AU)the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of (AV)greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of (AW)the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.
27 (AX)“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like (AY)whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and (AZ)all uncleanness. 28 So you also (BA)outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of (BB)hypocrisy and lawlessness.
29 (BC)“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, 30 saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ 31 Thus you witness against yourselves that you are (BD)sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 (BE)Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. 33 You serpents, (BF)you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to (BG)hell? 34 (BH)Therefore (BI)I send you (BJ)prophets and wise men and (BK)scribes, (BL)some of whom you will kill and crucify, and (BM)some you will (BN)flog in your synagogues and (BO)persecute from town to town, 35 so that on you may come all (BP)the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous (BQ)Abel to the blood of (BR)Zechariah the son of Barachiah,[f] whom you murdered between (BS)the sanctuary and (BT)the altar. 36 Truly, I say to you, (BU)all these things will come upon this generation.
Lament over Jerusalem
37 (BV)“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that (BW)kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have (BX)gathered (BY)your children together (BZ)as a hen gathers her brood (CA)under her wings, and (CB)you were not willing! 38 See, (CC)your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, (CD)‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
Footnotes
- Matthew 23:4 Some manuscripts omit hard to bear
- Matthew 23:7 Rabbi means my teacher, or my master; also verse 8
- Matthew 23:8 Or brothers and sisters
- Matthew 23:13 Some manuscripts add here (or after verse 12) verse 14: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive the greater condemnation
- Matthew 23:15 Greek Gehenna; also verse 33
- Matthew 23:35 Some manuscripts omit the son of Barachiah
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
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