Isaiah 40:21-31

English Standard Version

²¹^(A)Do you not know? Do you not hear?
    Has it not been told you from the beginning?
    Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
²²It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
    and its inhabitants are ^(B)like grasshoppers;
^(C)who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
    and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;
²³^(D)who brings princes to nothing,
    and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.

²⁴Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows on them, and they wither,
^(E)and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

²⁵^(F)To whom then will you compare me,
    that I should be like him? says the Holy One.
²⁶Lift up your eyes on high and see:
    who created these?
^(G)He who brings out their host by number,
    calling them all by name;
by the greatness of his might
    and because he is strong in power,
    not one is missing.

²⁷Why do you say, O Jacob,
    and speak, O Israel,
^(H)“My way is hidden from the Lord,
    ^(I)and my right is disregarded by my God”?
²⁸Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is ^(J)the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
    ^(K)his understanding is unsearchable.
²⁹He gives power to the faint,
    and to him who has no might he increases strength.
³⁰Even youths shall faint and be weary,
    and young men shall fall exhausted;
³¹but ^(L)they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
    they shall mount up with wings ^(M)like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
    they shall walk and not faint.

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1 Corinthians 9:16-27

English Standard Version

¹⁶For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For ^(A)necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! ¹⁷For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with ^(B)a stewardship. ¹⁸What then is my reward? That in my preaching ^(C)I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.

¹⁹For ^(D)though I am free from all, ^(E)I have made myself a servant to all, that I might ^(F)win more of them. ²⁰^(G)To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. ²¹To ^(H)those outside the law I became ^(I)as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but ^(J)under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. ²²^(K)To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. ^(L)I have become all things to all people, that ^(M)by all means I might save some. ²³I do it all for the sake of the gospel, ^(N)that I may share with them in its blessings.

²⁴Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives ^(O)the prize? So ^(P)run that you may obtain it. ²⁵Every ^(Q)athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we ^(R)an imperishable. ²⁶So I do not run aimlessly; I ^(S)do not box as one ^(T)beating the air. ²⁷But I discipline my body and ^(U)keep it under control,^[a] lest after preaching to others ^(V)I myself should be ^(W)disqualified.