Isaiah 56

New King James Version

Salvation for the Gentiles

56 Thus says the Lord:

“Keep justice, and do righteousness,
^(A)For My salvation is about to come,
And My righteousness to be revealed.
²Blessed is the man who does this,
And the son of man who lays hold on it;
^(B)Who keeps from defiling the Sabbath,
And keeps his hand from doing any evil.”

³Do not let ^(C)the son of the foreigner
Who has joined himself to the Lord
Speak, saying,
“The Lord has utterly separated me from His people”;
Nor let the ^(D)eunuch say,
“Here I am, a dry tree.”
⁴For thus says the Lord:
“To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths,
And choose what pleases Me,
And hold fast My covenant,
⁵Even to them I will give in ^(E)My house
And within My walls a place ^(F)and a name
Better than that of sons and daughters;
I will give ^[a]them an everlasting name
That shall not be cut off.

⁶“Also the sons of the foreigner
Who join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him,
And to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants—
Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath,
And holds fast My covenant—
⁷Even them I will ^(G)bring to My holy mountain,
And make them joyful in My ^(H)house of prayer.
^(I)Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
Will be ^(J)accepted on My altar;
For ^(K)My house shall be called a house of prayer ^(L)for all nations.”
⁸The Lord God, ^(M)who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says,
^(N)“Yet I will gather to him
Others besides those who are gathered to him.”

Israel’s Irresponsible Leaders

⁹^(O)All you beasts of the field, come to devour,
All you beasts in the forest.
¹⁰His watchmen are ^(P)blind,
They are all ignorant;
^(Q)They are all dumb dogs,
They cannot bark;
^[b]Sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
¹¹Yes, they are ^(R)greedy^[c] dogs
Which ^(S)never^[d] have enough.
And they are shepherds
Who cannot understand;
They all look to their own way,
Every one for his own gain,
From his own territory.
¹²“Come,” one says, “I will bring wine,
And we will fill ourselves with intoxicating ^(T)drink;
^(U)Tomorrow will be ^(V)as today,
And much more abundant.”

Footnotes

Isaiah 56:5 Lit. him
Isaiah 56:10 Or Dreaming
Isaiah 56:11 Lit. strong of soul
Isaiah 56:11 Lit. do not know satisfaction

Jeremiah 10

New King James Version

Idols and the True God

10 Hear the word which the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel.

²Thus says the Lord:

^(A)“Do not learn the way of the Gentiles;
Do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven,
For the Gentiles are dismayed at them.
³For the customs of the peoples are ^[a]futile;
For ^(B)one cuts a tree from the forest,
The work of the hands of the workman, with the ax.
⁴They decorate it with silver and gold;
They ^(C)fasten it with nails and hammers
So that it will not topple.
⁵They are upright, like a palm tree,
And ^(D)they cannot speak;
They must be ^(E)carried,
Because they cannot go by themselves.
Do not be afraid of them,
For ^(F)they cannot do evil,
Nor can they do any good.”

⁶Inasmuch as there is none ^(G)like You, O Lord
(You are great, and Your name is great in might),
⁷^(H)Who would not fear You, O King of the nations?
For this is Your rightful due.
For ^(I)among all the wise men of the nations,
And in all their kingdoms,
There is none like You.
⁸But they are altogether ^(J)dull-hearted and foolish;
A wooden idol is a ^[b]worthless doctrine.
⁹Silver is beaten into plates;
It is brought from Tarshish,
And ^(K)gold from Uphaz,
The work of the craftsman
And of the hands of the metalsmith;
Blue and purple are their clothing;
They are all ^(L)the work of skillful men.
¹⁰But the Lord is the true God;
He is ^(M)the living God and the ^(N)everlasting King.
At His wrath the earth will tremble,
And the nations will not be able to endure His indignation.

¹¹Thus you shall say to them: ^(O)“The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth ^(P)shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens.”

¹²He ^(Q)has made the earth by His power,
He has ^(R)established the world by His wisdom,
And ^(S)has stretched out the heavens at His discretion.
¹³^(T)When He utters His voice,
There is a ^[c]multitude of waters in the heavens:
^(U)“And He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth.
He makes lightning for the rain,
He brings the wind out of His treasuries.”

¹⁴^(V)Everyone is ^(W)dull-hearted, without knowledge;
^(X)Every metalsmith is put to shame by an image;
^(Y)For his molded image is falsehood,
And there is no breath in them.
¹⁵They are futile, a work of errors;
In the time of their punishment they shall perish.
¹⁶^(Z)The Portion of Jacob is not like them,
For He is the Maker of all things,
And ^(AA)Israel is the tribe of His inheritance;
^(AB)The Lord of hosts is His name.

The Coming Captivity of Judah

¹⁷^(AC)Gather up your wares from the land,
O ^[d]inhabitant of the fortress!

¹⁸For thus says the Lord:

“Behold, I will ^(AD)throw out at this time
The inhabitants of the land,
And will distress them,
^(AE)That they may find it so.”

¹⁹^(AF)Woe is me for my hurt!
My wound is severe.
But I say, ^(AG)“Truly this is an infirmity,
And ^(AH)I must bear it.”
²⁰^(AI)My tent is plundered,
And all my cords are broken;
My children have gone from me,
And they are ^(AJ)no more.
There is no one to pitch my tent anymore,
Or set up my curtains.

²¹For the shepherds have become dull-hearted,
And have not sought the Lord;
Therefore they shall not prosper,
And all their flocks shall be ^(AK)scattered.
²²Behold, the noise of the report has come,
And a great commotion out of the ^(AL)north country,
To make the cities of Judah desolate, a ^(AM)den of jackals.

²³O Lord, I know the ^(AN)way of man is not in himself;
It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.
²⁴O Lord, ^(AO)correct me, but with justice;
Not in Your anger, lest You bring me to nothing.
²⁵^(AP)Pour out Your fury on the Gentiles, ^(AQ)who do not know You,
And on the families who do not call on Your name;
For they have eaten up Jacob,
^(AR)Devoured him and consumed him,
And made his dwelling place desolate.

Footnotes

Jeremiah 10:3 Lit. vanity
Jeremiah 10:8 vain teaching
Jeremiah 10:13 Or noise
Jeremiah 10:17 Or you who dwell under siege

2 Timothy 1

New King James Version

Greeting

1 Paul, an apostle of ^[a]Jesus Christ by the will of God, according to the ^(A)promise of life which is in Christ Jesus,

²To Timothy, a ^(B)beloved son:

Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Timothy’s Faith and Heritage

³I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my ^(C)forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day, ⁴greatly desiring to see you, being mindful of your tears, that I may be filled with joy, ⁵when I call to remembrance ^(D)the ^[b]genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and ^(E)your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also. ⁶Therefore I remind you ^(F)to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. ⁷For ^(G)God has not given us a spirit of fear, ^(H)but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Not Ashamed of the Gospel

⁸^(I)Therefore do not be ashamed of ^(J)the testimony of our Lord, nor of me ^(K)His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God, ⁹who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, ^(L)not according to our works, but ^(M)according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus ^(N)before time began, ¹⁰but ^(O)has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, ¹¹^(P)to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher ^[c]of the Gentiles. ¹²For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, ^(Q)for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.

Be Loyal to the Faith

¹³^(R)Hold fast ^(S)the pattern of ^(T)sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. ¹⁴That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.

¹⁵This you know, that all those in Asia have turned away from me, among whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes. ¹⁶The Lord grant mercy to the ^(U)household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain; ¹⁷but when he arrived in Rome, he sought me out very zealously and found me. ¹⁸The Lord ^(V)grant to him that he may find mercy from the Lord ^(W)in that Day—and you know very well how many ways he ^(X)ministered ^[d]to me at Ephesus.