Isaiah 58:1-9

Common English Bible

Fasting from injustice

58 Shout loudly; don’t hold back;
    raise your voice like a trumpet!
Announce to my people their crime,
    to the house of Jacob their sins.
²They seek me day after day,
    desiring knowledge of my ways
    like a nation that acted righteously,
    that didn’t abandon their God.
They ask me for righteous judgments,
    wanting to be close to God.
³“Why do we fast and you don’t see;
    why afflict ourselves and you don’t notice?”
Yet on your fast day you do whatever you want,
    and oppress all your workers.
⁴You quarrel and brawl, and then you fast;
    you hit each other violently with your fists.
You shouldn’t fast as you are doing today
    if you want to make your voice heard on high.
⁵Is this the kind of fast I choose,
    a day of self-affliction,
    of bending one’s head like a reed
    and of lying down in mourning clothing and ashes?
    Is this what you call a fast,
        a day acceptable to the Lord?

⁶Isn’t this the fast I choose:
    releasing wicked restraints, untying the ropes of a yoke,
    setting free the mistreated,
    and breaking every yoke?
⁷Isn’t it sharing your bread with the hungry
    and bringing the homeless poor into your house,
    covering the naked when you see them,
    and not hiding from your own family?
⁸Then your light will break out like the dawn,
    and you will be healed quickly.
Your own righteousness will walk before you,
    and the Lord’s glory will be your rear guard.
⁹Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;
    you will cry for help, and God will say, “I’m here.”
If you remove the yoke from among you,
    the finger-pointing, the wicked speech;

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Psalm 112:1-9

Common English Bible

Psalm 112^[a]

112 Praise the Lord!
    Those who honor the Lord,
    who adore God’s commandments, are truly happy!
²Their descendants will be strong throughout the land.
    The offspring of those who do right will be blessed;
³    wealth and riches will be in their houses.
    Their righteousness stands forever.
⁴They shine in the dark for others who do right.
    They are merciful, compassionate, and righteous.
⁵Those who lend generously are good people—
    as are those who conduct their affairs with justice.
⁶Yes, these sorts of people will never be shaken;
    the righteous will be remembered forever!
⁷They won’t be frightened at bad news.
    Their hearts are steady, trusting in the Lord.
⁸Their hearts are firm; they aren’t afraid.
    In the end, they will witness their enemies’ defeat.
⁹They give freely to those in need.
    Their righteousness stands forever.
    Their strength increases gloriously.

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Footnotes

Psalm 112:1 Ps 112 is an alphabetic acrostic poem; see the note at Pss 9–10.

1 Corinthians 2:1-12

Common English Bible

2 When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I didn’t come preaching God’s secrets to you like I was an expert in speech or wisdom. ²I had made up my mind not to think about anything while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and to preach him as crucified. ³I stood in front of you with weakness, fear, and a lot of shaking. ⁴My message and my preaching weren’t presented with convincing wise words but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power. ⁵I did this so that your faith might not depend on the wisdom of people but on the power of God.

Definition of wisdom

⁶What we say is wisdom to people who are mature. It isn’t a wisdom that comes from the present day or from today’s leaders who are being reduced to nothing. ⁷We talk about God’s wisdom, which has been hidden as a secret. God determined this wisdom in advance, before time began, for our glory. ⁸It is a wisdom that none of the present-day rulers have understood, because if they did understand it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory! ⁹But this is precisely what is written: God has prepared things for those who love him that no eye has seen, or ear has heard, or that haven’t crossed the mind of any human being.^[a] ¹⁰God has revealed these things to us through the Spirit. The Spirit searches everything, including the depths of God. ¹¹Who knows a person’s depths except their own spirit that lives in them? In the same way, no one has known the depths of God except God’s Spirit. ¹²We haven’t received the world’s spirit but God’s Spirit so that we can know the things given to us by God.

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Footnotes

1 Corinthians 2:9 Isa 64:4

Matthew 5:13-20

Common English Bible

Salt and light

¹³“You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its saltiness, how will it become salty again? It’s good for nothing except to be thrown away and trampled under people’s feet. ¹⁴You are the light of the world. A city on top of a hill can’t be hidden. ¹⁵Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket. Instead, they put it on top of a lampstand, and it shines on all who are in the house. ¹⁶In the same way, let your light shine before people, so they can see the good things you do and praise your Father who is in heaven.

Jesus and the Law

¹⁷“Don’t even begin to think that I have come to do away with the Law and the Prophets. I haven’t come to do away with them but to fulfill them. ¹⁸I say to you very seriously that as long as heaven and earth exist, neither the smallest letter nor even the smallest stroke of a pen will be erased from the Law until everything there becomes a reality. ¹⁹Therefore, whoever ignores one of the least of these commands and teaches others to do the same will be called the lowest in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever keeps these commands and teaches people to keep them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. ²⁰I say to you that unless your righteousness is greater than the righteousness of the legal experts and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

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