Isaiah 58:13-59:7
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
13 If you refrain from trampling the Sabbath,
from pursuing your own interests on my holy day;
if you call the Sabbath a delight
and the holy day of the Lord honorable;
if you honor it, not going your own ways,
serving your own interests or pursuing your own affairs;(A)
14 then you shall take delight in the Lord,
and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth;
I will feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.(B)
Injustice and Oppression to Be Punished
59 See, the Lord’s arm is not too short to save,
nor his ear too dull to hear.(C)
2 Rather, your iniquities have been barriers
between you and your God,
and your sins have hidden his face from you
so that he does not hear.(D)
3 For your hands are defiled with blood
and your fingers with iniquity;
your lips have spoken lies;
your tongue mutters wickedness.(E)
4 No one brings suit justly;
no one goes to law honestly;
they rely on empty pleas; they speak lies,
conceiving mischief and bearing iniquity.(F)
5 They hatch adders’ eggs
and weave the spider’s web;
whoever eats their eggs dies,
and the crushed egg hatches out a viper.(G)
6 Their webs cannot serve as clothing;
they cannot cover themselves with what they make.
Their works are works of iniquity,
and deeds of violence are in their hands.(H)
7 Their feet run to evil,
and they rush to shed innocent blood;
their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;
desolation and destruction are in their highways.(I)
1 Timothy 4:12-5:10
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
12 Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.(A) 13 Until I arrive, give attention to the public reading of scripture,[a] to exhorting, to teaching. 14 Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you through prophecy with the laying on of hands by the council of elders.(B) 15 Put these things into practice, devote yourself to them, so that all may see your progress. 16 Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; continue in these things, for in doing this you will save both yourself and your hearers.(C)
Duties toward Believers
5 Do not speak harshly to an older man,[b] but speak to him as to a father, to younger men as brothers,(D) 2 to older women as mothers, to younger women as sisters—with absolute purity.
3 Honor widows who are really widows. 4 If a widow has children or grandchildren, they should first learn their religious duty to their own family and make some repayment to their parents, for this is pleasing in God’s sight.(E) 5 The real widow, left alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day,(F) 6 but the widow[c] who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives.(G) 7 Give these commands as well, so that they may be above reproach.(H) 8 And whoever does not provide for relatives, and especially for family members, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.(I)
9 Let a widow be put on the list if she is not less than sixty years old and has been married only once;[d] 10 she must be well attested for her good works, as one who has brought up children, shown hospitality, washed the saints’ feet, helped the afflicted, and devoted herself to doing good in every way.(J)
John 3:13-21
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
13 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.[a](A) 14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,(B) 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.[b](C)
16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.(D)
17 “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him.(E) 18 Those who believe in him are not condemned, but those who do not believe are condemned already because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God.(F) 19 And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.(G) 20 For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed.(H) 21 But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God.”[c](I)
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