Isaiah 61-63

English Standard Version

The Year of the Lord's Favor

61 ^(A)The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
    because the Lord has ^(B)anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;^[a]
    he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
    and ^(C)the opening of the prison to those who are bound;^[b]
²^(D)to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,
    ^(E)and the day of vengeance of our God;
    to comfort all who mourn;
³to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
    ^(F)to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
^(G)the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
    the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
^(H)that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
    the planting of the Lord, ^(I)that he may be glorified.^[c]
⁴^(J)They shall build up the ancient ruins;
    they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
    the devastations of many generations.

⁵^(K)Strangers shall stand and tend your flocks;
    foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers;
⁶^(L)but you shall be called the priests of the Lord;
    they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God;
^(M)you shall eat the wealth of the nations,
    and in their glory you shall boast.
⁷^(N)Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion;
    instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot;
therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion;
    they shall have everlasting joy.

⁸^(O)For I the Lord love justice;
    I hate robbery and wrong;^[d]
^(P)I will faithfully give them their recompense,
    ^(Q)and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
⁹Their offspring shall be known among the nations,
    and their descendants in the midst of the peoples;
all who see them shall acknowledge them,
    that they are an offspring the Lord has blessed.

¹⁰^(R)I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;
    my soul shall exult in my God,
^(S)for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
    he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself ^(T)like a priest with a beautiful headdress,
    ^(U)and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
¹¹For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,
    and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up,
so the Lord God will cause ^(V)righteousness and praise
    to sprout up before all the nations.

Zion's Coming Salvation

62 ^(W)For Zion's sake I will not keep silent,
    and for Jerusalem's sake I will not be quiet,
^(X)until her righteousness goes forth as brightness,
    and her salvation as a burning torch.
²^(Y)The nations shall see your righteousness,
    and all the kings your glory,
^(Z)and you shall be called by a new name
    that the mouth of the Lord will give.
³You shall be ^(AA)a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord,
    and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
⁴^(AB)You shall no more be termed ^(AC)Forsaken,^[e]
    and your land shall no more be termed Desolate,^[f]
^(AD)but you shall be called ^(AE)My Delight Is in Her,^[g]
    and your land Married;^[h]
for the Lord delights in you,
    and your land shall be married.
⁵For as a young man marries a young woman,
    so ^(AF)shall your sons marry you,
and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
    so ^(AG)shall your God rejoice over you.

⁶On your walls, O Jerusalem,
    I have set ^(AH)watchmen;
all the day and all the night
    they shall never be silent.
You who put the Lord in remembrance,
    take no rest,
⁷and give him no rest
    until he establishes Jerusalem
    and makes it ^(AI)a praise in the earth.
⁸The Lord has sworn ^(AJ)by his right hand
    and by his mighty arm:
“I will not again give ^(AK)your grain
    to be food for your enemies,
^(AL)and foreigners shall not drink your wine
    for which you have labored;
⁹but ^(AM)those who garner it shall eat it
    and praise the Lord,
and ^(AN)those who gather it shall drink it
    in the courts of my sanctuary.”^[i]

¹⁰Go through, go through the gates;
    ^(AO)prepare the way for the people;
^(AP)build up, build up the highway;
    clear it of stones;
    ^(AQ)lift up a signal over the peoples.
¹¹Behold, the Lord has proclaimed
    to the end of the earth:
^(AR)Say to the daughter of Zion,
    ^(AS)“Behold, your salvation comes;
behold, his reward is with him,
    and his recompense before him.”
¹²^(AT)And they shall be called The Holy People,
    The Redeemed of the Lord;
^(AU)and you shall be called Sought Out,
    A City Not Forsaken.

The Lord's Day of Vengeance

63 Who is this who comes from ^(AV)Edom,
    in crimsoned garments from ^(AW)Bozrah,
he who is splendid in his apparel,
    ^(AX)marching in the greatness of his strength?
“It is I, speaking in righteousness,
    mighty to save.”

²Why is your ^(AY)apparel red,
and your garments like his ^(AZ)who treads in the winepress?

³^(BA)“I have trodden the winepress alone,
    ^(BB)and from the peoples no one was with me;
I trod them in my anger
    and trampled them in my wrath;
their lifeblood^[j] spattered on my garments,
    and stained all my apparel.
⁴^(BC)For the day of vengeance was in my heart,
    and my year of redemption^[k] had come.
⁵I looked, but ^(BD)there was no one to help;
    I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold;
so my own arm brought me salvation,
    and my wrath upheld me.
⁶I trampled down the peoples in my anger;
    ^(BE)I made them drunk in my wrath,
    and I poured out their lifeblood on the earth.”

The Lord's Mercy Remembered

⁷I will recount the steadfast love of the Lord,
    the praises of the Lord,
according to all that the Lord has granted us,
    ^(BF)and the great goodness to the house of Israel
that he has granted them according to his compassion,
    according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
⁸For he said, “Surely they are my people,
    children who will not deal falsely.”
    And he became their Savior.
⁹^(BG)In all their affliction he was afflicted,^[l]
    and the angel of his presence saved them;
^(BH)in his love and in his pity he redeemed them;
    ^(BI)he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.

¹⁰^(BJ)But they rebelled
    ^(BK)and grieved his Holy Spirit;
therefore he turned to be their enemy,
    and himself fought against them.
¹¹Then he remembered ^(BL)the days of old,
    of Moses and his people.^[m]
^(BM)Where is he who brought them up out of the sea
    with the shepherds of his flock?
Where is he who put in the midst of them
    his Holy Spirit,
¹²who caused his glorious arm
    to go at the right hand of Moses,
^(BN)who divided the waters before them
    ^(BO)to make for himself an everlasting name,
¹³    who led them through the depths?
Like a horse in the desert,
    they did not stumble.
¹⁴Like livestock that go down into the valley,
    ^(BP)the Spirit of the Lord gave them rest.
So you led your people,
    ^(BQ)to make for yourself a glorious name.

Prayer for Mercy

¹⁵^(BR)Look down from heaven and see,
    ^(BS)from your holy and beautiful^[n] habitation.
Where are ^(BT)your zeal and your might?
    The stirring of your inner parts and your compassion
    are held back from me.
¹⁶For ^(BU)you are our Father,
    though Abraham does not know us,
    and Israel does not acknowledge us;
you, O Lord, are our Father,
    ^(BV)our Redeemer from of old is your name.
¹⁷O Lord, why do you make us wander from your ways
    and ^(BW)harden our heart, so that we fear you not?
^(BX)Return for the sake of your servants,
    the tribes of your heritage.
¹⁸^(BY)Your holy people held possession for a little while;^[o]
    ^(BZ)our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary.
¹⁹^(CA)We have become like those over whom you have never ruled,
    like those who are not called by your name.

Footnotes

Isaiah 61:1 Or afflicted
Isaiah 61:1 Or the opening [of the eyes] to those who are blind; Septuagint and recovery of sight to the blind
Isaiah 61:3 Or that he may display his beauty
Isaiah 61:8 Or robbery with a burnt offering
Isaiah 62:4 Hebrew Azubah
Isaiah 62:4 Hebrew Shemamah
Isaiah 62:4 Hebrew Hephzibah
Isaiah 62:4 Hebrew Beulah
Isaiah 62:9 Or in my holy courts
Isaiah 63:3 Or their juice; also verse 6
Isaiah 63:4 Or the year of my redeemed
Isaiah 63:9 Or he did not afflict
Isaiah 63:11 Or Then his people remembered the days of old, of Moses
Isaiah 63:15 Or holy and glorious
Isaiah 63:18 Or They have dispossessed your holy people for a little while

Proverbs 18

English Standard Version

18 Whoever ^(A)isolates himself seeks his own desire;
    he breaks out against all sound judgment.
²A fool takes no pleasure in understanding,
    but only ^(B)in expressing his opinion.
³When wickedness comes, contempt comes also,
    and with dishonor comes disgrace.
⁴The words of a man's mouth are ^(C)deep waters;
    the fountain of wisdom is a bubbling brook.
⁵It is not good to ^(D)be partial to^[a] the wicked
    or to ^(E)deprive the righteous of justice.
⁶A fool's lips walk into a fight,
    and his mouth invites ^(F)a beating.
⁷^(G)A fool's mouth is his ruin,
    and his lips are a snare to his soul.
⁸^(H)The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels;
    they go down into ^(I)the inner parts of the body.
⁹Whoever is slack in his work
    is a ^(J)brother to him who destroys.
¹⁰^(K)The name of the Lord is ^(L)a strong tower;
    the righteous man runs into it and ^(M)is safe.
¹¹^(N)A rich man's wealth is his strong city,
    and like a high wall in his imagination.
¹²^(O)Before destruction a man's heart is haughty,
    but ^(P)humility comes before honor.
¹³If one gives an answer ^(Q)before he hears,
    it is his folly and shame.
¹⁴A man's spirit will endure sickness,
    but ^(R)a crushed spirit who can bear?
¹⁵An intelligent heart acquires knowledge,
    and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.
¹⁶A man's ^(S)gift makes room for him
    and brings him before the great.
¹⁷The one who states his case first seems right,
    until the other comes and examines him.
¹⁸^(T)The lot puts an end to quarrels
    and decides between powerful contenders.
¹⁹A brother offended is more unyielding than a strong city,
    and quarreling is like the bars of a castle.
²⁰^(U)From the fruit of a man's mouth his stomach is satisfied;
    he is satisfied by the yield of his lips.
²¹^(V)Death and life are in the power of the tongue,
    and those who love it will eat its fruits.
²²He who finds ^(W)a wife finds ^(X)a good thing
    and ^(Y)obtains favor ^(Z)from the Lord.
²³The poor use entreaties,
    but ^(AA)the rich answer roughly.
²⁴A man of many companions may come to ruin,
    but ^(AB)there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Footnotes

Proverbs 18:5 Hebrew to lift the face of

Titus 1

English Standard Version

Greeting

1 Paul, a servant^[a] of God and ^(A)an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and ^(B)their knowledge of the truth, ^(C)which accords with godliness, ²^(D)in hope of eternal life, which God, ^(E)who never lies, ^(F)promised ^(G)before the ages began^[b] ³and ^(H)at the proper time manifested in his word^[c] ^(I)through the preaching ^(J)with which I have been entrusted ^(K)by the command of God our Savior;

⁴To Titus, ^(L)my true child in ^(M)a common faith:

^(N)Grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.

Qualifications for Elders

⁵^(O)This is why I left you in Crete, so that you might put what remained into order, and ^(P)appoint elders in every town as I directed you— ⁶^(Q)if anyone is above reproach, the husband of one wife,^[d] and his children are believers^[e] and not open to the charge of ^(R)debauchery or insubordination. ⁷For an overseer,^[f] ^(S)as God's steward, must be above reproach. He must not ^(T)be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent ^(U)or greedy for gain, ⁸but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, ^(V)and disciplined. ⁹He must ^(W)hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught, so that he may be able to give instruction in ^(X)sound^[g] doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it.

¹⁰For there are many who are insubordinate, ^(Y)empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of ^(Z)the circumcision party.^[h] ¹¹They must be silenced, since ^(AA)they are upsetting whole families by teaching ^(AB)for shameful gain what they ought not to teach. ¹²^(AC)One of the Cretans,^[i] a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”^[j] ¹³This testimony is true. Therefore ^(AD)rebuke them ^(AE)sharply, that they ^(AF)may be sound in the faith, ¹⁴^(AG)not devoting themselves to Jewish myths and ^(AH)the commands of people ^(AI)who turn away from the truth. ¹⁵^(AJ)To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and ^(AK)unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both ^(AL)their minds and their consciences are defiled. ¹⁶^(AM)They profess to know God, but they ^(AN)deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, ^(AO)unfit for any good work.