Isaiah 66

English Standard Version

The Humble and Contrite in Spirit

66 ^(A)Thus says the Lord:
^(B)“Heaven is my throne,
    and the earth is my footstool;
what is the house that you would build for me,
    and what is the place of my rest?
²^(C)All these things my hand has made,
    and so all these things came to be,
declares the Lord.
^(D)But this is the one to whom I will look:
    he who is humble and contrite in spirit
    and trembles at my word.

³^(E)“He who slaughters an ox is like one who kills a man;
    he who sacrifices a lamb, like one who breaks a dog's neck;
he who presents a grain offering, like one who offers ^(F)pig's blood;
    he who makes a memorial offering of frankincense, like one who blesses an idol.
^(G)These have chosen their own ways,
    and their soul delights in their abominations;
⁴^(H)I also will choose harsh treatment for them
    and bring ^(I)their fears upon them,
^(J)because when I called, no one answered,
    when I spoke, they did not listen;
^(K)but they did what was evil in my eyes
    and chose that in which I did not delight.”

⁵Hear the word of the Lord,
    you who tremble at his word:
“Your brothers who hate you
    and cast you out for my name's sake
have said, ^(L)‘Let the Lord be glorified,
    that we may see your joy’;
    but it is they who shall be put to shame.

⁶“The sound of an uproar from the city!
A sound from the temple!
The sound of the Lord,
^(M)rendering recompense to his enemies!

Rejoice with Jerusalem

⁷^(N)“Before she was in labor
    she gave birth;
before her pain came upon her
    she delivered a son.
⁸Who has heard such a thing?
    Who has seen such things?
Shall a land be born in one day?
    Shall a nation be brought forth in one moment?
For ^(O)as soon as Zion was in labor
    she brought forth her children.
⁹Shall I bring to the point of birth and not cause to bring forth?”
    says the Lord;
“shall I, who cause to bring forth, shut the womb?”
    says your God.

¹⁰^(P)“Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her,
    all you who love her;
rejoice with her in joy,
    all you who mourn over her;
¹¹that you may nurse and be satisfied
    from her consoling breast;
that you may drink deeply with delight
    from her glorious abundance.”^[a]

¹²For thus says the Lord:
^(Q)“Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river,
    and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream;
and ^(R)you shall nurse, you shall be carried upon her hip,
    and bounced upon her knees.
¹³As one whom his mother comforts,
    so ^(S)I will comfort you;
    you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
¹⁴You shall see, and your heart shall rejoice;
    ^(T)your bones shall flourish like the grass;
and ^(U)the hand of the Lord shall be known to his servants,
    and he shall show his indignation against his enemies.

Final Judgment and Glory of the Lord

¹⁵“For behold, ^(V)the Lord will come in fire,
    and ^(W)his chariots like the whirlwind,
to render his anger in fury,
    and his rebuke with flames of fire.
¹⁶For ^(X)by fire ^(Y)will the Lord enter into judgment,
    and by his sword, with all flesh;
    and those slain by the Lord shall be many.

¹⁷^(Z)“Those who sanctify and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one in the midst, ^(AA)eating pig's flesh and the abomination and mice, shall come to an end together, declares the Lord.

¹⁸“For I know^[b] their works and their thoughts, and the time is coming^[c] ^(AB)to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see my glory, ¹⁹and I will set a sign among them. And from them ^(AC)I will send survivors to the nations, to ^(AD)Tarshish, ^(AE)Pul, and ^(AF)Lud, who draw the bow, to ^(AG)Tubal and ^(AH)Javan, ^(AI)to the coastlands far away, ^(AJ)that have not heard my fame or seen my glory. And they shall declare my glory among the nations. ²⁰^(AK)And they shall bring all your brothers from all the nations ^(AL)as an offering to the Lord, on horses and in chariots and in litters and on mules and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the Lord, just as the Israelites bring their grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord. ²¹^(AM)And some of them also I will take for priests and for Levites, says the Lord.

²²“For as ^(AN)the new heavens and the new earth
    that I make
shall remain before me, says the Lord,
    so ^(AO)shall your offspring and your name remain.
²³^(AP)From new moon to new moon,
    and from Sabbath to Sabbath,
all flesh shall come to worship before me,
declares the Lord.

²⁴“And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For ^(AQ)their worm shall not die, ^(AR)their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”

Footnotes

Isaiah 66:11 Or breast
Isaiah 66:18 Septuagint, Syriac; Hebrew lacks know
Isaiah 66:18 Hebrew and it is coming

Philippians 2:19-3:11

English Standard Version

Timothy and Epaphroditus

¹⁹I hope in the Lord Jesus ^(A)to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. ²⁰For I have no one ^(B)like him, who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare. ²¹For they all ^(C)seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. ²²But you know Timothy's^[a] ^(D)proven worth, how ^(E)as a son^[b] with a father ^(F)he has served with me in the gospel. ²³I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me, ²⁴and ^(G)I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself will come also.

²⁵I have thought it necessary to send to you ^(H)Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and ^(I)fellow soldier, and your messenger and ^(J)minister to my need, ²⁶for he has been longing for you all and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill. ²⁷Indeed he was ill, near to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow. ²⁸I am the more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious. ²⁹So ^(K)receive him in the Lord with all joy, and ^(L)honor such men, ³⁰for he nearly died^[c] ^(M)for the work of Christ, risking his life ^(N)to complete what was lacking in your service to me.

Righteousness Through Faith in Christ

3 Finally, my brothers,^[d] ^(O)rejoice in the Lord. ^(P)To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.

²Look out for ^(Q)the dogs, look out for ^(R)the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. ³For ^(S)we are the circumcision, ^(T)who worship ^(U)by the Spirit of God^[e] and ^(V)glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— ⁴^(W)though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: ⁵^(X)circumcised on the eighth day, ^(Y)of the people of Israel, ^(Z)of the tribe of Benjamin, ^(AA)a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, ^(AB)a Pharisee; ⁶^(AC)as to zeal, ^(AD)a persecutor of the church; ^(AE)as to righteousness under the law,^[f] blameless. ⁷But ^(AF)whatever gain I had, ^(AG)I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸Indeed, I count everything as loss because of ^(AH)the surpassing worth of ^(AI)knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I ^(AJ)have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ ⁹and be found in him, not having ^(AK)a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but ^(AL)that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— ¹⁰^(AM)that I may know him and ^(AN)the power of his resurrection, and ^(AO)may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹that by any means possible I may ^(AP)attain the resurrection from the dead.