Isaiah 7:1-9

Common English Bible

Reassurance to King Ahaz

7 In the days of Ahaz (Jotham’s son and grandson of Judah’s King Uzziah), Aram’s King Rezin and Israel’s King Pekah (Remaliah’s son) came up to attack Jerusalem, but they couldn’t overpower it.

²When the house of David was told that Aram had become allies with Ephraim, their hearts and the hearts of their people shook as the trees of a forest shake when there is a wind. ³But the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shear-jashub,^[a] at the end of the channel of the Upper Pool, by the road to the field where laundry is washed, ⁴and say to him, ‘Be careful and stay calm. Don’t fear, and don’t lose heart over these two pieces of smoking torches, over the burning anger of Rezin, Aram, and Remaliah’s son. ⁵Aram has planned evil against you with Ephraim and Remaliah’s son, saying, ⁶“Let’s march up against Judah, tear it apart, capture it for ourselves, and install Tabeel’s son as its king.” ⁷But the Lord God says: It won’t happen; it won’t take place. ⁸The chief of Aram is Damascus; the chief of Damascus is Rezin (in sixty-five more years Ephraim will be shattered as a nation); ⁹the chief of Ephraim is Samaria; and the chief of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you don’t believe this, you can’t be trusted.’”

Read full chapter

Footnotes

Isaiah 7:3 Or the remaining few will return

Psalm 48

Common English Bible

Psalm 48

A song. A psalm of the Korahites.

48 In the city belonging to our God,
    the Lord is great and so worthy of praise!
His holy mountain ²is a beautiful summit,
    the joy of the whole world.
    Mount Zion, in the far north,
    is the city of the great king.
³God is in its fortifications,
    revealing himself as a place of safety.

⁴Look: the kings assembled themselves,
    advancing all together—
⁵    when they saw it, they were stunned;
    they panicked and ran away frightened.
⁶Trembling took hold of them right there—
    like a woman giving birth,
⁷    or like the east wind when it smashes
    the ships of Tarshish.
⁸Just like we had heard,
    now we’ve seen it for ourselves
    in the city of the Lord of heavenly forces,
    in the city of our God.
        May God make it secure forever! Selah

⁹We dwell on your faithful love, God,
    in your temple.
¹⁰Your praise, God, just like your reputation,
    extends to the far corners of the earth.
        Your strong hand is filled with righteousness.
¹¹Let Mount Zion be glad;
    let the towns of Judah rejoice
        because of your acts of justice!

¹²Walk around Zion;
    go all the way around it;
    count its towers.
¹³Examine its defenses closely;
    tour its fortifications
    so that you may tell future generations:
¹⁴“This is God,
    our God, forever and always!
    He is the one who will lead us
    even to the very end.”^[a]

Footnotes

Psalm 48:14 LXX; Heb uncertain; Heb al muth (unto death or against death), but see the notes at Pss 9–10, 46—the words might belong in the heading of Ps 49.

Matthew 11:20-24

Common English Bible

Condemnation of Bethsaida and Capernaum

²⁰Then he began to scold the cities where he had done his greatest miracles because they didn’t change their hearts and lives. ²¹“How terrible it will be for you, Chorazin! How terrible it will be for you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles done among you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have changed their hearts and lives and put on funeral clothes and ashes a long time ago. ²²But I say to you that Tyre and Sidon will be better off on Judgment Day than you. ²³And you, Capernaum, will you be honored by being raised up to heaven? No, you will be thrown down to the place of the dead. After all, if the miracles that were done among you had been done in Sodom, it would still be here today. ²⁴But I say to you that it will be better for the land of Sodom on the Judgment Day than it will be for you.”

Read full chapter