Psalm 81
English Standard Version
Oh, That My People Would Listen to Me
To the choirmaster: according to (A)The Gittith.[a] Of (B)Asaph.
81 (C)Sing aloud to God our strength;
(D)shout for joy to the God of Jacob!
2 Raise a song; sound (E)the tambourine,
(F)the sweet lyre with (G)the harp.
3 Blow the trumpet at (H)the new moon,
at the full moon, on our feast day.
4 For it is a statute for Israel,
a rule[b] of the God of Jacob.
5 He made it (I)a decree in (J)Joseph
when he (K)went out over[c] the land of Egypt.
(L)I hear a language (M)I had not known:
6 “I (N)relieved your[d] shoulder of (O)the burden;
your hands were freed from the basket.
7 In distress you (P)called, and I delivered you;
I (Q)answered you in the secret place of thunder;
I (R)tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah
8 (S)Hear, O my people, while I admonish you!
O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
9 There shall be no (T)strange god among you;
you shall not bow down to a (U)foreign god.
10 (V)I am the Lord your God,
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
(W)Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
11 “But my people did not listen to my voice;
Israel (X)would not submit to me.
12 So I (Y)gave them over to their (Z)stubborn hearts,
to follow their own (AA)counsels.
13 (AB)Oh, that my people would listen to me,
that Israel would (AC)walk in my ways!
14 I would soon subdue their enemies
and (AD)turn my hand against their foes.
15 Those who hate the Lord would (AE)cringe toward him,
and their fate would last forever.
16 But he would feed you[e] with (AF)the finest of the wheat,
and with (AG)honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”
Footnotes
- Psalm 81:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term
- Psalm 81:4 Or just decree
- Psalm 81:5 Or against
- Psalm 81:6 Hebrew his; also next line
- Psalm 81:16 That is, Israel; Hebrew him
Isaiah 34-35
English Standard Version
Judgment on the Nations
34 Draw near, (A)O nations, to hear,
and give attention, O peoples!
Let the earth hear, and all that fills it;
the world, and all that comes from it.
2 For the Lord is enraged against all the nations,
and furious against all their host;
he has (B)devoted them to destruction,[a] has given them over for slaughter.
3 Their slain shall be cast out,
and (C)the stench of their corpses shall rise;
(D)the mountains shall flow with their blood.
4 (E)All the host of heaven shall rot away,
and the skies roll up like a scroll.
All their host shall fall,
as leaves fall from the vine,
like leaves falling from the fig tree.
5 For my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens;
behold, it descends for judgment upon (F)Edom,
upon the people (G)I have devoted to destruction.
6 The Lord has a sword; it is sated with blood;
it is gorged with fat,
with the blood of lambs and goats,
with the fat of the kidneys of rams.
(H)For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah,
a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
7 (I)Wild oxen shall (J)fall with them,
and (K)young steers with (L)the mighty bulls.
Their land shall drink its fill of blood,
and their soil shall be gorged with fat.
8 (M)For the Lord has a day of vengeance,
a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
9 (N)And the streams of Edom[b] shall be turned into pitch,
and her soil into sulfur;
her land shall become burning pitch.
10 Night and day (O)it shall not be quenched;
(P)its smoke shall go up forever.
(Q)From generation to generation it shall lie waste;
none shall pass through it forever and ever.
11 (R)But the hawk and the porcupine[c] shall possess it,
the owl and the raven shall dwell in it.
(S)He shall stretch the line of (T)confusion[d] over it,
and the plumb line of emptiness.
12 Its nobles—there is no one there to call it a kingdom,
and all its princes shall be nothing.
13 (U)Thorns shall grow over its strongholds,
nettles and thistles in its fortresses.
It shall be the haunt of (V)jackals,
an abode for ostriches.[e]
14 (W)And wild animals shall meet with hyenas;
the wild goat shall cry to his fellow;
indeed, there the night bird[f] settles
and finds for herself a resting place.
15 There the owl nests and lays
and hatches and gathers her young in her shadow;
indeed, there (X)the hawks are gathered,
each one with her mate.
16 Seek and read from the book of the Lord:
Not one of these shall be missing;
none shall be without her mate.
For the mouth of the Lord has commanded,
and his Spirit has gathered them.
17 (Y)He has cast the lot for them;
his hand has portioned it out to them with the line;
they shall possess it forever;
from generation to generation they shall dwell in it.
The Ransomed Shall Return
35 (Z)The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad;
(AA)the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus;
2 it shall blossom abundantly
and rejoice with joy and singing.
(AB)The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
the majesty of (AC)Carmel and (AD)Sharon.
(AE)They shall see the glory of the Lord,
the majesty of our God.
3 (AF)Strengthen the weak hands,
and make firm the feeble knees.
4 Say to those who have an anxious heart,
“Be strong; fear not!
(AG)Behold, your God
will come with vengeance,
with the recompense of God.
He will come and save you.”
5 (AH)Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
6 (AI)then shall the lame man leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
(AJ)For waters break forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert;
7 (AK)the burning sand shall become a pool,
and the thirsty ground springs of water;
in the haunt of (AL)jackals, where they lie down,
the grass shall become reeds and rushes.
8 (AM)And a highway shall be there,
and it shall be called the Way of Holiness;
(AN)the unclean shall not pass over it.
It shall belong to those who walk on the way;
even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.[g]
9 No lion shall be there,
nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;
they shall not be found there,
but the redeemed shall walk there.
10 (AO)And the ransomed of the Lord shall return
and come to Zion with singing;
(AP)everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Footnotes
- Isaiah 34:2 That is, set apart (devoted) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction); also verse 5
- Isaiah 34:9 Hebrew her streams
- Isaiah 34:11 The identity of the animals rendered hawk and porcupine is uncertain
- Isaiah 34:11 Hebrew formlessness
- Isaiah 34:13 Or owls
- Isaiah 34:14 Identity uncertain
- Isaiah 35:8 Or if they are fools, they shall not wander in it
Acts 18
English Standard Version
Paul in Corinth
18 After this Paul[a] left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 And he found a Jew named (A)Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife (B)Priscilla, because (C)Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them, 3 and (D)because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. 4 And (E)he reasoned in the synagogue (F)every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.
5 (G)When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul (H)was occupied with the word, (I)testifying to the Jews that the Christ was (J)Jesus. 6 And when they opposed and reviled him, (K)he shook out his garments and said to them, (L)“Your blood be on your own heads! (M)I am innocent. (N)From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” 7 And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius (O)Justus, (P)a worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue. 8 (Q)Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together (R)with his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized. 9 And the Lord said to Paul (S)one night in (T)a vision, (U)“Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, 10 (V)for I am with you, and (W)no one will attack you to harm you, for (X)I have many in this city who are my people.” 11 And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
12 But when Gallio was (Y)proconsul of Achaia, (Z)the Jews[b] made a united attack on Paul and (AA)brought him before the tribunal, 13 saying, “This man is persuading people to worship God contrary to (AB)the law.” 14 But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious (AC)crime, O Jews, I would have reason to accept your complaint. 15 But (AD)since it is a matter of questions about words and names and (AE)your own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of these things.” 16 And he drove them from the tribunal. 17 And they all seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gallio paid no attention to any of this.
Paul Returns to Antioch
18 After this, Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of (AF)the brothers[c] and set sail for Syria, and with him (AG)Priscilla and Aquila. At (AH)Cenchreae (AI)he had cut his hair, for he was under a vow. 19 And they came to (AJ)Ephesus, and he left them there, but (AK)he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. 20 When they asked him to stay for a longer period, he declined. 21 But on taking leave of them he said, “I will return to you (AL)if God wills,” and he set sail from Ephesus.
22 When he had landed at Caesarea, he (AM)went up and greeted the church, and then went down to Antioch. 23 After spending some time there, he departed and (AN)went from one place to the next through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, (AO)strengthening all the disciples.
Apollos Speaks Boldly in Ephesus
24 Now a Jew named (AP)Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, (AQ)competent in the Scriptures. 25 He had been instructed in (AR)the way of the Lord. And (AS)being fervent in spirit,[d] he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, though he knew only (AT)the baptism of John. 26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when (AU)Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him (AV)the way of God more accurately. 27 And when he wished to cross to (AW)Achaia, (AX)the brothers encouraged him and (AY)wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, (AZ)he greatly helped those who through grace had believed, 28 for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures (BA)that the Christ was Jesus.
Footnotes
- Acts 18:1 Greek he
- Acts 18:12 Greek Ioudaioi probably refers here to Jewish religious leaders, and others under their influence, in that time; also verses 14 (twice), 28
- Acts 18:18 Or brothers and sisters; also verse 27
- Acts 18:25 Or in the Spirit
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
Bible Gateway Recommends
