Isaiah 50-52

New King James Version

The Servant, Israel’s Hope

50 Thus says the Lord:

“Where is ^(A)the certificate of your mother’s divorce,
Whom I have put away?
Or which of My ^(B)creditors is it to whom I have sold you?
For your iniquities ^(C)you have sold yourselves,
And for your transgressions your mother has been put away.
²Why, when I came, was there no man?
Why, when I called, was there none to answer?
Is My hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem?
Or have I no power to deliver?
Indeed with My ^(D)rebuke I dry up the sea,
I make the rivers a wilderness;
Their fish stink because there is no water,
And die of thirst.
³^(E)I clothe the heavens with blackness,
^(F)And I make sackcloth their covering.”

⁴“The^(G) Lord God has given Me
The tongue of the learned,
That I should know how to speak
A word in season to him who is ^(H)weary.
He awakens Me morning by morning,
He awakens My ear
To hear as the learned.
⁵The Lord God ^(I)has opened My ear;
And I was not ^(J)rebellious,
Nor did I turn away.
⁶^(K)I gave My back to those who struck Me,
And ^(L)My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard;
I did not hide My face from shame and ^(M)spitting.

⁷“For the Lord God will help Me;
Therefore I will not be disgraced;
Therefore ^(N)I have set My face like a flint,
And I know that I will not be ashamed.
⁸^(O)He is near who justifies Me;
Who will contend with Me?
Let us stand together.
Who is ^[a]My adversary?
Let him come near Me.
⁹Surely the Lord God will help Me;
Who is he who will condemn Me?
^(P)Indeed they will all grow old like a garment;
^(Q)The moth will eat them up.

¹⁰“Who among you fears the Lord?
Who obeys the voice of His Servant?
Who ^(R)walks in darkness
And has no light?
^(S)Let him trust in the name of the Lord
And rely upon his God.
¹¹Look, all you who kindle a fire,
Who encircle yourselves with sparks:
Walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks you have kindled—
^(T)This you shall have from My hand:
You shall lie down ^(U)in torment.

The Lord Comforts Zion^(V)

51 “Listen to Me, ^(W)you who ^[b]follow after righteousness,
You who seek the Lord:
Look to the rock from which you were hewn,
And to the hole of the pit from which you were dug.
²^(X)Look to Abraham your father,
And to Sarah who bore you;
^(Y)For I called him alone,
And ^(Z)blessed him and increased him.”

³For the Lord will ^(AA)comfort Zion,
He will comfort all her waste places;
He will make her wilderness like Eden,
And her desert ^(AB)like the garden of the Lord;
Joy and gladness will be found in it,
Thanksgiving and the voice of melody.

⁴“Listen to Me, My people;
And give ear to Me, O My nation:
^(AC)For law will proceed from Me,
And I will make My justice rest
^(AD)As a light of the peoples.
⁵^(AE)My righteousness is near,
My salvation has gone forth,
^(AF)And My arms will judge the peoples;
^(AG)The coastlands will wait upon Me,
And ^(AH)on My arm they will trust.
⁶^(AI)Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
And look on the earth beneath.
For ^(AJ)the heavens will vanish away like smoke,
^(AK)The earth will grow old like a garment,
And those who dwell in it will die in like manner;
But My salvation will be ^(AL)forever,
And My righteousness will not be ^[c]abolished.

⁷“Listen to Me, you who know righteousness,
You people ^(AM)in whose heart is My law:
^(AN)Do not fear the reproach of men,
Nor be afraid of their insults.
⁸For ^(AO)the moth will eat them up like a garment,
And the worm will eat them like wool;
But My righteousness will be forever,
And My salvation from generation to generation.”

⁹^(AP)Awake, awake, ^(AQ)put on strength,
O arm of the Lord!
Awake ^(AR)as in the ancient days,
In the generations of old.
^(AS)Are You not the arm that cut ^(AT)Rahab apart,
And wounded the ^(AU)serpent?

¹⁰Are You not the One who ^(AV)dried up the sea,
The waters of the great deep;
That made the depths of the sea a road
For the redeemed to cross over?
¹¹So ^(AW)the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
And come to Zion with singing,
With everlasting joy on their heads.
They shall obtain joy and gladness;
Sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

¹²“I, even I, am He ^(AX)who comforts you.
Who are you that you should be afraid
^(AY)Of a man who will die,
And of the son of a man who will be made ^(AZ)like grass?
¹³And ^(BA)you forget the Lord your Maker,
^(BB)Who stretched out the heavens
And laid the foundations of the earth;
You have feared continually every day
Because of the fury of the oppressor,
When he has prepared to destroy.
^(BC)And where is the fury of the oppressor?
¹⁴The captive exile hastens, that he may be loosed,
^(BD)That he should not die in the pit,
And that his bread should not fail.
¹⁵But I am the Lord your God,
Who ^(BE)divided the sea whose waves roared—
The Lord of hosts is His name.
¹⁶And ^(BF)I have put My words in your mouth;
^(BG)I have covered you with the shadow of My hand,
^(BH)That I may ^[d]plant the heavens,
Lay the foundations of the earth,
And say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’ ”

God’s Fury Removed

¹⁷^(BI)Awake, awake!
Stand up, O Jerusalem,
You who ^(BJ)have drunk at the hand of the Lord
The cup of His fury;
You have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling,
And drained it out.
¹⁸There is no one to guide her
Among all the sons she has brought forth;
Nor is there any who takes her by the hand
Among all the sons she has brought up.
¹⁹^(BK)These two things have come to you;
Who will be sorry for you?—
Desolation and destruction, famine and sword—
^(BL)By whom will I comfort you?
²⁰^(BM)Your sons have fainted,
They lie at the head of all the streets,
Like an antelope in a net;
They are full of the fury of the Lord,
The rebuke of your God.

²¹Therefore please hear this, you afflicted,
And drunk ^(BN)but not with wine.
²²Thus says your Lord,
The Lord and your God,
Who ^(BO)pleads the cause of His people:
“See, I have taken out of your hand
The cup of trembling,
The dregs of the cup of My fury;
You shall no longer drink it.
²³^(BP)But I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you,
Who have said to ^[e]you,
‘Lie down, that we may walk over you.’
And you have laid your body like the ground,
And as the street, for those who walk over.”

God Redeems Jerusalem

52 Awake, awake!
Put on your strength, O Zion;
Put on your beautiful garments,
O Jerusalem, the holy city!
For the uncircumcised ^(BQ)and the unclean
Shall no longer come to you.
²^(BR)Shake yourself from the dust, arise;
Sit down, O Jerusalem!
^(BS)Loose yourself from the bonds of your neck,
O captive daughter of Zion!

³For thus says the Lord:

^(BT)“You have sold yourselves for nothing,
And you shall be redeemed ^(BU)without money.”

⁴For thus says the Lord God:

“My people went down at first
Into ^(BV)Egypt to ^[f]dwell there;
Then the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.
⁵Now therefore, what have I here,” says the Lord,
“That My people are taken away for nothing?
Those who rule over them
^[g]Make them wail,” says the Lord,
“And My name is ^(BW)blasphemed continually every day.
⁶Therefore My people shall know My name;
Therefore they shall know in that day
That I am He who speaks:
‘Behold, it is I.’ ”

⁷^(BX)How beautiful upon the mountains
Are the feet of him who brings good news,
Who proclaims peace,
Who brings glad tidings of good things,
Who proclaims salvation,
Who says to Zion,
^(BY)“Your God reigns!”
⁸Your watchmen shall lift up their voices,
With their voices they shall sing together;
For they shall see eye to eye
When the Lord brings back Zion.
⁹Break forth into joy, sing together,
You waste places of Jerusalem!
For the Lord has comforted His people,
He has redeemed Jerusalem.
¹⁰^(BZ)The Lord has ^[h]made bare His holy arm
In the eyes of ^(CA)all the nations;
And all the ends of the earth shall see
The salvation of our God.

¹¹^(CB)Depart! Depart! Go out from there,
Touch no unclean thing;
Go out from the midst of her,
^(CC)Be clean,
You who bear the vessels of the Lord.
¹²For ^(CD)you shall not go out with haste,
Nor go by flight;
^(CE)For the Lord will go before you,
^(CF)And the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

The Sin-Bearing Servant

¹³Behold, ^(CG)My Servant shall ^[i]deal prudently;
^(CH)He shall be exalted and ^[j]extolled and be very high.
¹⁴Just as many were astonished at you,
So His ^(CI)visage^[k] was marred more than any man,
And His form more than the sons of men;
¹⁵^(CJ)So shall He ^[l]sprinkle many nations.
Kings shall shut their mouths at Him;
For ^(CK)what had not been told them they shall see,
And what they had not heard they shall consider.

Footnotes

Isaiah 50:8 Lit. master of My judgment
Isaiah 51:1 pursue
Isaiah 51:6 broken
Isaiah 51:16 establish
Isaiah 51:23 Lit. your soul
Isaiah 52:4 As resident aliens
Isaiah 52:5 DSS Mock; LXX Marvel and wail; Tg. Boast themselves; Vg. Treat them unjustly
Isaiah 52:10 Revealed His power
Isaiah 52:13 prosper
Isaiah 52:13 Lit. be lifted up
Isaiah 52:14 appearance
Isaiah 52:15 Or startle

Psalm 92

New King James Version

Praise to the Lord for His Love and Faithfulness

A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath day.

92 It is ^(A)good to give thanks to the Lord,
And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High;
²To ^(B)declare Your lovingkindness in the morning,
And Your faithfulness every night,
³^(C)On an instrument of ten strings,
On the lute,
And on the harp,
With harmonious sound.
⁴For You, Lord, have made me glad through Your work;
I will triumph in the works of Your hands.

⁵^(D)O Lord, how great are Your works!
^(E)Your thoughts are very deep.
⁶^(F)A senseless man does not know,
Nor does a fool understand this.
⁷When ^(G)the wicked ^[a]spring up like grass,
And when all the workers of iniquity flourish,
It is that they may be destroyed forever.

⁸^(H)But You, Lord, are on high forevermore.
⁹For behold, Your enemies, O Lord,
For behold, Your enemies shall perish;
All the workers of iniquity shall ^(I)be scattered.

¹⁰But ^(J)my ^[b]horn You have exalted like a wild ox;
I have been ^(K)anointed with fresh oil.
¹¹^(L)My eye also has seen my desire on my enemies;
My ears hear my desire on the wicked
Who rise up against me.

¹²^(M)The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree,
He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
¹³Those who are planted in the house of the Lord
Shall flourish in the courts of our God.
¹⁴They shall still bear fruit in old age;
They shall be ^[c]fresh and ^[d]flourishing,
¹⁵To declare that the Lord is upright;
^(N)He is my rock, and ^(O)there is no unrighteousness in Him.

Footnotes

Psalm 92:7 sprout
Psalm 92:10 Strength
Psalm 92:14 Full of oil or sap, lit. fat
Psalm 92:14 green

2 Peter 1

New King James Version

Greeting the Faithful

1 Simon Peter, a bondservant and ^(A)apostle of Jesus Christ,

To those who have ^[a]obtained ^(B)like^[b] precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:

²^(C)Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, ³as His ^(D)divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him ^(E)who called us by glory and virtue, ⁴^(F)by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be ^(G)partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the ^[c]corruption that is in the world through lust.

Fruitful Growth in the Faith

⁵But also for this very reason, ^(H)giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue ^(I)knowledge, ⁶to knowledge self-control, to self-control ^[d]perseverance, to perseverance godliness, ⁷to godliness brotherly kindness, and ^(J)to brotherly kindness love. ⁸For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither ^[e]barren ^(K)nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹For he who lacks these things is ^(L)shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins.

¹⁰Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent ^(M)to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; ¹¹for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Peter’s Approaching Death

¹²For this reason ^(N)I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, ^(O)though you know and are established in the present truth. ¹³Yes, I think it is right, ^(P)as long as I am in this ^[f]tent, ^(Q)to stir you up by reminding you, ¹⁴^(R)knowing that shortly I must ^[g]put off my tent, just as ^(S)our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. ¹⁵Moreover I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my ^[h]decease.

The Trustworthy Prophetic Word^(T)

¹⁶For we did not follow ^(U)cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the ^(V)power and ^(W)coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were ^(X)eyewitnesses of His majesty. ¹⁷For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: ^(Y)“This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” ¹⁸And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on ^(Z)the holy mountain.

¹⁹^[i]And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a ^(AA)light that shines in a dark place, ^(AB)until ^(AC)the day dawns and the morning star rises in your ^(AD)hearts; ²⁰knowing this first, that ^(AE)no prophecy of Scripture is of any private ^[j]interpretation, ²¹for ^(AF)prophecy never came by the will of man, ^(AG)but ^[k]holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.