The Daily Audio Bible
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The Lord Will Save His People
51 Listen to me, you people who pursue what is right and seek the Lord.
Look to the rock from which you were cut
and to the quarry from which you were dug.
2 Look to Abraham, your ancestor,
and to Sarah, from whom you are descended.
When I called Abraham, he was childless.
I blessed him and gave him many descendants.
3 So the Lord will comfort Zion.
He will comfort all those who live among its ruins.
He will make its desert like Eden.
He will make its wilderness like the garden of the Lord.
Joy and gladness will be found in it,
thanksgiving and the sound of singing.
4 Pay attention to me, my people.
Open your ears to hear me, my nation.
My teachings will go out from me.
My justice will become a light for the people.
5 My righteousness is near.
My salvation is on the way.
I will bring justice to people.
The coastlands put their hope in me,
and they wait eagerly for me.
6 Look at the sky.
Look at the earth below.
The sky will vanish like smoke.
The earth will wear out like clothing,
and those who live there will die like flies.
But my salvation will last forever,
and my righteousness will never fail.
7 Listen to me, you people who know righteousness,
you people who have my teachings in your hearts.
Don’t be afraid of being insulted by people.
Don’t be discouraged by their ridicule.
8 Moths will eat them like clothing.
Worms will devour them like wool.
But my righteousness will last forever,
and my salvation will last throughout every generation.
9 Wake up! Wake up! Clothe yourself with strength, O Lord!
Wake up as you did in days long past, as in generations long ago.
Didn’t you cut Rahab [a] into pieces and stab the serpent?
10 Didn’t you dry up the sea, the water of the great ocean?
You made a road in the depths of the sea
so that the people reclaimed ⌞by the Lord⌟
might pass through it.
11 The people ransomed by the Lord will return.
They will come to Zion singing with joy.
Everlasting happiness will be on their heads ⌞as a crown⌟.
They will be glad and joyful.
They will have no sorrow or grief.
12 I alone am the one who comforts you.
Why, then, are you afraid of mortals, who must die,
of humans, who are like grass?
13 Why have you forgotten the Lord, your Creator?
He stretched out the heavens
and laid the foundations of the earth.
Why should you live in constant fear of the fury
of those who oppress you,
of those who are ready to destroy you?
Where is the fury of those who oppress you?
14 Chained prisoners will be set free.
They will not die in prison.
They will not go without food.
15 I am the Lord your God who stirs up the sea
and makes its waves roar.
My name is the Lord of Armies.
16 I put my words in your mouth
and sheltered you in the palm of my hand.
I stretched out the heavens,
laid the foundations of the earth,
and said to Zion, “You are my people.”
Wake Up, Jerusalem
17 Wake up! Wake up!
Stand up, Jerusalem!
You drank from the cup in the Lord’s hand.
That cup was filled with his anger.
You drank from the bowl, the cup that makes people stagger,
and you drained it!
18 From all the children she gave birth to,
there was no one to guide her.
From all the children she raised,
there was no one to take her by the hand.
19 Twice as many disasters have happened to you.
Who will feel sorry for you?
Violence, destruction, famine, and war have happened to you.
Who will comfort you?
20 Your children have fainted.
They lie sleeping at every street corner.
They are like an antelope caught in a net.
They experience the anger of the Lord,
the fury of your God.
21 Listen to this, you humble people
who are drunk but not from wine.
22 The Lord your God defends his people.
This is what your master says:
I’m taking from your hand the cup that makes people stagger,
the bowl, the cup of my fury.
You will never drink from it again.
23 I will put it in the hands of those who made you suffer.
They said to you, “Lie down so that we can walk over you.”
So you made your back like the ground
and like a street for them to cross.
Wake Up, Zion
52 Wake up! Wake up! Clothe yourself with strength, Zion!
Put on your beautiful clothes, holy city of Jerusalem.
Godless and evil people will no longer come to you.
2 Shake the dust from yourselves.
Get up, captive Jerusalem.
Free yourself from the chains around your neck, captive people of Zion.
3 This is what the Lord says: You were sold, but no price was paid. You will be bought back, but without money.
4 This is what the Almighty Lord says: In the beginning my people went to Egypt to live there as foreigners. Later the Assyrians oppressed them for no reason. 5 So what do I find here? asks the Lord. My people are taken away for no reason. Their rulers are screaming, declares the Lord. And my name is cursed all day long. 6 Now my people will know my name. When that day comes, ⌞they will know⌟ that I am the one who says, “Here I am!”
7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the messenger
who announces the good news, “All is well.”
He brings the good news,
announces salvation,
and tells Zion that its God rules as king.
8 Listen! Your watchmen raise their voices
and shout together joyfully.
When the Lord brings Zion back,
they will see it with their own eyes.
9 Break out into shouts of joy, ruins of Jerusalem.
The Lord will comfort his people.
He will reclaim Jerusalem.
10 The Lord will show his holy power to all the nations.
All the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.
11 Run away! Run away!
Get away from there!
Do not touch anything unclean.[b]
Get away from it!
Make yourselves pure,
you Levites who carry the utensils for the Lord’s temple.
12 You will not go away in a hurry,
nor will you go away quickly.
The Lord will go ahead of you.
The God of Israel will guard you from behind.
The Suffering Servant
13 My servant will be successful.
He will be respected, praised, and highly honored.
14 Many will be shocked by him.[c]
His appearance will be so disfigured
that he won’t look like any other man.
His looks will be so disfigured
that he will hardly look like a human.
15 He will cleanse many nations ⌞with his blood⌟.
Kings will shut their mouths because of him.
They will see things that they had never been told.
They will understand things that they had never heard.
53 Who has believed our message?
To whom has the Lord’s power been revealed?
2 He grew up in his presence like a young tree,
like a root out of dry ground.
He had no form or majesty that would make us look at him.
He had nothing in his appearance that would make us desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by people.
He was a man of sorrows, familiar with suffering.
He was despised like one from whom people turn their faces,
and we didn’t consider him to be worth anything.
4 He certainly has taken upon himself our suffering
and carried our sorrows,
but we thought that God had wounded him,
beat him, and punished him.
5 He was wounded for our rebellious acts.
He was crushed for our sins.
He was punished so that we could have peace,
and we received healing from his wounds.
6 We have all strayed like sheep.
Each one of us has turned to go his own way,
and the Lord has laid all our sins on him.
7 He was abused and punished,
but he didn’t open his mouth.
He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.
He was like a sheep that is silent
when its wool is cut off.
He didn’t open his mouth.
8 He was arrested, taken away, and judged.
Who would have thought that he would be removed
from the world?
He was killed because of my people’s rebellion.
9 He was placed in a tomb with the wicked.
He was put there with the rich when he died,
although he had done nothing violent
and had never spoken a lie.
10 Yet, it was the Lord’s will to crush him with suffering.
When the Lord has made his life a sacrifice for our wrongdoings,
he will see his descendants for many days.
The will of the Lord will succeed through him.
11 He will see and be satisfied
because of his suffering.
My righteous servant will acquit many people
because of what he has learned ⌞through suffering⌟.
He will carry their sins as a burden.
12 So I will give him a share among the mighty,
and he will divide the prize with the strong,
because he poured out his life in death
and he was counted with sinners.
He carried the sins of many.
He intercedes for those who are rebellious.
Imitate God
5 Imitate God, since you are the children he loves. 2 Live in love as Christ also loved us. He gave his life for us as an offering and sacrifice, a soothing aroma to God.
3 Don’t let sexual sin, perversion of any kind, or greed even be mentioned among you. This is not appropriate behavior for God’s holy people. 4 It’s not right that dirty stories, foolish talk, or obscene jokes should be mentioned among you either. Instead, give thanks ⌞to God⌟. 5 You know very well that no person who is involved in sexual sin, perversion, or greed (which means worshiping wealth) can have any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. 6 Don’t let anyone deceive you with meaningless words. It is because of sins like these that God’s anger comes to those who refuse to obey him. 7 Don’t be partners with them.
8 Once you lived in the dark, but now the Lord has filled you with light. Live as children who have light. 9 Light produces everything that is good, that has God’s approval, and that is true. 10 Determine which things please the Lord. 11 Have nothing to do with the useless works that darkness produces. Instead, expose them for what they are. 12 It is shameful to talk about what some people do in secret. 13 Light exposes the true character of everything 14 because light makes everything easy to see. That’s why it says:
“Wake up, sleeper!
Rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.” [a]
15 So then, be very careful how you live. Don’t live like foolish people but like wise people. 16 Make the most of your opportunities because these are evil days. 17 So don’t be foolish, but understand what the Lord wants. 18 Don’t get drunk on wine, which leads to wild living. Instead, be filled with the Spirit [b] 19 by reciting psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs for your own good. Sing and make music to the Lord with your hearts. 20 Always thank God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Advice to Wives and Husbands
21 Place yourselves under each other’s authority out of respect for Christ.
22 Wives, place yourselves under your husbands’ authority as you have placed yourselves under the Lord’s authority. 23 The husband is the head of his wife as Christ is the head of the church. It is his body, and he is its Savior. 24 As the church is under Christ’s authority, so wives are under their husbands’ authority in everything.
25 Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave his life for it. 26 He did this to make the church holy by cleansing it, washing it using water along with spoken words. 27 Then he could present it to himself as a glorious church, without any kind of stain or wrinkle—holy and without faults. 28 So husbands must love their wives as they love their own bodies. A man who loves his wife loves himself. 29 No one ever hated his own body. Instead, he feeds and takes care of it, as Christ takes care of the church. 30 We are parts of his body. 31 That’s why a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and the two will be one. 32 This is a great mystery. (I’m talking about Christ’s relationship to the church.) 33 But every husband must love his wife as he loves himself, and wives should respect their husbands.
19 You know that I have been insulted, put to shame, and humiliated.
All my opponents are in front of you.
20 Insults have broken my heart, and I am sick.
I looked for sympathy, but there was none.
I looked for people to comfort me, but I found no one.
21 They poisoned my food,
and when I was thirsty, they gave me vinegar to drink.
22 Let the table set for them become a trap
and a snare for their friends.
23 Let their vision become clouded so that they cannot see.
Let their thighs continually shake.
24 Pour your rage on them.
Let your burning anger catch up with them.
25 Let their camp be deserted
and their tents empty.
26 They persecute the one you have struck,
and they talk about the pain of those you have wounded.
27 Charge them with one crime after another.
Do not let them be found innocent.
28 Let their ⌞names⌟ be erased from the Book of Life.
Do not let them be listed with righteous people.
29 I am suffering and in pain.
Let your saving power protect me, O God.
30 I want to praise God’s name with a song.
I want to praise his great name with a song of thanksgiving.
31 This will please the Lord more than ⌞sacrificing⌟ an ox
or a bull with horns and hoofs.
32 Oppressed people will see ⌞this⌟ and rejoice.
May the hearts of those who look to God for help be refreshed.
33 The Lord listens to needy people.
He does not despise his own who are in prison.
34 Let heaven and earth, the seas, and everything that moves in them, praise him.
35 When God saves Zion, he will rebuild the cities of Judah.
His servants will live there and take possession of it.
36 The descendants of his servants will inherit it.
Those who love him will live there.
7 Matters of wisdom are beyond the grasp of a stubborn fool.
At the city gate he does not open his mouth.
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