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17 The oppressed and the poor look for water, but there is none;
their tongues are parched from thirst.
I, the Lord, will respond to their prayers;[a]
I, the God of Israel, will not abandon them.
18 I will make streams flow down the slopes
and produce springs in the middle of the valleys.
I will turn the wilderness into a pool of water
and the arid land into springs.
19 I will make cedars, acacias, myrtles, and olive trees grow in the wilderness;
I will make evergreens, firs, and cypresses grow together in the arid rift valley.[b]
20 I will do this so[c] people[d] will observe and recognize,
so they will pay attention and understand
that the Lord’s power[e] has accomplished this,
and that the Holy One of Israel has brought it into being.[f]
The Lord Challenges the Pagan Gods
21 “Present your argument,” says the Lord.
“Produce your evidence,”[g] says Jacob’s king.[h]
22 “Let them produce evidence! Let them tell us what will happen!
Tell us about your earlier predictive oracles,[i]
so we may examine them[j] and see how they were fulfilled.[k]
Or decree for us some future events!
23 Predict how future events will turn out,[l]
so we might know you are gods.
Yes, do something good or something bad,
so we might be frightened and in awe.[m]
24 Look, you are nothing, and your accomplishments are nonexistent;
the one who chooses to worship you is disgusting.[n]
25 I have stirred up one out of the north[o] and he advances,
one from the eastern horizon who prays in my name.[p]
He steps on[q] rulers as if they were clay,
like a potter treading the clay.
26 Who decreed this from the beginning, so we could know?
Who announced it[r] ahead of time, so we could say, ‘He’s correct’?
Indeed, none of them decreed it.
Indeed, none of them announced it.
Indeed, no one heard you say anything!
27 I first decreed to Zion, ‘Look, here’s what will happen!’[s]
I sent a herald to Jerusalem.
28 I look, but there is no one,
among them there is no one who serves as an adviser,
that I might ask questions and receive answers.
29 Look, all of them are nothing,[t]
their accomplishments are nonexistent;
their metal images lack any real substance.[u]
The Lord Commissions His Special Servant
42 [v] “Here is my servant whom I support,
my chosen one in whom I take pleasure.
I have placed my Spirit on him;
he will make just decrees[w] for the nations.[x]
2 He will not cry out or shout;
he will not publicize himself in the streets.[y]
3 A crushed reed he will not break,
a dim wick he will not extinguish;[z]
he will faithfully make just decrees.[aa]
4 He will not grow dim or be crushed[ab]
before establishing justice on the earth;
the coastlands[ac] will wait in anticipation for his decrees.”[ad]
5 This is what the true God,[ae] the Lord, says—
the one who created the sky and stretched it out,
the one who fashioned the earth and everything that lives on it,[af]
the one who gives breath to the people on it,
and life to those who live on it:[ag]
6 “I, the Lord, officially commission you;[ah]
I take hold of your hand.
I protect you[ai] and make you a covenant mediator for people,[aj]
and a light[ak] to the nations,[al]
7 to open blind eyes,[am]
to release prisoners[an] from dungeons,
those who live in darkness from prisons.
The Lord Intervenes
8 “I am the Lord! That is my name!
I will not share my glory with anyone else,
or the praise due me with idols.
9 Look, my earlier predictive oracles have come to pass;[ao]
now I announce new events.
Before they begin to occur,
I reveal them to you.”[ap]
10 Sing to the Lord a brand new song!
Praise him[aq] from the horizon of the earth,
you who go down to the sea, and everything that lives in it,[ar]
you coastlands[as] and those who live there.
11 Let the wilderness and its cities shout out,
the towns where the nomads of Kedar live.
Let the residents of Sela shout joyfully;
let them shout loudly from the mountaintops.
12 Let them give the Lord the honor he deserves;[at]
let them praise his deeds in the coastlands.[au]
13 The Lord emerges like a hero,
like a warrior he inspires himself for battle;[av]
he shouts, yes, he yells,
he shows his enemies his power.[aw]
14 “I have been inactive[ax] for a long time;
I kept quiet and held back.
Like a woman in labor I groan;
I pant and gasp.[ay]
15 I will make the trees on the mountains and hills wither up;[az]
I will dry up all their vegetation.
I will turn streams into islands,[ba]
and dry up pools of water.[bb]
16 I will lead the blind along an unfamiliar way;[bc]
I will guide them down paths they have never traveled.[bd]
I will turn the darkness in front of them into light,
and level out the rough ground.[be]
This is what I will do for them.
I will not abandon them.
17 Those who trust in idols
will turn back and be utterly humiliated,[bf]
those who say to metal images, ‘You are our gods.’
The Lord Reasons with His People
18 “Listen, you deaf ones!
Take notice,[bg] you blind ones!
19 My servant is truly blind,
my messenger is truly deaf.
My covenant partner,[bh] the servant of the Lord, is truly blind.[bi]
20 You see[bj] many things, but don’t comprehend;[bk]
their ears are open, but do not hear.”
21 The Lord wanted to exhibit his justice
by magnifying his law and displaying it.[bl]
22 But these people are looted and plundered;
all of them are trapped in pits[bm]
and held captive[bn] in prisons.
They were carried away as loot with no one to rescue them;
they were carried away as plunder, and no one says, “Bring that back!”[bo]
23 Who among you will pay attention to this?
Who will listen attentively in the future?[bp]
24 Who handed Jacob over to the robber?
Who handed Israel over to the looters?[bq]
Was it not the Lord, against whom we sinned?
They refused to follow his commands;
they disobeyed his law.[br]
25 So he poured out his fierce anger on them,[bs]
along with the devastation[bt] of war.
Its flames encircled them,[bu] but they did not realize it;[bv]
it burned against them, but they did not take it to heart.[bw]
The Lord Will Rescue His People
43 Now, this is what the Lord says,
the one who created you, O Jacob,
and formed you, O Israel:
“Don’t be afraid, for I will protect[bx] you.
I call you by name, you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters, I am with you;
when you pass[by] through the streams, they will not overwhelm you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned;
the flames will not harm[bz] you.
3 For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel,[ca] your deliverer.
I have handed over Egypt as a ransom price,
Ethiopia and Seba[cb] in place of you.
4 Since you are precious and special in my sight,[cc]
and I love you,
I will hand over people in place of you,
nations in place of your life.
5 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
From the east I will bring your descendants;
from the west I will gather you.
6 I will say to the north, ‘Hand them over!’
and to the south, ‘Don’t hold any back!’
Bring my sons from distant lands,
and my daughters from the remote regions of the earth,
7 everyone who belongs to me,[cd]
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed—yes, whom I made.
The Lord Declares His Sovereignty
8 Bring out the people who are blind, even though they have eyes,
those who are deaf, even though they have ears!
9 All nations gather together,
the peoples assemble.
Who among them announced this?
Who predicted earlier events for us?[ce]
Let them produce their witnesses to testify they were right;
let them listen and affirm, “It is true.”
10 You are my witnesses,” says the Lord,
“my servant whom I have chosen,
so that you may consider[cf] and believe in me,
and understand that I am he.
No god was formed before me,
and none will outlive me.[cg]
11 I, I am the Lord,
and there is no deliverer besides me.
12 I decreed and delivered and proclaimed,
and there was no other god among you.
You are my witnesses,” says the Lord, “that I am God.
13 From this day forward I am he;
no one can deliver from my power;[ch]
I will act, and who can prevent it?”
New Life Individually
2 And although you were[a] dead[b] in your offenses and sins, 2 in which[c] you formerly lived[d] according to this world’s present path,[e] according to the ruler of the domain[f] of the air, the ruler of[g] the spirit[h] that is now energizing[i] the sons of disobedience,[j] 3 among whom[k] all of us[l] also[m] formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath[n] even as the rest…[o]
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, 5 even though we were dead in offenses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you are saved![p]— 6 and he raised us up together with him and seated us together with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 to demonstrate in the coming ages[q] the surpassing wealth of his grace in kindness toward[r] us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you are saved[s] through faith,[t] and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 it is not from[u] works, so that no one can boast.[v] 10 For we are his creative work, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works that God prepared beforehand so we can do them.[w]
New Life Corporately
11 Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh—who are called “uncircumcision” by the so-called “circumcision” that is performed on the body[x] by human hands— 12 that you were at that time without the Messiah,[y] alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise,[z] having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who used to be far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.[aa] 14 For he is our peace, the one who made both groups into one[ab] and who destroyed the middle wall of partition, the hostility, 15 when he nullified[ac] in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees. He did this to create in himself one new man[ad] out of two,[ae] thus making peace, 16 and to reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by which the hostility has been killed.[af] 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, 18 so that[ag] through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer foreigners and noncitizens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, 20 because you have been built[ah] on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,[ai] with Christ Jesus himself as[aj] the cornerstone.[ak] 21 In him[al] the whole building,[am] being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
Psalm 67[a]
For the music director, to be accompanied by stringed instruments; a psalm, a song.
67 May God show us his favor[b] and bless us.[c]
May he smile on us.[d] (Selah)
2 Then those living on earth will know what you are like;
all nations will know how you deliver your people.[e]
3 Let the nations thank you, O God.
Let all the nations thank you.[f]
4 Let foreigners[g] rejoice and celebrate.
For you execute justice among the nations,
and govern the people living on earth.[h] (Selah)
5 Let the nations thank you, O God.
Let all the nations thank you.[i]
6 The earth yields its crops.
May God, our God, bless us.
7 May God bless us.[j]
Then all the ends of the earth will give him the honor he deserves.[k]
29 Who has woe?[a] Who has sorrow?
Who has contentions? Who has complaints?
Who has wounds without cause? Who has dullness[b] of the eyes?
30 Those who linger over wine,
those who go looking for mixed wine.[c]
31 Do not look on the wine when it is red,
when it sparkles[d] in the cup,
when it goes down smoothly.[e]
32 Afterward[f] it bites like a snake,
and stings like a viper.
33 Your eyes will see strange things,[g]
and your mind will speak perverse things.
34 And you will be like one who lies down in the midst[h] of the sea,
and like one who lies down on the top of the rigging.[i]
35 You will say,[j] “They have struck me, but I am not harmed!
They beat me, but I did not know it![k]
When will I awake? I will look for another drink.”[l]
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