The Daily Audio Bible
Blessings in Store for God’s People
51 Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,
you who seek the Lord.
Look to the rock from which you were hewn
and to the quarry from which you were dug.(A)
2 Look to Abraham your father
and to Sarah, who bore you,
for he was but one when I called him,
but I blessed him and made him many.(B)
3 For the Lord will comfort Zion;
he will comfort all her waste places
and will make her wilderness like Eden,
her desert like the garden of the Lord;
joy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and the voice of song.(C)
4 Listen to me, my people,
and give heed to me, my nation,
for a teaching will go out from me
and my justice for a light to the peoples.(D)
5 I will bring near my deliverance swiftly;
my salvation has gone out,
and my arms will rule the peoples;
the coastlands wait for me,
and for my arm they hope.(E)
6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens
and look at the earth beneath,
for the heavens will vanish like smoke,
the earth will wear out like a garment,
and those who live on it will die like gnats,[a]
but my salvation will be forever,
and my deliverance will never be ended.(F)
7 Listen to me, you who know righteousness,
you people who have my teaching in your hearts;
do not fear the reproach of others,
and do not be dismayed when they revile you.(G)
8 For the moth will eat them up like a garment,
and the worm will eat them like wool,
but my deliverance will be forever
and my salvation to all generations.(H)
9 Awake, awake, put on strength,
O arm of the Lord!
Awake, as in days of old,
the generations of long ago!
Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces,
who pierced the dragon?(I)
10 Was it not you who dried up the sea,
the waters of the great deep;
who made the depths of the sea a way
for the redeemed to cross over?(J)
11 So the ransomed of the Lord shall return
and come to Zion with rejoicing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain joy and gladness,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.(K)
12 I, I am he who comforts you;
why then are you afraid of a mere mortal who must die,
a human being who fades like grass?(L)
13 You have forgotten the Lord, your Maker,
who stretched out the heavens
and laid the foundations of the earth.
You fear continually all day long
because of the fury of the oppressor,
who is bent on destruction.
But where is the fury of the oppressor?(M)
14 The oppressed shall speedily be released;
they shall not die and go down to the Pit,
nor shall they lack bread.(N)
15 For I am the Lord your God,
who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
the Lord of hosts is his name.(O)
16 I have put my words in your mouth
and hidden you in the shadow of my hand,
stretching out[b] the heavens
and laying the foundations of the earth
and saying to Zion, “You are my people.”(P)
17 Rouse yourself, rouse yourself!
Stand up, O Jerusalem,
you who have drunk at the hand of the Lord
the cup of his wrath,
who have drunk to the dregs
the cup of staggering.(Q)
18 There is no one to guide her
among all the children she has borne;
there is no one to take her by the hand
among all the children she has brought up.(R)
19 These two things have befallen you
—who will grieve with you?—
devastation and destruction, famine and sword.
Who will comfort you?[c](S)
20 Your children have fainted;
they lie at the head of every street
like an antelope in a net;
they are full of the wrath of the Lord,
the rebuke of your God.(T)
21 Therefore hear this, you who are wounded,[d]
who are drunk but not with wine:(U)
22 Thus says your Sovereign, the Lord,
your God who pleads the cause of his people:
See, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering;
you shall drink no more
from the cup of my wrath.(V)
23 And I will put it into the hand of your tormentors,
who have said to you,
“Bow down, that we may walk on you,”
and you have made your back like the ground
and like the street for them to walk on.(W)
Let Zion Rejoice
52 Awake; awake;
put on your strength, O Zion!
Put on your beautiful garments,
O Jerusalem, the holy city,
for the uncircumcised and the unclean
shall enter you no more.(X)
2 Shake yourself from the dust; rise up,
O captive[e] Jerusalem;
loose the bonds from your neck,
O captive daughter Zion!(Y)
3 For thus says the Lord: You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money.(Z) 4 For thus says the Lord God: Long ago, my people went down into Egypt to reside there as aliens; the Assyrian, too, has oppressed them without cause.(AA) 5 Now therefore what am I doing here, says the Lord, seeing that my people are taken away without cause? Their rulers howl, says the Lord, and continually, all day long, my name is despised.(AB) 6 Therefore my people shall know my name; on[f] that day they shall know that it is I who speak—it is I!(AC)
7 How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of the messenger who announces peace,
who brings good news,
who announces salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”(AD)
8 Listen! Your sentinels lift up their voices;
together they shout for joy,
for in plain sight they see
the return of the Lord to Zion.(AE)
9 Break forth; shout together for joy,
you ruins of Jerusalem,
for the Lord has comforted his people;
he has redeemed Jerusalem.(AF)
10 The Lord has bared his holy arm
before the eyes of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth shall see
the salvation of our God.(AG)
11 Depart, depart, go out from there!
Touch no unclean thing;
go out from the midst of it; purify yourselves,
you who carry the vessels of the Lord.(AH)
12 For you shall not go out in haste,
and you shall not go in flight,
for the Lord will go before you,
and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.(AI)
The Suffering Servant
13 See, my servant shall prosper;
he shall be exalted and lifted up
and shall be very high.(AJ)
14 Just as there were many who were astonished at him[g]
—so marred was his appearance, beyond human semblance,
and his form beyond that of mortals—(AK)
15 so he shall startle[h] many nations;
kings shall shut their mouths because of him,
for that which had not been told them they shall see,
and that which they had not heard they shall contemplate.(AL)
53 Who has believed what we have heard?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?(AM)
2 For he grew up before him like a young plant
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.(AN)
3 He was despised and rejected by others;
a man of suffering[i] and acquainted with infirmity,
and as one from whom others hide their faces[j]
he was despised, and we held him of no account.(AO)
4 Surely he has borne our infirmities
and carried our diseases,
yet we accounted him stricken,
struck down by God, and afflicted.(AP)
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions,
crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the punishment that made us whole,
and by his bruises we are healed.(AQ)
6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have all turned to our own way,
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.(AR)
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.(AS)
8 By a perversion of justice he was taken away.
Who could have imagined his future?
For he was cut off from the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people.(AT)
9 They made his grave with the wicked
and his tomb[k] with the rich,[l]
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.(AU)
10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with affliction.
When you make his life an offering for sin,[m]
he shall see his offspring and shall prolong his days;
through him the will of the Lord shall prosper.(AV)
11 Out of his anguish he shall see;
he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge.
The righteous one,[n] my servant, shall make many righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.(AW)
12 Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out himself to death
and was numbered with the transgressors,
yet he bore the sin of many
and made intercession for the transgressors.(AX)
5 1
Renounce Pagan Ways
3 But sexual immorality and impurity of any kind or greed must not even be mentioned among you, as is proper among saints.(C) 4 Entirely out of place is obscene, silly, and vulgar talk; but instead, let there be thanksgiving. 5 Be sure of this, that no sexually immoral or impure person or one who is greedy (that is, an idolater) has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.(D)
6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes on those who are disobedient.[b](E) 7 Therefore do not be associated with them, 8 for once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Walk as children of light,(F) 9 for the fruit of the light[c] is found in all that is good and right and true. 10 Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. 11 Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness; rather, expose them.(G) 12 For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly, 13 but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14 for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,
“Sleeper, awake!
Rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”(H)
15 Be careful, then, how you live,[d] not as unwise people but as wise, 16 making the most of the time, because the days are evil.(I) 17 So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.(J) 18 Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit,(K) 19 as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to one another, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts,(L) 20 giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,(M) 21 being subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.
The Christian Household
22 Wives, be subject[e] to your husbands as to the Lord,(N) 23 for the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior.(O) 24 Just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands.
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26 in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, 27 so as to present the church to himself in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind, so that she may be holy and without blemish.(P) 28 In the same way, husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hates his own flesh, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, just as Christ does for the church, 30 because we are members of his body.[f](Q) 31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”(R) 32 This is a great mystery, but I am speaking about Christ and the church. 33 Each of you, however, should love his wife as himself, and a wife should respect[g] her husband.
19 You know the insults I receive
and my shame and dishonor;
my foes are all known to you.(A)
20 Insults have broken my heart,
so that I am in despair.
I looked for pity, but there was none;
and for comforters, but I found none.(B)
21 They gave me poison for food,
and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.(C)
22 Let their table be a trap for them,
a snare for their allies.(D)
23 Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,
and make their loins tremble continually.(E)
24 Pour out your indignation upon them,
and let your burning anger overtake them.(F)
25 May their camp be a desolation;
let no one live in their tents.(G)
26 For they persecute those whom you have struck down,
and those whom you have wounded they attack still more.[a](H)
27 Add guilt to their guilt;
may they have no acquittal from you.
28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living;
let them not be enrolled among the righteous.(I)
29 But I am lowly and in pain;
let your salvation, O God, protect me.(J)
30 I will praise the name of God with a song;
I will magnify him with thanksgiving.(K)
31 This will please the Lord more than an ox
or a bull with horns and hoofs.(L)
32 Let the oppressed see it and be glad;
you who seek God, let your hearts revive.(M)
33 For the Lord hears the needy
and does not despise his own who are in bonds.(N)
7 Wisdom is too high for fools;
in the gate they do not open their mouths.(A)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.