Old/New Testament
50 Thus says the LORD: “Where is that bill of your mother’s divorcement, whom I have cast off? Or, who is the creditor to whom I sold you? Behold, you are sold for your iniquities. And your mother is forsaken because of your transgressions.
2 “Why was there no man when I came, and no one to answer when I called? Is My Hand so shortened that it cannot help? Or, have I no power to deliver? Behold, at My rebuke I dry up the sea. I make the rivers a wilderness. Their fish rot for lack of water and die of thirst.
3 “I clothe the heavens with darkness and make sackcloth their covering.”
4 The Lord GOD has given me a tongue of the learned, so that I should know how to minister a timely word to him who is weary. He will raise me up in the morning. In the morning He will awaken my ear to hear, as the learned.
5 The Lord GOD has opened my ear and I was not rebellious. Nor did I turn back.
6 I gave my back to the those who struck me and my cheeks to those who pluck out the beard. I did not hide my face from shame and spitting.
7 For the Lord GOD will help me. Therefore, I shall not be confounded. Therefore, I have set my face like a flint. And I know that I shall not be ashamed.
8 He Who justifies me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near me.
9 Behold, the Lord GOD will help me. Who is he who can condemn me? Lo, they shall grow old as a garment. The moth shall eat them up.
10 Who is among you who fears the LORD? Let him hear the voice of His servant. He who walks in darkness and has no light, let him trust in the Name of the LORD and rely upon his God.
11 “Behold, all you who kindle a fire and are surrounded with sparks. Walk in the light of your fire and in the sparks that you have kindled. This shall you have from My Hand: You shall lie down in sorrow.”
51 “Hear Me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek the LORD. Look to the rock from which you are hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you are dug.
2 “Consider Abraham, your father, and Sarah, who bore you. For I called him alone and blessed him and increased him.”
3 Surely the LORD shall comfort Zion. He shall comfort all her desolations, and He shall make her wastelands like Eden, and her wilderness like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness, praise, and the voice of singing shall be found therein.
4 “Listen to Me, My people. And give ear to Me, O My people. For a Law shall proceed from Me. And I will bring forth My Judgment for the light of the people.
5 My righteousness is near. My salvation goes forth. And My Arm shall judge the people. The isles shall wait for Me, and shall trust in My Arm.
6 “Lift up your eyes to the heavens and look upon the Earth beneath. For the heavens shall vanish away like smoke. And the Earth shall grow old like a garment. And those who dwell therein shall perish in the same way. But My salvation shall be forever. And My righteousness shall not be abolished.
7 “Listen to Me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is My Law. Do not fear the reproach of men or be afraid of their rebukes.
8 “For the moth shall eat them up like a garment. And the worm shall eat them like wood. But My righteousness shall be forever. And My salvation from generation to generation.”
9 Rise up! Rise up and put on strength, O Arm of the LORD! Rise up, as long ago in the generations of the world. Are not You the same One Who has cut Rahab to pieces and wounded the dragon?
10 Are not You the same One Who has dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, making the depth of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over?
11 Therefore, the redeemed of the LORD shall return and come with joy to Zion. And everlasting joy shall be upon their head. They shall obtain joy and gladness. Sorrow and mourning shall flee away.
12 “I, even I, Am He Who comforts you. Who are you that you should fear a mortal man, and the son of man, who shall be made like grass?
13 “And you have forgotten the LORD, your Maker—Who has spread out the heavens and laid the foundations of the Earth—and you have feared continually, all day, because of the rage of the oppressor who is ready to destroy. Where is the rage of the oppressor now?
14 “The captive’s exile hastens, so that he may be freed and not die in the pit and that his bread would not fail.
15 “And I am the LORD your God, Who divided the sea when its waves roared. The LORD of Hosts is His Name.
16 “And I have put My Words in your mouth and have defended you in the shadow of My Hand, so that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundation of the Earth, and say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’”
17 Awaken! Awaken and stand up, O Jerusalem, who has drunk the cup of the LORD’s wrath from His Hand. You have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling and wrung them out.
18 There is no one to guide her among all her sons whom she has brought forth. There is no one who takes her by the hand, of all the sons whom she has brought up.
19 These two things have come to you. Who will lament you? Desolation and destruction and famine and the sword, by whom shall I comfort you?
20 Your sons have fainted and lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net. They are full of the wrath of the LORD, the rebuke of your God.
21 Therefore, now hear this, you miserable and drunken (but not with wine).
22 Thus says your LORD God, even God Who pleads the cause of His people, “Behold, I have taken the cup of trembling out of your hand, the dregs of the cup of My wrath. You shall drink it no more.
23 “But I will put it into the hand of those who plunder you, who have said to your soul, ‘Bow down so that we may go over.’ And you have laid your body down as the ground, and as the streets, to those who went over.”
52 Arise! Arise! Put on your strength, O Zion! Put on the garments of your beauty, O Jerusalem, the holy City. For henceforth, the uncircumcised and the unclean shall no longer come into you.
2 Shake yourself from the dust. Arise and sit down, O Jerusalem. Loosen the bonds of your neck, O captive daughter Zion!
3 For thus says the LORD: “You were sold for nothing. Therefore, you shall be redeemed without money.”
4 For thus says the Lord GOD: “At first, My people went down into Egypt to sojourn there. And
5 “Now, therefore, what do I have here,” says the LORD, “that My people are taken away for nothing? And those who rule over them make them howl,” says the LORD, “And My Name is continually blasphemed, all day long.
6 “Therefore, My people shall know My Name. Therefore, they shall know on that day that I Am He Who speaks, ‘Behold, it is I.’”
7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who declares and publishes peace, who declares good tidings and publishes salvation, saying to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
8 The voice of your watchmen shall be heard. They shall lift up their voices and shout together. For they shall see eye to eye when the LORD shall restore Zion.
9 O, you desolate places of Jerusalem, be glad and rejoice together! For the LORD has comforted His people! He has redeemed Jerusalem!
10 The LORD has made His Holy Arm bare in the sight of all the Gentiles. And all the ends of the Earth shall see the salvation of our God.
11 Depart! Depart! Go out from there and touch no unclean thing! Go out of the midst of her. Be clean, you who bear the vessels of the LORD.
12 For you shall not go out with haste or depart by fleeing away. But the LORD will go before you. And the God of Israel will gather you together.
14 “Just as many were astonished at you, His appearance was more deformed than any other man, and His form more than the sons of men. So shall He sprinkle many nations. The kings shall shut their mouths at Him. For that which had not been told to them, they shall see. And that which they had not heard, they shall understand.”
5 But of the times and seasons, brothers, you have no need for me to write to you.
2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the Day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night.
3 For when they shall say “Peace and safety”, then sudden destruction shall come upon them, as labor upon a woman with child. And they shall not escape.
4 But you, brothers, are not in darkness, so that that day shall come on you as a thief.
5 You are all children of light, and children of the Day. We are not of the night, nor of darkness.
6 Therefore let us not sleep as others do. But, let us watch and be sober.
7 For those who sleep, sleep in the night. And those who are drunk, are drunk in the night.
8 But let us who are of the Day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and the hope of salvation for a helmet.
9 For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by means of our Lord Jesus Christ;
10 Who died for us so that - whether we wake or sleep - we would live together with Him.
11 Therefore, exhort one another. And edify one another, just as you are doing.
12 Now, we urge you, brothers, that you acknowledge those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you.
13 Hold them in singular love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves.
14 We desire, brothers, that you admonish those who are out of order, comfort the faint-hearted, bear with the weak, be patient toward all.
15 See that no one recompenses evil for evil to anyone. But always follow that which is good, both toward yourselves and toward all.
16 Rejoice always.
17 Pray continually.
18 Give thanks in all things. For this is the will of God toward you in Christ Jesus.
19 Do not quench the Spirit.
20 Do not ignore prophecy.
21 Test all things. Keep that which is good.
22 Abstain from any appearance of evil.
23 Now, may the very God of Peace sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless, until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
24 Faithful is He Who calls you. He will also do it.
25 Pray for us, brothers.
26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.
27 I charge you in the Lord that this epistle be read to all the holy brothers.
28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you, Amen.
(The first Epistle to the Thessalonians, written from Athens.)
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