Old/New Testament
Do Not Fear, for I Am with You
41 “(A)Coastlands, listen to Me (B)in silence,
And let the peoples (C)gain new power;
(D)Let them come forward, then let them speak;
(E)Let us draw near together for judgment.
2 (F)Who has awakened one from the east
Whom He (G)calls in righteousness to His [a]feet?
He (H)gives up nations before him
And [b]has dominion over kings.
He makes them like (I)dust with his sword,
As the wind-driven (J)chaff with his bow.
3 He pursues them, passing on in peace,
By a way he had not [c]come with his feet.
4 (K)Who has worked and done it,
Calling forth the generations from the beginning?
‘(L)I, Yahweh, am the first; and with the last, (M)I am He.’”
5 The (N)coastlands have seen and are afraid;
The (O)ends of the earth tremble;
They have drawn near and have come.
6 Each one helps his neighbor
And says to his brother, “Be strong!”
7 So the (P)craftsman strengthens the (Q)smelter,
And he who smooths metal with the hammer strengthens him who beats the anvil,
Saying of the soldering, “It is good”;
And he strengthens it with nails,
(R)So that it will not be shaken.
8 “But you, Israel, (S)My servant,
Jacob whom I have chosen,
Seed of (T)Abraham My (U)friend,
9 You whom I have [d](V)strongly taken hold of from the ends of the earth,
And called from its (W)remotest parts
And said to you, ‘You are (X)My servant,
I have (Y)chosen you and not rejected you.
10 Do not (Z)fear, for I am with you;
Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.
I will make you mighty, surely (AA)I will help you;
Surely I will uphold you with My righteous (AB)right hand.’
11 Behold, (AC)all those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored;
(AD)Those who contend with you will be as nothing and will perish.
12 (AE)You will seek those who quarrel with you, but will not find them,
Those who war with you will be as nothing and non-existent.
13 For I am Yahweh your God, (AF)who [e]strongly takes hold of your right hand,
Who says to you, ‘(AG)Do not fear, I will help you.’
14 Do not fear, you (AH)worm Jacob, you men of Israel;
I will help you,” declares Yahweh, “[f]and (AI)your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
15 Behold, I have made you a new, sharp threshing sledge with double edges;
(AJ)You will thresh the (AK)mountains and pulverize them,
And will make the hills like chaff.
16 You will (AL)winnow them, and the wind will carry them away,
And the storm will scatter them;
But you will (AM)rejoice in Yahweh;
You will boast in the Holy One of Israel.
17 “The [g]afflicted and needy are seeking (AN)water, but there is none,
And their tongue is parched with thirst;
I, Yahweh, (AO)will answer them Myself,
As the God of Israel I (AP)will not forsake them.
18 I will open (AQ)rivers on the bare heights
And springs in the midst of the valleys;
I will make (AR)the wilderness a pool of water
And the dry land fountains of water.
19 I will put the cedar in the wilderness,
The acacia and the (AS)myrtle and the [h]olive tree;
I will place the (AT)juniper in the desert
Together with the box tree and the cypress,
20 That (AU)they may see and know,
And establish and gain insight as well,
That the (AV)hand of Yahweh has done this,
And the Holy One of Israel has created it.
21 “Bring near your case,” Yahweh says.
“Bring forward your mighty arguments,”
The (AW)King of Jacob says.
22 (AX)Let them bring it forth and declare to us what is going to take place;
As for the (AY)former events, declare what they were,
That we may establish our heart on them and know their outcome.
Or cause us to hear of what is coming;
23 (AZ)Declare the things that are to come afterward,
That we may know that you are gods;
Indeed, (BA)do good or evil, that we may anxiously look about us and fear together.
24 Behold, (BB)you are nothing,
And (BC)your work is non-existent;
He who chooses you is an (BD)abomination.
25 “I have awakened (BE)one from the north, and he has come;
From the rising of the sun he will call on My name;
And he will come upon officials as upon (BF)mortar,
Even as the potter treads clay.”
26 Who has (BG)declared this from the beginning, that we might know?
Or from former times, that we may say, “He is right!”?
Surely there was (BH)no one who declared;
Surely there was no one who caused those words to be heard;
Surely there was no one who heard your words.
27 “(BI)Formerly I said to Zion, ‘Behold, here they are.’
And to Jerusalem, ‘I will give a (BJ)messenger of good news.’
28 But (BK)I look, and there is no one,
And there is no (BL)counselor [i]among them
Who, if I ask, can (BM)respond with a word.
29 Behold, all of them are [j]false;
Their (BN)works are (BO)non-existent;
Their molten images are (BP)wind and utter formlessness.
Yahweh’s Chosen Servant
42 “(BQ)Behold, My (BR)Servant, whom I [k]uphold;
My (BS)chosen one in whom My (BT)soul is well-pleased.
I have put My (BU)Spirit upon Him;
He will bring forth (BV)justice to the [l]nations.
2 He will not cry out or raise His voice,
Nor make His voice heard in the street.
3 A crushed reed He will not break
And a faintly burning wick He will not extinguish;
He will bring forth (BW)justice in truth.
4 He will not be (BX)faint or crushed
Until He has established justice in the earth;
And the (BY)coastlands will wait expectantly for His [m]law.”
5 Thus says the God, Yahweh,
Who (BZ)created the heavens and (CA)stretched them out,
Who spread out the (CB)earth and its [n]offspring,
Who (CC)gives breath to the people on it
And spirit to those who walk in it,
6 “I am Yahweh, I have (CD)called You in righteousness;
I will also (CE)take hold of You by the hand and (CF)guard You,
And I will give You as a (CG)covenant to the people,
As a (CH)light to the nations,
7 To (CI)open blind eyes,
To (CJ)bring out prisoners from the dungeon
And those who inhabit darkness from the prison.
8 (CK)I am Yahweh, that is (CL)My name;
I will not give My (CM)glory to another,
Nor My praise to [o]graven images.
9 Behold, the (CN)former things have come to pass;
Now I declare (CO)new things;
Before they spring forth I cause you to hear them.”
10 Sing to Yahweh a (CP)new song,
Sing His praise from the (CQ)end of the earth!
(CR)You who go down to the sea, (CS)as well as its fullness.
You (CT)coastlands, and those who inhabit them.
11 Let the (CU)wilderness and its cities lift up their voices,
The villages where (CV)Kedar inhabits.
Let the inhabitants of (CW)Sela sing aloud,
Let them shout for joy from the tops of the (CX)mountains.
12 Let them (CY)give glory to Yahweh
And declare His praise in the (CZ)coastlands.
13 (DA)Yahweh will go forth like a warrior;
He will awaken His (DB)zeal like a man of war.
He will make a loud shout, indeed, He will raise a war cry.
He will (DC)prevail against His enemies.
Israel’s Blindness and Deafness
14 “(DD)I have kept silent for a long time;
I have kept still and restrained Myself.
Now like a woman in labor I will groan;
I will both gasp and pant.
15 I will (DE)lay waste the mountains and hills
And dry up all their vegetation;
I will (DF)make the rivers into coastlands
And dry up the pools of waters.
16 I will (DG)lead the blind by a way they do not know,
In paths they do not know I will guide them.
I will (DH)make darkness into light before them
And (DI)rugged places into plains.
These are the things I will do,
And I will (DJ)not forsake them.”
17 They will be turned back and be (DK)utterly put to shame,
Who trust in graven images,
Who say to molten images,
“You are our gods.”
18 (DL)Hear, you deaf!
And look, you blind, that you may see.
19 Who is blind but My (DM)servant,
Or so deaf as My (DN)messenger whom I send?
Who is so blind as he that is [p](DO)at peace with Me,
Or so blind as the servant of Yahweh?
20 (DP)You have seen many things, but you do not keep them;
Your ears are open, but none hears.
21 Yahweh was pleased for His righteousness’ sake
That He make the law (DQ)great and majestic.
22 But this is a people plundered and pillaged as spoil;
All of them are (DR)trapped in [q]caves,
Or are (DS)hidden away in prisons;
They have become a plunder with none to deliver them,
And a spoil, with none to say, “Have them return!”
23 Who among you will give ear to this?
Who will give heed and hear hereafter?
24 Who gave Jacob up for spoil, and Israel to plunderers?
Was it not Yahweh, against whom we have sinned,
And in whose ways they (DT)were not willing to walk,
And whose law they did not (DU)obey?
25 So He poured out on him the heat of His anger
And the (DV)fierceness of battle;
And it set him aflame all around,
Yet he did not know it;
And it burned him, but he did not (DW)set it upon his heart.
Thanksgiving
1 (A)Paul and (B)Silvanus and (C)Timothy,
To the (D)church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: (E)Grace to you and peace.
2 (F)We give thanks to God always for all of you, (G)making mention of you in our prayers; 3 remembering without ceasing your (H)work of faith and labor of (I)love and [a](J)steadfastness of hope [b]in our Lord Jesus Christ before (K)our God and Father, 4 knowing, (L)brothers beloved by God, (M)your election, 5 for our (N)gospel did not come to you in word only, but also (O)in power and in the Holy Spirit and with (P)full assurance; just as you know (Q)what kind of men we [c]proved to be among you for your sake. 6 You also became (R)imitators of us and of the Lord, (S)having received (T)the word in much affliction with the (U)joy of the Holy Spirit, 7 so that you became a model to all the believers in (V)Macedonia and in (W)Achaia. 8 For (X)the word of the Lord has (Y)sounded forth from you, not only in (Z)Macedonia and (AA)Achaia, but also (AB)in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything. 9 For they themselves report about us what kind of an (AC)entrance we had [d]with you, and how you (AD)turned to God (AE)from [e]idols to serve [f](AF)a living and true God, 10 and to (AG)wait for His Son from [g]heaven, whom He (AH)raised from the dead, Jesus, who (AI)rescues us from (AJ)the wrath to come.
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