Old/New Testament
The Government of Justice
32 “Look, a king will reign in righteousness,
and rulers will rule with justice.
2 Each one will be like a shelter from the wind
and a hiding place from[a] storms,
like streams of water in the desert,
in[b] the shadow of a great rock in an exhausted[c] land.
3 Then the eyes of those who can see won’t turn away,
and the ears of those who can hear will listen.
4 The hearts of reckless people will understand sound judgment,
and the tongues of those who stammer will be ready to speak clearly.
5 People will no longer call a fool[d] noble,
nor will a bad person be declared honorable.
6 For fools utter contempt,
and their minds plot[e] wrong things:
practicing ungodliness,
spreading lies about the Lord,
leaving the pangs of hungry people unsatisfied,
and depriving thirsty people of drink.
7 Furthermore, the crimes of bad people are evil;
and[f] they devise wicked schemes,
destroying the poor[g] with lying words,
even when needy people plead[h] a just cause.
8 But those who are decent plan noble things,
and by noble deeds they stand.”
A Rebuke for Complacent Women
9 “As for you ladies of leisure—
Get up and listen to my voice!
You daughters who feel so complacent—
hear what I have to say!
10 In little more than a year,
you complacent women will shudder;
for the grape harvest will fail,
and the fruit harvest will not[i] come.
11 So tremble, you ladies of leisure!
Shudder, you daughters who feel so complacent!
Strip down and make yourselves naked down to the waist![j]
Then wrap yourself in[k] sackcloth and beat your breasts.[l]
12 For people will be beating their breasts
in mourning[m] over the pleasant fields,
over the fruitful vines,
13 and over the land of my people
overgrown with thorns and[n] briers—
yes, over all the houses of merriment
and over this city of revelry.
14 “For the palace will be abandoned,
the noisy city deserted;
the citadel and watchtower
will become barren wastes forever,
the delight of wild donkeys,
and a pasture for[o] flocks,
15 until the Spirit from on high is poured upon us,
and the desert becomes a fertile field,
and the fertile field seems like a forest.”
Restoration of God’s Reign
16 “Then justice will live in the wilderness,
and righteousness will dwell in the fertile field.
17 The effect of righteousness will be peace,
and the result of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever.
18 My people will live in peaceful dwellings,
in secure homes and in undisturbed resting places.
19 But it will hail when the forest comes down,
and the wood[p] will be leveled completely.
20 How happy you will be, sowing your seed beside every stream,
and[q] letting your[r] cattle and donkeys range freely!”
God’s Judgment
33 “How terrible it will be for you, destroyer,
you who have not been destroyed yourself!
And how terrible it will be for you, traitor,
one whom[s] people have not betrayed!
When you have sunk so low in[t] destroying others,
you will be destroyed;
and when you have finished betraying,
they will betray you.”
A Prayer for Grace
2 “Lord, be gracious to us; we long for you;
and[u] be our strength[v] every morning,
our salvation in times of trouble.
3 At the thunder of your voice, the peoples flee;
at your silence,[w] the nations scatter.
4 Your plunder is gathered as when grasshoppers gather;
just like[x] locusts pounce, people have pounced[y] on it.
5 “The Lord is exalted, for he lives on high;
he has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.
6 He will be a sure foundation for your times,
abundance and salvation,[z] wisdom and knowledge —
the fear of the Lord is Zion’s treasure.”
Israel’s Unenviable Plight
7 “Listen! Their brave men cry out in the streets;
the envoys of peace weep bitterly.
8 The highways are deserted;
travelers have quit the road.
The enemy[aa] has broken treaties;
he despises their witnesses,[ab]
and respects no one.
9 The land mourns and wastes away;
Lebanon feels ashamed and withers.
Sharon is like a desert;
Bashan[ac] and Carmel shake off their leaves.”
God is Exalted
10 “Now I’ll rise up,” the Lord has said,[ad]
“now I’ll exalt myself;
now I’ll be lifted up.
11 You conceive dried grass, you give birth to stubble;
your breath is a fire that will consume you.
12 And the peoples will be burned as if to ashes;
like cut thorn bushes, they will be set ablaze.
13 “Those who are far away have heard[ae] what I’ve done;
and those that are near have acknowledged[af] my power.
14 The sinners in Zion are terrified;
trembling grips the godless:
“Who among us can live with the consuming fire?
Who among us can live with everlasting flames?”
15 The one who walks righteously and has spoken[ag] sincere words,
who rejects gain from extortion
and waves his hand,
rejecting bribes,
who blocks his ears from hearing plots of murder
and shuts his eyes against seeing evil—
16 this is the one who will live on the heights;
his refuge will be a mountain fortress.
His food will be supplied,
and his water will be guaranteed.
17 “Your eyes will see the king in his elegance,
and will view a land that stretches afar.
18 Your mind will ponder at that time of terror:
‘Where is the king’s accountant?
Where is the one who weighed the revenue?
Where is the officer who supervises[ah] the towers?’
19 No longer will you[ai] see those arrogant people,
those people with their obscure speech you cannot comprehend,
stammering in a language you cannot understand.
20 “Look at Zion, city of our festivals![aj]
Your eyes will see Jerusalem,
an undisturbed abode, an immovable tent;
its stakes will never be pulled up,
nor will any of its ropes be broken.
21 But there the Lord in majesty will be for us
our source[ak] of broad rivers and streams,
where no galley with oars can go,
where no stately ship can sail.
22 For the Lord is our judge,
and the Lord is our lawgiver;
and the Lord is our king,
and it is he who will save us.
23 “Your rigging hangs loose;
it cannot reliably[al] hold the mast in its place,
and the sail cannot spread out.[am]
Then an abundance of spoils will be divided —
even the lame will carry off plunder.
24 And no one living there will say, ‘I am ill.’
The people living there will have their sins forgiven.”
Greetings from Paul
1 From:[a] Paul, an apostle of the Messiah[b] Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother.
2 To: The holy[c] and faithful brothers in Colossae who are in union with the Messiah.[d]
May grace and peace from God our Father[e] be yours!
Paul’s Prayer for the Colossians
3 We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah,[f] praying always for you, 4 because we have heard about your faith in the Messiah[g] Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints, 5 based on the hope laid up for you in heaven. Some time ago you heard about this hope[h] through the word of truth, the gospel 6 that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and spreading all over the world, so it has been doing[i] among you from the day you heard it and came to know the grace of God in truth. 7 You learned about this gospel[j] from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of the Messiah[k] on your[l] behalf. 8 He has told us about your love in the Spirit.
The Messiah is Above All
9 For this reason, since the day we heard about this, we have not stopped praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the full knowledge of God’s[m] will with respect to all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you might live in a manner worthy of the Lord and be fully pleasing to him[n] as you bear fruit while doing all kinds of good things and growing in the full knowledge of God. 11 You are being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might, so that you might patiently endure everything with joy 12 and might thank the Father, who has enabled us[o] to share in the saints’ inheritance in the light. 13 God[p] has rescued us from the power of darkness and has brought us into the kingdom of the Son whom he loves, 14 through whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
The Centrality of Jesus
15 The Son[q] is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn over all creation.
16 For by him all things in heaven and on earth were created,
things visible and invisible,
whether they are kings,[r] lords, rulers, or powers.
All things have been created through him and for him.
17 He himself existed before anything else did,
and he holds all things together.
18 He is also the head of the body,
which is the church.
He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
so that he himself might have first place in everything.
19 For God[s] was pleased to have
all of his divine essence[t] inhabit him.
20 Through the Son,[u] God[v] also reconciled all things to himself,
whether things on earth or things in heaven,
thereby making peace
through the blood of his cross.
21 You who were once alienated with a hostile attitude, doing evil,[w] 22 he has now reconciled by the death of his physical body, so that he may present you holy, blameless, and without fault before him. 23 However, you must remain firmly established and steadfast in the faith, without being moved from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven and of which I, Paul, have become a servant.[x]
Paul’s Service in the Church
24 Now I am rejoicing while suffering for you as I complete in my flesh whatever remains of the Messiah’s[y] sufferings on behalf of his body, which is the church. 25 I became its servant[z] as God commissioned me to work for you, so that I may complete my ministry of[aa] the word of God. 26 This secret was hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints, 27 to whom God wanted to make known the glorious riches of this secret among the gentiles—which is the Messiah[ab] in you, our glorious hope. 28 It is he whom we proclaim as we admonish and wisely teach everyone, so that we may present everyone mature[ac] in the Messiah.[ad] 29 I work hard and struggle to do this, using the energy that he powerfully provides in me.
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