Old/New Testament
The Righteous Reign of the Branch
11 There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of (A)Jesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
2 And (B)the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
(C)He shall not judge by (D)what his eyes see,
or decide disputes by (E)what his ears hear,
4 but (F)with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall (G)strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and (H)with the breath of his lips (I)he shall kill the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
and (J)faithfulness the belt of his loins.
6 (K)The wolf shall dwell with the lamb,
and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,
and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;
and a little child shall lead them.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.
9 (L)They shall not hurt or destroy
in all (M)my holy mountain;
(N)for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
10 In that day (O)the root of (P)Jesse, who shall stand as (Q)a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.
11 (R)In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, (S)from Assyria, (T)from Egypt, from (U)Pathros, from (V)Cush,[a] from (W)Elam, from (X)Shinar, from (Y)Hamath, and from (Z)the coastlands of the sea.
12 He will raise (AA)a signal for the nations
and will assemble (AB)the banished of Israel,
and gather the dispersed of Judah
from the four corners of the earth.
13 (AC)The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart,
and those who harass Judah shall be cut off;
Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah,
and Judah shall not harass Ephraim.
14 (AD)But they shall swoop down on the shoulder of the Philistines in the west,
and together they shall plunder (AE)the people of the east.
They shall put out their hand (AF)against (AG)Edom and (AH)Moab,
and (AI)the Ammonites shall obey them.
15 And the Lord will utterly destroy[b]
(AJ)the tongue of the Sea of Egypt,
and will wave his hand over (AK)the River[c]
with his scorching breath,[d]
and strike it into seven channels,
and he will lead people across in sandals.
16 And there will be (AL)a highway from Assyria
for the remnant that remains of his people,
(AM)as there was for Israel
when they came up from the land of Egypt.
The Lord Is My Strength and My Song
12 You[e] will say (AN)in that day:
“I will give thanks to you, O Lord,
for though you were angry with me,
(AO)your anger turned away,
that you might comfort me.
2 “Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid;
for (AP)the Lord God[f] is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation.”
3 (AQ)With joy you[g] will draw water from the wells of salvation. 4 (AR)And you will say in that day:
(AS)“Give thanks to the Lord,
call upon his name,
(AT)make known his deeds among the peoples,
proclaim (AU)that his name is exalted.
5 (AV)“Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously;
let this be made known[h] in all the earth.
6 Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
for great (AW)in your[i] midst is (AX)the Holy One of Israel.”
The Judgment of Babylon
13 The oracle concerning (AY)Babylon which (AZ)Isaiah the son of Amoz saw.
2 On a bare hill (BA)raise a signal;
cry aloud to them;
wave the hand for (BB)them to enter
the gates of the nobles.
3 I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,
and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger,
my proudly exulting ones.[j]
4 The sound (BC)of a tumult is on the mountains
as of a great multitude!
The sound of an uproar of kingdoms,
of nations gathering together!
(BD)The Lord of hosts is mustering
a host for battle.
5 (BE)They come from a distant land,
from the end of the heavens,
the Lord and the weapons of his indignation,
to destroy the whole land.[k]
6 (BF)Wail, for (BG)the day of the Lord is near;
as destruction from the Almighty[l] it will come!
7 Therefore all hands will be feeble,
and every human heart (BH)will melt.
8 They will be dismayed:
(BI)pangs and agony will seize them;
(BJ)they will be in anguish like a woman in labor.
They will look aghast at one another;
their faces will be aflame.
9 Behold, (BK)the day of the Lord comes,
cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,
to make the land a desolation
and (BL)to destroy its sinners from it.
10 (BM)For the stars of the heavens and their constellations
will not give their light;
(BN)the sun will be dark at its rising,
and the moon will not shed its light.
11 I will punish (BO)the world for its evil,
and the wicked for their iniquity;
I will (BP)put an end to the pomp of the arrogant,
(BQ)and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.
12 I will make (BR)people more rare than fine gold,
and mankind than the (BS)gold of Ophir.
13 Therefore (BT)I will make the heavens tremble,
and the earth will be shaken out of its place,
at the wrath of the Lord of hosts
in the day of his fierce anger.
14 And like a hunted gazelle,
or like sheep with none to gather them,
(BU)each will turn to his own people,
and each will flee to his own land.
15 Whoever is found will be thrust through,
and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.
16 (BV)Their infants will be dashed in pieces
before their eyes;
their houses will be plundered
and their wives ravished.
17 Behold, (BW)I am stirring up the Medes against them,
who have no regard for silver
and do not delight in gold.
18 (BX)Their bows will slaughter[m] the young men;
they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;
their eyes will not pity children.
19 And Babylon, (BY)the glory of kingdoms,
the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans,
will be (BZ)like Sodom and Gomorrah
when God overthrew them.
20 (CA)It will never be inhabited
or lived in for all generations;
no (CB)Arab will pitch his tent there;
no (CC)shepherds will make their flocks lie down there.
21 But (CD)wild animals will lie down there,
and their houses will be full of howling creatures;
there (CE)ostriches[n] will dwell,
and there wild goats will dance.
22 Hyenas[o] will cry in its towers,
and (CF)jackals in (CG)the pleasant palaces;
its time is close at hand
and its days will not be prolonged.
Unity in the Body of Christ
4 I therefore, (A)a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to (B)walk in a manner worthy of (C)the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all (D)humility and (E)gentleness, with (F)patience, (G)bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in (H)the bond of peace. 4 There is (I)one body and (J)one Spirit—just as you were called to the one (K)hope that belongs to your call— 5 (L)one Lord, (M)one faith, (N)one baptism, 6 (O)one God and Father of all, (P)who is over all and through all and in all. 7 But (Q)grace was given (R)to each one of us (S)according to the measure of Christ's gift. 8 Therefore it says,
9 ((V)In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into (W)the lower regions, the earth?[b] 10 He who descended is the one who also (X)ascended (Y)far above all the heavens, that he might (Z)fill all things.) 11 And (AA)he gave the (AB)apostles, the prophets, the (AC)evangelists, the (AD)shepherds[c] and teachers,[d] 12 (AE)to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for (AF)building up (AG)the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to (AH)the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, (AI)to mature manhood,[e] to the measure of the stature of (AJ)the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, (AK)tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in (AL)deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, (AM)speaking the truth in love, we are to (AN)grow up in every way into him who is (AO)the head, into Christ, 16 (AP)from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, (AQ)when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
The New Life
17 Now this I say and (AR)testify in the Lord, (AS)that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, (AT)in the futility of their minds. 18 They (AU)are darkened in their understanding, (AV)alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to (AW)their hardness of heart. 19 They (AX)have become callous and (AY)have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 But that is not the way you (AZ)learned Christ!— 21 assuming that (BA)you have heard about him and (BB)were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to (BC)put off (BD)your old self,[f] which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through (BE)deceitful desires, 23 and (BF)to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on (BG)the new self, (BH)created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
25 Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you (BI)speak the truth with his neighbor, for (BJ)we are members one of another. 26 (BK)Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and (BL)give no opportunity to the devil. 28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather (BM)let him labor, (BN)doing honest work with his own hands, so (BO)that he may have something to share with anyone in need. 29 (BP)Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give (BQ)grace to those who hear. 30 And (BR)do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, (BS)by whom you were sealed for the day of (BT)redemption. 31 (BU)Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 (BV)Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, (BW)forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.