Old/New Testament
The Caption
1 The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
Warning to a Sinful Nation
2 Hear this, O heavens,
and listen, O earth, for the Lord has spoken.
I have raised children and brought them up,
but they have rebelled against me.
3 The ox knows its owner,
and the donkey knows its owner’s manger,
but Israel does not know.
My people do not understand.
4 How terrible it will be for that sinful nation,
for a people loaded with guilt,
offspring[a] who act wickedly,
children who are corrupt!
They have forsaken the Lord.
They have despised the Holy One of Israel.
They have deserted him and turned back.
5 Why do you keep earning more beatings?
Why do you continue to rebel?
Your whole head is wounded.
Your whole heart is weak.
6 From the sole of your foot to the top of your head
there is nothing healthy,
but only wounds, welts, and open sores.
Your wounds have not been cleaned or bandaged
or soothed with olive oil.
7 Your country is desolate.
Your cities are burned with fire.
Foreigners devour your farmland right in front of your eyes,
and it is desolate, overthrown by foreigners.
8 The daughter of Zion[b] is left
like a shelter in a vineyard,
like a hut in a melon[c] field,
like a besieged city.
9 Unless the Lord of Armies[d] had left us a small surviving remnant,
we would have been like Sodom;
we would have become just like Gomorrah.
The Lord’s Proclamation
10 Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom!
Listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah!
11 What do your many sacrifices mean to me? says the Lord.
I have more than enough rams as burnt offerings
and enough fat from well-fed animals.
I am not pleased with the blood of bulls
or the blood of lambs and male goats.
12 When you come to appear before me,
who has asked for this from your hands:
this trampling on my courts?
13 Stop bringing worthless[e] offerings!
Your incense is an abomination to me.
I cannot stand your sinful assemblies
on the new moons, Sabbaths, and holy days.
14 Deep in my soul I hate your new moons and your appointed feasts.
They have become a burden to me.
I am tired of putting up with them.
15 When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you.
Indeed, even though you make many prayers, I will not hear.
Your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash yourselves. Purify yourselves.
Remove your evil deeds from my sight.
Stop doing evil. 17 Learn to do good.
Seek justice. Relieve the oppressed.[f]
Seek justice for the fatherless. Plead for the widow.
18 Come now, and let us reason together, says the Lord.
Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow.
Though they are as red as crimson, they will be like wool.
19 If you are willing and obedient, you will eat good things
from the land,
20 but if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.
Yes, the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
21 Look how the faithful city has become a prostitute!
She was full of justice. Righteousness once lived in her,
but now murderers live there.
22 Your silver has become slag.[g]
Your drinks are mixed with water.
23 Your officials are rebellious.
They are partners with thieves.
Everyone loves bribes and chases payoffs.
They do not obtain justice for the fatherless,
and they do not take up the cause of the widow.
24 Therefore the Lord, the Lord of Armies,
the Mighty One of Israel, says:
I must certainly get relief from my adversaries.
I will avenge myself on my enemies.
25 I will turn my hand against you.
I will smelt away all your slag.
I will take away all your impurities.
26 I will restore your judges as they were at first,
and your advisors as they were in the beginning.
Afterward you will be called a righteous city, a faithful town.
27 Zion will be redeemed with justice,
and those who return to her will be redeemed with righteousness.
28 But the rebels and sinners will be destroyed all together,
and those who forsake the Lord will come to an end.
29 For you[h] will be ashamed of the oaks that you have desired,
and you will be embarrassed by the groves[i] that you have chosen.
30 For you will be like an oak whose leaves wilt,
and like a grove that has no water.
31 The strong will be like tinder,
and their work will be like a spark.
Both will burn together,
and no one will put out the fire.
2 This is the message that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
The Glory of the Mountain of the Lord
2 This will take place in the latter days:
The mountain of the Lord’s house will be established
as the chief of the mountains.
It will be raised above the hills,
and all nations will stream to it like a river.
3 Many peoples will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
Then he will instruct us about his ways,
and we will walk in his paths.”
For from Zion the law[j] will go out,
and the Lord’s word will go out from Jerusalem.
4 He will judge between the nations,
and he will mediate for many peoples.
Then they will beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into blades for trimming vines.
Nation will not lift up sword against nation,
nor will they learn war anymore.
5 O house of Jacob, come,
and let us walk in the light of the Lord.
The Glory of the Lord Comes in Judgment
6 But you, Lord, have forsaken your people, the house of Jacob,
because they are filled up with practices from the East
and with fortune tellers like the Philistines,
and they join themselves to the heathen.[k]
7 Their land is full of silver and gold,
and there is no end to their treasures.
Their land is also full of horses,
and there is no end to their chariots.
8 Their land is full of gods that are not gods.[l]
They worship the work made by their own hands,
things that their own fingers have made.
9 Mankind is humbled,
and man is brought low.
Do not forgive them.
10 Go into the rocks,
and hide in the dust,
from the terror of the Lord
and from the glory of his majesty.
11 The proud eyes of mankind will be brought low,
the arrogance of man will be humbled,
and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
12 There is a day coming for the Lord of Armies,
a day against everyone who is proud and arrogant,
against everyone who is lifted up—
he will be pressed down—
13 against all the cedars of Lebanon, that are so tall and lofty,
against all the oaks of Bashan,
14 against all the high mountains,
against all the hills that are lifted up,
15 against every tall tower,
against every fortified wall,
16 against all the ships of Tarshish,[m]
and against all the beautiful ships.[n]
17 The pride of mankind will be humbled,
and the arrogance of man will be brought low.
Then the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
18 Those gods that are not gods will disappear completely.
19 People will flee into caves in the rocks
and into holes in the ground,
to hide from the terror of the Lord
and from the glory of his majesty,
when he arises to make the earth tremble.
20 In that day people will throw away to the moles[o] and bats
their worthless gods of silver
and their worthless gods of gold,
that they made for themselves to worship.
21 They will go into the clefts in the rocks
and into the crevices in the cliffs,
to hide from the terror of the Lord
and from the glory of his majesty,
when he arises to make the earth tremble.
22 Give up trusting in mankind.
All they have is breath in their nostrils.
What are they worth anyway?
Christ Set Us Free
5 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not allow anyone to put the yoke of slavery on you again. 2 Look, I, Paul, tell you that if you allow yourselves to be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you. 3 I testify again to every man who allows himself to be circumcised that he is obligated to do the whole law. 4 You who are trying to be declared righteous by the law are completely separated from Christ. You have fallen from grace.
5 Indeed, through the Spirit, we by faith are eagerly waiting for the sure hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision matters. Rather, it is faith working through love that matters. 7 You were running well! Who cut in on you, so that you are no longer persuaded by the truth? 8 This persuasion is not from the one who calls you. 9 A little yeast works through the whole batch. 10 I am confident in the Lord that you will have no other opinion than this. But the one who is trying to disturb you will pay the penalty, whoever he is.
11 Brothers,[a] if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? Then the offense of the cross has been abolished. 12 If only those who are upsetting you would also cut themselves off![b]
13 After all, brothers, you were called to freedom. Only do not use your freedom as a starting point for your sinful flesh. Rather, serve one another through love. 14 In fact, the whole law is summed up in this one statement: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[c] 15 But if you keep on biting and devouring one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another.
Flesh Opposes Spirit
16 What I am saying is this: Walk by the spirit,[d] and you will not carry out what the sinful flesh desires. 17 For the sinful flesh desires what is contrary to the spirit, and the spirit what is contrary to the sinful flesh. In fact, these two continually oppose one another, so that you do not continue to do these things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the control of the law.
19 Now the works of the sinful flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, complete lack of restraint, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, discord, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders,[e] drunkenness, orgies, and things similar to these. I warn you, just as I also warned you before, that those who continue to do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the spirit[f] is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the spirit, let us also walk in step with it. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another and envying one another.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.