Old/New Testament
The Lord’s Vineyard
5 I will sing[a] for my beloved
my love-song concerning his vineyard:
“The one I love had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.
2 He plowed its land[b] and cleared it of stones.
Then he planted it with the choicest vines,
built a watchtower in the middle of it,
and dug a wine vat in it;
He expected[c] it to produce good[d] grapes,
but it produced only wild ones.”[e]
3 “So now, you inhabitants[f] of Jerusalem
and men of Judah,
judge, won’t you please,
between me and my vineyard.
4 What more could I do in[g] my vineyard,
that I haven’t already done?
When I expected it to produce good[h] grapes,
why did it yield[i] wild ones?[j]
5 “Now, let me tell you, won’t you please,
what I’m going to do to my vineyard.
“I’m going to take away its protective hedge,
and it will be devoured;[k]
I’ll break down its wall,
and it will be trampled.
6 I’ll make it a wasteland,
and it won’t be pruned or cultivated.
Instead, briers and thorns will grow up.
I’ll also issue commands to the clouds,
that they drop no rain upon it.”
7 For the vineyard of the Lord of the Heavenly Armies
is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah
are the garden in which he delights.[l]
He looked for justice,
but saw only bloodshed;
he searched[m] for righteousness,
but heard only an outcry!
Judgment on Land Barons
8 “How terrible it will be for you who join house to house,
who add field to field,
until there is no more room,
and you have settled yourselves alone[n]
in the middle of the land!”
9 The Lord of the Heavenly Armies has declared this so I could hear it:
“Surely many houses will become desolate,
great and beautiful houses,
without occupants.
10 For ten acres of vineyard will produce only one bath,[o]
and one omer[p] of seed[q] will produce only one ephah.”[r]
Judgment on Alcoholics
11 “How terrible it will be for those who rise at dawn
in order to grab[s] a stiff drink,
for those who stay up late at night
as wine inflames them!
12 They have the lyre and harp,
the tambourine and flute,
as well as wine at their festivals,
but they don’t respect what the Lord is doing,
nor do they consider his actions.[t]
13 Therefore my people go into exile
because they lack understanding;
my[u] honored men go hungry,
and the crowd is parched with thirst.
14 Therefore Sheol’s[v] appetite has grown;
it has opened its mouth beyond limit.
Jerusalem’s nobility and her multitudes will go there,
along with her brawlers and whoever is reveling within her.
15 Humanity is brought low,
and each one is humbled,
while the eyes of the self-exalting are brought low.
16 But the Lord of the Heavenly Armies is exalted in justice,
and the Holy God proves himself to be righteously holy.
17 Then the lambs will graze in their pasture;
fatlings and foreigners will eat
among the waste places of the rich.”
Judgment on Mockers
18 “How terrible it will be for those who parade iniquity with cords of falsehood,
who draw sin along as[w] with a cart rope;
19 who say: ‘Let God[x] be quick,
let him speed up[y] his work
so we may see it!
Let it happen!
let the plan of the Holy One of Israel draw near,
so we may recognize it!’”
Judgment on Moral Relativists
20 “How terrible it will be for those who call evil good
and good evil,
who substitute darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who substitute what is bitter for what is sweet
and what is sweet for what is bitter!”
Judgment on the Arrogant
21 “How terrible it will be for those who are wise in their own opinion,
and clever in their own reckoning!
22 “How terrible it will be for those who are heroes at drinking wine,
and champions in mixing strong drink,
23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe,
and deprive the innocent of justice!”
The Effects of Divine Judgment
24 Therefore, as flames of fire devour straw,
as dry grass[z] collapses in flames,
so their root will be rotten,
and their blossom will blow away like dust,
because they have rejected the instruction[aa] of the Lord of the Heavenly Armies,
and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25 Therefore[ab] the anger of the Lord[ac] burned against his people,
so he stretched out his hands[ad] against them
and afflicted them.
The mountains quaked,
and their corpses were like refuse
in the middle of the streets.
Throughout all of this, his anger has not turned away,
and his hands are[ae] still stretched out to attack.[af]
26 The Lord[ag] will signal[ah] for nations far away,
whistling for them to come[ai]
from the ends of the earth.
Look how quickly
and how swiftly they come!
27 No one is weary, no one stumbles,[aj]
and no one slumbers or sleeps.
No belt around their waists will come undone,
nor will their sandal straps be broken.
28 Their arrows are sharp,
all their bows ready for action.[ak]
Their horses’ hooves seem like flint,
and their chariot wheels spin[al] like a whirlwind.
29 With a roar like a lion, they snarl,
and like young lions, they growl;[am]
they seize their prey
and then carry it off,
with no one to rescue.
30 They will roar over it[an] at that time,[ao]
like the sea waves roar.
If one surveys the land, watch out!
There’s darkness and distress;
even the daylight is darkened by its clouds.
Holy is the Lord
6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon his[ap] throne, high and exalted. The train of his robe filled the Temple. 2 The seraphim stood above him. Each had six wings:[aq] with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he was flying. 3 They kept on calling to each other:[ar]
“Holy, holy, holy[as] is the Lord of the Heavenly Armies!
The whole earth is full of his glory!”
4 The foundations of the thresholds quaked at the sound of those who kept calling out,[at] and the Temple was filled with smoke.
5 “How terrible it will be for me!” I cried, “because I am ruined! I’m a man with unclean lips, and I live among a people with unclean lips! And my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of the Heavenly Armies!”
The Calling of Isaiah
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me, carrying a burning coal in his hand that he had taken from the altar with tongs. 7 He touched my mouth and said, “Look! Now that this has touched your[au] lips, your guilt is taken away, and your sins[av] atoned for.”
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord as he was asking, “Whom will I send? Who will go for us?”
“Here I am!” I replied. “Send me.”
9 “Go!” he responded. “Tell this people:
“‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand;
keep[aw] on seeing, but do not perceive.’
10 Dull the mind[ax] of this people,
deafen their ears,
and blind their eyes.
By doing so, they won’t see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their minds,
turn back,
and be healed.”
11 Then I asked, “For how long, Lord?”[ay]
He replied:
“Until cities lie waste,
without inhabitants,
and houses without people;
and the land becomes utterly desolate.
12 Until[az] the Lord removes people far away,
and there are many empty places
in the middle of the land.
13 Even though a tenth of its people remain[ba] in it,
it will once again be burned,[bb]
like a terebinth[bc] or an oak tree,[bd]
the stump of which, though the tree has been[be] felled,
still contains holy seed.”[bf]
Greetings from Paul
1 From:[a] Paul, an apostle of the Messiah[b] Jesus by God’s will.
To: His holy and faithful people[c] in Ephesus[d] who are in union with the Messiah[e] Jesus.
2 May grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus, the Messiah,[f] be yours!
The Many Blessings of Salvation
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah![g] He has blessed us in the Messiah[h] with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm, 4 just as he chose us in the Messiah[i] before the creation of the universe[j] to be holy and blameless in his presence. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself through Jesus the Messiah,[k] according to the pleasure of his will, 6 so that we would praise[l] his glorious grace that he gave us in the Beloved One. 7 In union with him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our offenses, according to the riches of God’s[m] grace 8 that he lavished on us, along with all wisdom and understanding, 9 when he made known to us the secret of his will. This was according to his plan that he set forth in the Messiah[n] 10 to usher in[o] the fullness of the times and to bring together in the Messiah[p] all things in heaven and on earth.
11 In the Messiah[q] we were also chosen when we were predestined according to the purpose of the one who does everything that he wills to do, 12 so that we who had already fixed our hope on the Messiah[r] might live for his praise and glory. 13 You, too, have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed in the Messiah,[s] you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until God redeems his own possession[t] for his praise and glory.
Paul’s Prayer for the Ephesians
15 Therefore, because I have heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love[u] for all the saints, 16 I never stop giving thanks for you as I mention you in my prayers. 17 I pray[v] that the God of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah,[w] the most glorious Father, would give you a wise spirit, along with revelation that comes through knowing the Messiah[x] fully. 18 Then, with the eyes of your hearts enlightened, you will know the confidence[y] that is produced by God[z] having called you,[aa] the rich glory that is his inheritance among the saints, 19 and the unlimited greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his mighty strength, 20 which he brought about in the Messiah[ab] when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realm. 21 He is far above every ruler, authority, power, dominion, and every name that can be named, not only in the present age, but also in the one to come. 22 God[ac] has put everything under the Messiah’s[ad] feet and has made him the head of everything for the good of[ae] the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills everything in every way.[af]
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