Old/New Testament
The King of Peace Is Coming
11 A branch will grow
from a stump of a tree that was cut down.
So a new king will come
from the family of Jesse.[a]
2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon that king.
The Spirit gives him wisdom, understanding, guidance and power.
And the Spirit teaches him to know and respect the Lord.
3 This king will be glad to obey the Lord.
He will not judge by the way things look.
He will not judge by what people say.
4 He will judge the poor honestly.
He will be fair in his decisions for the poor people of the land.
At his command evil people will be punished.
By his words the wicked will be put to death.
5 Goodness and fairness will give him strength.
They will be like a belt around his waist.
6 Then wolves will live in peace with lambs.
And leopards will lie down to rest with goats.
Calves, lions and young bulls will eat together.
And a little child will lead them.
7 Cows and bears will eat together in peace.
Their young will lie down together.
Lions will eat hay as oxen do.
8 A baby will be able to play near a cobra’s hole.
A child will be able to put his hand into the nest of a poisonous snake.
9 They will not hurt or destroy each other
on all my holy mountain.
The earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord,
as the sea is full of water.
10 At that time the new king from the family of Jesse will stand as a banner for the people. The nations will come together around him. And the place where he lives will be filled with glory. 11 At that time the Lord will again reach out and take his people who are left alive. These are God’s people who are left alive in Assyria, North Egypt, South Egypt, Cush, Elam, Babylonia, Hamath and all the islands of the sea.
12 God will raise a banner as a sign for all people.
He will gather the people of Israel who were forced from their country.
He will gather the scattered people of Judah
from all parts of the earth.
13 At that time Israel will not be jealous anymore.
Judah will have no enemies left.
Israel will not be jealous of Judah.
And Judah will not hate Israel.
14 But Israel and Judah will attack the Philistines on the west.
Together they will take the riches from the people of the east.
They will conquer Edom and Moab.
And the people of Ammon will be under their control.
15 The Lord will dry up
the Red Sea of Egypt.
He will wave his arm over the Euphrates River.
He will dry it up with a scorching wind.
He will divide it into seven small rivers.
And people will be able to walk across them with their sandals on.
16 So God’s people who are left alive
will have a way to leave Assyria.
It will be like the time the Israelites
went out of Egypt.
A Song of Praise to God
12 At that time you will say:
“I praise you, Lord!
You were angry with me.
But you are not angry with me now!
You have comforted me.
2 God is the one who saves me.
I trust him. I am not afraid.
The Lord, the Lord, gives me strength and makes me sing.
He has saved me.”
3 You will receive your salvation with joy.
You will take it as you would draw water from a well.
4 At that time you will say,
“Praise the Lord, and worship him.
Tell everyone what he has done.
Tell them how great he is.
5 Sing praise to the Lord, because he has done great things.
Let all the world know what he has done.
6 Shout and sing for joy, you people of Jerusalem.
The Holy One of Israel does great things before your eyes.”
13 God showed Isaiah son of Amoz this message about Babylon:
God’s Message to Babylon
2 Raise a flag on the bare mountain.
Call out to the men.
Raise your hand to signal them.
Tell them to enter through the gates for important people.
3 I myself have commanded those people
whom I have separated as mine.
I have called those warriors to carry out my anger.
They rejoice and are glad to do my will.
4 Listen to the loud noise in the mountains.
It sounds like many people.
Listen to the noise among the kingdoms.
Nations are gathering together.
The Lord of heaven’s armies is calling
his army together for battle.
5 This army is coming from a faraway land.
It is coming from the edge of the horizon.
In anger the Lord is using this army like a weapon.
And it will destroy the whole country.
6 Cry, because the Lord’s day of judging is near.
God All-Powerful is sending destruction.
7 People will be weak with fear.
Their courage will melt away.
8 Everyone will be afraid.
Pain and hurt will grab them.
They will hurt like a woman giving birth to a baby.
They will look at each other in fear.
Their faces will become red like fire.
9 Look, the Lord’s day of judging is coming.
It will be a terrible day. God will be very angry,
and he will destroy the country.
God will destroy the sinners who live in the land.
10 The stars will not show their light.
The skies will be dark.
The sun will grow dark as it rises.
And the moon will not give its light.
11 The Lord says, “I will punish the world for its evil.
I will punish wicked people for their sins.
I will cause the proud people to lose their pride.
I will destroy the pride of those who are cruel to others.
12 People will be harder to find than pure gold.
There will be fewer people than there is fine gold in Ophir.
13 I will make the sky shake.
And the earth will be moved from its place.
The Lord of heaven’s armies will be very angry.
His anger will burn at that time.
14 “Then the people from Babylon will run away like hunted deer.
They will run like sheep who have no shepherd.
Everyone will turn back to his own people.
Each will run back to his own land.
15 Anyone who is captured will be killed.
Everyone who is caught will be killed with a sword.
16 Their little children will be beaten to death as their parents watch.
Everything in their houses will be stolen.
And their wives will be raped.
17 Look, I will cause the armies of Media to attack Babylon.
They do not care about silver.
They do not delight in gold.
18 Their soldiers will shoot the young men with arrows.
The soldiers will show no mercy on the children.
They will not feel sorry for the little boys.
19 Babylon is the most beautiful of all kingdoms.
The Babylonians are very proud of it.
But God will destroy it
like Sodom and Gomorrah.
20 No one will ever live there.
No one will settle there again.
No Arab will put his tent there.
No shepherd will bring his sheep there.
21 Only animals from the desert will live there.
The houses of Babylon will be full of wild dogs.
Owls will live there.
Wild goats will leap about in the houses.
22 Wolves will howl within the strong walls.
Wild dogs will bark in the beautiful buildings.
The end of Babylon is near.
Its time is almost over.”
The Unity of the Body
4 I am in prison because I belong to the Lord. God chose you to be his people. I tell you now to live the way God’s people should live. 2 Always be humble and gentle. Be patient and accept each other with love. 3 You are joined together with peace through the Spirit. Do all you can to continue together in this way. Let peace hold you together. 4 There is one body and one Spirit. And God called you to have one hope. 5 There is one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. 6 There is one God and Father of everything. He rules everything. He is everywhere and in everything.
7 Christ gave each one of us a special gift. Each one received what Christ wanted to give him. 8 That is why it says in the Scriptures,
“When he went up to the heights,
he led a parade of captives.
And he gave gifts to people.” Psalm 68:18
9 When it says, “He went up,” what does it mean? It means that he first came down to the earth. 10 So Jesus came down, and he is the same One who went up. He went up above all the heavens. Christ did that to fill everything with himself. 11 And Christ gave gifts to men—he made some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to go and tell the Good News, and some to have the work of caring for and teaching God’s people. 12 Christ gave those gifts to prepare God’s holy people for the work of serving. He gave those gifts to make the body of Christ stronger. 13 This work must continue until we are all joined together in the same faith and in the same knowledge about the Son of God. We must become like a mature person—we must grow until we become like Christ and have all his perfection.
14 Then we will no longer be babies. We will not be tossed about like a ship that the waves carry one way and then another. We will not be influenced by every new teaching we hear from men who are trying to fool us. Those men make plans and try any kind of trick to fool people into following the wrong path. 15 No! We will speak the truth with love. We will grow up in every way to be like Christ, who is the head. 16 The whole body depends on Christ. And all the parts of the body are joined and held together. Each part of the body does its own work. And this makes the whole body grow and be strong with love.
The Way You Should Live
17 In the Lord’s name, I tell you this. I warn you: Do not continue living like those who do not believe. Their thoughts are worth nothing. 18 They do not understand. They know nothing, because they refuse to listen. So they cannot have the life that God gives. 19 They have lost their feeling of shame. And they use their lives for doing evil. More and more they want to do all kinds of evil things. 20 But the things you learned in Christ were not like this. 21 I know that you heard about him, and you are in him; so you were taught the truth. Yes, the truth is in Jesus. 22 You were taught to leave your old self—to stop living the evil way you lived before. That old self becomes worse and worse because people are fooled by the evil things they want to do. 23 But you were taught to be made new in your hearts. 24 You were taught to become a new person. That new person is made to be like God—made to be truly good and holy.
25 So you must stop telling lies. Tell each other the truth because we all belong to each other in the same body.[a] 26 When you are angry, do not sin. And do not go on being angry all day. 27 Do not give the devil a way to defeat you. 28 If a person is stealing, he must stop stealing and start working. He must use his hands for doing something good. Then he will have something to share with those who are poor.
29 When you talk, do not say harmful things. But say what people need—words that will help others become stronger. Then what you say will help those who listen to you. 30 And do not make the Holy Spirit sad. The Spirit is God’s proof that you belong to him. God gave you the Spirit to show that God will make you free when the time comes. 31 Do not be bitter or angry or mad. Never shout angrily or say things to hurt others. Never do anything evil. 32 Be kind and loving to each other. Forgive each other just as God forgave you in Christ.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.