Old/New Testament
Salvation for the Nations
56 Thus says the Lord:
Preserve justice
and do righteousness,
for My salvation is about to come
and My righteousness to be revealed.
2 Blessed is the man who does this,
and the son of man who takes hold of it,
who keeps from polluting the Sabbath
and keeps his hand from doing any evil.
3 Do not let the son of the foreigner
who has joined himself to the Lord
speak, saying,
“The Lord has utterly separated me from His people”;
do not let the eunuch say,
“I am only a dry tree.”
4 For thus says the Lord:
To the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths,
and choose the things that please Me,
and take hold of My covenant,
5 to them I will give in My house and within My walls
a memorial, and a name
better than that of sons and of daughters;
I will give them an everlasting name
that shall not be cut off.
6 Also the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to the Lord
to serve Him,
and to love the name of the Lord,
and to be His servants,
to everyone who keeps from polluting the Sabbath
and takes hold of My covenant,
7 even them I will bring to My holy mountain
and make them joyful in My house of prayer.
Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices
shall be accepted on My altar;
for My house shall be called
a house of prayer for all people.
8 The Lord God
who gathers the outcasts of Israel says,
Yet I will gather others to them
besides those who already are gathered to him.
God Accuses the Wicked
9 All you beasts of the field,
all you beasts in the forest, come to devour.
10 His watchmen are blind;
they all are ignorant;
they all are dumb dogs,
unable to bark;
sleepers lying down,
who love to slumber.
11 They are greedy dogs
which can never have enough,
and they are shepherds who cannot understand;
they all turn to their own way,
every one for his gain, from his territory.
12 “Come,” they say, “let us get wine,
and let us fill ourselves with strong drink;
and tomorrow shall be as today,
only more so.”
Israel’s Futile Idolatry
57 The righteous man perishes,
and no man lays it to heart;
and merciful men are taken away
while no one understands,
for the righteous man is taken away
from the evil to come.
2 He shall enter into peace;
they shall rest in their beds,
each one walking in his uprightness.
3 But draw near to here, you sons of a sorceress,
offspring of an adulterer and prostitute.
4 Whom do you mock?
Against whom do you open wide your mouth
and stick out your tongue?
Are you not children of transgression,
offspring of falsehood,
5 inflaming yourselves with idols
under every green tree,
slaying the children in the valleys
under the clefts of the rocks?
6 Among the smooth stones of the stream is your portion;
they are your lot.
Even to them you have poured out a drink offering;
you have offered a grain offering.
Should I relent concerning these things?
7 On a lofty and high mountain you have set your bed;
even there you went up to offer sacrifice.
8 Behind the doors and the doorposts
you have set up your memorial;
far removed from Me, you have uncovered yourself;
you have enlarged your bed and made a covenant with them;
you have loved their bed,
you have looked on their nakedness.
9 You went to the king with ointment,
and increased your perfumes,
and sent your messengers far off,
and made them go down to Sheol.
10 You were wearied by the length of your road;
yet you did not say, “There is no hope.”
You have found renewed strength;
therefore, you did not faint.
11 Of whom were you afraid or fearful
when you lied
and you did not remember Me,
nor give Me a thought?
Have I not held My peace for a long time
so that you do not fear Me?
12 I will declare your righteousness, and your works,
yet they shall not profit you.
13 When you cry out,
let your collection of idols deliver you.
But the wind shall carry them all away,
a breath shall take them away.
But he who puts his trust in Me
shall possess the land
and shall inherit My holy mountain.
Healing for the Contrite
14 And it shall be said,
“Build up, build up, prepare the way,
take up every stumbling block out of the way of My people.”
15 For thus says the High and Lofty One
who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy:
I dwell in the high and holy place
and also with him who is of a contrite and humble spirit,
to revive the spirit of the humble,
and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
16 For I will not contend forever,
nor will I always be angry;
for the spirit would grow faint before Me,
and the souls whom I have made.
17 For the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry and struck him;
I hid My face and was wrathful,
and he went on turning away in the way of his heart.
18 I have seen his ways but will heal him;
I will lead him and restore comfort to him and to his mourners,
19 by creating the fruit of the lips.
Peace, peace to him who is far off and to him who is near,
says the Lord, and I will heal him.
20 But the wicked are like the troubled
sea when it cannot rest,
whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
21 There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked.
The Chosen Fast
58 Cry aloud, do not hold back;
lift up your voice like a trumpet,
and show My people their transgression
and the house of Jacob their sins.
2 Yet they seek Me daily
and delight to know My ways,
as a nation that has done righteousness
and has not forsaken the ordinance of their God.
They ask Me for the ordinances of justice;
they take delight in approaching God.
3 “Why have we fasted
and You do not see?
Why have we humbled ourselves
and You take no notice?”
Certainly, on the day of your fast you find your desire
and are exacting on all your laborers.
4 Certainly, you fast for strife and debate
and to strike with the fist of wickedness.
You do not fast as you do this day,
to make your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen,
a day for a man to humble himself?
Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush,
and to spread out sackcloth and ashes under him?
Will you call this a fast
and an acceptable day to the Lord?
6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen:
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the heavy burdens,
and to let the oppressed go free,
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry
and bring the poor who are outcasts into your house?
When you see the naked, to cover him
and not hide yourself from your own flesh?
8 Then your light shall break forth as the morning,
and your healing shall spring forth quickly,
and your righteousness shall go before you;
the glory of the Lord shall be your reward.
9 Then you shall call, and the Lord shall answer;
you shall cry, and He shall say, Here I am.
If you take away the yoke from your midst,
the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
10 and if you give yourself to the hungry
and satisfy the afflicted soul,
then your light shall rise in obscurity,
and your darkness shall become as the noonday.
11 And the Lord shall guide you continually,
and satisfy your soul in drought,
and strengthen your bones;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
12 Those from among you shall rebuild the old waste places;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
and you shall be called, the Repairer of the Breach,
the Restorer of Paths in which to Dwell.
13 If because of the Sabbath you turn away your foot
from doing your pleasure on My holy day,
and call the Sabbath a delight,
the holy day of the Lord honorable,
and honor it, not doing your own ways,
nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words,
14 then you shall delight yourself in the Lord,
and I will cause you to ride upon the high places of the earth,
and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.
The Man of Lawlessness
2 Now, brothers, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and concerning our gathering together unto Him, we ask you 2 not to let your mind be quickly shaken or be troubled, neither in spirit nor by word, nor by letter coming as though from us, as if the day of Christ is already here. 3 Do not let anyone deceive you in any way. For that Day will not come unless a falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of destruction, 4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or is worshipped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself as God.
5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things? 6 Now you know what restrains him that he might be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already working. Only He who is now restraining him will do so until He is taken out of the way. 8 Then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth, and destroy with the brightness of His presence, 9 even him, whose coming is in accordance with the working of Satan with all power and signs and false wonders, 10 and with all deception of unrighteousness among those who perish, because they did not receive the love for the truth that they might be saved. 11 Therefore God will send them a strong delusion, that they should believe the lie: 12 that they all might be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Chosen for Salvation
13 But we are bound to always give thanks to God for you, beloved brothers of the Lord, because God has from the beginning called you to salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief of the truth. 14 To this He called you by our gospel, to obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
15 Therefore, brothers, stand firm and hold the traditions which you have been taught, whether by word or by our letter.
16 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God our Father, who has loved us and has given us eternal consolation and good hope through grace, 17 comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.