Old/New Testament
The Consequence of Sin
59 Certainly, the hand of the Lord is not so short that it cannot save,
nor is His ear so dull that it cannot hear.
2 But your iniquities have made a separation between
you and your God,
and your sins have hidden His face from you
so that He will not hear.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood
and your fingers with iniquity;
your lips have spoken lies,
your tongue has muttered perverseness.
4 No one calls for justice,
nor does anyone plead for truth.
They trust in vanity and speak lies;
they conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity.
5 They hatch adders’ eggs
and weave the spider’s web;
he who eats of their eggs dies,
and that which is crushed breaks out into a viper.
6 Their webs shall not become garments,
nor shall they cover themselves with their works;
their works are works of iniquity,
and an act of violence is in their hands.
7 Their feet run to evil,
and they make haste to shed innocent blood;
their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;
devastation and destruction are in their paths.
8 The way of peace they do not know,
and there is no justice in their ways;
they have made their paths crooked;
whoever walks in them does not know peace.
The Confession of Sin
9 Therefore, justice is far from us,
nor does righteousness overtake us;
we wait for light, but there is darkness,
for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
10 We grope along the wall like the blind,
and we grope as if we had no eyes;
we stumble at noonday as in the night;
among those who are vigorous, we are as dead men.
11 We all roar like bears
and mourn sadly like doves;
we look for justice, but there is none;
for salvation, but it is far from us.
12 For our transgressions are multiplied before You,
and our sins testify against us;
for our transgressions are with us.
And as for our iniquities, we know them:
13 transgressing, and lying against the Lord,
and departing away from our God,
speaking oppression and revolt,
conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
14 Justice is turned backward,
and righteousness stands far off;
for truth is fallen in the street,
and equity cannot enter.
15 Truth is lacking,
and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey.
The Redeemer of Zion
Then the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him
that there was no justice.
16 He saw that there was no man
and was astonished that there was no intercessor;
therefore, His own arm brought salvation to Him,
and His righteousness sustained Him.
17 For He put on righteousness as a breastplate
and a helmet of salvation on His head;
He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing
and was clad with zeal as a cloak.
18 According to their deeds,
accordingly He will repay:
fury to His adversaries,
recompense to His enemies;
to the islands He will make recompense.
19 So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west
and His glory from the rising of the sun;
when the enemy shall come in like a flood,
the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.
20 The Redeemer shall come to Zion
and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,
says the Lord.
21 As for Me, this is My covenant with them, says the Lord: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart out of your mouth, nor out of the mouth of your descendants, nor out of the mouth of your descendants’ descendants, says the Lord, from this time forth and forever.
The Glory of Zion
60 Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
2 For the darkness shall cover the earth
and deep darkness the peoples;
but the Lord shall rise upon you,
and His glory shall be seen upon you.
3 The nations shall come to your light
and kings to the brightness of your rising.
4 Lift up your eyes all around, and see:
They all gather themselves together; they come to you;
your sons shall come from afar,
and your daughters shall be carried at your side.
5 Then you shall see and be radiant,
and your heart shall thrill and rejoice
because the abundance of the sea shall be converted to you,
the wealth of the nations shall come to you.
6 The multitude of camels shall cover your land,
the young camels of Midian and Ephah;
all those from Sheba shall come;
they shall bring gold and incense
and shall bear good news of the praises of the Lord.
7 All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together to you,
the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you;
they shall come up with acceptance on My altar,
and I will glorify My glorious house.
8 Who are these who fly as a cloud
and as the doves to their roosts?
9 Surely the coastlands shall wait for Me,
and the ships of Tarshish shall come first,
to bring your sons from afar,
their silver and their gold with them,
to the name of the Lord your God
and to the Holy One of Israel
because He has glorified you.
10 The sons of foreigners shall build up your walls,
and their kings shall minister to you;
for in My wrath I struck you,
but in My favor I have had mercy on you.
11 Therefore, your gates shall be open continually;
they shall not be shut day nor night,
so that men may bring to you the wealth of the nations,
and that their kings may be brought.
12 For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish,
and those nations shall be utterly destroyed.
13 The glory of Lebanon shall come to you,
the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box tree together,
to beautify the place of My sanctuary;
and I will make the place of My feet glorious.
14 The sons also of those who afflicted you shall come bowing before you,
and all those who despised you shall bow themselves down at the soles of your feet;
and they shall call you, The City of the Lord,
the Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
15 Whereas you have been forsaken
and hated so that no man went through you,
I will make you an eternal excellency,
a joy of many generations.
16 You shall also suck the milk of the nations
and suck the breast of kings;
then you shall know that I, the Lord, am your Savior
and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
17 Instead of bronze I will bring gold,
and instead of iron I will bring silver;
and instead of wood, bronze;
and instead of stones, iron.
I will also make your officers peace
and your exactors righteousness.
18 Violence shall no more be heard in your land,
nor devastation or destruction within your borders;
but you shall call your walls Salvation
and your gates Praise.
19 The sun shall no longer be your light by day,
nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you;
but the Lord shall be an everlasting light to you
and your God for your glory.
20 Your sun shall no more go down,
nor shall your moon wane;
for the Lord shall be your everlasting light,
and the days of your mourning shall end.
21 Then all your people shall be righteous;
they shall inherit the land forever,
the branch of My planting,
the work of My hands,
that I may be glorified.
22 A little one shall become a thousand,
and a small one a strong nation.
I, the Lord,
will hasten it in its time.
The Lord’s Favor
61 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me
because the Lord has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor;
He has sent me to heal the broken-hearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn,
3 to preserve those who mourn in Zion,
to give to them beauty
for ashes,
the oil of joy
for mourning,
the garment of praise
for the spirit of heaviness,
that they might be called trees of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord,
that He might be glorified.
4 They shall build the old ruins;
they shall raise up the former desolations,
and they shall repair the waste cities,
the desolations of many generations.
5 Strangers shall stand and feed your flocks,
and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers.
6 But you shall be named the priests of the Lord;
men shall call you the ministers of our God.
You shall eat the riches of the nations,
and in their glory you shall boast.
7 Instead of your shame
you shall have double honor,
and instead of humiliation
they shall rejoice over their portion.
Therefore, in their land they shall possess a double portion;
everlasting joy shall be theirs.
8 For I, the Lord, love justice,
I hate robbery in the burnt offering;
and I will faithfully give them their recompense
and make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 Their descendants shall be known among the nations
and their offspring among the peoples.
All who see them shall acknowledge them
because they are the descendants whom the Lord has blessed.
10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,
my soul shall be joyful in my God;
for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
He has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11 For as the earth brings forth her buds,
and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth,
so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
to spring forth before all the nations.
Pray for Us
3 Finally, brothers, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may quickly spread and be glorified, even as it did with you. 2 And pray that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men, for not all men have faith. 3 But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one. 4 We have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you are doing and will do the things which we command you. 5 May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.
Warning Against Idleness
6 Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother who walks in idleness and not according to the tradition that he received from us. 7 For you know how you should follow us. For we were not idle among you, 8 neither did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but we worked tirelessly and toiled night and day that we might not be a burden to any of you. 9 We did this, not because we did not have that right, but to make ourselves an example for you to follow. 10 For when we were with you, we commanded you that if any will not work, neither shall he eat.
11 For we hear that there are some among you who live in idleness, mere busybodies, not working at all. 12 Now, concerning those who are such, we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ that they quietly work and eat their own bread. 13 But you, brothers, do not be weary in doing good.
14 If anyone does not obey our word in this letter, note that man, and do not socialize with him, so that he may be ashamed. 15 Still, do not count him as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.
Benediction
16 Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with you all.
17 I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand, and this is the distinguishing mark in every letter: So I write.
18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.