Scripture quotations are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.
Isaiah 49
Listen to me, coastlands,
and listen attentively, peoples from far away!
Yahweh called me from the womb;
from the body of my mother he made my name known.
And he made my mouth like a sharp sword;
he hid me in the shadow of his hand,
and he made me like an sharpened arrow;
he hid me in his quiver.
And he said to me, "You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will show my glory."
But I myself said, "I have labored in vain;
I have used up my strength for nothing and vanity!
Nevertheless, my justice is with Yahweh,
and my reward is with my God."
And now Yahweh says,
who formed me from the womb as a servant for him,
to bring Jacob back to him,
and that Israel might not be gathered,
for I am honored in the eyes of Yahweh,
and my God has become my strength.
And he says, "It is trivial for you to be a servant for me,
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to bring back the preserved of Israel.
I will give you as a light to the nations,
to be my salvation to the end of the earth."
Thus says Yahweh, the redeemer of Israel, his holy one,
to the one who despises life,
to the one who abhors the nation,
to the slave of rulers:
"Kings shall see and stand up;
princes, and they shall bow down,
for the sake of Yahweh, who is faithful,
the holy one of Israel, and he has chosen you."
Thus says Yahweh:
"I have answered you in a time of favor,
and helped you on a day of salvation,
and watched over you,
and given you as a covenant of the people,
to raise up the land,
to give the desolate hereditary property as an inheritance,
saying to the prisoners, "Come out!"
to those who are in darkness, "Show yourselves!"
they shall feed along the ways,
and their pasturage shall be on all the barren heights.
They shall not be hungry or thirsty,
and heat and sun shall not strike them,
for he who takes pity on them will lead them,
and he will guide them to springs of water.
And I will make all my mountains like a road,
and my highways shall lead up.
Look! These shall come from afar,
And look! These from the north and from the west
and these from the land of Sinim."
Sing for joy, heavens, and rejoice, earth!
Mountains must break forth in rejoicing!
For Yahweh has comforted his people,
and he will take pity on his afflicted ones.
But Zion said, "Yahweh has forsaken me,
and the Lord has forgotten me!"
Can a woman forget her suckling,
refrain from having compassion on the child of her womb?
Indeed, these may forget,
but I, I will not forget you!
Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are continually before me.
Your children hasten;
your destroyers and those who laid you waste depart from you.
Lift your eyes up all around and see;
all of them gather; they come to you.
As surely as I live,
declares Yahweh,
surely you shall put on all of them like an ornament,
and you shall bind them on like a bride.
Surely your sites of ruins and desolate places and land of ruins,
surely now you will be too cramped for your inhabitants,
and those who engulfed you will be far away.
Yet the children born when you were bereaved will say in your hearing,
"The place is too cramped for me;
make room for me so that I can dwell."
Then you will say in your heart,
"Who has borne me these?"
And, "I was bereaved and barren,
exiled and thrust away;
so who raised these?
Look at me! I was left alone;
where have these come from?"
Thus says the Lord Yahweh:
"Look! I will lift my hand up to the nations,
and I will raise my signal to the peoples,
and they shall bring your sons in their bosom,
and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.
And kings shall be your guardians,
and their queens your nurses.
They shall bow down, faces to the ground, to you,
and they will lick up the dust of your feet.
Then you will know that I am Yahweh;
those who await me shall not be ashamed.
Can war-booty be taken from the mighty?
or can a captive of a righteous person be rescued?
But thus says Yahweh:
"Indeed a captive of the mighty shall be taken,
and the war-booty of the tyrant shall be rescued,
for I myself will dispute with your opponent,
and I myself will save your children.
And I will feed your oppressors their own flesh,
and they shall be drunk with their blood as with wine.
Then all flesh shall know that I am Yahweh,
your savior and redeemer, the strong one of Jacob."
Isaiah 50
Thus says Yahweh:
"Where is this divorce document of your mother’s divorce, with which I dismissed her?
or to whom of my creditors did I sell you?
Look! you were sold because of your sin,
and your mother was dismissed because of your transgressions.
Why was there no man when I came,
no one who answered when I called?
Do I lack the strength to save?
Or is there no power in me to deliver?
Look! by my rebuke I dry up the sea;
I make the rivers a desert;
their fish stink because there is no water,
and they die because of thirst.
I clothe the heavens with darkness,
and I make their covering sackcloth."
The Lord Yahweh has given me the tongue of a pupil,
to know how to help the weary with a word.
He awakens morning by morning,
awakens an ear for me to listen as do the pupils.
The Lord Yahweh has opened an ear for me,
and I, I was not rebellious.
I did not turn backwards;
I gave my back to those who struck me,
and my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard;
I did not hide my face from insults and spittle.
And the Lord Yahweh helps me,
therefore I have not been put to shame;
therefore I have set my face like flint.
And I know that I shall not be ashamed;
he who obtains rights for me is near.
Who will contend with me? Let us stand together.
Who is the master of my judgment? Let him approach me.
Look! The Lord Yahweh helps me.
Who is the one who will declare me guilty?
Look! All of them will be worn out like a garment;
the moth will eat them.
Who among you is in fear of Yahweh,
obeys the voice of his servant?
Who walks in darkness
and has no light,
trusts in the name of Yahweh
and depends on his God?
Look! All of you are kindlers of fire,
who gird yourselves with flaming arrows.
Walk in the light of your fire,
and among the flaming arrows you have kindled!
You shall have this from my hand:
you shall lie down in a place of torment.
Isaiah 51
"Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,
who seek Yahweh.
Look to the rock from which you were hewn,
and to the excavation of the pit from which you were quarried.
Look to Abraham your father,
and to Sarah; she brought you forth.
For I called him alone,
but I blessed him and made him numerous."
For Yahweh will comfort Zion;
he will comfort all its sites of ruins.
And he will make its wilderness like Eden,
and its desert like the garden of Yahweh.
Joy and gladness will be found in it,
thanksgiving and the sound of song.
"Listen attentively to me, my people,
and my nation, listen to me!
For a teaching will go out from me,
and I will cause my justice to rest for a light to the peoples.
My righteousness is near; my salvation has gone out,
and my arms will judge the peoples.
The coastlands wait for me,
and for my arm they wait.
Lift up your eyes to the heavens
and look to the earth beneath,
for the heavens will be torn to pieces like smoke,
and the earth will be worn out like a garment,
and those who inhabit her will die like gnats.
But my salvation will be forever,
and my righteousness will not be broken to pieces.
Listen to me, you who know righteousness,
people who have my teaching in their heart;
you must not fear the reproach of men,
or be terrified because of their abuse.
For a moth will eat them like garments;
a moth will devour them like wool,
but my righteousness will be forever,
and my salvation for generation after generation."
Awake! Awake; put on strength, O arm of Yahweh!
Awake as in days of long ago,
the generations of a long time back!
Are you not the one who cut Rahab in pieces,
the one who pierced the sea-dragon?
Are you not the one who dried up the sea,
the waters of the great deep,
the one who made the depths of the sea a way
for those who are redeemed to cross over?
So the redeemed ones of Yahweh shall return,
and they shall come to Zion with singing,
and everlasting joy shall be on their heads.
Joy and gladness shall appear;
sorrow and sighing shall flee away!
"I, I am he who comforts you;
who are you that you are afraid of man? He dies!
And of the son of humankind? He is sacrificed as grass!
And you have forgotten Yahweh, your maker,
who stretched out the heavens,
and founded the earth.
And you tremble continually, all day,
because of the wrath of the oppressor
when he takes aim to destroy.
But where is the wrath of the oppressor?
The fettered one shall make haste to be freed.
And he shall not die in the pit,
and he shall not lack his bread.
For I am Yahweh, your God,
who stirs up the sea, so that its waves roar;
Yahweh of hosts is his name.
And I have put my words in your mouth,
and I have covered you in the shadow of my hand,
to plant the heavens
and to found the earth,
saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’"
Rouse yourself! Rouse yourself!
Stand up, Jerusalem, who have drunk from the hand of Yahweh the cup of his wrath;
you have drunk the goblet, the cup of staggering;
you have drained it out.
There is no one who guides her among all the children she has borne,
and there is no one who grasps her by the hand among all the children she raised.
Two things here have happened to you—who will show sympathy for you?—
devastation and destruction, famine and sword—who will comfort you?
Your children have fainted;
they lie at the head of all the streets, like an antelope in a snare,
those who are full of the wrath of Yahweh,
the rebuke of your God.
Therefore hear now this afflicted one
and drunken one but not from wine.
Thus says your Lord, Yahweh,
and your God pleads the cause of his people:
"Look! I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering.
You shall not continue to drink the goblet, the cup of my wrath, any longer.
And I will put it in the hand of your tormenters,
who have said to you, ‘Bow down that we may pass over you!’
And you have made your back like the ground,
and like the street for those who pass over you."
Isaiah 52
Awake! Awake; put on your strength, Zion!
Put on the garments of your beauty, Jerusalem, holy city!
For the uncircumcised and the unclean shall not continue to enter you any longer.
Shake yourself free from the dust! Rise up; sit, Jerusalem!
Free yourselves from the bonds of your neck, captive daughter of Zion!
For thus says Yahweh:
"You were sold for nothing,
and you shall be redeemed without money."
For thus says the Lord Yahweh:
"My people went down to Egypt in the beginning, to dwell as aliens there, and Assyria oppressed him without cause. And now what do I have here?"declares Yahweh, "for my people is taken without cause. Its rulers howl," declares Yahweh—"and my name is reviled continually, all day. Therefore my people shall know my name, therefore in that day, that I am the one who speaks. Here am I."
How delightful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news,
who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation,
who says to Zion, "Your God reigns as a king."
The voices of your watchmen! They lift up their voices;
together they sing for joy;
for they clearly see Yahweh’s return to Zion.
Break forth,
sing for joy together, ruins of Jerusalem,
for Yahweh has comforted his people;
he has redeemed Jerusalem.
Yahweh has bared his holy arm to the eyes of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.
Depart, depart, go out from there! You must not touch any unclean thing.
Go out from the midst of it, keep clean, you who carry the vessels of Yahweh.
For you shall not go out in haste,
and you shall not go in flight,
for Yahweh is going before you,
and your rear guard is the God of Israel.
Look, my servant shall achieve success;
he shall be exalted,
and he shall be lifted up,
and he shall be very high.
Just as many were appalled at you—
such was his appearance beyond human disfigurement,
and his form beyond the sons of mankind—
so he shall sprinkle many nations;
because of him, kings shall shut their mouths.
For they shall see what has not been told them,
and they shall consider with full attention what they have not heard.
Psalm 69
For the music director, according to The Lilies. Of David.
Save me, O God,
because waters have come up to my neck.
I sink in the mud of the deep, and there is no foothold.
I have come to watery depths,
and the torrent floods over me.
I am weary with my calling out; my throat is parched.
My eyes are exhausted in my waiting for my God.
More numerous than the hairs of my head
are those hating me without a cause.
Those who are destroying me—my enemies wrongfully— are mighty.
What I did not steal, I then must restore.
O God, you yourself know my foolishness,
and my guilty deeds are not hidden from you.
Let those who wait for you not be put to shame because of me,
O Lord Yahweh of hosts.
Let those who seek you not be disgraced because of me,
O God of Israel.
Because on account of you I have borne reproach;
disgrace has covered my face.
I have become a stranger to my brothers
and a foreigner to my mother’s sons,
because the zeal for your house has consumed me,
and the reproaches of those reproaching you have fallen on me.
When I wept in the fasting of my soul,
it became reproaches for me.
When I made sackcloth my clothing,
I became for them a byword.
Those sitting at the gate talk about me
as also the songs of the drunkards.
But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Yahweh, for a favorable time,
O God, according to the abundance of your loyal love.
Answer me with the faithfulness of your salvation.
Deliver me from the mud and do not let me sink.
Let me be delivered from those who hate me
and from the watery depths.
Do not let the torrent of waters flood over me,
or the deep swallow me,
or the pit close its mouth over me.
Answer me, O Yahweh, because your loyal love is good;
according to your abundant mercies, turn to me,
and do not hide your face from your servant.
Because I am in trouble, answer me quickly.
Draw near to my soul; redeem it.
Because of my enemies, ransom me.
You know my reproach, my shame and my disgrace.
Fully known to you are all my adversaries.
Reproach has broken my heart and I am sick.
And I hoped for sympathy, but there was none,
and for comforters, but I found none.
They also gave me gall for food,
and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
Let their table before them be a trap,
and their times of peace a snare.
Let their eyes be dark so they cannot see,
and make their loins continually tremble.
Pour out your indignation on them,
and let your burning anger overtake them.
Let their camp be desolate.
Let none dwell in their tents,
because they persecute those whom you, yourself, have struck,
and they tell of the pain of those you have wounded.
Add guilt on top of their guilt,
and do not let them be acquitted.
Let them be blotted out of the book of the living,
and let them not be recorded with the righteous.
But as for me, though I am afflicted and pained,
your salvation will protect me, O God.
I will praise the name of God in song,
and magnify him with thanksgiving.
For Yahweh it will be better than an ox or bull,
horned and hoofed.
The afflicted will see and rejoice.
O God seekers, let your heart revive,
because Yahweh hears the needy
and does not despise his own who are prisoners.
Let heavens and earth praise him,
the seas and all that moves in them,
because God will save Zion
and build the cities of Judah,
that they may dwell there and possess it.
And the offspring of his servants will inherit it,
and those who love his name will abide in it.
1 Corinthians 14
Pursue love, and strive for spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. For the one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God, because no one understands, but by the Spirit he speaks mysteries. But the one who prophesies speaks to people edification and encouragement and consolation. The one who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but the one who prophesies edifies the church. Now I want you all to speak with tongues, but even more that you may prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks with tongues, unless he interprets, in order that the church may receive edification.
But now, brothers, if I come to you speaking with tongues, how do I benefit you, unless I speak to you either with a revelation or with knowledge or with a prophecy or with a teaching? Likewise, the inanimate things which produce a sound, whether flute or lyre, if they do not produce a distinction in the tones, how will it be known what is played on the flute or on the lyre? For indeed, if the trumpet produces an indistinct sound, who will prepare for battle? And so you through the tongue, unless you produce a clear message, how will it be known what is spoken? For you will be speaking into the air. There are probably so many kinds of languages in the world, and none without meaning. Therefore, if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a barbarian to the one who is speaking, and the one who is speaking will be a barbarian in my judgment. In this way also you, since you are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek for the edification of the church, in order that you may abound.
Therefore the one who speaks in a tongue must pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unproductive. Therefore what should I do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind. I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will also sing praise with my mind. For otherwise, if you praise in your spirit, how will the one who fills the place of the outsider say the "amen" at your thanksgiving, because he does not know what you are saying? For indeed you are giving thanks well, but the other person is not edified. I give thanks to God that I speak with tongues more than all of you, but in the church I prefer to speak five words with my mind, in order that I may instruct other people, than ten thousand words in a tongue.
Brothers, do not become children in your understanding, but with respect to wickedness be as a child, and in your understanding be mature. In the law it is written:
"By those who speak a foreign language
and by the lips of others
I will speak to this people,
and not even in this way will they obey me,"
says the Lord. So then, tongues are for a sign not to those who believe, but to unbelievers, but prophecy is not for unbelievers, but for those who believe. Therefore, if the whole church comes together at the same time and all speak with tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds? But if all prophesy, and some unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is judged by all, the secret things of his heart become evident, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God, proclaiming, "God is truly among you!"
Therefore what should you do, brothers? Whenever you come together, each one of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. All things must be done for edification. If anyone speaks in a tongue, it must be on one occasion two or at most three, and one after the other, and one must interpret. But if there is no interpreter, he must be silent in the church, but let him speak to himself and to God. Let two or three prophets speak, and the others evaluate. And if something is revealed to another who is seated, the first must be silent. For you are all able to prophesy in turn, in order that all may learn and all may be encouraged, and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.
As in all the churches of the saints, the women must be silent in the churches, for it is not permitted for them to speak, but they must be in submission, just as the law also says. But if they want to learn something, let them ask their own husbands at home, for it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. Or has the word of God gone out from you, or has it come to you only?
If anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, he should recognize that the things which I am writing to you are of the Lord. But if anyone ignores this, he is ignored. So then, my brothers, desire to prophesy, and do not prevent speaking with tongues. But let all things be done decently and according to proper procedure.