Scripture quotations are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.
Isaiah 53
Who has believed our message,
and to whom has the arm of Yahweh been revealed?
For he went up like a shoot before him,
and like a root from dry ground.
He had no form and no majesty that we should see him,
and no appearance that we should take pleasure in him.
He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of suffering, and acquainted with sickness,
and like one from whom others hide their faces, he was despised,
and we did not hold him in high regard.
However, he was the one who lifted up our sicknesses,
and he carried our pain,
yet we ourselves assumed him stricken,
struck down by God and afflicted.
But he was pierced because of our transgressions,
crushed because of our iniquities;
the chastisement for our peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we were healed.
All of us have wandered about like sheep;
we each have turned to his own way;
and Yahweh let fall on him
the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was brought like a lamb to the slaughter,
and like a sheep is dumb before its shearers,
so he did not open his mouth.
He was taken by restraint of justice,
and who concerned himself with his generation?
For he was cut off from the land of the living;
he received a blow because of the transgression of my people.
He made his grave with the wicked,
and with the rich in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Yet Yahweh was pleased to crush him;
he made him sick.
If she places his life a guilt offering,
he will see offspring.
He will prolong days,
and the will of Yahweh will succeed in his hand.
From the trouble of his life he will see;
he will be satisfied.
In his knowledge, the righteous one, my servant, shall declare many righteous,
and he is the one who will bear their iniquities.
Therefore, I will divide to him a portion among the many,
and with the strong ones he will divide bounty,
because he poured his life out to death
and was counted with the transgressors;
and he was the one who bore the sin of many
and will intercede for the transgressors.
Isaiah 54
"Sing for joy, barren woman; who has not borne!
Burst forth into rejoicing and rejoice, she who has not been in labor!
For the children of the desolate woman are more than the children of the married woman," says Yahweh.
"Enlarge the site of your tent,
and let them stretch out the tent curtains of your dwelling place.
You must not spare; make your tent cords long
and strengthen your pegs,
for you will spread out to the right and to the left.
And your descendants will be heir to the nations,
and they will inhabit desolate towns.
You must not fear, for you will not be ashamed,
and you must not be confounded, for you will not feel abashed,
for you will forget the shame of your youth,
and you will no longer remember the disgrace of your widowhood.
For your husband is your maker, his name is Yahweh of hosts;
and your redeemer is the holy one of Israel, he is called the God of all of the earth.
For Yahweh has called you like a wife forsaken and hurt of spirit,
like the wife of childhood when she is rejected, says your God.
I abandoned you for a short moment,
but I will gather you with great compassion.
I hid my face from you for a moment, in the flowing of anger,
but I will have compassion on you with everlasting faithfulness" says your redeemer, Yahweh.
"For this is like the waters of Noah to me,
when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again pass over the earth,
so I swore that I would not be angry at you and rebuke you.
For the mountains may depart,
and the hills may sway,
but my faithfulness shall not depart from you,
and my covenant of peace shall not sway,"
says Yahweh, who has compassion on you,
"O afflicted one, driven away, who is not consoled.
Look! I am about to set your stones in hard mortar,
and I will lay your foundation with sapphires.
And I will make your battlements of ruby,
and your gates of stones of beryl,
and all your wall of precious stones.
And all your children shall be pupils of Yahweh,
and the peace of your children shall be great.
In righteousness you shall be established.
Be far from oppression, for you shall not fear,
and from terror, for it shall not come near you.
If indeed one attacks, it is not from me;
whoever attacks you shall fall because of you.
Look! I myself have created the craftsman who blows the fire of coals,
and who produces a weapon for his work;
also I myself have created the destroyer to destroy.
Every weapon formed against you shall not succeed,
and you shall declare guilty every tongue that rises against you for judgment.
This is the inheritance of the servants of Yahweh,
and their legal right from me,"
declares Yahweh.
Isaiah 55
"Ho! Everyone thirsty, come to the waters!
And whoever has no money, come, buy and eat,
and come, buy without money,
wine and milk without price!
Why do you weigh out money for what is not food,
and your labor for what cannot satisfy?
Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good,
and let your soul take pleasure in rich food.
Extend your ear, and come to me!
Listen so that your soul may live,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
the enduring proofs of the mercies shown to David.
Look! I made him a witness to the peoples,
a leader and a commander for the peoples.
Look! You shall call a nation that you do not know,
and a nation that does not know you shall run to you,
because of Yahweh your God,
and the holy one of Israel, for he has glorified you."
Seek Yahweh while he lets himself be found;
call him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way,
and the man of sin his thoughts.
And let him return to Yahweh, that he may take pity on him,
and to our God, for he will forgive manifold.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
and your ways are not my ways,"
declares Yahweh.
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so my ways are higher than your ways,
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
For just as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and they do not return there
except they have watered the earth thoroughly
and cause it to bring forth and sprout,
and give seed to the sower
and bread to the eater,
so shall be my word that goes out from my mouth.
It shall not return to me without success,
but shall accomplish what I desire
and be successful in the thing for which I sent it.
For you shall go out in joy,
and you shall be led in peace.
The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you, rejoicing
and all the trees of the field shall clap hands.
Instead of the thorn bush, the juniper shall go up;
instead of the brier, the myrtle shall go up,
and it shall serve as a memorial to Yahweh,
for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off."
Psalm 128
A song of ascents.
Blessed is everyone who fears Yahweh,
who walks in his ways.
You will indeed eat of the labor of your hands;
you will be happy and it will be well with you.
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
within your house.
Your children will be like olive shoots
about your table.
Look, for thus shall a man be blessed
who fears Yahweh.
May Yahweh bless you from Zion,
that you may see the good of Jerusalem
all the days of your life,
and that you may see your children’s children.
May peace be upon Israel.
1 Corinthians 15
Now I make known to you, brothers, the gospel which I proclaimed to you, which you have also received, in which you also stand, by which you are also being saved, if you hold fast to the message I proclaimed to you, unless you believed to no purpose. For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised up on the third day according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve, then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once, the majority of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all, as it were to one born at the wrong time, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me has not been in vain, but I labored even more than all of them, and not I, but the grace of God with me. Therefore whether I or those, in this way we preached, and in this way you believed.
Now if Christ is preached as raised up from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, Christ has not been raised either. But if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith is in vain. And also we are found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if after all, then, the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, Christ has not been raised either. But if Christ has not been raised, your faith is empty; you are still in your sins. And as a further result, those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have put our hope in Christ in this life only, we are of all people most pitiable.
But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since through a man came death, also through a man came the resurrection of the dead. For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own group: Christ the first fruits, then those who are Christ’s at his coming, then the end, when he hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when he has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For it is necessary for him to reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be abolished is death. For "he subjected all things under his feet." But when it says "all things" are subjected, it is clear that the one who subjected all things to him is not included. But whenever all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will be subjected to the one who subjected all things to him, in order that God may be all in all.
Otherwise, why do they do it, those who are being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why indeed are they being baptized on behalf of them? And why are we in danger every hour? I die every day—yes indeed, by my boasting in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord! If according to a human perspective I fought wild beasts at Ephesus, what benefit is it to me? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. Do not be deceived! "Bad company corrupts good morals." Sober up correctly and stop sinning, for some have no knowledge of God—I say this to your shame.
But someone will say, "How are the dead raised? And with what sort of body do they come?" Foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body which it will become, but you sow the bare seed, whether perhaps of wheat or of some of the rest. But God gives to it a body just as he wishes, and to each one of the seeds its own body. Not all flesh is the same, but there is one flesh of human beings, and another flesh of animals, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish, and heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. But the glory of the heavenly bodies is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly bodies is of another kind. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars, for star differs from star in glory.
Thus also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruptibility. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus also it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living soul"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. The first man is from the earth, made of earth; the second man is from heaven. As the one who is made of earth, so also are those who are made of earth, and as the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. And just as we have borne the image of the one who is made of earth, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.
But I say this, brothers, that flesh and blood is not able to inherit the kingdom of God, nor can corruption inherit incorruptibility. Behold, I tell you a mystery: we will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For it is necessary for this perishable body to put on incorruptibility, and this mortal body to put on immortality. But whenever this perishable body puts on incorruptibility and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will take place:
"Death is swallowed up in victory.
Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?
Now the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! So then, my dear brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.