ISAIAH 40

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The Greatness of God40:1 “Comfort, O comfort My people,” says your God.

2 “Speak kindly to Jerusalem;

And call out to her, that her warfare has ended,

That her iniquity has been removed,

That she has received of the LORD’S hand

Double for all her sins.”

3 A voice is calling,

“Clear the way for the LORD in the wilderness;

Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.

4 “Let every valley be lifted up,

And every mountain and hill be made low;

And let the rough ground become a plain,

And the rugged terrain a broad valley;

5 Then the glory of the LORD will be revealed,

And all flesh will see it together;

For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

6 A voice says, “Call out.”

Then he answered, “What shall I call out?”

All flesh is grass, and all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.

7 The grass withers, the flower fades,

When the breath of the LORD blows upon it;

Surely the people are grass.

8 The grass withers, the flower fades,

But the word of our God stands forever.

9 Get yourself up on a high mountain,

O Zion, bearer of good news,

Lift up your voice mightily,

O Jerusalem, bearer of good news;

Lift it up, do not fear.

Say to the cities of Judah,

“Here is your God!”

10 Behold, the Lord GOD will come with might,

With His arm ruling for Him.

Behold, His reward is with Him

And His recompense before Him.

11 Like a shepherd He will tend His flock,

In His arm He will gather the lambs

And carry them in His bosom;

He will gently lead the nursing ewes.

12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand,

And marked off the heavens by the span,

And calculated the dust of the earth by the measure,

And weighed the mountains in a balance

And the hills in a pair of scales?

13 Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD,

Or as His counselor has informed Him?

14 With whom did He consult and who gave Him understanding?

And who taught Him in the path of justice and taught Him knowledge

And informed Him of the way of understanding?

15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,

And are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales;

Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust.

16 Even Lebanon is not enough to burn,

Nor its beasts enough for a burnt offering.

17 All the nations are as nothing before Him,

They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless.

18 To whom then will you liken God?

Or what likeness will you compare with Him?

19 As for the idol, a craftsman casts it,

A goldsmith plates it with gold,

And a silversmith fashions chains of silver.

20 He who is too impoverished for such an offering

Selects a tree that does not rot;

He seeks out for himself a skillful craftsman

To prepare an idol that will not totter.

21 Do you not know? Have you not heard?

Has it not been declared to you from the beginning?

Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?

22 It is He who sits above the circle of the earth,

And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers,

Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain

And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.

23 He it is who reduces rulers to nothing,

Who makes the judges of the earth meaningless.

24 Scarcely have they been planted,

Scarcely have they been sown,

Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth,

But He merely blows on them, and they wither,

And the storm carries them away like stubble.

25 “To whom then will you liken Me

That I would be his equal?” says the Holy One.

26 Lift up your eyes on high

And see who has created these stars,

The One who leads forth their host by number,

He calls them all by name;

Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power,

Not one of them is missing.

27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and assert, O Israel,

“My way is hidden from the LORD,

And the justice due me escapes the notice of my God”?

28 Do you not know? Have you not heard?

The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth

Does not become weary or tired.

His understanding is inscrutable.

29 He gives strength to the weary,

And to him who lacks might He increases power.

30 Though youths grow weary and tired,

And vigorous young men stumble badly,

31 Yet those who wait for the LORD

Will gain new strength;

They will mount up with wings like eagles,

They will run and not get tired,

They will walk and not become weary.

ISAIAH 41

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Israel Encouraged41:1 “Coastlands, listen to Me in silence,

And let the peoples gain new strength;

Let them come forward, then let them speak;

Let us come together for judgment.

2 “Who has aroused one from the east

Whom He calls in righteousness to His feet?

He delivers up nations before him

And subdues kings.

He makes them like dust with his sword,

As the wind-driven chaff with his bow.

3 “He pursues them, passing on in safety,

By a way he had not been traversing with his feet.

4 “Who has performed and accomplished it,

Calling forth the generations from the beginning?

‘I, the LORD, am the first, and with the last. I am He.’”

5 The coastlands have seen and are afraid;

The ends of the earth tremble;

They have drawn near and have come.

6 Each one helps his neighbor

And says to his brother, “Be strong!”

7 So the craftsman encourages the smelter,

And he who smooths metal with the hammer encourages him who beats the anvil,

Saying of the soldering, “It is good”;

And he fastens it with nails,

So that it will not totter.

8 “But you, Israel, My servant,

Jacob whom I have chosen,

Descendant of Abraham My friend,

9 You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth,

And called from its remotest parts

And said to you, ‘You are My servant,

I have chosen you and not rejected you.

10 ‘Do not fear, for I am with you;

Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.

I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,

Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.’

11 “Behold, all those who are angered at you will be shamed and dishonored;

Those who contend with you will be as nothing and will perish.

12 “You will seek those who quarrel with you, but will not find them,

Those who war with you will be as nothing and non-existent.

13 “For I am the LORD your God, who upholds your right hand,

Who says to you, ‘Do not fear, I will help you.’

14 “Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel;

I will help you,” declares the LORD, “and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.

15 “Behold, I have made you a new, sharp threshing sledge with double edges;

You will thresh the mountains and pulverize them,

And will make the hills like chaff.

16 “You will winnow them, and the wind will carry them away,

And the storm will scatter them;

But you will rejoice in the LORD,

You will glory in the Holy One of Israel.

17 “The afflicted and needy are seeking water, but there is none,

And their tongue is parched with thirst;

I, the LORD, will answer them Myself,

As the God of Israel I will not forsake them.

18 “I will open rivers on the bare heights

And springs in the midst of the valleys;

I will make the wilderness a pool of water

And the dry land fountains of water.

19 “I will put the cedar in the wilderness,

The acacia and the myrtle and the olive tree;

I will place the juniper in the desert

Together with the box tree and the cypress,

20 That they may see and recognize,

And consider and gain insight as well,

That the hand of the LORD has done this,

And the Holy One of Israel has created it.

21 “Present your case,” the LORD says.

“Bring forward your strong arguments,”

The King of Jacob says.

22 Let them bring forth and declare to us what is going to take place;

As for the former events, declare what they were,

That we may consider them and know their outcome.

Or announce to us what is coming;

23 Declare the things that are going to come afterward,

That we may know that you are gods;

Indeed, do good or evil, that we may anxiously look about us and fear together.

24 Behold, you are of no account,

And your work amounts to nothing;

He who chooses you is an abomination.

25 “I have aroused one from the north, and he has come;

From the rising of the sun he will call on My name;

And he will come upon rulers as upon mortar,

Even as the potter treads clay.”

26 Who has declared this from the beginning, that we might know?

Or from former times, that we may say, “He is right!”?

Surely there was no one who declared,

Surely there was no one who proclaimed,

Surely there was no one who heard your words.

27 “Formerly I said to Zion, ‘Behold, here they are.’

And to Jerusalem, ‘I will give a messenger of good news.’

28 “But when I look, there is no one,

And there is no counselor among them

Who, if I ask, can give an answer.

29 “Behold, all of them are false;

Their works are worthless,

Their molten images are wind and emptiness.

PROVERBS 23

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On Life and Conduct23:1 When you sit down to dine with a ruler,

Consider carefully what is before you,

2 And put a knife to your throat

If you are a man of great appetite.

3 Do not desire his delicacies,

For it is deceptive food.

4 Do not weary yourself to gain wealth,

Cease from your consideration of it.

5 When you set your eyes on it, it is gone.

For wealth certainly makes itself wings

Like an eagle that flies toward the heavens.

6 Do not eat the bread of a selfish man,

Or desire his delicacies;

7 For as he thinks within himself, so he is.

He says to you, “Eat and drink!”

But his heart is not with you.

8 You will vomit up the morsel you have eaten,

And waste your compliments.

9 Do not speak in the hearing of a fool,

For he will despise the wisdom of your words.

10 Do not move the ancient boundary

Or go into the fields of the fatherless,

11 For their Redeemer is strong;

He will plead their case against you.

12 Apply your heart to discipline

And your ears to words of knowledge.

13 Do not hold back discipline from the child,

Although you strike him with the rod, he will not die.

14 You shall strike him with the rod

And rescue his soul from Sheol.

15 My son, if your heart is wise,

My own heart also will be glad;

16 And my inmost being will rejoice

When your lips speak what is right.

17 Do not let your heart envy sinners,

But live in the fear of the LORD always.

18 Surely there is a future,

And your hope will not be cut off.

19 Listen, my son, and be wise,

And direct your heart in the way.

20 Do not be with heavy drinkers of wine,

Or with gluttonous eaters of meat;

21 For the heavy drinker and the glutton will come to poverty,

And drowsiness will clothe one with rags.

22 Listen to your father who begot you,

And do not despise your mother when she is old.

23 Buy truth, and do not sell it,

Get wisdom and instruction and understanding.

24 The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice,

And he who sires a wise son will be glad in him.

25 Let your father and your mother be glad,

And let her rejoice who gave birth to you.

26 Give me your heart, my son,

And let your eyes delight in my ways.

27 For a harlot is a deep pit

And an adulterous woman is a narrow well.

28 Surely she lurks as a robber,

And increases the faithless among men.

29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow?

Who has contentions? Who has complaining?

Who has wounds without cause?

Who has redness of eyes?

30 Those who linger long over wine,

Those who go to taste mixed wine.

31 Do not look on the wine when it is red,

When it sparkles in the cup,

When it goes down smoothly;

32 At the last it bites like a serpent

And stings like a viper.

33 Your eyes will see strange things

And your mind will utter perverse things.

34 And you will be like one who lies down in the middle of the sea,

Or like one who lies down on the top of a mast.

35 “They struck me, but I did not become ill;

They beat me, but I did not know it.

When shall I awake?

I will seek another drink.”

HEBREWS 8

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A Better Ministry  8:1 Now the main point in what has been said is this: we have such a high priest, who has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 2 a minister in the sanctuary and in the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man. 3 For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices; so it is necessary that this high priest also have something to offer. 4 Now if He were on earth, He would not be a priest at all, since there are those who offer the gifts according to the Law; 5 who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to erect the tabernacle; for, “SEE,” He says, “THAT YOU MAKE all things ACCORDING TO THE PATTERN WHICH WAS SHOWN YOU ON THE MOUNTAIN.” 6 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises.
A New Covenant7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion sought for a second. 8 For finding fault with them, He says,

“BEHOLD, DAYS ARE COMING, SAYS THE LORD,

WHEN I WILL EFFECT A NEW COVENANT

WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL AND WITH THE HOUSE OF JUDAH;

9 NOT LIKE THE COVENANT WHICH I MADE WITH THEIR FATHERS

ON THE DAY WHEN I TOOK THEM BY THE HAND

TO LEAD THEM OUT OF THE LAND OF EGYPT;

FOR THEY DID NOT CONTINUE IN MY COVENANT,

AND I DID NOT CARE FOR THEM, SAYS THE LORD.

10 “FOR THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THE HOUSE OF ISRAEL

AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD:

I WILL PUT MY LAWS INTO THEIR MINDS,

AND I WILL WRITE THEM ON THEIR HEARTS.

AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD,

AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.

11 “AND THEY SHALL NOT TEACH EVERYONE HIS FELLOW CITIZEN,

AND EVERYONE HIS BROTHER, SAYING, ‘KNOW THE LORD,’

FOR ALL WILL KNOW ME,

FROM THE LEAST TO THE GREATEST OF THEM.

12 “FOR I WILL BE MERCIFUL TO THEIR INIQUITIES,

AND I WILL REMEMBER THEIR SINS NO MORE.”

13 When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.