Isaiah 10–13; Galatians 2

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Isaiah 10–13

Woe to those who ydecree iniquitous decrees,

and the writers who zkeep writing oppression,

to turn aside the needy from justice

and ato rob the poor of my people of their right,

that widows may be their spoil,

and that they may make the fatherless their prey!

What will you do on bthe day of punishment,

in the ruin that will come cfrom afar?

To whom will you flee for help,

and where will you leave your wealth?

Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners

or fall among the slain.

dFor all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.

Judgment on Arrogant Assyria

Woe to Assyria, ethe rod of my anger;

the staff in their hands is my fury!

Against a fgodless nation I send him,

and against the people of my wrath I command him,

to take gspoil and seize plunder,

and to htread them down like the mire of the streets.

But he idoes not so intend,

and his heart does not so think;

but it is in his heart to destroy,

and to cut off nations not a few;

for he says:

jAre not my commanders all kings?

kIs not lCalno like mCarchemish?

Is not nHamath like oArpad?

pIs not qSamaria like Damascus?

10  As my hand has reached to rthe kingdoms of the idols,

whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,

11  shall I not do to Jerusalem and sher idols

tas I have done to Samaria and her images?

12 uWhen the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, vhe1 will punish the speech2 of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes. 13 wFor he says:

By the strength of my hand I have done it,

and by my wisdom, for I have understanding;

I remove the boundaries of peoples,

and plunder their treasures;

like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones.

14  My hand has found like a nest

the wealth of the peoples;

and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken,

so I have gathered all the earth;

and there was none that moved a wing

or opened the mouth or chirped.

15  Shall xthe axe boast over him who hews with it,

or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?

As if a rod should wield him who lifts it,

or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!

16  Therefore the Lord God of hosts

will send wasting sickness among his ystout warriors,

and under his glory za burning will be kindled,

like the burning of fire.

17  aThe light of Israel will become a fire,

and bhis Holy One a flame,

and cit will burn and devour

his thorns and briers din one day.

18  The glory of ehis forest and of his ffruitful land

the Lord will destroy, both soul and body,

and it will be as when a sick man wastes away.

19  The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few

that a child can write them down.

The Remnant of Israel Will Return

20 gIn that day hthe remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more ilean on him who struck them, but jwill lean on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. 21 A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, kto the mighty God. 22 lFor though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, monly a remnant of them will return. nDestruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. 23 For the Lord God of hosts will make a full end, as decreed, in the midst of all the earth.

24 Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: O my people, owho dwell in Zion, pbe not afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with the rod and lift up their staff against you as qthe Egyptians did. 25 For rin a very little while my fury will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction. 26 And sthe Lord of hosts will wield against them a whip, as when he struck tMidian uat the rock of Oreb. And his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it vas he did in Egypt. 27 And in that day whis burden will depart from your shoulder, and xhis yoke from your neck; and the yoke will be broken because of the fat.3

28  He has come to Aiath;

he has passed through yMigron;

at Michmash he stores zhis baggage;

29  they have crossed over athe pass;

at bGeba they lodge for the night;

cRamah trembles;

dGibeah of Saul has fled.

30  Cry aloud, O daughter of eGallim!

Give attention, O Laishah!

O poor fAnathoth!

31  Madmenah is in flight;

the inhabitants of Gebim flee for safety.

32  This very day he will halt at gNob;

he will shake his fist

at the mount of hthe daughter of Zion,

the hill of Jerusalem.

33  Behold, the Lord God of hosts

iwill lop jthe boughs with terrifying power;

the great in height will be hewn down,

and the lofty will be brought low.

34  He will cut down jthe thickets of the forest with an axe,

and kLebanon will fall by the Majestic One.

The Righteous Reign of the Branch

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of lJesse,

and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

And mthe Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,

the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,

the Spirit of counsel and might,

the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

nHe shall not judge by owhat his eyes see,

or decide disputes by owhat his ears hear,

but pwith righteousness he shall judge the poor,

and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;

and he shall qstrike the earth with the rod of his mouth,

and rwith the breath of his lips she shall kill the wicked.

Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,

and tfaithfulness the belt of his loins.

uThe wolf shall dwell with the lamb,

and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat,

and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together;

and a little child shall lead them.

The cow and the bear shall graze;

their young shall lie down together;

and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,

and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.

uThey shall not hurt or destroy

in all vmy holy mountain;

wfor the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord

as the waters cover the sea.

10 In that day xthe root of yJesse, who shall stand as za signal for the peoplesof him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.

11 aIn that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, bfrom Assyria, bfrom Egypt, from cPathros, from dCush,4 from eElam, from fShinar, from gHamath, and from hthe coastlands of the sea.

12  He will raise za signal for the nations

and will assemble ithe banished of Israel,

and gather the dispersed of Judah

from the four corners of the earth.

13  jThe jealousy of Ephraim shall depart,

and those who harass Judah shall be cut off;

Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah,

and Judah shall not harass Ephraim.

14  kBut they shall swoop down on the shoulder of the Philistines in the west,

and together they shall plunder lthe people of the east.

They shall put out their hand magainst nEdom and oMoab,

and pthe Ammonites shall obey them.

15  And the Lord will utterly destroy5

qthe tongue of the Sea of Egypt,

and will wave his hand over rthe River6

with his scorching breath,7

and strike it into seven channels,

and he will lead people across in sandals.

16  And there will be sa highway from Assyria

for the remnant that remains of his people,

tas there was for Israel

when they came up from the land of Egypt.

The Lord Is My Strength and My Song

You8 will say uin that day:

I will give thanks to you, O Lord,

for though you were angry with me,

vyour anger turned away,

that you might comfort me.

Behold, God is my salvation;

I will trust, and will not be afraid;

for wthe Lord God9 is my strength and my song,

and he has become my salvation.

xWith joy you10 will draw water from the wells of salvation. yAnd you will say in that day:

zGive thanks to the Lord,

call upon his name,

amake known his deeds among the peoples,

proclaim bthat his name is exalted.

cSing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously;

let this be made known11 in all the earth.

Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,

for great din your12 midst is ethe Holy One of Israel.

The Judgment of Babylon

The oracle concerning fBabylon which gIsaiah the son of Amoz saw.

On a bare hill hraise a signal;

cry aloud to them;

wave the hand for ithem to enter

the gates of the nobles.

I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,

and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger,

my proudly exulting ones.13

The sound jof a tumult is on the mountains

as of a great multitude!

The sound of an uproar of kingdoms,

of nations gathering together!

kThe Lord of hosts is mustering

a host for battle.

lThey come from a distant land,

from the end of the heavens,

the Lord and the weapons of his indignation,

to destroy the whole land.14

mWail, for nthe day of the Lord is near;

as destruction from the Almighty15 it will come!

Therefore all hands will be feeble,

and every human heart owill melt.

They will be dismayed:

ppangs and agony will seize them;

qthey will be in anguish like a woman in labor.

They will look aghast at one another;

their faces will be aflame.

Behold, nthe day of the Lord comes,

cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,

to make the land a desolation

and rto destroy its sinners from it.

10  sFor the stars of the heavens and their constellations

will not give their light;

tthe sun will be dark at its rising,

and the moon will not shed its light.

11  I will punish uthe world for its evil,

and the wicked for their iniquity;

I will vput an end to the pomp of the arrogant,

wand lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.

12  I will make xpeople more rare than fine gold,

and mankind than the ygold of Ophir.

13  Therefore zI will make the heavens tremble,

and the earth will be shaken out of its place,

at the wrath of the Lord of hosts

in the day of his fierce anger.

14  And like a hunted gazelle,

or like sheep with none to gather them,

aeach will turn to his own people,

and each will flee to his own land.

15  Whoever is found will be thrust through,

and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.

16  bTheir infants will be dashed in pieces

before their eyes;

their houses will be plundered

and their wives ravished.

17  Behold, cI am stirring up the Medes against them,

who have no regard for silver

and do not delight in gold.

18  dTheir bows will slaughter16 the young men;

they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;

their eyes will not pity children.

19  And Babylon, ethe glory of kingdoms,

the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans,

will be flike Sodom and Gomorrah

when God overthrew them.

20  gIt will never be inhabited

or lived in for all generations;

no hArab will pitch his tent there;

no ishepherds will make their flocks lie down there.

21  But jwild animals will lie down there,

and their houses will be full of howling creatures;

there kostriches17 will dwell,

and there wild goats will dance.

22  Hyenas18 will cry in its towers,

and ljackals in mthe pleasant palaces;

its time is close at hand

and its days will not be prolonged.


Galatians 2

Paul Accepted by the Apostles

Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those lwho seemed influential) the gospel that mI proclaim among the Gentiles, nin order to make sure I was not running or had not orun in vain. But even Titus, who was with me, pwas not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. qYet because of false brothers secretly brought inwho rslipped in to spy out sour freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, tso that they might bring us into slavery to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that uthe truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. And from those vwho seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; wGod shows no partiality)those, I say, who seemed influential xadded nothing to me. On the contrary, when they saw that I had been yentrusted with zthe gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), and when James and Cephas and John, vwho seemed to be apillars, perceived the bgrace that was given to me, they cgave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10 Only, they asked us to remember the poor, dthe very thing I was eager to do.

Paul Opposes Peter

11 But ewhen Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him fto his face, because he stood condemned. 12 For before certain men came from James, ghe was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing hthe circumcision party.1 13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. 14 But when I saw that their iconduct was not in step with jthe truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas kbefore them all, If you, though a Jew, llive like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?

Justified by Faith

15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not mGentile sinners; 16 yet we know that na person is not justified2 by works of the law obut through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, pbecause by works of the law no one will be justified.

17 But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found qto be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! 18 For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. 19 For through the law I rdied to the law, so that I might slive to God. 20 I have been tcrucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives uin me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, vwho loved me and wgave himself for me. 21 I do not nullify the grace of God, for xif righteousness3 were through the law, ythen Christ died for no purpose.