The Righteous Reign of the Branch
1 bThere shall come forth a shoot from the stump of cJesse,
and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
2 And dthe 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.
3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide disputes by what his ears hear,
4 but ewith righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and fwith the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,
and faithfulness the belt of his loins.
6 gThe 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.
7 The cow and the bear shall graze;
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra,
and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.
9 They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my hholy mountain;
for ithe earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
10 In that day jthe kroot of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.
11 In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the lremnant that remains of his people, mfrom Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush,1 from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea.
12 He will nraise a signal for the nations
and will oassemble the banished of Israel,
and pgather the dispersed of Judah
from the four corners of the earth.
13 The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart,
and those who harass Judah shall be cut off;
qEphraim shall not be jealous of Judah,
and Judah shall not harass Ephraim.
14 But they shall swoop down on the shoulder of the Philistines in the west,
and together they shall plunder the people of the east.
They shall put out their hand against Edom and Moab,
and the Ammonites shall obey them.
15 And the Lord will utterly destroy2
the tongue of the Sea of Egypt,
and will rwave his hand over the River3
with his scorching breath,4
and strike it into seven channels,
sand he will lead people across in sandals.
16 And there will be a thighway from Assyria
for the remnant that remains of his people,
as there was for Israel
when they came up from the land of Egypt.
The Lord Is My Strength and My Song
1 You5 will say in that day:
“I will give thanks to you, O Lord,
for though you were angry with me,
uyour anger turned away,
that you might vcomfort me.
2 “Behold, God is my salvation;
I will wtrust, and will not be afraid;
for xthe Lord God6 is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation.”
3 With joy you7 will draw ywater from the wells of salvation. 4 And you will say in that day:
z“Give thanks to the Lord,
call upon his name,
make known his deeds among the peoples,
proclaim that his name is exalted.
5 “Sing praises to the Lord, afor he has done gloriously;
let this be made known8 in all the earth.
6 bShout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
for great in your9 midst is the Holy One of Israel.”
2 “Behold, God is my salvation;
I will wtrust, and will not be afraid;
for xthe Lord God1 is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation.”
A Living Stone and a Holy People
1 So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure uspiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have vtasted that the Lord is good.
4 As you come to him, a living stone wrejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being xbuilt up as a spiritual yhouse, to be a holy zpriesthood, to offer aspiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in Scripture:
b“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone,
a ccornerstone chosen and precious,
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.”
7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,
d“The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,”1
8 and
e“A stone of stumbling,
and a rock of offense.”
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were fdestined to do.
9 But you are ga chosen race, ha royal priesthood, a holy nation, ia people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you jout of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 kOnce you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
11 Beloved, I urge you as lsojourners and mexiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, nwhich wage war against your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and oglorify God on the day of visitation.
Submission to Authority
13 pBe subject for the Lord’s sake qto every human institution,2 whether it be to the emperor3 as supreme, 14 or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, rthat by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. 16 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but sliving as servants4 of God. 17 tHonor everyone. Love the ubrotherhood. vFear God. Honor the emperor.
18 wServants, xbe subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust.5 19 For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while ysuffering unjustly. 20 For what credit is it if, zwhen you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. 21 For to this you have been called, because aChrist also suffered for you, leaving you an bexample, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 cHe committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.
