The Lord Had Pity
18 Then the Lord became tjealous for his land
and had pity on his people.
19 The Lord answered and said to his people,
“Behold, I am sending to you
ugrain, wine, and oil,
and you will be satisfied;
and I will no more make you
a reproach among the nations.
20 “I will remove the northerner far from you,
and drive him into a parched and desolate land,
his vanguard1 into the veastern sea,
and his rear guard2 into the wwestern sea;
the xstench and foul smell of him will rise,
for he has done great things.
21 “Fear not, O land;
be glad and rejoice,
for ythe Lord has done great things!
22 Fear not, you zbeasts of the field,
for the apastures of the wilderness are green;
the tree bears its fruit;
the bfig tree and vine give their full yield.
23 “Be glad, O children of Zion,
and rejoice in the Lord your God,
for he has given the early rain for your vindication;
he has poured down for you abundant rain,
cthe early and the latter rain, as before.
24 “The threshing floors shall be full of grain;
the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
25 I will restore3 to you the years
that the dswarming locust has eaten,
the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter,
emy great army, which I sent among you.
26 “You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
and praise the name of the Lord your God,
who has dealt wondrously with you.
And my people shall never again be put to shame.
27 You shall know that I am fin the midst of Israel,
and gthat I am the Lord your God and there is none else.
And my people shall never again be put to shame.
The Lord Will Pour Out His Spirit
28 4 h“And it shall come to pass afterward,
that iI will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
jyour sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.
29 Even on the male and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit.
30 “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31 kThe sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the lgreat and awesome day of the Lord comes. 32 And it shall come to pass that meveryone who ncalls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. For oin Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be pthose whom the Lord calls.
The Mystery of Israel’s Salvation
25 Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this zmystery, brothers:1 a partial ahardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,
b“The Deliverer will come from Zion,
he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;
27 “and this will be my covenant with them
cwhen I take away their sins.”
28 As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are dbeloved for the sake of their forefathers. 29 For the egifts and the fcalling of God are irrevocable. 30 For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now2 receive mercy. 32 For God has consigned gall to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! hHow unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
34 i“For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?”
35 j“Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?”
36 For kfrom him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
A Living Sacrifice
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers,3 by the mercies of God, to lpresent your bodies as a mliving sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.4 2 nDo not be conformed to this world,5 but be otransformed by the prenewal of your mind, that by testing you may qdiscern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.6
Gifts of Grace
3 For by rthe grace given to me I say to everyone among you snot to tthink of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each uaccording to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 vFor as in one body we have many members,7 and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so wwe, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having xgifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: yif prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads,8 with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with zcheerfulness.
Marks of the True Christian
9 Let love be agenuine. bAbhor what is evil; chold fast to what is good. 10 dLove one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing ehonor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be ffervent in spirit,9 serve the Lord. 12 gRejoice in hope, hbe patient in tribulation, ibe constant in prayer. 13 jContribute to the needs of the saints and kseek to show hospitality.
