The Lesson of the Fig Tree
29 zAnd he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. 30 As soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near. 31 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the akingdom of God is near. 32 Truly, I say to you, bthis generation will not pass away until all has taken place. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
Watch Yourselves
34 c“But watch yourselves dlest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and ecares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. 35 For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. 36 But fstay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”
37 And every day he was teaching in the temple, but at night he went out and lodged on the mount called Olivet. 38 And early in the morning all the people came to him in the temple to hear him.
Jesus Greater Than Moses
1 Therefore, holy brothers,1 you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and ahigh priest of our bconfession, 2 who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as cMoses also was faithful in all God’s2 house. 3 For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. 4 (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) 5 Now dMoses was faithful in all God’s house as a eservant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, 6 but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a fson. And gwe are his house, hif indeed we ihold fast our jconfidence and our kboasting in our lhope.3
A Rest for the People of God
7 Therefore, mas the Holy Spirit says,
n“Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts as in othe prebellion,
on the day of qtesting in the wilderness,
9 where your fathers put me to the test
and saw my works for forty years.
10 Therefore I was provoked with that generation,
and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart;
they have not known my ways.’
11 As I swore in my wrath,
‘They shall not enter my rest.’”
12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But rexhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. 15 As it is said,
s“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
16 For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, twhose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he uswear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were vdisobedient? 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of wunbelief.
16 Take a man’s garment when he has tput up security for a stranger,
and hold it in pledge when he puts up security for foreigners.1
17 Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man,
but afterward his mouth will be full of gravel.
18 Plans are established by counsel;
uby wise guidance wage war.
19 vWhoever goes about wslandering reveals secrets;
therefore do not associate with a simple babbler.2
20 xIf one curses his yfather or his mother,
his lamp will be put out in utter darkness.
21 An inheritance gained zhastily in the beginning
will not be blessed in the end.
22 aDo not say, “I will brepay evil”;
cwait for the Lord, dand he will deliver you.
23 Unequal weights are an abomination to the Lord,
and false scales are not good.
24 A man’s steps are from the Lord;
how then can man understand his way?
25 It is a snare to say rashly, “It is holy,”
and to reflect only after making evows.
26 A wise king winnows the wicked
and drives the wheel over them.
27 The spirit3 of man is the lamp of the Lord,
searching all his innermost parts.
28 fSteadfast love and faithfulness preserve the king,
and by steadfast love his throne is upheld.
29 The glory of young men is their strength,
gbut the splendor of old men is their gray hair.
30 Blows that wound cleanse away evil;
strokes make clean the innermost parts.
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.”
The Judgment of Babylon
1 The oracle cconcerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz dsaw.
2 On a bare hill raise a signal;
cry aloud to them;
wave the hand for them to enter
the gates of the nobles.
3 I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,
and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger,
my proudly exulting ones.10
4 The sound of a tumult is on the mountains
as of a great multitude!
The sound of an uproar of kingdoms,
of nations gathering together!
The Lord of hosts is mustering
a host for battle.
5 They come from a distant land,
from the end of the heavens,
the Lord and the weapons of his indignation,
to destroy the whole land.11
6 eWail, ffor the day of the Lord is near;
as destruction from the Almighty12 it will come!
7 Therefore all hands will be feeble,
and every human heart will melt.
8 They will be dismayed:
gpangs and agony will seize them;
they will be in anguish like a woman in labor.
They will look aghast at one another;
their faces will be aflame.
9 Behold, the day of the Lord comes,
cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,
to make the land a desolation
and to destroy its sinners from it.
10 For the stars of the heavens and their constellations
hwill not give their light;
the sun will be dark at its rising,
and the moon will not shed its light.
11 I will ipunish the world for its evil,
and the wicked for their iniquity;
I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant,
and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.
12 I will make people more rare than fine gold,
and mankind than the gold of jOphir.
13 Therefore I will make the kheavens 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,
leach 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 Their infants will be mdashed in pieces
before their eyes;
their houses will be plundered
and their wives ravished.
17 Behold, I am stirring up the nMedes against them,
who have no regard for silver
and do not delight in gold.
18 Their bows will slaughter13 the young men;
they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;
their eyes will not pity children.
19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,
the splendor and pomp of the Chaldeans,
will be olike Sodom and Gomorrah
pwhen God overthrew them.
20 It will never be inhabited
or lived in for all generations;
no Arab will pitch his tent there;
no shepherds will make their flocks lie down there.
21 But qwild animals will lie down there,
and their houses will be full of howling creatures;
there ostriches14 will dwell,
and there wild goats will dance.
22 Hyenas15 will cry in its towers,
and jackals in the pleasant palaces;
its time is close at hand
and its days will not be prolonged.
