Isaiah 54-55

English Standard Version

The Eternal Covenant of Peace

54 ^(A)“Sing, O barren one, who did not bear;
    break forth into singing and cry aloud,
    you who have not been in labor!
For the children of ^(B)the desolate one ^(C)will be more
    than the children of her who is married,” says the Lord.
²^(D)“Enlarge the place of your tent,
    and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out;
do not hold back; lengthen your cords
    and strengthen your stakes.
³^(E)For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left,
    and your offspring will possess the nations
    and will people the desolate cities.

⁴“Fear not, ^(F)for you will not be ashamed;
    be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced;
for you will forget the shame of your youth,
    and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.
⁵^(G)For your Maker is your husband,
    the Lord of hosts is his name;
^(H)and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,
    ^(I)the God of the whole earth he is called.
⁶^(J)For the Lord has called you
    like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit,
like a wife of youth when she is cast off,
    says your God.
⁷^(K)For a brief moment I deserted you,
    but with great compassion I will gather you.
⁸^(L)In overflowing anger for a moment
    I hid my face from you,
^(M)but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,”
    says the Lord, your Redeemer.

⁹“This is like ^(N)the days of Noah^[a] to me:
    as I swore that the waters of Noah
    should no more go over the earth,
so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you,
    and will not rebuke you.
¹⁰For the mountains may depart
    and the hills be removed,
but my steadfast love shall not depart from you,
    and ^(O)my covenant of peace shall not be removed,”
    says the Lord, who has compassion on you.

¹¹^(P)“O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted,
    behold, ^(Q)I will set your stones in antimony,
    ^(R)and lay your foundations with sapphires.^[b]
¹²I will make your pinnacles of agate,^[c]
    your gates of carbuncles,^[d]
    and all your wall of precious stones.
¹³^(S)All your children ^(T)shall be taught by the Lord,
    ^(U)and great shall be the peace of your children.
¹⁴In righteousness you shall be established;
    you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear;
    and from terror, for it shall not come near you.
¹⁵^(V)If anyone stirs up strife,
    it is not from me;
whoever stirs up strife with you
    shall fall because of you.
¹⁶Behold, I have created the smith
    who blows the fire of coals
    and produces a weapon for its purpose.
I have also created the ravager to destroy;
¹⁷    no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed,
    and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord
    ^(W)and their vindication^[e] from me, declares the Lord.”

The Compassion of the Lord

55 ^(X)“Come, everyone who thirsts,
    come to the waters;
and he who has no money,
    ^(Y)come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
    without money and without price.
²^(Z)Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
    and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
    and delight yourselves in rich food.
³Incline your ear, and come to me;
    ^(AA)hear, that your soul may live;
^(AB)and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
    ^(AC)my steadfast, sure love for ^(AD)David.
⁴^(AE)Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples,
    ^(AF)a leader and commander for the peoples.
⁵^(AG)Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know,
    and ^(AH)a nation that did not know you shall run to you,
because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel,
    ^(AI)for he has glorified you.

⁶^(AJ)“Seek the Lord while he may be found;
    call upon him while he is near;
⁷let the wicked forsake his way,
    and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,
    and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
⁸For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
⁹^(AK)For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.

¹⁰^(AL)“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
    and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
    ^(AM)giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
¹¹so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
    it shall not return to me empty,
but ^(AN)it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
    and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

¹²^(AO)“For you shall go out in joy
    and be led forth in peace;
^(AP)the mountains and the hills before you
    shall break forth into singing,
    and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
¹³^(AQ)Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
    instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall make a name for the Lord,
    an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

Footnotes

Isaiah 54:9 Some manuscripts For this is as the waters of Noah
Isaiah 54:11 Or lapis lazuli
Isaiah 54:12 Or jasper, or ruby
Isaiah 54:12 Or crystal
Isaiah 54:17 Or righteousness

2 Kings 18:9-19

English Standard Version

⁹In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, ^(A)Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it, ¹⁰and at the end of three years he took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. ¹¹The king of Assyria carried the Israelites away to Assyria and put them in ^(B)Halah, and on the ^(C)Habor, ^(D)the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, ¹²because they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God but transgressed his covenant, even all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded. They neither listened nor obeyed.

Sennacherib Attacks Judah

¹³^(E)In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. ¹⁴And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; withdraw from me. Whatever you impose on me I will bear.” ^(F)And the king of Assyria required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents^[a] of silver and thirty talents of gold. ¹⁵And Hezekiah ^(G)gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king's house. ¹⁶At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord and from the doorposts that Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria. ¹⁷And the king of Assyria sent the ^(H)Tartan, the Rab-saris, and the Rabshakeh with a great army from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. When they arrived, they came and stood by ^(I)the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway to the Washer's Field. ¹⁸And when they called for the king, there came out to them ^(J)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and ^(K)Shebnah the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.

¹⁹And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours?

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Footnotes

2 Kings 18:14 A talent was about 75 pounds or 34 kilograms

Philippians 3

English Standard Version

Righteousness Through Faith in Christ

3 Finally, my brothers,^[a] ^(A)rejoice in the Lord. ^(B)To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you.

²Look out for ^(C)the dogs, look out for ^(D)the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. ³For ^(E)we are the circumcision, ^(F)who worship ^(G)by the Spirit of God^[b] and ^(H)glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— ⁴^(I)though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: ⁵^(J)circumcised on the eighth day, ^(K)of the people of Israel, ^(L)of the tribe of Benjamin, ^(M)a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, ^(N)a Pharisee; ⁶^(O)as to zeal, ^(P)a persecutor of the church; ^(Q)as to righteousness under the law,^[c] blameless. ⁷But ^(R)whatever gain I had, ^(S)I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸Indeed, I count everything as loss because of ^(T)the surpassing worth of ^(U)knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I ^(V)have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ ⁹and be found in him, not having ^(W)a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but ^(X)that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— ¹⁰^(Y)that I may know him and ^(Z)the power of his resurrection, and ^(AA)may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹that by any means possible I may ^(AB)attain the resurrection from the dead.

Straining Toward the Goal

¹²Not that I have already ^(AC)obtained this or ^(AD)am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. ¹³Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: ^(AE)forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal for ^(AF)the prize of the upward ^(AG)call of God in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵Let those of us who are ^(AH)mature think this way, and if in anything ^(AI)you think otherwise, ^(AJ)God will reveal that also to you. ¹⁶Only ^(AK)let us hold true to what we have attained.

¹⁷Brothers, ^(AL)join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk ^(AM)according to the example you have in us. ¹⁸For ^(AN)many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you ^(AO)even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. ¹⁹^(AP)Their end is destruction, ^(AQ)their god is their belly, and ^(AR)they glory in their shame, with ^(AS)minds set on earthly things. ²⁰But ^(AT)our citizenship is in heaven, and ^(AU)from it we ^(AV)await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹who will transform ^(AW)our lowly body ^(AX)to be like his glorious body, ^(AY)by the power that enables him even ^(AZ)to subject all things to himself.