Isaiah 53-55

New American Standard Bible

The Suffering Servant

53 ^(A)Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
²For He grew up before Him like a ^(B)tender ^[a]shoot,
And like a root out of dry ground;
He has ^(C)no stately form or majesty
That we would look at Him,
Nor an appearance that we would take pleasure in Him.
³He was ^(D)despised and abandoned by men,
A man of ^[b]great pain and ^(E)familiar with sickness;
And like one from whom people hide their faces,
He was ^(F)despised, and we had no ^(G)regard for Him.

⁴However, it was our sicknesses that He Himself ^(H)bore,
And our pains that He carried;
Yet we ourselves assumed that He had been afflicted,
Struck down by ^(I)God, and humiliated.
⁵But He was ^[c]pierced for ^(J)our offenses,
He was crushed for ^(K)our wrongdoings;
The ^(L)punishment for our ^[d]well-being was laid upon Him,
And by ^(M)His wounds we are healed.
⁶All of us, like sheep, have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the Lord has caused the wrongdoing of us all
To ^[e]fall on Him.

⁷He was oppressed and afflicted,
Yet He did not ^(N)open His mouth;
^(O)Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open His mouth.
⁸By oppression and judgment He was taken away;
And as for His generation, who considered
That He was cut off from the land of the ^[f]living
^(P)For the wrongdoing of my people, to whom the blow was due?
⁹And His grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet He was with a ^(Q)rich man in His death,
^(R)Because He had ^(S)done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.

¹⁰But the Lord desired
To ^(T)crush Him, ^[g]^(U)causing Him grief;
If He renders ^[h]Himself as a guilt ^(V)offering,
He will see ^(W)His ^[i]offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the ^[j]good ^(X)pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.
¹¹As a result of the ^[k]anguish of His soul,
He will ^[l]^(Y)see it and be satisfied;
By His ^(Z)knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
For He will ^(AA)bear their wrongdoings.
¹²Therefore, I will allot Him a ^(AB)portion with the great,
And He will divide the plunder with the strong,
Because He poured out His ^[m]^(AC)life unto death,
And was ^(AD)counted with wrongdoers;
Yet He Himself ^(AE)bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the wrongdoers.

The Fertility of Zion

54 “^(AF)Shout for joy, infertile one, you who have not given birth to any child;
Break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud, you who have not been in labor;
For the sons of the ^(AG)desolate one will be ^(AH)more numerous
Than the sons of the married woman,” says the Lord.
²“^(AI)Enlarge the place of your tent;
^[n]Stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, do not spare them;
Lengthen your ^(AJ)ropes
And strengthen your ^(AK)pegs.
³For you will ^(AL)spread out to the right and to the left.
And your ^[o]descendants will ^(AM)possess nations
And will ^(AN)resettle the desolate cities.

⁴“Fear not, for you will ^(AO)not be put to shame;
And do not feel humiliated, for you will not be disgraced;
But you will forget the ^(AP)shame of your youth,
And no longer remember the ^(AQ)disgrace of your widowhood.
⁵For your ^(AR)husband is your Maker,
Whose name is the Lord of armies;
And your ^(AS)Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel,
Who is called the ^(AT)God of all the earth.
⁶For the Lord has called you,
Like a wife ^(AU)forsaken and grieved in spirit,
Even like a wife of one’s youth when she is rejected,”
Says your God.
⁷“^[p]For a ^(AV)brief moment I abandoned you,
But with great compassion I will ^(AW)gather you.
⁸In an ^[q]^(AX)outburst of anger
I hid My face from you for a moment,
But with everlasting ^(AY)favor I will ^(AZ)have compassion on you,”
Says the Lord your ^(BA)Redeemer.

⁹“For ^[r]this is like the days of Noah to Me,
When I swore that the waters of Noah
Would ^(BB)not ^[s]flood the earth again;
So I have sworn that I will ^(BC)not be angry with you
Nor rebuke you.
¹⁰For the ^(BD)mountains may be removed and the hills may shake,
But My ^[t]favor will not be removed from you,
Nor will My ^(BE)covenant of peace be shaken,”
Says ^(BF)the Lord who has compassion on you.

¹¹“^(BG)Afflicted one, storm-tossed, and ^(BH)not comforted,
Behold, I will set your stones in antimony,
And I will ^(BI)lay your foundations with ^[u]^(BJ)sapphires.
¹²Moreover, I will make your battlements of ^[v]rubies,
And your gates of ^[w]crystal,
And your entire ^[x]wall of precious stones.
¹³^(BK)All your sons will be ^[y]taught by the Lord;
And the well-being of your sons will be ^(BL)great.
¹⁴In ^(BM)righteousness you will be established;
You will be far from ^(BN)oppression, for you will ^(BO)not fear;
And from ^(BP)terror, for it will not come near you.
¹⁵If anyone fiercely attacks you, it will not be from Me.
^(BQ)Whoever attacks you will fall because of you.
¹⁶Behold, I Myself have created the smith who blows on the fire of coals
And produces a weapon for its work;
And I have created the destroyer to inflict ruin.
¹⁷^(BR)No weapon that is formed against you will succeed;
And you will condemn ^(BS)every tongue that ^[z]accuses you in judgment.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
And their ^(BT)vindication is from Me,” declares the Lord.

The Free Offer of Mercy

55 “^[aa]You there! Everyone who ^(BU)thirsts, come to the waters;
And you who have ^(BV)no ^[ab]money come, buy and eat.
Come, buy ^(BW)wine and milk
^(BX)Without money and without cost.
²Why do you ^[ac]spend money for what is ^(BY)not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and ^(BZ)eat what is good,
And ^(CA)delight yourself in abundance.
³^(CB)Incline your ear and come to Me.
Listen, that ^[ad]you may ^(CC)live;
And I will make ^(CD)an everlasting covenant with you,
According to the ^(CE)faithful mercies ^[ae]shown to David.
⁴Behold, I have made ^(CF)him a witness to the peoples,
A ^(CG)leader and commander for the peoples.
⁵Behold, you will call a ^(CH)nation you do not know,
And a nation which does not know you will ^(CI)run to you,
Because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel;
For He has ^(CJ)glorified you.”

⁶^(CK)Seek the Lord while He may be found;
^(CL)Call upon Him while He is near.
⁷^(CM)Let the wicked abandon his way,
And the unrighteous person his ^(CN)thoughts;
And let him ^(CO)return to the Lord,
And He will have ^(CP)compassion on him,
And to our God,
For He will ^(CQ)abundantly pardon.
⁸“For My thoughts are not ^(CR)your thoughts,
Nor are ^(CS)your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
⁹“For ^(CT)as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.
¹⁰For as the ^(CU)rain and the snow come down from heaven,
And do not return there without watering the earth
And making it produce and sprout,
And providing ^(CV)seed to the sower and bread to the eater;
¹¹So will My ^(CW)word be which goes out of My mouth;
It will ^(CX)not return to Me empty,
Without ^(CY)accomplishing what I desire,
And without succeeding in the purpose for which I sent it.
¹²For you will go out with ^(CZ)joy
And be led in ^(DA)peace;
The ^(DB)mountains and the hills will break into shouts of joy before you,
And all the ^(DC)trees of the field will clap their hands.
¹³Instead of the ^(DD)thorn bush, the ^(DE)juniper will come up,
And instead of the ^(DF)stinging nettle, the myrtle will come up;
And ^[af]it will be a ^[ag]^(DG)memorial to the Lord,
An everlasting ^(DH)sign which ^(DI)will not be eliminated.”

Footnotes

Isaiah 53:2 Lit suckling
Isaiah 53:3 Lit pains
Isaiah 53:5 Or wounded
Isaiah 53:5 Or peace
Isaiah 53:6 Lit encounter Him
Isaiah 53:8 Or life
Isaiah 53:10 Lit He made Him sick
Isaiah 53:10 Lit His soul
Isaiah 53:10 Lit seed
Isaiah 53:10 Or will of
Isaiah 53:11 Or trouble
Isaiah 53:11 DSS see light; LXX also has light
Isaiah 53:12 Lit soul
Isaiah 54:2 Lit Let them stretch out
Isaiah 54:3 Lit seed
Isaiah 54:7 Lit In
Isaiah 54:8 Lit overflowing
Isaiah 54:9 Some mss the waters of Noah this is to Me
Isaiah 54:9 Lit cross over
Isaiah 54:10 Or faithfulness
Isaiah 54:11 Or lapis lazuli
Isaiah 54:12 I.e., bright red
Isaiah 54:12 Or carbuncles
Isaiah 54:12 Lit border, boundary
Isaiah 54:13 Or disciples of
Isaiah 54:17 Lit rises against
Isaiah 55:1 Lit Hoy
Isaiah 55:1 Lit silver
Isaiah 55:2 Lit weigh out silver
Isaiah 55:3 Lit your soul
Isaiah 55:3 Lit of David
Isaiah 55:13 I.e., the transformation of the desert
Isaiah 55:13 Lit name

Psalm 128

New American Standard Bible

Blessedness of the Fear of the Lord.

A Song of Ascents.

128 ^(A)Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord,
Who ^(B)walks in His ways.
²When you ^(C)eat the ^(D)fruit of the labor of your hands,
You will be happy and ^(E)it will go well for you.
³Your wife will be like a ^(F)fruitful vine
^[a]Within your house,
Your children like ^(G)olive plants
Around your table.
⁴Behold, for so shall a man
Who fears the Lord be blessed.

⁵^(H)The Lord bless you ^(I)from Zion,
And may you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life.
⁶Indeed, may you see your ^(J)children’s children.
^(K)Peace be upon Israel!

Footnotes

Psalm 128:3 Lit In the innermost parts of

1 Corinthians 15

New American Standard Bible

The Fact of Christ’s Resurrection

15 Now ^(A)I make known to you, brothers and sisters, the ^(B)gospel which I preached to you, which you also received, ^(C)in which you also stand, ²by which you also are saved, ^(D)if you hold firmly to ^[a]the word which I preached to you, ^(E)unless you believed in vain.

³For ^(F)I handed down to you ^[b]as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died ^(G)for our sins ^(H)according to the Scriptures, ⁴and that He was buried, and that He was ^(I)raised on the third day ^(J)according to the Scriptures, ⁵and that ^(K)He appeared to ^[c]^(L)Cephas, then ^(M)to the twelve. ⁶After that He appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some ^(N)have fallen asleep; ⁷then He appeared to ^[d]^(O)James, then to ^(P)all the apostles; ⁸and last of all, as ^[e]to one untimely born, ^(Q)He appeared to me also. ⁹For I am ^(R)the least of the apostles, ^[f]and not fit to be called an apostle, because I ^(S)persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰But by ^(T)the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I ^(U)labored even more than all of them, yet ^(V)not I, but the grace of God with me. ¹¹Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

¹²Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there ^(W)is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised; ¹⁴and ^(X)if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, your faith also is in vain. ¹⁵Moreover, we are even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified ^[g]against God that He ^(Y)raised ^[h]Christ, whom He did not raise, if in fact the dead are not raised. ¹⁶For if the dead are not raised, then not even Christ has been raised; ¹⁷and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; ^(Z)you are still in your sins. ¹⁸Then also those who ^(AA)have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. ¹⁹If we have hoped in Christ only in this life, we are ^(AB)of all people most to be pitied.

The Order of Resurrection

²⁰But the fact is, Christ ^(AC)has been raised from the dead, the ^(AD)first fruits of those who ^(AE)are asleep. ²¹For since ^(AF)by a man death came, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. ²²For ^(AG)as in Adam all die, so also in ^[i]Christ all will be made alive. ²³But each in his own order: Christ ^(AH)the first fruits, after that ^(AI)those who are Christ’s at ^(AJ)His coming, ²⁴then comes the end, when He hands over ^(AK)the kingdom to our ^(AL)God and Father, when He has abolished ^(AM)all rule and all authority and power. ²⁵For He must reign ^(AN)until He has put all His enemies under His feet. ²⁶The last enemy that will be ^(AO)abolished is death. ²⁷For ^(AP)He has put all things in subjection under His feet. But when He says, “^(AQ)All things are put in subjection,” it is clear that ^[j]this excludes the Father who put all things in subjection to Him. ²⁸When ^(AR)all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that ^(AS)God may be all in all.

²⁹For otherwise, what will those do who are baptized ^[k]for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized ^[l]for them? ³⁰Why are we also ^(AT)in danger every hour? ³¹I affirm, brothers and sisters, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, that ^(AU)I die daily. ³²If ^[m]from human motives I ^(AV)fought with wild beasts at ^(AW)Ephesus, what good is it to me? If the dead are not raised, ^(AX)let’s eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. ³³^(AY)Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.” ³⁴^(AZ)Sober up ^[n]morally and stop sinning, for some have ^(BA)no knowledge of God. ^(BB)I say this to your shame.

³⁵But ^(BC)someone will say, “How are ^(BD)the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?” ³⁶^(BE)You fool! That which you ^(BF)sow does not come to life unless it dies; ³⁷and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of ^[o]something else. ³⁸But God gives it a body just as He wished, and ^(BG)to each of the seeds a body of its own. ³⁹All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of mankind, another flesh of animals, another flesh of birds, and another of fish. ⁴⁰There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another. ⁴¹There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.

⁴²^(BH)So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown ^[p]^(BI)a perishable body, it is raised ^[q]^(BJ)an imperishable body; ⁴³it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in ^(BK)glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; ⁴⁴it is sown a ^(BL)natural body, it is raised a ^(BM)spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. ⁴⁵So also it is written: “The first ^(BN)man, Adam, became a living ^[r]person.” The ^(BO)last Adam was a ^(BP)life-giving spirit. ⁴⁶However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. ⁴⁷The first man is ^(BQ)from the earth, ^[s]^(BR)earthy; the second man is from heaven. ⁴⁸As is the earthy one, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly one, ^(BS)so also are those who are heavenly. ⁴⁹Just as we have ^(BT)borne the image of the earthy, ^[t]we ^(BU)will also bear the image of the heavenly.

The Mystery of Resurrection

⁵⁰Now I say this, brothers and sisters, that ^(BV)flesh and blood cannot ^(BW)inherit the kingdom of God; nor does ^[u]the perishable inherit ^[v]^(BX)the imperishable. ⁵¹Behold, I am telling you a ^[w]^(BY)mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be ^(BZ)changed, ⁵²in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for ^(CA)the trumpet will sound, and ^(CB)the dead will be raised ^[x]imperishable, and ^(CC)we will be changed. ⁵³For this ^[y]perishable must put on ^[z]^(CD)the imperishable, and this ^(CE)mortal must put on immortality. ⁵⁴But when this ^[aa]perishable puts on ^[ab]the imperishable, and this mortal puts on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written: “^(CF)Death has been swallowed up in victory. ⁵⁵^(CG)Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?” ⁵⁶The sting of ^(CH)death is sin, and ^(CI)the power of sin is the Law; ⁵⁷but ^(CJ)thanks be to God, who gives us the ^(CK)victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁵⁸^(CL)Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be firm, immovable, always excelling in ^(CM)the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.