Isaiah 11-13
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Peaceful Kingdom
11 A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow[a] out of his roots.(A)
2 The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.(B)
3 His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see
or decide by what his ears hear,(C)
4 but with righteousness he shall judge for the poor
and decide with equity for the oppressed of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.(D)
5 Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist
and faithfulness the belt around his loins.(E)
6 The wolf shall live with the lamb;
the leopard shall lie down with the kid;
the calf and the lion will feed[b] 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 asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
9 They will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.(F)
Return of the Remnant of Israel and Judah
10 On that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples; the nations shall inquire of him, and his dwelling shall be glorious.(G)
11 On that day the Lord will again raise[c] his hand to recover the remnant that is left of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea.(H)
12 He will raise a signal for the nations
and will assemble the outcasts of Israel
and gather the dispersed of Judah
from the four corners of the earth.(I)
13 The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart;
the hostility of Judah shall be cut off;
Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah,
and Judah shall not be hostile toward Ephraim.(J)
14 But they shall swoop down on the backs of the Philistines in the west;
together they shall plunder the people of the east.
They shall put forth their hand against Edom and Moab,
and the Ammonites shall obey them.(K)
15 And the Lord will dry up[d]
the tongue of the sea of Egypt
and will wave his hand over the River
with his scorching wind
and will split it into seven channels
and make a way to cross on foot;(L)
16 so there shall be a highway from Assyria
for the remnant that is left of his people,
as there was for Israel
when they came up from the land of Egypt.(M)
Thanksgiving and Praise
12 You will say on that day:
“I will give thanks to you, O Lord,
for though you were angry with me,
your anger turned away,
and you comforted me.(N)
2 Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust and will not be afraid,
for the Lord[e] is my strength and my might;
he has become my salvation.”(O)
3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.(P) 4 And you will say on that day:
“Give thanks to the Lord;
call on his name;
make known his deeds among the nations;
proclaim that his name is exalted.
5 Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously;
let this be known in all the earth.(Q)
6 Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal[f] Zion,
for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”(R)
Proclamation against Babylon
13 The oracle concerning Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw.(S)
2 On a bare hill raise a signal;
cry aloud to them;
wave the hand for them to enter
the gates of the nobles.(T)
3 I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,
have summoned my warriors, my proudly exulting ones,
to execute my anger.[g](U)
4 Listen, a tumult on the mountains
as of a great multitude!
Listen, an uproar of kingdoms,
of nations gathering together!
The Lord of hosts is mustering
an army for battle.(V)
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 earth.(W)
6 Wail, for the day of the Lord is near;
it will come like destruction from the Almighty
7 Therefore all hands will be feeble,
and every human heart will melt,(Y)
8 and they will be terrified.
Pangs 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.(Z)
9 See, the day of the Lord is coming,
cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,
to make the earth a desolation
and to destroy its sinners from it.(AA)
10 For the stars of the heavens and their constellations
will not give their light;
the sun will be dark at its rising,
and the moon will not shed its light.(AB)
11 I will punish the world for its evil
and the wicked for their iniquity;
I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant
and lay low the insolence of tyrants.(AC)
12 I will make mortals more rare than fine gold
and humans than the gold of Ophir.
13 Therefore I will make the heavens 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.(AD)
14 Like a gazelle on the run
or like sheep with no one to gather them,
all will turn back to their own people,
and all will flee to their own lands.(AE)
15 Whoever is found will be thrust through,
and whoever is caught will fall by the sword.
16 Their infants will be dashed to pieces
before their eyes;
their houses will be plundered
and their wives raped.(AF)
17 See, I am stirring up the Medes against them,
who have no regard for silver
and do not delight in gold.(AG)
18 Their bows will slaughter the young men;
they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb;
their eyes will not pity children.(AH)
19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,
the splendor and pride of the Chaldeans,
will be like Sodom and Gomorrah
when God overthrew them.(AI)
20 It will never be inhabited
or lived in for all generations;
Arabs will not pitch their tents there;
shepherds will not make their flocks lie down there.(AJ)
21 But wild animals will lie down there,
and its houses will be full of howling creatures;
there ostriches will live,
and there goat-demons will dance.(AK)
22 Hyenas will cry in its towers
and jackals in the pleasant palaces;
its time is close at hand;
and its days will not be prolonged.(AL)
Footnotes
- 11.1 Cn Compare Syr: Heb bear fruit
- 11.6 Q ms Gk Syr: MT and the fatted calf
- 11.11 Cn Compare Gk: Heb the Lord will again a second time
- 11.15 Gk Syr: Heb destroy
- 12.2 Q ms Heb mss Gk Syr Vg Tg: MT for Yah, the Lord
- 12.6 Or O inhabitant of
- 13.3 Gk: Heb for my anger
- 13.6 Traditional rendering of Heb Shaddai
Ephesians 4
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Unity in the Body of Christ
4 I, therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,(A) 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,(B) 3 making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace: 4 there is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling,(C) 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.[a]
7 But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift.(D) 8 Therefore it is said,
9 (When it says, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended[c] into the lower parts of the earth?[d] 10 He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.) 11 He himself granted that some are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers(F) 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,(G) 13 until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity,[e] to the measure of the full stature of Christ.(H) 14 We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming;(I) 15 but speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,(J) 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.
The Old Life and the New
17 Now this I affirm and insist on in the Lord: you must no longer walk as the[f] gentiles walk, in the futility of their minds;(K) 18 they are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart.(L) 19 They have lost all sensitivity and have abandoned themselves to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 That is not the way you learned Christ! 21 For surely you have heard about him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus, 22 to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts,(M) 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.(N)
Rules for the New Life
25 So then, putting away falsehood, let each of you speak the truth with your neighbor, for we are members of one another.(O) 26 Be angry but do not sin;[g] do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and do not make room for the devil. 28 Those who steal must give up stealing; rather, let them labor, doing good work with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. 29 Let no evil talk come out of your mouths but only what is good for building up,[h] as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption.(P) 31 Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice.(Q) 32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.[i](R)
Footnotes
- 4.6 Other ancient authorities read in us all
- 4.8 Or he led captive a host of captives
- 4.9 Other ancient authorities add first
- 4.9 Or parts, to the earth
- 4.13 Gk to a mature man
- 4.17 Other ancient authorities add other
- 4.26 Or If you are angry, do not sin
- 4.29 Other ancient authorities read building up faith
- 4.32 Other ancient authorities read us
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.