Old/New Testament
Justice and Wisdom Will Prevail
32 Look, a king will promote fairness;[a]
officials will promote justice.[b]
2 Each of them[c] will be like a shelter from the wind
and a refuge from a rainstorm;
like streams of water in a dry region
and like the shade of a large cliff in a parched land.
3 Eyes[d] will no longer be blind[e]
and ears[f] will be attentive.
4 The mind that acts rashly will possess discernment,[g]
and the tongue that stutters will speak with ease and clarity.
5 A fool will no longer be called honorable;
a deceiver will no longer be called principled.
6 For a fool speaks disgraceful things;[h]
his mind plans out sinful deeds.[i]
He commits godless deeds[j]
and says misleading things about the Lord;
he gives the hungry nothing to satisfy their appetite[k]
and gives the thirsty nothing to drink.[l]
7 A deceiver’s methods are evil;[m]
he dreams up evil plans[n]
to ruin the poor with lies,
even when the needy are in the right.[o]
8 An honorable man makes honorable plans;
his honorable character gives him security.[p]
The Lord Will Give True Security
9 You complacent[q] women,
get up and listen to me!
You carefree[r] daughters,
pay attention to what I say!
10 In a year’s time[s]
you carefree ones will shake with fear,
for the grape harvest[t] will fail,
and the fruit harvest will not arrive.
11 Tremble, you complacent ones!
Shake with fear, you carefree ones!
Strip off your clothes and expose yourselves—
put sackcloth around your waists.[u]
12 Mourn over the field,[v]
over the delightful fields
and the fruitful vine.
13 Mourn[w] over the land of my people,
which is overgrown with thorns and briers,
and over all the once-happy houses[x]
in the city filled with revelry.[y]
14 For the fortress is neglected;
the once-crowded[z] city is abandoned.
Hill[aa] and watchtower
are permanently uninhabited.[ab]
Wild donkeys love to go there,
and flocks graze there.[ac]
15 This desolation will continue[ad] until new life is poured out on us from heaven.[ae]
Then the wilderness will become an orchard[af]
and the orchard will be considered a forest.[ag]
16 Justice will settle down in the wilderness
and fairness will live in the orchard.[ah]
17 Fairness will produce peace[ai]
and result in lasting security.[aj]
18 My people will live in peaceful settlements,
in secure homes,
and in safe, quiet places.[ak]
19 Even if the forest is destroyed[al]
and the city is annihilated,[am]
20 you will be blessed,
you who plant seed by all the banks of the streams,[an]
you who let your ox and donkey graze.[ao]
The Lord Will Restore Zion
33 The destroyer is as good as dead,[ap]
you who have not been destroyed!
The deceitful one is as good as dead,[aq]
the one whom others have not deceived!
When you are through destroying, you will be destroyed;
when you finish[ar] deceiving, others will deceive you!
2 Lord, be merciful to us! We wait for you.
Give us strength each morning.[as]
Deliver us when distress comes.[at]
3 The nations run away when they hear a loud noise;[au]
the nations scatter when you spring into action![av]
4 Your plunder[aw] disappears as if locusts were eating it;[ax]
they swarm over it like locusts.[ay]
5 The Lord is exalted,[az]
indeed,[ba] he lives in heaven;[bb]
he fills Zion with justice and fairness.
6 He is your constant source of stability;[bc]
he abundantly provides safety and great wisdom;[bd]
he gives all this to those who fear him.[be]
7 Look, ambassadors[bf] cry out in the streets;
messengers sent to make peace[bg] weep bitterly.
8 Highways are empty,[bh]
there are no travelers.[bi]
Treaties are broken,[bj]
witnesses are despised,[bk]
human life is treated with disrespect.[bl]
9 The land[bm] dries up[bn] and withers away;
the forest of Lebanon shrivels up[bo] and decays.
Sharon[bp] is like the arid rift valley;[bq]
Bashan and Carmel[br] are parched.[bs]
10 “Now I will rise up,” says the Lord.
“Now I will exalt myself;
now I will magnify myself.[bt]
11 You conceive straw,[bu]
you give birth to chaff;
your breath is a fire that destroys you.[bv]
12 The nations will be burned to ashes;[bw]
like thorn bushes that have been cut down, they will be set on fire.
13 You who are far away, listen to what I have done!
You who are close by, recognize my strength.”
14 Sinners are afraid in Zion;
panic[bx] grips the godless.[by]
They say,[bz] “Who among us can coexist with destructive fire?
Who among us can coexist with unquenchable[ca] fire?”
15 The one who lives[cb] uprightly[cc]
and speaks honestly;
the one who refuses to profit from oppressive measures
and rejects a bribe;[cd]
the one who does not plot violent crimes[ce]
and does not seek to harm others[cf]—
16 this is the person who will live in a secure place;[cg]
he will find safety in the rocky, mountain strongholds;[ch]
he will have food
and a constant supply of water.
17 You will see a king in his splendor;[ci]
you will see a wide land.[cj]
18 Your mind will recall the terror you experienced,[ck]
and you will ask yourselves,[cl] “Where is the scribe?
Where is the one who weighs the money?
Where is the one who counts the towers?”[cm]
19 You will no longer see a defiant[cn] people
whose language you do not comprehend,[co]
whose derisive speech you do not understand.[cp]
20 Look at Zion, the city where we hold religious festivals!
You[cq] will see Jerusalem,
a peaceful settlement,
a tent that stays put;[cr]
its stakes will never be pulled up;
none of its ropes will snap in two.
21 Instead the Lord will rule there as our mighty king.[cs]
Rivers and wide streams will flow through it;[ct]
no war galley will enter;[cu]
no large ships will sail through.[cv]
22 For the Lord, our ruler,
the Lord, our commander,
the Lord, our king—
he will deliver us.
23 Though at this time your ropes are slack,[cw]
the mast is not secured,[cx]
and the sail[cy] is not unfurled,
at that time you will divide up a great quantity of loot;[cz]
even the lame will drag off plunder.[da]
24 No resident of Zion[db] will say, “I am ill”;
the people who live there will have their sin forgiven.
Salutation
1 From Paul,[a] an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 2 to the saints, the faithful[b] brothers and sisters[c] in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you[d] from God our Father![e]
Paul’s Thanksgiving and Prayer for the Church
3 We always[f] give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, 4 since[g] we heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints. 5 Your faith and love have arisen[h] from the hope laid up[i] for you in heaven, which you have heard about in the message of truth, the gospel[j] 6 that has come to you. Just as in the entire world this gospel[k] is bearing fruit and growing, so it has also been bearing fruit and growing[l] among you from the first day you heard it and understood the grace of God in truth. 7 You learned the gospel[m] from Epaphras, our dear fellow slave[n]—a[o] faithful minister of Christ on our[p] behalf— 8 who also told us of your love in the Spirit.
Paul’s Prayer for the Growth of the Church
9 For this reason we also, from the day we heard about you,[q] have not ceased praying for you and asking God[r] to fill[s] you with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, 10 so that you may live[t] worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects[u]—bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might for the display of[v] all patience and steadfastness, joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share[w] in the saints’[x] inheritance in the light. 13 He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son he loves,[y] 14 in whom we have redemption,[z] the forgiveness of sins.
The Supremacy of Christ
15 [aa] He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn[ab] over all creation,[ac]
16 for all things in heaven and on earth were created in him—all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions,[ad] whether principalities or powers—all things were created through him and for him.
17 He himself is before all things and all things are held together[ae] in him.
18 He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn[af] from the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things.[ag]
19 For God[ah] was pleased to have all his[ai] fullness dwell[aj] in the Son[ak]
20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross—through him,[al] whether things on earth or things in heaven.
Paul’s Goal in Ministry
21 And you were at one time strangers and enemies in your[am] minds[an] as expressed through[ao] your evil deeds, 22 but now he has reconciled you[ap] by his physical body through death to present you holy, without blemish, and blameless before him— 23 if indeed you remain in the faith, established and firm,[aq] without shifting[ar] from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has also been preached in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become its servant.
24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up in my physical body—for the sake of his body, the church—what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ. 25 I became a servant of the church according to the stewardship[as] from God—given to me for you—in order to complete[at] the word of God, 26 that is, the mystery that has been kept hidden from ages and generations, but has now been revealed to his saints. 27 God wanted to make known to them the glorious[au] riches of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 We proclaim him by instructing[av] and teaching[aw] all people[ax] with all wisdom so that we may present every person mature[ay] in Christ. 29 Toward this goal[az] I also labor, struggling according to his power that powerfully[ba] works in me.
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