Isaiah 26 - 27, Luke 15, Psalm 50 — Legacy Standard Bible

Yahweh Will Establish Peace

26^aIn that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: “We have a ^bstrong city;He sets up walls and ramparts for ^csalvation.

²“Open the ^agates, that the ^brighteous nation may enter,The one that keeps faithfulness.³“The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect ^apeaceBecause he trusts in You.⁴“^aTrust in Yahweh forever,For in Yah—Yahweh Himself—we have an everlasting ^bRock.⁵“For He has laid low those who settle on high, the ¹^,^aexalted city;^bHe brings it low, He brings it low to the ground, He casts it to the dust.⁶“^aThe foot will trample it,The feet of the ^bafflicted, the steps of the poor.”⁷The ^away of the righteous is upright;O Upright One, ^bmake the path of the righteous level.⁸Indeed, while following the way of ^aYour judgments, O Yahweh,We have hoped for You eagerly;^bYour name—the ^cmemory of You—is the desire of our souls.⁹^aAt night ¹my soul longs for You,Indeed, ²my spirit within me ^bseeks You earnestly;For when the earth ³experiences Your judgments,The inhabitants of the world ^clearn righteousness.¹⁰Though the wicked is shown favor,He does not ^alearn righteousness;He ^bdeals unjustly in the land of uprightness,And does not perceive the majesty of Yahweh.¹¹O Yahweh, Your hand is raised up high, yet they ^ado not behold it.¹They behold ^bYour zeal for the people and are put to shame;Indeed, ²^,^cfire will devour Your adversaries.¹²Yahweh, You will establish ^apeace for us,Since You have also performed for us all our works.¹³O Yahweh our God, ^aother masters besides You have ruled us;But through You alone we ^bbring Your name to remembrance.¹⁴^aThe dead will not live; the ¹departed spirits will not rise;Therefore You have ^bvisited and destroyed them,And You have made all remembrance of them perish.¹⁵^aYou have increased the nation, O Yahweh;You have increased the nation, You are glorified;You have ^bextended all the borders of the land.¹⁶O Yahweh, they visited You ^ain distress;They ¹could only whisper a prayer;Your chastening was upon them.¹⁷^aAs the ¹woman with child draws near to the time to give birth,She writhes and cries out in her pangs of labor,Thus were we before You, O Yahweh.¹⁸We were ¹with child, we writhed in labor;We ^agave birth, as it seems, only to wind.We could not accomplish salvation for the earth,And the ^binhabitants of the world ²were not born.¹⁹Your ^adead will live;¹Their corpses will rise.You who dwell in the dust, ^bawake and shout for joy,For your dew is as the dew of the ²dawn,And the earth will ³give birth to the ⁴departed spirits.²⁰Come, my people, ^aenter into your roomsAnd close your doors behind you;Hide for a little ¹^,^bwhileUntil ^cindignation passes by.²¹For behold, Yahweh is about to ^acome out from His placeTo ^bvisit the iniquity of the inhabitants of the earth;And the earth will ^creveal her bloodshedAnd will no longer cover those of hers who were killed.

Yahweh Will Deliver Israel

27In that day ^aYahweh will ¹punish ²^,^bLeviathan the fleeing serpent,With His fierce and great and ³mighty sword,Even ⁴Leviathan the twisted serpent;And ^cHe will kill the dragon who lives in the sea.²In that day,“A ¹^,^avineyard of delight, sing of it!³“I, Yahweh, am its keeper;^aI water it every moment.Lest anyone ¹damage it,I ^bkeep it night and day.⁴“I have no wrath.Who would ever give Me ^abriars and thorns in the battle?I would step on them, ^bI would burn them ¹completely.⁵“Or let him ¹^,^arely on My strong defense,Let him make peace with Me,Let him ^bmake peace with Me.”⁶¹In the days to come Jacob ^awill take root,Israel will ^bblossom and bud,And they will fill the ²whole world with ^cproduce.⁷Like the striking of Him who has struck them, has ^aHe struck them?Or like the slaughter of those of His who were killed, ¹have they been killed?⁸You contended with them ¹by driving them away, by ^amaking them forlorn.With His fierce wind He has expelled them on the day of the ^beast wind.⁹Therefore through this, Jacob’s iniquity will be ^aatoned for;And this will be the whole fruit of the ^bturning away of his sin:When he makes all the ^caltar stones like pulverized chalk stones,When ¹Asherim and incense altars will not stand.¹⁰For the fortified city is ^aisolated,A ¹haunt ²forlorn and forsaken like the desert;^bThere the calf will graze,And there it will lie down and ³feed on its twigs.¹¹When its ^alimbs are dry, they are broken off;Women come and light a fire with them,For they are not a people of ^bdiscernment,Therefore ^ctheir Maker ^dwill not have compassion on them.And their Creator will not be gracious to them.

¹²And it will be in that day, that Yahweh ^awill start His threshing from the flowing stream of the ¹^,^bRiver to the brook of Egypt, and you will be ^cgathered up one by one, O sons of Israel. ¹³And it will be in that day, that a great ^atrumpet will be blown, and those who were perishing in the land of ^bAssyria and who were banished in the land of Egypt will come and ^cworship Yahweh in the holy mountain at Jerusalem.

The Parable of the Lost Sheep

15Now all the ^atax collectors and the ¹sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. ²And both the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling, saying, “This man receives sinners and ^aeats with them.”

³So He told them this parable, saying, ⁴“^aWhat man among you, if he has one hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the ¹open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? ⁵“And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. ⁶“And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ ⁷“I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

The Parable of the Lost Drachma

⁸“Or what woman, if she has ten ¹drachmas and loses one ²drachma, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? ⁹“And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the ¹drachma which I had lost!’ ¹⁰“In the same way, I tell you, there is joy ^ain the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

The Parable of the Prodigal Son

¹¹And He said, “A man had two sons. ¹²“And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me ^athe share of the estate that falls to me.’ So he divided his ¹^,^bwealth between them. ¹³“And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate living recklessly. ¹⁴“Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be impoverished. ¹⁵“So he went and ¹hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. ¹⁶“And he was desiring to be fed with the ¹pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him. ¹⁷“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger! ¹⁸‘I will rise up and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before you. ¹⁹“I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.”’ ²⁰“So he rose up and came to ¹his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and ²^,^aembraced him and kissed him. ²¹“And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ ²²“But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out ^athe best robe and put it on him, and ^bput a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet, ²³and bring the fattened calf, slaughter it, and let us eat and celebrate, ²⁴for this son of mine was ^adead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate.

²⁵“Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶“And summoning one of the servants, he began inquiring what these things could be. ²⁷“And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.’ ²⁸“But he became angry and was not wanting to go in, and his father came out and began pleading with him. ²⁹“But he answered and said to his father, ‘Look! For so many years I have been serving you and never have I ¹neglected a command of yours. And yet never have you given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends. ³⁰‘But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your ¹^,^awealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.’ ³¹“And he said to him, ‘Child, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. ³²‘But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was ^adead and is alive, and was lost and has been found.’”

God Himself Is Judge

A Psalm of ¹Asaph.

^aThe Mighty One, God, Yahweh, has spoken,And called the earth ^bfrom the rising of the sun to its setting.²Out of Zion, ^athe perfection of beauty,God ^bhas shone forth.³May our God ^acome and not be silent;^bFire devours before Him,And ^ca storm whirls around Him.⁴He ^acalls the heavens above,And the earth, to render justice to His people:⁵“Gather My ^aholy ones to Me,Those who have cut a ^bcovenant with Me by ^csacrifice.”⁶And the ^aheavens declare His righteousness,For ^bGod Himself is judge. ¹ Selah.⁷“^aHear, O My people, and I will speak;O Israel, I will testify ¹against you;I am God, ^byour God.⁸“I do ^anot reprove you for your sacrifices,And your burnt offerings are continually before Me.⁹“I shall take no ^ayoung bull out of your houseNor male goats out of your folds.¹⁰“For ^aevery beast of the forest is Mine,The cattle on a thousand hills.¹¹“I know every ^abird of the mountains,And everything that moves in the field is ¹Mine.¹²“If I were hungry I would not tell you,For the ^aworld is Mine, as well as its fullness.¹³“Shall I eat the flesh of ¹^,^abullsOr drink the blood of male goats?¹⁴“Offer to God ^aa sacrifice of thanksgivingAnd ^bpay your vows to the Most High;¹⁵^aCall upon Me in the day of distress;I shall ^brescue you, and you will ^cglorify Me.”¹⁶But to the wicked God says,“What right have you to recount My statutesAnd to take ^aMy covenant in your mouth?¹⁷“For you ^ahate discipline,And you ^bcast My words behind you.¹⁸“When you see a thief, you ¹^,^aare pleased with him,And ²you ^bassociate with adulterers.¹⁹“You ¹^,^alet your mouth loose in evilAnd you harness your ^btongue for deceit.²⁰“You sit and ^aspeak against your brother;You slander your own mother’s son.²¹“These things you have done and ^aI kept silent;You thought that I was just like you;I will ^breprove you and state the case in order before your eyes.²²“Now consider this, you who ^aforget God,Lest I ^btear you in pieces, and there will be none to deliver.²³“He who ^aoffers a sacrifice of thanksgiving glorifies Me;And he who ¹^,^borders his way,I shall ^cshow the salvation of God.”