Isaiah 28 - 29 - Legacy Standard Bible

Isaiah 28 - 29

Woe to Ephraim

Woe to the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim,

And to the fading flower of its glorious beauty,

Which is at the head of the fertile valley

Of those who are overcome with wine!

Behold, the Lord has a strong and courageous agent;

As a storm of hail, a tempest of destruction,

Like a storm of mighty overflowing waters,

He has set it down to the earth with His hand.

The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim is trodden under foot.

And the fading flower of its glorious beauty,

Which is at the head of the fertile valley,

Will be like the first‑ripe fig prior to summer,

Which one sees,

And as soon as it is in his hand,

He swallows it.

In that day Yahweh of hosts will become a beautiful crown

And a glorious diadem to the remnant of His people;

A spirit of just judgment for him who sits in judgment,

A might to those who turn back the onslaught at the gate.

And these also reel with wine and stagger from strong drink:

The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink;

They are swallowed up by wine, they stagger from strong drink;

They reel while having visions;

They totter when rendering a verdict.

For all the tables are full of filthy vomit, without a single clean place.

“Whom would He instruct in knowledge,

And whom would He provide understanding about the report?

Those just weaned from milk?

Those just taken from the breast?

For He says,

‘Order on order, order on order,

Line on line, line on line,

A little here, a little there.’”

Indeed, He will speak to this people

Through stammering lips and a foreign tongue,

He who said to them, “Here is rest, give rest to the weary,”

And, “Here is repose,” but they would not listen.

So the word of Yahweh to them will be,

“Order on order, order on order,

Line on line, line on line,

A little here, a little there,”

That they may go and stumble backward, be broken, snared, and taken captive.

A Cornerstone in Zion

Therefore, hear the word of Yahweh, O scoffers,

Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,

Because you have said, “We have cut a covenant with death,

And with Sheol we have made a pact.

The overflowing scourge will not reach us when it passes by,

For we have made falsehood our refuge and we have hidden ourselves with lying.”

16 Therefore thus says Lord Yahweh,

“Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone,

A costly cornerstone for the foundation, firmly placed.

He who believes in it will not be disturbed.

I will make justice the measuring line

And righteousness the level;

Then hail will sweep away the refuge of falsehood,

And the waters will overflow the secret place.

Your covenant with death will be canceled,

And your pact with Sheol will not stand;

When the overflowing scourge passes through,

Then you will become its trampling place.

As often as it passes through, it will take you;

For morning after morning it will pass through, anytime during the day or night,

And it will be sheer terror to understand the report.”

The bed is too short on which to stretch out,

And the blanket is too narrow to wrap oneself in.

For Yahweh will rise up as at Mount Perazim;

He will be stirred up as in the valley of Gibeon,

To work His work, His unusual work,

And to labor in His labor, His exceptional labor.

So now do not carry on as scoffers,

Lest your fetters be made stronger;

For I have heard from Lord Yahweh of hosts

Of complete destruction, one that is decreed, on all the earth.

Give ear and hear my voice,

Pay attention and hear my words.

Does the farmer plow continually to plant seed?

Does he continually turn and harrow his ground?

Does he not level its surface

And sow dill and scatter cumin

And plant wheat in rows,

Barley in its place and rye within its area?

For his God disciplines and teaches him proper judgment.

For dill is not threshed with a threshing sledge,

Nor is the wheel of a cart driven over cumin;

But dill is beaten out with a staff, and cumin with a rod.

Grain for bread is crushed,

But he does not continue to thresh it forever.

Because the wheel of his cart and his horses eventually disturb it,

He does not crush it longer.

This also comes from Yahweh of hosts,

Who has made His counsel wonderful and His wisdom great.

Woe to Ariel

Woe, O Ariel, Ariel the city where David once camped!

Add year to year, observe your feasts on schedule.

I will bring distress to Ariel,

And she will be a city of mourning and moaning;

And she will be like an Ariel to me.

And I will camp against you encircling you,

And I will fortify siegeworks against you,

And I will raise up fortifications against you.

Then you will be brought low;

From the earth you will speak,

And from the dust where you are prostrate

Your words will come.

Your voice will also be like that of a spirit from the ground,

And your speech will whisper from the dust.

But it will be that the multitude of your enemies will become like fine dust,

And the multitude of the ruthless ones like the chaff which blows away;

And it will happen instantly, suddenly.

From Yahweh of hosts you will be punished with thunder and earthquake and loud noise,

With whirlwind and tempest and the flame of a consuming fire.

And it will be that the multitude of all the nations who wage war against Ariel,

Even all who wage war against her and her stronghold, and who distress her,

Will be like a dream, a vision of the night.

And it will be as when a hungry man dreams—

And behold, he is eating;

But he awakens, and his soul is empty,

Or as when a thirsty man dreams—

And behold, he is drinking,

But he awakens, and behold, he is faint,

And his soul is not quenched.

Thus the multitude of all the nations will be

Who wage war against Mount Zion.

Astonish yourselves and be astonished,

Blind yourselves and be blind;

They become drunk, but not with wine;

They stagger, but not with strong drink.

For Yahweh has poured over you a spirit of deep sleep;

He has shut your eyes, the prophets;

And He has covered your heads, the seers.

11 The entire vision will be to you like the words of a sealed book, which when they give it to the one who is literate, saying, “Please read this,” he will say, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” 12 Then the book will be given to the one who does not know how to read a book, saying, “Please read this.” And he will say, “I do not know how to read a book.” 13 Then the Lord said,

“Because this people draw near with their mouth

And honor Me with their lips,

But they remove their hearts far from Me,

And their fear of Me is in the command of men learned by rote,

Therefore behold, I will once again deal marvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous;

And the wisdom of their wise men will perish,

And the discernment of their discerning men will be hidden.”

Woe to those who deeply hide their counsel from Yahweh,

And whose deeds are done in a dark place,

And they say, “Who sees us?” or “Who knows us?”

You turn things around!

Shall the potter be considered as equal with the clay,

That what is made would say to its maker, “He did not make me”;

Or what is formed say to him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?

The Afflicted Will Rejoice

Is it not yet just a little while

Before Lebanon will be turned into a fruitful orchard,

And the fruitful orchard will be counted as a forest?

On that day the deaf will hear words of a book,

And out of darkness and thick darkness the eyes of the blind will see.

The afflicted also will increase their gladness in Yahweh,

And the needy of mankind will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

For the ruthless will come to an end and the scoffer will be finished,

Indeed all who are watching out to do evil will be cut off;

Who cause a person to sin by a word,

And ensnare him who reproves at the gate,

And defraud the one in the right with meaningless arguments.

22 Therefore thus says Yahweh, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:

“Jacob shall not now be ashamed, and now his face shall not turn pale;

But when he sees his children, the work of My hands, in his midst,

They will sanctify My name;

Indeed, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob

And will stand trembling before the God of Israel.

Those who err in spirit will know discernment,

And those who criticize will gain learning.

Luke 16

The Parable of the Unrighteous Steward

Now He was also saying to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a steward, and this steward was reported to him as squandering his possessions. 2 And he called for him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.’ 3 And the steward said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the stewardship away from me? I am not strong enough to dig; I am ashamed to beg. 4 I know what I shall do, so that when I am removed from the stewardship people will take me into their homes.’ 5 And he summoned each one of his master’s debtors, and he began saying to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 And he said, ‘One hundred baths of oil.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ 7 Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ And he said, ‘One hundred kors of wheat.’ He *said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ 8 And his master praised the unrighteous steward because he had acted shrewdly, for the sons of this age are more shrewd in relation to their own kind than the sons of light. 9 And I say to you, make friends for yourselves from the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will take you into the eternal dwellings. 10 “He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much, and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. 11 Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? 12 And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? 13 No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” 14 Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and were scoffing at Him. 15 And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts, for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God. 16 “The Law and the Prophets were until John; since that time the good news of the kingdom of God is proclaimed, and everyone is forcing his way into it. 17 But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the Law to fail. 18 “Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman who is divorced from a husband commits adultery.

The Rich Man and Lazarus

19 “Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day. 20 But a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, 21 and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. 22 Now it happened that the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom, and the rich man also died and was buried. 23 And in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and *saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things. But now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you are not able, and none may cross over from there to us.’ 27 And he said, ‘Then I am asking you, father, that you send him to my father’s house— 28 for I have five brothers—in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ 29 But Abraham *said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ 31 But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”

Psalm 51 - 52

Create in Me a Clean Heart, O God

For the choir director. A Psalm of David. When Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.

Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness;

According to the abundance of Your compassion blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity

And cleanse me from my sin.

For I know my transgressions,

And my sin is ever before me.

Against You, You only, I have sinned

And done what is evil in Your sight,

So that You are justified when You speak

And pure when You judge.

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,

And in sin my mother conceived me.

Behold, You delight in truth in the innermost being,

And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom.

Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

Make me to hear joy and gladness,

Let the bones which You have crushed rejoice.

Hide Your face from my sins

And blot out all my iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God,

And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me away from Your presence

And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation

And sustain me with a willing spirit.

Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,

And sinners will be converted to You.

Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation;

Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness.

O Lord, open my lips,

That my mouth may declare Your praise.

For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it;

You are not pleased with burnt offering.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;

A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

By Your favor do good to Zion;

Build the walls of Jerusalem.

Then You will delight in righteous sacrifices,

In burnt offering and whole burnt offering;

Then young bulls will be offered on Your altar.

I Trust in the Lovingkindness of God

For the choir director. A Maskil of David. When Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul and said to him, “David has come to the house of Ahimelech.”

Why do you boast in evil, O mighty man?

The lovingkindness of God endures all day long.

Your tongue devises destruction,

Like a sharp razor, O worker of deceit.

You love evil more than good,

Falsehood more than speaking what is right. Selah.

You love all words that devour,

O deceitful tongue.

But God will break you down forever;

He will snatch you up and tear you away from your tent,

And uproot you from the land of the living, Selah.

So that the righteous will see and fear,

And will laugh at him, saying,

“Behold, the man who would not set God as his strength,

But trusted in the abundance of his riches

And was strong in his destruction.”

But as for me, I am like a green olive tree in the house of God;

I trust in the lovingkindness of God forever and ever.

I will give You thanks forever, because You have done it,

And I will hope on Your name, for it is good, in the presence of Your holy ones.