Isaiah 34 - 35 - Legacy Standard Bible

Isaiah 34 - 35

Yahweh’s Wrath Against the Nations

Draw near, O nations, to hear; and pay attention, O peoples!

Let the earth hear, as well as its fullness, the world and all that springs from it.

For the indignation of Yahweh is against all the nations,

And His wrath against all their hosts;

He has devoted them to destruction;

He has given them over to slaughter.

So their slain will be cast out,

And their corpses will give off their stench,

And the mountains will be drenched with their blood.

And all the host of heaven will rot away,

And the sky will be rolled up like a scroll;

All their hosts will also wither away

As a leaf withers from the vine,

Or as one withers from the fig tree.

For My sword is satiated in heaven;

Behold, it shall descend for judgment upon Edom

And upon the people whom I have devoted to destruction.

The sword of Yahweh is filled with blood;

It is sated with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats,

With the fat of the kidneys of rams.

For Yahweh has a sacrifice in Bozrah

And a great slaughter in the land of Edom.

And wild oxen will also fall with them,

And young bulls with strong ones;

Thus their land will be soaked with blood,

And their dust become greasy with fat.

For Yahweh has a day of vengeance,

A year of recompense for the cause of Zion.

And its streams will be turned into pitch,

And its dust into brimstone,

And its land will become burning pitch.

It will not be quenched night or day;

Its smoke will go up forever.

From generation to generation it will be laid waste;

None will pass through it forever and ever.

But pelican and hedgehog will possess it,

And owl and raven will dwell in it;

And He will stretch over it the line of utter formlessness

And the plumb line of utter void.

Its nobles—there is no one there

Whom they may proclaim king—

And all its princes will be non‑existent.

And thorns will come up in its fortified towers,

Weeds and thistles in its fortified cities;

It will also be a haunt of jackals

And an abode of ostriches.

And the desert creatures will meet with the wolves;

The hairy goat also will cry to its kind;

Surely, the night creature will obtain relief there

And will find itself a resting place.

The owl will make its nest and find its escape there,

And it will hatch its eggs and gather them in its shade.

Surely, the falcons will be gathered there,

Every one with its kind.

16 Seek from the book of Yahweh, and read:

Not one of these will be missing;

None will lack its mate.

For His mouth has commanded,

And His Spirit has gathered them.

He has cast the lot for them,

And His hand has divided it to them by line.

They shall possess it forever;

From generation to generation they will dwell in it.

The Joy of the Redeemed

The wilderness and the desert will be delighted,

And the Arabah will rejoice and flourish;

Like the crocus

It will flourish profusely

And rejoice with rejoicing and shout of joy.

The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,

The majesty of Carmel and Sharon.

They will see the glory of Yahweh,

The majesty of our God.

Strengthen limp hands, and give courage to the knees of the stumbling.

Say to those with an anxious heart,

“Be strong, fear not.

Behold, your God will come with vengeance;

The recompense of God will come,

But He will save you.”

Then the eyes of the blind will be opened,

And the ears of the deaf will be unstopped.

Then the lame will leap like a deer,

And the tongue of the mute will shout for joy.

For waters will break forth in the wilderness

And streams in the Arabah.

Then the scorched land will become a pool

And the thirsty ground springs of water;

In the haunt of jackals, its resting place,

Grass becomes reeds and rushes.

And a roadway will be there, a highway,

And it will be called the Highway of Holiness.

The unclean will not pass by on it,

But it will be for him who walks in that way,

And ignorant fools will not wander on it.

No lion will be there,

Nor will any vicious beast go up on it;

These will not be found there.

But the redeemed will walk there,

And the ransomed of Yahweh will return

And come with joyful shouting to Zion,

With everlasting gladness upon their heads.

They will attain delight and gladness,

And sorrow and sighing will flee away.

Luke 19

Zaccheus Is Saved

And He entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 And behold, there was a man called by the name of Zaccheus; he was a chief tax collector and he was rich. 3 And Zaccheus was trying to see who Jesus was, and was unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature. 4 So he ran on before and climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see Him, for He was about to pass through that way. 5 And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, “Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” 6 And he hurried and came down and received Him gladly. 7 And when they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8 But Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor, and if I have extorted anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.”

Parable of the Ten Minas

11 Now while they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because He was near Jerusalem, and they thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately. 12 So He said, “A nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself, and then return. 13 And he called ten of his slaves, and gave them ten minas and said to them, ‘Engage in business until I come back.’ 14 But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’ 15 And it happened that when he returned, after receiving the kingdom, he ordered that these slaves, to whom he had given the money, be called to him so that he might know how much they had made in business. 16 So the first appeared, saying, ‘Master, your mina has made ten minas more.’ 17 And he said to him, ‘Well done, good slave, because you have been faithful in a very little thing, you are to be in authority over ten cities.’ 18 Then the second came, saying, ‘Your mina, master, has made five minas.’ 19 And he said to him also, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’ 20 Then another came, saying, ‘Master, here is your mina, which I kept put away in a cloth; 21 for I was afraid of you, because you are a strict man; you take up what you did not lay down and reap what you did not sow.’ 22 He *said to him, ‘From your own mouth I will judge you, you worthless slave. Did you know that I am a strict man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow? 23 Then why did you not put my money in the bank, and having come, I would have collected it with interest?’ 24 Then he said to the bystanders, ‘Take the mina away from him and give it to the one who has the ten minas.’ 25 And they said to him, ‘Master, he has ten minas already.’ 26 ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more shall be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. 27 But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence.’”

The Triumphal Entry

28 And after He had said these things, He was going on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. 29 And it happened that when He approached Bethphage and Bethany, near the mount called “of Olives,” He sent two of the disciples, 30 saying, “Go into the village ahead of you; in which, as you enter, you will find a colt tied, on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it and bring it here. 31 And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘Because the Lord has need of it.’” 32 So when those who were sent departed, they found it just as He had told them. 33 And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?” 34 And they said, “The Lord has need of it.” 35 And they brought it to Jesus, and after they threw their garments on the colt, they put Jesus on it. 36 And as He was going, they were spreading their garments on the road. 37 Now as soon as He was approaching, near the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God, rejoicing with a loud voice for all the miracles which they had seen, 38 saying,

“Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord.

Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

39 And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.” 40 But Jesus answered and said, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones will cry out!”

Lament over Jerusalem

41 And as He approached Jerusalem and saw the city, He cried over it, 42 saying, “If you knew in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. 43 For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, 44 and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

Jesus Drives Merchants from the Temple

45 And Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling, 46 saying to them, “It is written, ‘And My house shall be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a robbers’ den.” 47 And He was teaching daily in the temple, but the chief priests and the scribes and the leading men among the people were trying to destroy Him, 48 and they could not find anything that they might do, for all the people hung upon every word He said.

Psalm 56

In God I Trust, I Shall Not Be Afraid

For the choir director. According to Jonath Elem Rehokim. A Mikhtam of David. When the Philistines seized him in Gath.

Be gracious to me, O God, for man has trampled upon me;

All day long, an attacker oppresses me.

My foes have trampled upon me all day long,

For many attack me proudly.

When I am afraid,

I will trust in You.

In God, whose word I praise,

In God I trust;

I shall not be afraid.

What can mere man do to me?

All day long they distort my words;

All their thoughts are against me for evil.

They attack, they lurk,

They watch my heels,

As they have hoped to take my life.

On account of their wickedness, will they have an escape?

In anger, bring down the peoples, O God!

You have taken account of my wanderings;

Put my tears in Your bottle.

Are they not in Your book?

Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call;

This I know, that God is for me.

In God, whose word I praise,

In Yahweh, whose word I praise,

In God I trust, I shall not be afraid.

What can man do to me?

Your vows are binding upon me, O God;

I will fulfill thank offerings to You.

For You have delivered my soul from death,

Indeed my feet from stumbling,

So that I may walk before God

In the light of the living.