Isaiah 55 - 56 - Legacy Standard Bible

Isaiah 55 - 56

Seek Yahweh While He May Be Found

“Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters;

And you who have no money come, buy and eat.

Come, buy wine and milk

Without money and without cost.

Why do you spend money for what is not bread,

And your wages for what does not satisfy?

Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,

And delight your soul in richness.

Incline your ear and come to Me.

Listen, that your soul may live;

And I will cut an everlasting covenant with you,

According to the faithful lovingkindnesses of David.

Behold, I have given him as a witness to the peoples,

A ruler and commander for the peoples.

Behold, you will call a nation you do not know,

And a nation which knows you not will run to you,

Because of Yahweh your God, even the Holy One of Israel;

For He has adorned you with beautiful glory.”

Seek Yahweh while He may be found;

Call upon Him while He is near.

Let the wicked forsake his way

And the unrighteous man his thoughts;

And let him return to Yahweh,

And He will have compassion on him,

And to our God,

For He will abundantly pardon.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,

Nor are your ways My ways,” declares Yahweh.

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

So are My ways higher than your ways

And My thoughts than your thoughts.

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,

And do not return there without watering the earth

And making it bear and sprout,

And giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth;

It will not return to Me empty,

Without accomplishing what pleases Me,

And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

For you will go out with gladness

And be led forth with peace;

The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you,

And all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

Instead of the thorn bush the cypress will come up,

And instead of the nettle the myrtle will come up,

And it will be to Yahweh for His renown,

For an everlasting sign which will not be cut off.”

Salvation for the Foreigner

Thus says Yahweh,

“Keep justice and do righteousness,

For My salvation is about to come

And My righteousness to be revealed.

How blessed is the man who does this,

And the son of man who takes hold of it,

Who keeps from profaning the sabbath,

And keeps his hand from doing any evil.”

Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to Yahweh say,

“Yahweh will surely separate me from His people.”

Nor let the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.”

For thus says Yahweh,

“To the eunuchs who keep My sabbaths,

And choose what pleases Me,

And hold fast My covenant,

To them I will give in My house and within My walls a memorial,

And a name better than that of sons and daughters;

I will give them an everlasting name which will not be cut off.

“Also the foreigners who join themselves to Yahweh,

To minister to Him, and to love the name of Yahweh,

To be His slaves, every one who keeps from profaning the sabbath

And takes hold of My covenant,

Even those I will bring to My holy mountain

And make them glad in My house of prayer.

Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar;

For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.”

Lord Yahweh, who gathers the banished of Israel, declares,

“Yet others I will gather to them, to those already gathered.”

All you beasts of the field,

All you beasts in the forest,

Come to eat.

His watchmen are blind;

All of them know nothing.

All of them are mute dogs unable to bark,

Dreamers lying down, who love to slumber;

And the dogs have a strong appetite; they do not know satisfaction.

And they are shepherds who do not know understanding;

They have all turned to their own way,

Each one to his greedy gain, to the last one.

“Come,” they say, “let us take wine, and let us drink heavily of strong drink;

And tomorrow will be like today—beyond exceedingly great.”

John 16 - 17

Jesus’ Warning

“These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling. 2 They will put you out of the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. 3 These things they will do because they did not know the Father or Me. 4 But these things I have spoken to you, so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them. These things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.

The Spirit Is Promised Again

5 “But now I am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 But I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you. 8 And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; 10 and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; 11 and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. 12 “I still have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak from Himself, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. 15 All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you.

Sorrow Turned to Joy

16 “A little while, and you will no longer see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me.” 17 Some of His disciples then said to one another, “What is this He is telling us, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because I go to the Father’?” 18 So they were saying, “What is this that He says, ‘A little while’? We do not know what He is talking about.” 19 Jesus knew that they were wishing to question Him, and He said to them, “Are you deliberating together about this, that I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me’? 20 Truly, truly, I say to you, that you will cry and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy. 21 Whenever a woman is in labor she has sorrow, because her hour has come; but when she gives birth to the child, she no longer remembers the suffering because of the joy that a child has been born into the world. 22 Therefore you too have sorrow now; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.

I Have Overcome the World

23 And on that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. 24 Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made complete. 25 “These things I have spoken to you in figures of speech; an hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you openly of the Father. 26 On that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; 27 for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father. 28 I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father.” 29 His disciples *said, “Behold, now You are speaking openly and are not using a figure of speech. 30 Now we know that You know all things, and have no need for anyone to question You; by this we believe that You came from God.” 31 Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? 32 Behold, an hour is coming, and has already come, for you to be scattered, each to his own home, and to leave Me alone; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me. 33 These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”

The High Priestly Prayer

Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, 2 even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. 3 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. 4 I glorified You on the earth, having finished the work which You have given Me to do. 5 Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.

Jesus Prays for His Disciples

6 “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. 7 Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; 8 for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me. 9 I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; 10 and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. 11 And I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. 12 While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled. 13 But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. 14 I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth. 18 As You sent Me into the world, I also sent them into the world. 19 For their sake I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. 20 “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; 21 that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22 The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; 23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. 25 “O righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; 26 and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”

Psalm 77

In My Distress I Sought the Lord

For the choir director. According to Jeduthun. Of Asaph. A Psalm.

My voice rises to God, and I must cry aloud;

My voice rises to God, and He will hear me.

In the day of my distress I sought the Lord;

In the night my hand was stretched out without weariness;

My soul refused to be comforted.

I remember God and I am disturbed;

I muse and my spirit faints. Selah.

You have held my eyelids open;

I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

I give thought to the days of old,

The years of long ago.

I remember my music in the night;

I am musing with my heart,

And my spirit is searching:

Will the Lord reject evermore?

And will He not be favorable again?

Has His lovingkindness ceased forever?

Has His word ended from generation to generation?

Has God forgotten to be gracious,

Or has He in anger shut up His compassion? Selah.

Then I said, “It is my grief,

That the right hand of the Most High has changed.”

I shall remember the deeds of Yah;

Surely I will remember Your wonders of old.

I will meditate on all Your work

And muse on Your deeds.

O God, Your way is holy;

What god is great like God?

You are the God who works wonders;

You have made known Your strength among the peoples.

You have by Your arm redeemed Your people,

The sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.

The waters saw You, O God;

The waters saw You, they were in anguish;

The deeps also trembled.

The clouds poured out water;

The skies gave forth a sound;

Your arrows went here and there.

The sound of Your thunder was in the whirlwind;

The lightnings lit up the world;

The earth trembled and shook.

Your way was in the sea

And Your paths in the mighty waters,

But Your footprints were not known.

You led Your people like a flock

By the hand of Moses and Aaron.