Isaiah 55 - 56, John 16 - 17, Psalm 77

Seek Yahweh While He May Be Found

55“Ho! Every one who ^athirsts, come to the waters;And you who have ^bno ¹money come, buy and eat.Come, buy ^cwine and milk^dWithout money and without cost.²“Why do you ¹spend money for what is ^anot bread,And your wages for what does not satisfy?Listen carefully to Me, and ^beat what is good,And ^cdelight your soul in richness.³“^aIncline your ear and come to Me.Listen, that your soul may ^blive;And I will cut ^can everlasting covenant with you,According to the ^dfaithful lovingkindnesses of David.⁴“Behold, I have given ^ahim as a witness to the peoples,A ^bruler and commander for the peoples.⁵“Behold, you will call a ^anation you do not know,And a nation which knows you not will ^brun to you,Because of Yahweh your God, even the Holy One of Israel;For He has ^cadorned you with beautiful glory.”⁶^aSeek Yahweh while He may be found;^bCall upon Him while He is near.⁷^aLet the wicked forsake his wayAnd the unrighteous man his ^bthoughts;And let him ^creturn to Yahweh,And He will have ^dcompassion on him,And to our God,For He will ^eabundantly pardon.⁸“For My thoughts are not ^ayour thoughts,Nor are ^byour ways My ways,” declares Yahweh.⁹“For ^aas the heavens are higher than the earth,So are My ways higher than your waysAnd My thoughts than your thoughts.¹⁰“For as the ^arain and the snow come down from heaven,And do not return there without watering the earthAnd making it bear and sprout,And giving ^bseed to the sower and bread to the eater,¹¹So will My ^aword be which goes forth from My mouth;It will ^bnot return to Me empty,Without ^caccomplishing what pleases Me,And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.¹²“For you will go out with ^agladnessAnd be led forth with ^bpeace;The ^cmountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you,And all the ^dtrees of the field will clap their hands.¹³“Instead of the ^athorn bush the ^bcypress will come up,And instead of the ^cnettle the myrtle will come up,And ¹it will be to Yahweh for His ²^,^drenown,For an everlasting ^esign which ^fwill not be cut off.”

Salvation for the Foreigner

56Thus says Yahweh, “^aKeep justice and do righteousness,For My ^bsalvation is about to comeAnd My righteousness to be revealed.

²“How ^ablessed is the man who does this,And the son of man who ^btakes hold of it,Who ^ckeeps from profaning the sabbath,And keeps his hand from doing any evil.”³Let not the ^aforeigner who has joined himself to Yahweh say,“Yahweh will surely separate me from His people.”Nor let the ^beunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.”⁴For thus says Yahweh,“To the eunuchs who ^akeep My sabbaths,And choose what pleases Me,And ^bhold fast My covenant,⁵To them I will give in My ^ahouse and within My ^bwalls a ¹memorial,And a name better than that of sons and daughters;I will give ²them an everlasting ^cname which ^dwill not be cut off.⁶“Also the ^aforeigners who join themselves to Yahweh,To minister to Him, and to love the name of Yahweh,To be His ¹slaves, every one who ^bkeeps from profaning the sabbathAnd takes hold of My covenant,⁷Even ^athose I will bring to My ^bholy mountainAnd ^cmake them glad in My house of prayer.Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be acceptable on ^dMy altar;For ^eMy house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.”⁸Lord Yahweh, who ^agathers the banished of Israel, declares,“Yet ^bothers I will gather to ¹them, to those already gathered.”⁹All you ^abeasts of the field,All you beasts in the forest,Come to eat.¹⁰His ^awatchmen are ^bblind;All of them know nothing.All of them are mute dogs unable to bark,¹Dreamers lying down, who love to slumber;¹¹And the dogs have a ^astrong ¹appetite; they do not know satisfaction.And they are shepherds who ^bdo not know understanding;They have all ^cturned to their own way,Each one to his greedy gain, to the last one.¹²“Come,” they say, “let ¹us take ^awine, and let us drink heavily of strong drink;And ^btomorrow will be like today—²beyond exceedingly great.”

Jesus’ Warning

16“^aThese things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from ^bstumbling. ²“They will ^aput you out of the synagogue, but ^ban hour is coming for everyone ^cwho kills you to think that he is offering service to God. ³“These things they will do ^abecause they did not know the Father or Me. ⁴“But these things I have spoken to you, ^aso that when their hour comes, you ¹may remember that I told you of them. These things I did not say to you ^bat the beginning, because I was with you.

The Spirit Is Promised Again

⁵“But now ^aI am going to Him who sent Me; and none of you asks Me, ‘^bWhere are You going?’ ⁶“But because I have said these things to you, ^asorrow 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 ¹^,^aAdvocate will not come to you; but if I go, ^bI will send Him to you. ⁸“And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; ⁹concerning sin, ^abecause they do not believe in Me; ¹⁰and concerning ^arighteousness, because ^bI go to the Father and you no longer see Me; ¹¹^aand 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, ^athe Spirit of truth, comes, He will ^bguide 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 ^aglorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. ¹⁵“^aAll 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“^aA little while, and ^byou will no longer see Me; and again a little while, and ^cyou will see Me.” ¹⁷Some of His disciples then said to one another, “What is this He is telling us, ‘^aA little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me’; and, ‘because ^bI go to the Father’?” ¹⁸So they were saying, “What is this that He says, ‘A little while’? We do not know what He is talking about.” ¹⁹^aJesus 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 ^ayou will cry and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will be sorrowful, but ^byour sorrow will be turned into joy. ²¹“^aWhenever 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 ¹child has been born into the world. ²²“Therefore ^ayou too have sorrow now; but ^bI 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“^aAnd on that day ^byou will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, ^cif you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. ²⁴“^aUntil now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your ^bjoy may be made complete.

²⁵“These things I have spoken to you in ^afigures of speech; ^ban hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you openly of the Father. ²⁶“^aOn that day ^byou will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; ²⁷for ^athe Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and ^bhave believed that ^cI came forth from the Father. ²⁸“^aI came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and ^bgoing to the Father.”

²⁹His disciples *said, “Behold, now You are speaking openly and are not ¹using ^aa figure of speech. ³⁰“Now we know that You know all things, and have no need for anyone to question You; by this we ^abelieve that You ^bcame from God.” ³¹Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe? ³²“Behold, ^aan hour is coming, and has already come, for ^byou to be scattered, each to ^chis own home, and to leave Me alone; and yet ^dI am not alone, because the Father is with Me. ³³“These things I have spoken to you, so that ^ain Me you may have peace. ^bIn the world you have tribulation, but ^ctake courage; ^dI have overcome the world.”

The High Priestly Prayer

17Jesus spoke these things; and ^alifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; ^bglorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, ²even as ^aYou gave Him authority over all flesh, that ^bto ¹all whom You have given Him, ^cHe may give eternal life. ³“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, ^athe only true God, and Jesus Christ whom ^bYou have sent. ⁴“^aI glorified You on the earth, ¹^,^bhaving finished the work which You have given Me to do. ⁵“Now, Father, ^aglorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had ^bwith You before the world was.

Jesus Prays for His Disciples

⁶“^aI have manifested Your name to the men whom ^bYou gave Me out of the world; they were ^cYours and You gave them to Me, and they have ^dkept Your word. ⁷“Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; ⁸for ^athe words which You gave Me ^bI have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that ^cI came forth from You, and they believed that ^dYou sent Me. ⁹“^aI ask on their behalf; ^bI do not ask on behalf of the world but of those whom ^cYou have given Me; for ^dthey are Yours; ¹⁰and ^aall 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 ^athey themselves are in the world, and ^bI come to You. ^cHoly Father, keep them in Your name, the name ^dwhich You have given Me, that ^ethey may be one even as We are. ¹²“While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name ^awhich You have given Me; and I guarded them and ^bnot one of them perished but ^cthe ¹son of perdition, so that the ^dScripture would be fulfilled. ¹³“But now ^aI come to You; and ^bthese things I speak in the world so that they may have My ^cjoy made full in themselves. ¹⁴“I have given them Your word; and ^athe world has hated them, because ^bthey 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 ¹from ²^,^athe evil one. ¹⁶“^aThey are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. ¹⁷“^aSanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth. ¹⁸“As ^aYou sent Me into the world, ^bI also sent them into the world. ¹⁹“For their sake I ^asanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be ^bsanctified ^cin truth.

²⁰“I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; ²¹that they may all be one; ^aeven as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, ^bso that the world may ¹believe that ^cYou sent Me. ²²“The ^aglory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; ²³^aI in them and You in Me, that they may be ¹perfected ²in unity, so that the world may ³know that ^bYou sent Me, and ^cloved them, even as You have loved Me. ²⁴“Father, I desire that ^athey also, whom You have given Me, ^bbe with Me where I am, so that they may see My ^cglory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before ^dthe foundation of the world.

²⁵“O ^arighteous Father, ¹although ^bthe world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that ^cYou sent Me; ²⁶and ^aI have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that ^bthe love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”

In My Distress I Sought the Lord

For the choir director. According to ¹Jeduthun. Of Asaph. A Psalm.

My voice rises to God, and I must ^acry aloud;My voice rises to God, and He will hear me.²In the ^aday of my distress I sought the Lord;^bIn the night my ^chand was stretched out ¹without weariness;My soul ^drefused to be comforted.³I remember God and I am ^adisturbed;I ^bmuse and ^cmy spirit faints. ¹ Selah.⁴You have held my eyelids open;I am so troubled that I ^acannot speak.⁵I give thought to the ^adays of old,The years of long ago.⁶I remember my ^amusic in the night;I ^bam musing with my heart,And my spirit is searching:⁷Will the Lord ^areject evermore?And will He ^bnot be favorable again?⁸Has His ^alovingkindness ceased forever?Has His ¹^,^bword ended ²from generation to generation?⁹Has God ^aforgotten to be gracious,Or has He in anger shut up His ^bcompassion? Selah.¹⁰Then I said, “^aIt is my ¹grief,That the ^bright hand of the Most High has changed.”¹¹I shall remember the ^adeeds of Yah;Surely I will ^bremember Your wonders of old.¹²I will ^ameditate on all Your workAnd muse on Your deeds.¹³O God, Your way is ^aholy;^bWhat god is great like God?¹⁴You are the ^aGod who works wonders;You have ^bmade known Your strength among the peoples.¹⁵You have by Your arm ^aredeemed Your people,The sons of Jacob and ^bJoseph. Selah.¹⁶The ^awaters saw You, O God;The waters saw You, they were in anguish;The deeps also trembled.¹⁷The ^aclouds poured out water;The skies ^bgave forth a sound;Your ^carrows went here and there.¹⁸The ^asound of Your thunder was in the whirlwind;The ^blightnings lit up the world;The ^cearth trembled and shook.¹⁹Your ^away was in the seaAnd Your paths in the mighty waters,But Your footprints were not known.²⁰You ^aled Your people like a flockBy the hand of ^bMoses and Aaron.