Isaiah 59 - 60, John 20 - 21, Psalm 78:40-72

Separation from Yahweh

59Behold, ^athe hand of Yahweh is not so shortThat it cannot save;^bNor is His ear so ¹dullThat it cannot hear.²But your ^ainiquities have made a separation between you and your God,And your sins have hidden His ¹face from you so that He does ^bnot hear.³For your ^ahands are defiled with bloodAnd your fingers with iniquity;Your lips have spoken a ^blie;Your tongue mutters unrighteousness.⁴^aNo one calls in righteousness, and ^bno one seeks justice in truth.They ^ctrust in ¹confusion and speak worthlessness;They ^dconceive trouble and give birth to wickedness.⁵They break open vipers’ eggs and ^aweave the spider’s web;He who eats of their eggs dies,And from that which is crushed a snake breaks forth.⁶Their webs will not become a garment,Nor will they ^acover themselves with their works;Their ^bworks are works of wickedness,And a ^cdeed of violence is in their ¹hands.⁷^aTheir feet run to evil,And they are quick to shed innocent blood;^bTheir thoughts are thoughts of wickedness;Devastation and destruction are in their highways.⁸They do not know the ^away of peace,And there is ^bno justice in their tracks;They have made their paths crooked,^cWhoever treads on ¹them does not know peace.

Transgressing and Denying Yahweh

⁹Therefore ^ajustice is far from us,And righteousness does not overtake us;We ^bhope for light, but behold, darkness,For brightness, but we walk in thick darkness.¹⁰We ^agrope along the wall like blind men;We grope like those who have no eyes;We ^bstumble at midday as in the twilight,Among those who are vigorous we are ^clike dead men.¹¹All of us growl like bears,And ^amoan sadly like doves;We hope for ^bjustice, but there is none,For salvation, but it is far from us.¹²For our ^atransgressions are multiplied before You,And our ^bsins answer against us;For our transgressions are with us,And ¹we know our iniquities:¹³Transgressing and ^adenying Yahweh,And turning back from our God,Speaking ^boppression and revolt,Conceiving in and ^cuttering from the heart lying words.¹⁴^aJustice is turned back,And ^brighteousness stands far away;For truth has stumbled in the street,And rightness cannot enter.¹⁵So it is that truth is missing;And he who turns aside from evil ^amakes himself plunder.Then Yahweh saw,And it was evil in His eyes ^bthat there was no justice.¹⁶And He saw that there was ^ano man,And was astonished that there was no one to intercede;Then His ^bown arm brought salvation to Him,And His righteousness upheld Him.¹⁷He put on ^arighteousness like a breastplate,And a ^bhelmet of salvation on His head;And He put on ^cgarments of vengeance for clothingAnd wrapped Himself with ^dzeal as a mantle.¹⁸^aAccording to ¹what they deserve, ²so He will pay in full,Wrath to His adversaries, ³what is deserved to His enemies;To the coastlands He will ⁴pay what they deserve.¹⁹So they will fear the name of Yahweh from the ^awestAnd His glory from the ^brising of the sun,For He will ^ccome like a ¹rushing streamWhich the wind of Yahweh makes flee.²⁰“A ^aRedeemer will come to Zion,And to those who ^bturn from transgression in Jacob,” declares Yahweh.

²¹“As for Me, this is My ^acovenant with them,” says Yahweh: “My ^bSpirit which is upon you, and My ^cwords which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your seed, nor from the mouth of your seed’s seed,” says Yahweh, “from now and forever.”

A Glorified Zion

60“^aArise, shine, for your ^blight has come,And the ^cglory of Yahweh has risen upon you.²“For behold, ^adarkness will cover the earthAnd dense gloom the peoples;But Yahweh will rise upon you,And His ^bglory will appear upon you.³“^aNations will come to your light,And kings to the brightness of your rising.⁴“^aLift up your eyes round about and see;They all gather together; they ^bcome to you.Your sons will come from afar,And your ^cdaughters will be ¹carried on the nurses’ hip.⁵“Then you will see and be ^aradiant,And your heart will tremble and be large with joy;Because the ^babundance of the sea will be turned to you,The ^cwealth of the nations will come to you.⁶“A multitude of camels will cover you,The young camels of Midian and ^aEphah;All those from ^bSheba will come;They will bring ^cgold and frankincense,And will ^dbear good news of the praises of Yahweh.⁷“All the flocks of ^aKedar will be gathered together to you;The rams of Nebaioth will minister to you;They will go up with acceptance on My ^baltar,And I shall ¹^,^cadorn My ²glorious house with beautiful glory.⁸“^aWho are these who fly like a cloudAnd like the doves to their ¹lattices?⁹“Surely the ^acoastlands will hope in Me;And the ^bships of Tarshish will come first,To ^cbring your sons from afar,Their silver and their gold with them,For the name of Yahweh your God,And for the Holy One of Israel because He has ¹^,^dadorned you with beautiful glory.¹⁰“^aForeigners will build up your walls,And their ^bkings will minister to you;For in My ^cwrath I struck you,And in My favor I have had compassion on you.¹¹“Your ^agates will be open continually;They will not be closed day or night,So that men may ^bbring to you the wealth of the nations,With ^ctheir kings led in procession.¹²“For the ^anation and the kingdom which will not serve you will perish,And the nations will surely be laid waste.¹³“The ^aglory of Lebanon will come to you,The ^bjuniper, the box tree, and the cypress together,To adorn the place of My sanctuary with beautiful glory;And I shall make the ^cplace of My feet glorious.¹⁴“The ^asons of those who afflicted you will come bowing to you,And all those who spurned you will bow themselves at the soles of your feet;And they will call you the ^bCity of Yahweh,The ^cZion of the Holy One of Israel.¹⁵“Instead of being ^aforsaken and ^bhatedWith no one passing through,I will make you an everlasting ^cpride,A joy from generation to generation.¹⁶“You will also ^asuck the milk of nationsAnd suck the breast of kings;Then you will know that I, Yahweh, am your ^bSaviorAnd your ^cRedeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.¹⁷“Instead of bronze I will bring gold,And instead of iron I will bring silver,And instead of wood, bronze,And instead of stones, iron.And I will make peace your overseersAnd righteousness your taskmasters.¹⁸“^aViolence will not be heard again in your land,Nor ^bdevastation or destruction within your borders;But you will call your ^cwalls salvation, and your ^dgates praise.¹⁹“No longer will you have the ^asun for light by day,Nor for brightness will the moon give you light;But you will have ^bYahweh for an everlasting light,And your ^cGod for your ¹glory.²⁰“Your ^asun will no longer set,Nor will your moon wane;For you will have Yahweh for an everlasting light,And the days of your ^bmourning will be finished.²¹“Then all your ^apeople will be righteous;They will ^bpossess the land forever,The branch of ¹My planting,The ^cwork of My hands,That I may show forth My ^dbeautiful glory.²²“The ^asmallest one will become a ¹clan,And the miniscule one a mighty nation.I, Yahweh, will hasten it in its time.”

The Empty Tomb

20^aNow on the first day of the week, ^bMary Magdalene *came early to the tomb, while it *was still dark, and *saw ^cthe stone already taken away from the tomb. ²So she *ran and *came to Simon Peter and to the other ^adisciple whom Jesus loved, and *said to them, “^bThey have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.” ³^aSo Peter and the other disciple went forth, and they were going to the tomb. ⁴And the two were running together; and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first; ⁵and ^astooping and looking in, he *saw the ^blinen wrappings lying there; but he did not go in. ⁶And so Simon Peter also *came, following him, and entered the tomb; and he *saw the linen wrappings lying there, ⁷and ^athe face-cloth which had been on His head, not lying with the ^blinen wrappings, but folded up in a place by itself. ⁸So the other disciple who ^ahad first come to the tomb then also entered, and he saw and believed. ⁹For as yet ^athey did not understand the Scripture, ^bthat He must rise again from the dead. ¹⁰So the disciples went away again ^ato where they were staying.

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

¹¹^aBut Mary was standing outside the tomb crying; and so, as she was crying, she ^bstooped to look into the tomb; ¹²and she *saw ^atwo angels in white sitting, one at the head and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. ¹³And they *said to her, “^aWoman, why are you crying?” She *said to them, “Because ^bthey have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him.” ¹⁴When she had said this, she turned around and *^asaw Jesus standing there, and ^bdid not know that it was Jesus. ¹⁵Jesus *said to her, “^aWoman, why are you crying? Whom are you seeking?” Thinking Him to be the gardener, she *said to Him, “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away.” ¹⁶Jesus *said to her, “Mary!” She turned and *said to Him ^ain ¹Hebrew, “^bRabboni!” (which means, Teacher). ¹⁷Jesus *said to her, “Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to ^aMy brothers and say to them, ‘I ^bascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.’” ¹⁸^aMary Magdalene *came, ^bannouncing to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and that He had said these things to her.

Jesus Appears to His Disciples

¹⁹So while it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and while the doors were shut where the disciples were, for ^afear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and *said to them, “¹^,^bPeace be with you.” ²⁰And when He had said this, ^aHe showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then ^brejoiced when they saw the Lord. ²¹So Jesus said to them again, “^aPeace be with you; ^bas the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” ²²And when He had said this, He ^abreathed on them and *said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³“^aIf you forgive the sins of any, their sins ¹have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”

²⁴But ^aThomas, one of ^bthe twelve, called ¹^,^cDidymus, was not with them when Jesus came. ²⁵So the other disciples were saying to him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see in ^aHis hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, ^bI will not believe.”

²⁶And ¹after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus *came, the doors having been ²shut, and stood in their midst and said, “^aPeace be with you.” ²⁷Then He *said to Thomas, “^aBring your finger here, and see My hands; and bring your hand here and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.” ²⁸Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!” ²⁹Jesus *said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? ^aBlessed are those who did not see, and yet believed.”

Why This Gospel Was Written

³⁰^aTherefore many other ¹^,^bsigns Jesus also did in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; ³¹but these have been written ^aso that you may believe that Jesus is the ¹Christ, ^bthe Son of God; and that ^cbelieving you may have life in His name.

Jesus Appears at the Sea of Galilee

21After these things Jesus ¹^,^amanifested Himself ^bagain to the disciples at the ^cSea of Tiberias, and He manifested Himself in this way. ²Simon Peter, and ^aThomas called ¹Didymus, and ^bNathanael of ^cCana in Galilee, and ^dthe sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together. ³Simon Peter *said to them, “I am going fishing.” They *said to him, “We will also come with you.” They went out and got into the boat; and ^athat night they caught nothing.

⁴But when the day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach; yet the disciples did not ^aknow that it was Jesus. ⁵So Jesus *said to them, “Children, ^ado you have ¹any fish?” They answered Him, “No.” ⁶And He said to them, “^aCast the net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” So they cast, and then they were not able to haul it in because of the great number of fish. ⁷^aTherefore that disciple whom Jesus loved *said to Peter, “It is the Lord.” So when Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put his outer garment on (for he was stripped for work), and cast himself into the sea. ⁸But the other disciples came in the little boat, for they were not far from the land, but about ¹two hundred cubits away, dragging the net full of fish.

⁹So when they got out on the land, they *saw a charcoal ^afire in place and ^bfish placed on it, and bread. ¹⁰Jesus *said to them, “Bring some of the ^afish which you have now caught.” ¹¹Simon Peter went up and drew the net to land, full of large fish, 153; and although there were so many, the net was not torn.

Jesus Provides Breakfast

¹²Jesus *said to them, “Come, have ^abreakfast.” None of the disciples dared to question Him, “Who are You?” knowing that it was the Lord. ¹³Jesus *came and *took ^athe bread and *gave it to them, and the ^bfish likewise. ¹⁴This is now the ^athird time that Jesus ¹was manifested to the disciples, after He was raised from the dead.

Peter’s Restoration and Commission

¹⁵So when they had ^afinished breakfast, Jesus *said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you ¹^,^blove Me more than these?” He *said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I ²love You.” He *said to him, “Tend ^cMy lambs.” ¹⁶He *said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you ¹love Me?” He *said to Him, “Yes, Lord; You know that I ²love You.” He *said to him, “^aShepherd My sheep.” ¹⁷He *said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you ¹love Me?” Peter was grieved because He said to him ^athe third time, “Do you ²love Me?” And he said to Him, “Lord, ^bYou know all things; You know that I ³love You.” Jesus *said to him, “^cTend My sheep. ¹⁸“Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go.” ¹⁹Now this He said, ^asignifying by ^bwhat kind of death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He *said to him, “^cFollow Me!”

Jesus’ Command to Follow Him

²⁰Peter, turning around, *saw the ^adisciple whom Jesus loved following them; the one who also had ^bleaned back on His bosom at the supper and said, “Lord, who is the one who betrays You?” ²¹So Peter seeing him *said to Jesus, “Lord, and what about this man?” ²²Jesus *said to him, “If I want him to remain ^auntil I come, what is that to you? You ^bfollow Me!” ²³Therefore this saying went out among ^athe brothers that this disciple would not die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but only, “If I want him to remain ^buntil I come, what is that to you?”

²⁴This is the disciple who ^ais bearing witness to these things and wrote these things, and we know that his witness is true.

²⁵And there are also ^amany other things which Jesus did, which if they *were written one after the other, I suppose that even the world itself *could not contain the books that *would be written.

⁴⁰How often they ^arebelled against Him in the wildernessAnd ^bgrieved Him in the ^cwasteland!⁴¹Again and again they ¹^,^atested God,And pained the ^bHoly One of Israel.⁴²They ^adid not remember ^bHis ¹power,The day when He ^credeemed them from the adversary,⁴³When He performed His ^asigns in EgyptAnd His ^bmiracles in the field of Zoan,⁴⁴And ^aturned their rivers to blood,And their streams, they could not drink.⁴⁵He sent among them swarms of ^aflies which devoured them,And ^bfrogs which destroyed them.⁴⁶He gave also their crops to the ^agrasshopperAnd the fruit of their labor to the ^blocust.⁴⁷He killed their vines with ^ahailstonesAnd their sycamore trees with frost.⁴⁸He gave over their ^acattle also to the hailstonesAnd their herds to bolts of lightning.⁴⁹He ^asent upon them His burning anger,Fury and indignation and ¹distress,²A band of destroying angels.⁵⁰He leveled a path for His anger;He did not hold back their soul from death,But ^agave over their life to the plague,⁵¹So He ^astruck all the firstborn in Egypt,The ^bfirst of their vigor in the tents of ^cHam.⁵²But He ^aled forth His own people like sheepAnd guided them in the wilderness ^blike a flock;⁵³He led them ^asafely, so that they did not fear;But ^bthe sea covered their enemies.⁵⁴So ^aHe brought them to His holy ¹land,To this ²^,^bhill country ^cwhich His right hand had acquired.⁵⁵He also ^adrove out the nations before themAnd ^bapportioned them for an inheritance by measurement,And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.⁵⁶Yet they ¹^,^atested and ^brebelled against the Most High GodAnd did not keep His testimonies,⁵⁷But turned back and ^aacted treacherously like their fathers;They ^bturned aside like a treacherous bow.⁵⁸For they ^aprovoked Him with their ^bhigh placesAnd ^caroused His jealousy with their ^dgraven images.⁵⁹God heard and ¹was filled with ^awrathAnd greatly ^brejected Israel;⁶⁰So that He ^aabandoned the ^bdwelling place at Shiloh,The tent ¹which He caused to dwell among men,⁶¹And gave up His ^astrength to captivityAnd His beauty ^binto the hand of the adversary.⁶²He also ^agave over His people to the sword,And ¹was filled with wrath at His inheritance.⁶³^aFire devoured ¹His choice men,And ²His ^bvirgins had no wedding songs.⁶⁴¹His ^apriests fell by the sword,And ²His ^bwidows could not weep.⁶⁵Then the Lord ^aawoke as if from sleep,As if He were a ^bwarrior ¹overcome by wine.⁶⁶He ^astruck His adversaries backward;He put on them an everlasting reproach.⁶⁷He also ^arejected the tent of Joseph,And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,⁶⁸But chose the tribe of Judah,Mount ^aZion which He loved.⁶⁹And He ^abuilt His sanctuary like the heights,Like the earth which He has founded forever.⁷⁰He also ^achose David His servantAnd took him from the sheepfolds;⁷¹From ^afollowing the ¹^,^bnursing ewes He brought himTo ^cshepherd Jacob His people,And Israel ^dHis inheritance.⁷²So he shepherded them according to the ^aintegrity of his heart,And led them with his skillful hands.