Isaiah 8 - 9 - Legacy Standard Bible

Isaiah 8 - 9

The Coming Assyrian Invasion

Then Yahweh said to me, “Take for yourself a large tablet and write on it in ordinary letters: Concerning Maher-shalal-hash-baz. 2 And I will take to Myself faithful witnesses for testimony, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.” 3 Then I drew near to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then Yahweh said to me, “Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz, 4 for before the boy knows how to cry out ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.” 5 Again Yahweh spoke to me further, saying, 6

“Inasmuch as these people have rejected the gently flowing waters of Shiloah

And rejoice in Rezin and the son of Remaliah;

Now therefore, behold, the Lord is about to bring on them the mighty and abundant waters of the River—

The king of Assyria and all his glory;

And it will rise up over all its channels and go over all its banks.

Then it will sweep on into Judah; it will overflow and pass through;

It will reach even to the neck;

And the spread of its wings will fill the breadth of Your land, O Immanuel.

Yahweh, a Sanctuary and a Stumbling Stone

“Be broken, O peoples, and be shattered;

And give ear, all remote places of the earth.

Gird yourselves, yet be shattered;

Gird yourselves, yet be shattered.

Devise counsel, but it will be thwarted;

Speak a word, but it will not stand,

For God is with us.”

11 For thus Yahweh spoke to me with a strong hand and disciplined me not to walk in the way of this people, saying, 12

“You are not to say, ‘It is a conspiracy!’

In regard to all that this people call a conspiracy;

And you are not to fear what they fear, and you shall not tremble.

It is Yahweh of hosts whom you should regard as holy.

And He shall be your fear,

And He shall be your cause of trembling.

Then He shall become a sanctuary;

But to both the houses of Israel, a stone to strike and a rock to stumble over,

And a snare and a trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

And many will stumble over them;

Then they will fall and be broken;

They will even be snared and caught.”

16 Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples. 17 And I will wait for Yahweh who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob; and I will hope for Him. 18 Behold, I and the children whom Yahweh has given me are for signs and wonders in Israel from Yahweh of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.

Darkness to Light Through the Prince of Peace

19 Now when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. 21 And they will pass through the land hard-pressed and hungry, and it will be that when they are hungry, they will be angry and curse their king and their God as they face upward. 22 Then they will look to the earth, and behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be banished into thick darkness.

But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. 2

The people who walk in darkness

Will see a great light;

Those who live in the land of the shadow of death,

The light will shine on them.

You shall multiply the nation,

You shall make great their gladness;

They will be glad in Your presence

As with the gladness of harvest,

As men rejoice when they divide the spoil.

For You shall shatter the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders,

The rod of their taskmaster, as at the battle of Midian.

For every boot of the booted warrior in the rumbling of battle,

And cloak rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire.

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;

And the government will rest on His shoulders;

And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,

On the throne of David and over his kingdom,

To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness

From then on and forevermore.

The zeal of Yahweh of hosts will accomplish this.

Yahweh’s Anger with Israel’s Arrogance

The Lord sends a message against Jacob,

And it falls on Israel.

And all the people know it,

That is, Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,

Saying in lofty pride and in arrogance of heart:

“The bricks have fallen down,

But we will rebuild with cut stones;

The sycamores have been cut in pieces,

But we will replace them with cedars.”

Therefore Yahweh exalts against them adversaries from Rezin

And incites their enemies,

The Arameans on the east and the Philistines on the west;

And they devour Israel with gaping jaws.

In spite of all this, His anger does not turn back,

And His hand is still stretched out.

Yet the people do not turn back to Him who struck them,

Nor do they seek Yahweh of hosts.

So Yahweh cuts off head and tail from Israel,

Both palm branch and bulrush in a single day.

The head is the elder and the highly respected man,

And the prophet who teaches falsehood is the tail.

For those who guide this people are leading them astray;

And those who are guided by them are brought to confusion.

Therefore the Lord is not glad in their choice men,

Nor does He have compassion on their orphans or their widows;

For every one of them is godless and an evildoer,

And every mouth is speaking wicked foolishness.

In spite of all this, His anger does not turn back,

And His hand is still stretched out.

For wickedness burns like a fire;

It consumes briars and thorns;

It even sets the thickets of the forest aflame,

And they roll upward in a column of smoke.

By the fury of Yahweh of hosts the land is burned up,

And the people are like fuel for the fire;

No man spares his brother.

They slice off what is on the right hand but still are hungry,

And they eat what is on the left hand but they are not satisfied;

Each of them eats the flesh of his own arm.

Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh,

And together they are against Judah.

In spite of all this, His anger does not turn back,

And His hand is still stretched out.

Luke 6

Lord of the Sabbath

Now it happened that on a Sabbath He was passing through some grainfields, and His disciples were picking and eating the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands. 2 But some of the Pharisees said, “Why do you do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” 3 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him, 4 how he entered the house of God, and took and ate the consecrated bread which is not lawful for any to eat except the priests alone, and gave it to his companions?” 5 And He was saying to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

Jesus Heals a Man on the Sabbath

6 Now it happened that on another Sabbath He entered the synagogue and was teaching; and there was a man there whose right hand was withered. 7 And the scribes and the Pharisees were watching Him closely to see if He heals on the Sabbath, so that they might find reason to accuse Him. 8 But He knew what they were thinking, and He said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and come forward!” And he stood up and came forward. 9 And Jesus said to them, “I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to destroy it?” 10 And after looking around at them all, He said to him, “Stretch out your hand!” And he did so, and his hand was restored. 11 But they themselves were filled with rage, and were discussing together what they might do to Jesus.

Jesus Appoints the Twelve

12 Now it happened that at this time He went off to the mountain to pray, and He was spending the whole night in prayer to God. 13 And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles: 14 Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; and James and John; and Philip and Bartholomew; 15 and Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot; 16 Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor. 17 And Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place; and there was a large crowd of His disciples, and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon, 18 who had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were being cured. 19 And all the crowd was trying to touch Him, for power was coming from Him and healing them all.

The Beatitudes

20 And turning His gaze toward His disciples, He began to say,

“Blessed are the poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

Blessed are those who hunger now, for you shall be satisfied.

Blessed are those who cry now, for you shall laugh.

Blessed are you when men hate you, and exclude you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man.

23 Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For their fathers were doing the same things to the prophets.

Jesus Pronounces Woes

But woe to you who are rich, for you are receiving your comfort in full.

Woe to you who are well-fed now, for you shall be hungry.

Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and cry.

Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers were doing the same things to the false prophets.

Love Your Enemies

27 “But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who disparage you. 29 Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your garment, do not withhold your tunic from him either. 30 Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back. 31 And treat others the same way you want them to treat you. 32 And if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. 35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to the ungrateful and evil. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Do Not Judge

37 “And do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned. 38 Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.” 39 And He also spoke a parable to them: “Can a blind man guide a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40 A student is not above his teacher; but everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher. 41 And why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 42 How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye. 43 For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, nor, on the other hand, a bad tree which produces good fruit. 44 For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a bramble bush. 45 The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil. For his mouth speaks from the abundance of his heart.

Build Your House on the Rock

46 “Now why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? 47 Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and does them, I will show you whom he is like: 48 he is like a man building a house, who dug and went deep, and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the river burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. 49 But the one who heard and did not do accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the river burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.”

Psalm 39

Yahweh, Make Me Know My End

For the choir director. For Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.

I said, “I will keep watch over my ways

That I may not sin with my tongue;

I will keep watch over my mouth as with a muzzle

While the wicked are in my presence.”

I was mute with silence,

I even kept silent from speaking good,

And my anguish grew worse.

My heart was hot within me,

While I meditated the fire was burning;

Then I spoke with my tongue:

“Yahweh, cause me to know my end

And what is the extent of my days;

Let me know how transient I am.

Behold, You have made my days as handbreadths,

And my lifetime as nothing before You;

Surely every man, even standing firm, is altogether vanity. Selah.

Surely every man walks about as a shadow;

Surely they make an uproar in vain;

He piles up riches and does not know who will gather them.

“And now, Lord, what do I hope in?

My expectation is in You.

Deliver me from all my transgressions;

Make me not the reproach of the wicked fool.

I have become mute, I do not open my mouth,

Because it is You who have done it.

Remove Your plague from me;

Because of the opposition of Your hand I am wasting away.

With reproofs You chasten a man for iniquity;

You consume as a moth what is precious to him;

Surely every man is vanity. Selah.

“Hear my prayer, O Yahweh, and give ear to my cry for help;

Do not be silent at my tears;

For I am a sojourner with You,

A foreign resident like all my fathers.

Turn Your gaze away from me, that I may smile again

Before I go and am no more.”