Legacy Standard Bible

Isaiah 28 - 29

Woe to Ephraim

28Woe to the proud crown of the adrunkards of bEphraim,And to the fading flower of its glorious beauty,Which is at the head of the 1fertile valleyOf those who are 2overcome with wine!2Behold, the Lord has a strong and acourageous agent;As a storm of bhail, a tempest of destruction,Like a storm of cmighty overflowing waters,He has set it down to the earth with His hand.3The proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim is atrodden under foot.4And the fading flower of its glorious beauty,Which is at the head of the 1fertile valley,Will be like the afirst-ripe fig prior to summer,Which 2one sees,And 3as soon as it is in his 4hand,He swallows it.5In that day aYahweh of hosts will become a beautiful bcrownAnd a glorious diadem to the remnant of His people;6A aspirit of just judgment for him who sits in judgment,A bmight to those who turn back the 1onslaught at the gate.7And these also areel with wine and stagger from strong drink:bThe priest and cthe prophet reel with strong drink;They are swallowed up by wine, they stagger from dstrong drink;They reel while 1having evisions;They totter when rendering a verdict.8For all the tables are full of filthy avomit, without a single clean place.9“aWhom would He instruct in knowledge,And whom would He provide understanding about the report?Those just bweaned from milk?Those just taken from the breast?10“For He says,‘1,aOrder on order, order on order,Line on line, line on line,A little here, a little there.’”11Indeed, He will speak to this peopleThrough astammering lips and a foreign tongue,12He who said to them, “Here is arest, give rest to the weary,”And, “Here is repose,” but they would not listen.13So the word of Yahweh to them will be,“1Order on order, order on order,Line on line, line on line,A little here, a little there,”That they may go and astumble backward, be broken, snared, and taken captive.

A Cornerstone in Zion

14Therefore, ahear the word of Yahweh, O bscoffers,Who rule this people who are in Jerusalem,15Because you have said, “We have cut a acovenant with death,And with Sheol we have made a 1pact.bThe overflowing 2scourge will not reach us when it passes by,For we have made cfalsehood our refuge and we have dhidden ourselves with lying.”
16Therefore thus says Lord Yahweh, “aBehold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested bstone,A costly cornerstone for the foundation, 1firmly placed.He who believes in it will not be 2disturbed.
17“I will make ajustice the measuring lineAnd righteousness the level;Then bhail will sweep away the refuge of falsehood,And the waters will overflow the secret place.18“Your acovenant with death will be 1,bcanceled,And your pact with Sheol will not stand;When the coverflowing scourge passes through,Then you will become its dtrampling place.19“As aoften as it passes through, it will take you;For bmorning after morning it will pass through, anytime during the day or night,And it will be 1sheer cterror to understand the report.”20The bed is too short on which to stretch out,And the ablanket is too narrow to wrap oneself in.21For Yahweh will rise up as at Mount aPerazim;He will be stirred up as in the valley of bGibeon,To work His cwork, His 1,dunusual work,And to labor in His labor, His 2exceptional labor.22So now do not carry on as ascoffers,Lest your fetters be made stronger;For I have heard from Lord Yahweh of hostsOf complete bdestruction, one that is decreed, on all the earth.23Give ear and hear my voice,Pay attention and hear my words.24Does the 1farmer plow 2continually to plant seed?Does he continually 3turn and harrow his ground?25Does he not level its surfaceAnd sow dill and scatter acuminAnd 1plant bwheat in rows,Barley in its place and rye within its 2area?26For his God disciplines and teaches him proper judgment.27For dill is not threshed with a athreshing sledge,Nor is the wheel of a cart 1driven over cumin;But dill is beaten out with a staff, and cumin with a rod.28Grain for bread is crushed,But he does not continue to thresh it forever.Because the wheel of his cart and his horses eventually 1disturb it,He does not crush it longer.29This also comes from Yahweh of hosts,Who has made His counsel awonderful and His wisdom bgreat.

Woe to Ariel

29Woe, O 1Ariel, 2Ariel the city where David once acamped!Add year to year, 3,bobserve your feasts on schedule.2I will bring distress to 1Ariel,And she will be a city of mourning and amoaning;And she will be like an Ariel to me.3And I will acamp against you 1encircling you,And I will fortify siegeworks against you,And I will raise up fortifications against you.4Then you will abe brought low;From the earth you will speak,And from the dust where you are prostrateYour words will come.Your voice will also be like that of a 1spirit from the ground,And your speech will whisper from the dust.5But it will be that the multitude of your 1enemies will become like fine adust,And the multitude of the bruthless ones like the chaff which 2blows away;And it will happen cinstantly, suddenly.6From Yahweh of hosts you will be apunished with bthunder and earthquake and loud noise,With whirlwind and tempest and the flame of a consuming fire.7And it will be that the amultitude of all the nations who wage war against 1Ariel,Even all who wage war against her and her stronghold, and who distress her,Will be like a dream, a bvision of the night.8And it will be as when a hungry man dreams—And behold, he is eating;But he awakens, and his soul is empty,Or as when a thirsty man dreams—And behold, he is drinking,But he awakens, and behold, he is faint,And his soul is not quenched.aThus the multitude of all the nations will beWho wage war against Mount Zion.9aAstonish yourselves and be astonished,Blind yourselves and be blind;They bbecome drunk, but not with wine;They stagger, but not with strong drink.10For Yahweh has poured over you a spirit of deep asleep;He has bshut your eyes, the prophets;And He has covered your heads, the seers.
11The entire vision will be to you like the words of a sealed 1,abook, which when they give it to the one who 2is literate, saying, “Please read this,” he will say, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” 12Then the 1book will be given to the one who 2does not know how to read a book, saying, “Please read this.” And he will say, “I 3do not know how to read a book.”
13Then the Lord said, “Because athis people draw near with their mouthAnd honor Me with their lips,But they remove their hearts far from Me,And their fear of Me is in the command of men learned by rote,
14Therefore behold, I will once again deal amarvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous;And bthe wisdom of their wise men will perish,And the discernment of their discerning men will be hidden.”15Woe to those who deeply ahide their counsel from Yahweh,And whose bdeeds are done in a dark place,And they say, “cWho sees us?” or “Who knows us?”16You turn things around!Shall the potter be considered 1as equal with the clay,That awhat is made would say to its maker, “He did not make me”;Or what is formed say to him who formed it, “He has no understanding”?

The Afflicted Will Rejoice

17Is it not yet just a little while1Before Lebanon will be turned into a afruitful orchard,And the fruitful orchard will be counted as a forest?18On that day the adeaf will hear bwords of a book,And out of 1darkness and thick darkness the ceyes of the blind will see.19The aafflicted also will increase their gladness in Yahweh,And the bneedy of mankind will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.20For the aruthless will come to an end and the bscoffer will be finished,Indeed call who are watching out to do evil will be cut off;21Who 1cause a person to sin by a word,And aensnare him who reproves at the gate,And 2,bdefraud the one in the right with 3meaningless arguments.
22Therefore thus says Yahweh, who redeemed aAbraham, concerning the house of Jacob: “Jacob bshall not now be ashamed, and now his face shall not turn pale;
23But when 1he sees his achildren, the bwork of My hands, in his midst,They will sanctify My name;Indeed, they will csanctify the Holy One of JacobAnd will stand trembling before the God of Israel.24“Those who aerr in spirit will bknow discernment,And those who 1criticize will 2,cgain learning.

Luke 16

The Parable of the Unrighteous Steward

16Now He was also saying to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a steward, and this steward was 1reported to him as asquandering his possessions. 2“And he called for him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.’ 3“And the steward said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my 1master is taking the stewardship away from me? I am not strong enough to dig; I am ashamed to beg. 4‘I know what I shall do, so that when I am removed from the stewardship people will 1take me into their homes.’ 5“And he summoned each one of his 1master’s debtors, and he began saying to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6“And he said, ‘One hundred 1baths of oil.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ 7“Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ And he said, ‘One hundred 1kors of wheat.’ He *said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ 8“And his 1master praised the unrighteous steward because he had acted shrewdly, for the sons of athis age are more shrewd in relation to their own 2kind than the bsons of light. 9“And I say to you, amake friends for yourselves from the 1,bwealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, cthey will 2take you into the eternal dwellings.
10“aHe who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much, and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much. 11“Therefore if you have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous 1,awealth, who will entrust the true riches to you? 12“And if you have not been faithful in the use of that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own? 13“aNo 1servant can 2serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot 3serve God and 4,bwealth.”
14Now the Pharisees, who were alovers of money, were listening to all these things and bwere scoffing at Him. 15And He said to them, “You are those who ajustify yourselves 1in the sight of men, but bGod knows your hearts, for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable 2in the sight of God.
16“aThe Law and the Prophets were until John; 1since that time bthe good news of the kingdom of God is proclaimed, and everyone is forcing his way into it. 17“aBut it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one 1stroke of a letter of the Law to fail.
18“aEveryone who 1divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman who is 2divorced from a husband commits adultery.

The Rich Man and Lazarus

19“Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day. 20“But a poor man named Lazarus awas laid at his gate, covered with sores, 21and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. 22“Now it happened that the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to aAbraham’s bosom, and the rich man also died and was buried. 23“And in aHades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and *saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. 24“And he cried out and said, ‘aFather Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in bthis flame.’ 25“But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that aduring your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things. But now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. 26‘And 1besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you are not able, and none may cross over from there to us.’ 27“And he said, ‘Then I am asking you, father, that you send him to my father’s house— 28for I have five brothers—in order that he may awarn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ 29“But Abraham *said, ‘They have aMoses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30“But he said, ‘No, afather Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ 31“But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”

Psalms 51 - 52

Create in Me a Clean Heart, O God

51
For the choir director. A Psalm of David. When 1Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
aBe gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness;According to the abundance of bYour compassion cblot out my transgressions.2aWash me thoroughly from my iniquityAnd bcleanse me from my sin.3For 1I aknow my transgressions,And my sin is ever before me.4aAgainst You, You only, I have sinnedAnd done what is bevil in Your sight,So that cYou 1are justified 2when You speakAnd pure when You judge.5Behold, I was abrought forth in iniquity,And in sin my mother conceived me.6Behold, You delight in atruth in the 1innermost being,And in the hidden part You will bmake me know wisdom.71Purify me awith hyssop, and I shall be clean;2Wash me, and I shall be bwhiter than snow.81Make me to hear ajoy and gladness,Let the bbones which You have crushed rejoice.9aHide Your face from my sinsAnd blot out all my iniquities.10aCreate 1in me a bclean heart, O God,And renew 2a csteadfast spirit within me.11aDo not cast me away from Your presenceAnd do not take Your bHoly Spirit from me.12Restore to me the ajoy of Your salvationAnd sustain me with a bwilling spirit.13Then I will ateach transgressors Your ways,And sinners will 1be bconverted to You.14Deliver me from abloodguiltiness, O God, bthe God of my salvation;Then my ctongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness.15O Lord, 1,aopen my lips,That my mouth may bdeclare Your praise.16For You ado not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it;You are not pleased with burnt offering.17The sacrifices of God are a abroken spirit;A broken and a 1contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.18aBy Your favor do good to Zion;1,bBuild the walls of Jerusalem.19Then You will delight in 1,arighteous sacrifices,In bburnt offering and whole burnt offering;Then 2young bulls will be offered on Your altar.

I Trust in the Lovingkindness of God

52
For the choir director. A 1Maskil of David. 2When Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul and said to him, “David has come to the house of Ahimelech.”
Why do you aboast in evil, O mighty man?The blovingkindness of God endures all day long.2Your tongue devises adestruction,Like a bsharp razor, cO worker of deceit.3You alove evil more than good,bFalsehood more than speaking what is right. 1 Selah.4You love all words that devour,O adeceitful tongue.51But God will break you down forever;He will snatch you up and atear you away from your tent,And buproot you from the cland of the living, Selah.6So that the righteous will asee and fear,And will blaugh at him, saying,7“Behold, the man who would not set God as his strength,But atrusted in the abundance of his richesAnd bwas strong in his destruction.”8But as for me, I am like a agreen olive tree in the house of God;I btrust in the lovingkindness of God forever and ever.9I will agive You thanks forever, because You have done it,And I will hope on Your name, bfor it is good, in the presence of Your holy ones.