Isaiah 47 - 48, John 12, Psalm 73 — Legacy Standard Bible

Lament for Babylon

47“^aCome down and sit in the dust,O ^bvirgin ^cdaughter of Babylon;Sit on the ground without a throne,O daughter of the Chaldeans!For you shall no longer be called ^dtender and delicate.²“Take the ^amillstones and ^bgrind flour.Uncover your ^cveil, ^dstrip off the skirt,Uncover the leg, cross the rivers.³“Your ^anakedness will be uncovered;Your reproach also will be seen;I will ^btake vengeance and will not ¹spare a man.”⁴Our ^aRedeemer, Yahweh of hosts is His name,The Holy One of Israel.⁵“^aSit silently, and go into ^bdarkness,O daughter of the Chaldeans,For you will no longer be calledThe ^cqueen of ^dkingdoms.⁶“I was furious with My people;I profaned My inheritanceAnd gave them into your hand.You did not show compassion to them,On the ^aaged you made your yoke very heavy.⁷“Yet you said, ‘I will be a ^aqueen forever.’These things you did not ^bput on your heartNor remember the ^coutcome of ¹them.⁸“So now, hear this, you ^asensual one,Who ^bsits securely,Who says in ¹your heart,‘^cI am, and there is no one besides me.I will ^dnot sit as a widow,Nor know loss of children.’⁹“But these ^atwo things will come on you ^bsuddenly in one day:Loss of children and widowhood.They will come on you in full measureIn spite of your many ^csorceries,In spite of the great might of your spells.¹⁰“You felt ^asecure in your evil and said,‘^bNo one sees me,’Your ^cwisdom and your knowledge ¹have turned you astray;So you have said in your heart,‘^dI am, and there is no one besides me.’¹¹“But ^aevil will come on youWhich you will not know how to charm away;And disaster will fall on youFor which you cannot atone;And ^bdestruction about which you do not knowWill come on you ^csuddenly.¹²“Stand fast now in your ^aspellsAnd in your many sorceriesWith which you have labored from your youth;Perhaps you will be able to profit;Perhaps you may cause trembling.¹³“You are ^awearied with your many counsels;Let now the ^bastrologers,Those who behold visions by the stars,Those who predict by the new moons,Stand up and ^csave you from what will come upon you.¹⁴“Behold, they have become ^alike stubble,^bFire burns them;They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame;There will be ^cno coal to warm byNor a fire to sit before!¹⁵“Thus they have become for you, those among whom you have labored,Who have ^atraded with you from your youth;Each has wandered in his own ¹way;There is ^bnone to save you.

My Glory I Will Not Give to Another

48“^aHear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name IsraelAnd who came forth from the ¹^,^bloins of Judah,Who ^cswear by the name of YahwehAnd bring to remembrance the God of Israel,But not in truth or in ^drighteousness.²“For they call themselves after the ^aholy cityAnd ^bare supported by the God of Israel;Yahweh of hosts is His name.³“I ^adeclared the former things long ago,And they went forth from My mouth, and I caused them to be heard.^bSuddenly I acted, and they ^ccame to pass.⁴“Because I know that you are ¹^,^astiff,And your ^bneck is an iron sinewAnd your ^cforehead bronze,⁵Therefore I declared them to you long ago,Before ¹they happened I caused them to be heard by you,Lest you say, ‘My ^aidol has done them,And my graven image and my molten image have commanded them.’⁶“You have heard; look at all this.And you, will you not declare it?I caused you to hear ^anew things from this time,Even hidden things which you have not known.⁷“They are created now and not long ago;And before today you have not heard them,Lest you say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’⁸“Indeed, you have not ^aheard; indeed, you have not known.Indeed, even from long ago your ear has not been openBecause I knew that you would deal very treacherously;And you have been called a ¹^,^btransgressor from the ²womb.⁹“^aFor the sake of My name I ^bdelay My anger,And for My praise I restrain it for you,In order not to cut you off.¹⁰“Behold, I have refined you, but ^anot as silver;I have tested you in the ^bfurnace of affliction.¹¹“^aFor My own sake, for My own sake, I will act;For how can My name be profaned?And My ^bglory I will not give to another.

Yahweh Redeems Jacob

¹²“Hear Me, O Jacob, even Israel ¹whom I called;^aI am He, ^bI am the first, I am also the last.¹³“Also, My hand ^afounded the earth,And My right hand spread out the heavens;When I ^bcall to them, they stand together.¹⁴“^aAssemble, all of you, and hear!^bWho among them has declared these things?Yahweh loves him; he will ^ccarry out His good pleasure on ^dBabylon,And His arm will be against the Chaldeans.¹⁵“I, even I, have spoken; indeed I have ^acalled him,I have brought him, and He will make his ways successful.¹⁶“^aDraw near to Me, hear this:From the first I have ^bnot spoken in secret,^cFrom the time it took place, I was there.So now ^dLord Yahweh has sent Me, and His Spirit.”

¹⁷Thus says Yahweh, your ^aRedeemer, the Holy One of Israel, “I am Yahweh your God, who teaches you to profit,Who ^bleads you in the way you should go.

¹⁸“If only you had ^apaid attention to My commandments!Then your ^bpeace would have been like a river,And your ^crighteousness like the waves of the sea.¹⁹“Your ^aseed would have been like the sand,And the offspring from your loins like its grains;^bTheir name would never be cut off or destroyed from My presence.”²⁰^aGo forth from Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans!Declare with the sound of ^bjoyful shouting, cause this to be heard,^cBring it forth to the end of the earth;Say, “^dYahweh has redeemed His servant Jacob.”²¹And they did not ^athirst when He led them through the waste places.He ^bmade the water flow out of the rock for them;He split the rock, and ^cthe water gushed forth.²²“^aThere is no peace for the wicked,” says Yahweh.

Mary Anoints Jesus with Costly Perfume

12^aJesus, therefore, six days before ^bthe Passover, came to ^cBethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. ²So they made Him a supper there, and ^aMartha was serving; and Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him. ³^aMary then took a ¹litra of ^bperfume of very costly pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. ⁴But ^aJudas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was going to ¹betray Him, *said, ⁵“Why was this perfume not sold for ¹three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” ⁶Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he ^ahad the money box, he used to take from ^bwhat was put into it. ⁷Therefore Jesus said, “Let her alone, so that she may keep it for ^athe day of My burial. ⁸“^aFor you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me.”

⁹Then the ^alarge crowd from the Jews learned that He was there. And they came, not because of Jesus only, but that they might also see Lazarus, ^bwhom He raised from the dead. ¹⁰But the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death also; ¹¹because ^aon account of him ^bmany of the Jews were going away and were believing in Jesus.

The Triumphal Entry

¹²On the next day ^athe large crowd who had come to ^bthe feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, ¹³took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, “^aHosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the ¹Lord, even the ^bKing of Israel.” ¹⁴And Jesus, finding a young donkey, sat on it; as it is written, ¹⁵“^aFear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your King is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.” ¹⁶^aThese things His disciples did not understand at the first; but when Jesus ^bwas glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him, and that they had done these things to Him. ¹⁷So ^athe crowd, who was with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued to bear witness about Him. ¹⁸^aFor this reason also the crowd went and met Him, ^bbecause they heard that He had done this ¹sign. ¹⁹So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing; look, the world has gone after Him.”

Some Greeks Seek Jesus

²⁰Now there were some ^aGreeks among those who were going up to worship at ^bthe feast; ²¹these then came to ^aPhilip, who was from ^bBethsaida of Galilee, and began to ask him, saying, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” ²²Philip *came and *told ^aAndrew; Andrew and Philip *came and *told Jesus. ²³And Jesus *answered them, saying, “^aThe hour has come for the Son of Man to ^bbe glorified. ²⁴“Truly, truly, I say to you, ^aunless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. ²⁵“^aHe who loves his ¹life loses it, and he who ^bhates his ²life in this world will keep it to life eternal. ²⁶“If anyone ¹serves Me, he must follow Me; and ^awhere I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone ²serves Me, the Father will ^bhonor him.

The Son of Man Must Be Lifted Up

²⁷“^aNow ^bMy soul has become dismayed; and what shall I say, ‘^cFather, ^dsave Me from ^ethis hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. ²⁸“^aFather, glorify Your name.” Then a ^bvoice came from heaven: “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” ²⁹So the crowd of people who stood by and heard it were saying that it had thundered; others were saying, “^aAn angel has spoken to Him.” ³⁰Jesus answered and said, “^aThis voice has not come for My sake, but for your sake. ³¹“^aNow judgment is upon this world; now ^bthe ruler of this world will be cast out. ³²“And I, if I ^aam lifted up from the earth, will ^bdraw all men to Myself.” ³³But He was saying this ^ato indicate the kind of death by which He was about to die. ³⁴The crowd then answered Him, “We have heard from ^athe Law that ^bthe ¹Christ is to remain forever; and how do You say, ‘The ^cSon of Man must be ^dlifted up’? Who is this ^eSon of Man?” ³⁵So Jesus said to them, “^aFor a little while longer ^bthe Light is among you. ^cWalk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; he who ^dwalks in the darkness does not know where he goes. ³⁶“While you have the Light, ^abelieve in the Light, so that you may become ^bsons of Light.” These things Jesus spoke, and He went away and ¹^,^chid Himself from them. ³⁷But though He had done so many ¹signs before them, they still were not believing in Him, ³⁸so that the word of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spoke: “¹^,^aLord, who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the ²Lord been revealed?” ³⁹For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah said again, ⁴⁰“^aHe has blinded their eyes and He ^bhardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes and understand with their heart, and return and I heal them.” ⁴¹These things Isaiah said because ^ahe saw His glory, and ^bhe spoke about Him. ⁴²Nevertheless ^amany even of ^bthe rulers believed in Him, but ^cbecause of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, ¹for fear that they would be ^dput out of the synagogue; ⁴³^afor they loved the glory of men rather than the glory of God.

⁴⁴And Jesus cried out and said, “^aHe who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me. ⁴⁵“^aAnd he who sees Me sees the One who sent Me. ⁴⁶“^aI have come as Light into the world, so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness. ⁴⁷“And if anyone hears My words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for ^aI did not come to judge the world, but to save the world. ⁴⁸“^aHe who rejects Me and does not receive My words, has one who judges him; ^bthe word I spoke is what will judge him on ^cthe last day. ⁴⁹“^aFor I did not speak from Myself, but the Father Himself who sent Me ^bhas given Me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. ⁵⁰“And I know that ^aHis commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak ^bjust as the Father has told Me.”

BOOK 3

The Nearness of God Is My Good

A Psalm of Asaph.

Surely God is ^agood to Israel,To those who are ^bpure in heart!²But as for me, ^amy feet had almost stumbled,My steps ¹had almost slipped.³For I was ^aenvious of the boastful,I saw the ^bpeace of the wicked.⁴For there are no pains in their death,And their ¹body is fat.⁵They are ^anot ¹in trouble as other ²men,And they are not ^bstricken along with the rest of mankind.⁶Therefore lofty pride is ^atheir necklace;The ^bgarment of violence covers them.⁷Their eye ¹bulges from ^afatness;The delusions of their heart overflow.⁸They ^ascoff and ¹wickedly speak of oppression;They ^bspeak from on high.⁹They have ^aset their mouth ¹against the heavens,And their tongue goes through the earth.¹⁰Therefore ¹his people return here, to his place,And waters of ^afullness are ²drunk by them.¹¹They say, “^aHow does God know?And is there knowledge with the Most High?”¹²Behold, ^athese are the wicked;And always ^bat ease, they have increased in wealth.¹³Surely ^ain vain I have ¹kept my heart pureAnd ^bwashed my hands in innocence;¹⁴For I have been stricken ^aall day longAnd ¹^,^breproved every morning.¹⁵If I had said, “I will recount thus,”Behold, I would have betrayed the ^ageneration of Your children.¹⁶When I ^agave thought to know this,It was trouble in my sight¹⁷Until I came into the ¹^,^asanctuary of God;Then I understood their ^bend.¹⁸Surely You set them in ^aslippery places;You cause them to fall to ¹^,^bdestruction.¹⁹How they become ^adesolate in a moment!They are completely swept away by ^bterrors!²⁰Like a ^adream when one awakes,O Lord, when ^baroused, You will ^cdespise their ¹form.²¹When my ^aheart was embitteredAnd I was ^bpierced ¹within,²²Then I was ^asenseless and ignorant;I was like ¹an ^banimal ²before You.²³Nevertheless ^aI am continually with You;You have taken hold of my right hand.²⁴With Your counsel You will ^alead me,And afterward ^btake me ¹in glory.²⁵^aWhom have I in heaven but You?And ¹besides You, I desire nothing on earth.²⁶My ^aflesh and my heart fail,But God is the rock of my heart and my ^bportion forever.²⁷For, behold, ^athose who are far from You will ^bperish;You have ¹destroyed everyone who ²^,^cis unfaithful to You.²⁸But as for me, ^athe nearness of God is my good;I have set Lord Yahweh as my ^brefuge,That I may ^crecount all Your works.