Day 255 of 365

Isa 4:1–5:30

4:1 Seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, "We will eat our own bread, and wear our own clothing: only let us be called by your name. Take away our reproach."

4:2 In that day, the Lord's branch will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the beauty and glory of the survivors of Israel.

4:3 It will happen, that he who is left in Zion, and he who remains in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even everyone who is written among the living in Jerusalem;

4:4 when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from its midst, by the spirit of justice, and by the spirit of burning.

4:5 The Lord will create over the whole habitation of Mount Zion, and over her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory will be a canopy.

4:6 There will be a pavilion for a shade in the daytime from the heat, and for a refuge and for a shelter from storm and from rain.

5:1 Let me sing for my well beloved a song of my beloved about his vineyard. My beloved had a vineyard on a very fruitful hill.

5:2 He dug it up, gathered out its stones, planted it with the choicest vine, built a tower in its midst, and also cut out a winepress therein. He looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes.

5:3 "Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard.

5:4 What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Why, when I looked for it to yield grapes, did it yield wild grapes?

5:5 Now I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will take away its hedge, and it will be eaten up. I will break down its wall of it, and it will be trampled down.

5:6 I will lay it a wasteland. It won't be pruned nor hoed, but it will grow briers and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain on it."

5:7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: and he looked for justice, but, behold, oppression; for righteousness, but, behold, a cry of distress.

5:8 Woe to those who join house to house, who lay field to field, until there is no room, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land!

5:9 In my ears, the Lord of hosts says: "Surely many houses will be desolate, even great and beautiful, unoccupied.

5:10 For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield an ephah."

5:11 Woe to those who rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; who stay late into the night, until wine inflames them!

5:12 The harp, lyre, tambourine, and flute, with wine, are at their feasts; but they do not regard the work of the Lord, neither have they considered the operation of his hands.

5:13 Therefore my people go into captivity for lack of knowledge. Their honorable men are famished, and their multitudes are parched with thirst.

5:14 Therefore Sheol has enlarged its desire, and opened its mouth without measure; and their glory, their multitude, their pomp, and he who rejoices among them, descend into it.

5:15 So man is brought low, mankind is humbled, and the eyes of the arrogant ones are humbled;

5:16 but the Lord of hosts is exalted in justice, and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness.

5:17 Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture, and strangers will eat the ruins of the rich.

5:18 Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and wickedness as with cart rope;

5:19 Who say, "Let him make speed, let him hasten his work, that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, that we may know it!"

5:20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

5:21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

5:22 Woe to those who are mighty to drink wine, and champions at mixing strong drink;

5:23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice for the innocent!

5:24 Therefore as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as the dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust; because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

5:25 Therefore the Lord's anger burns against his people, and he has stretched out his hand against them, and has struck them. The mountains tremble, and their dead bodies are as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this, his anger is not turned away, but his hand is still stretched out.

5:26 He will lift up a banner to the nations from far, and he will whistle for them from the end of the earth. Behold, they will come speedily and swiftly.

5:27 None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the belt of their waist be untied, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:

5:28 whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent. Their horses' hoofs will be like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind.

5:29 Their roaring will be like a lioness. They will roar like young lions. Yes, they shall roar, and seize their prey and carry it off, and there will be no one to deliver.

5:30 They will roar against them in that day like the roaring of the sea. If one looks to the land behold, darkness and distress. The light is darkened in its clouds.

Rom 15:12–33

12 Again, Isaiah says, "There will be the root of Jesse, he who arises to rule over the Gentiles; in him the Gentiles will hope."

13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

14 I myself am also persuaded about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish others.

15 But I write the more boldly to you in part, as reminding you, because of the grace that was given to me by God,

16 that I should be a servant of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, serving as a priest the Good News of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be made acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

17 I have therefore my boasting in Christ Jesus in things pertaining to God.

18 For I will not dare to speak of any things except those which Christ worked through me, for the obedience of the Gentiles, by word and deed,

19 in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and around as far as to Illyricum, I have fully preached the Good News of Christ;

20 yes, making it my aim to proclaim the Good News, not where Christ was already named, that I might not build on another's foundation.

21 But, as it is written, "They will see, to whom no news of him came. They who have not heard will understand."

22 Therefore also I was hindered these many times from coming to you,

23 but now, no longer having any place in these regions, and having these many years a longing to come to you,

24 whenever I journey to Spain. For I hope to see you on my journey, and to be helped on my way there by you, if first I may enjoy your company for a while.

25 But now, I say, I am going to Jerusalem, serving the saints.

26 For it has been the good pleasure of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are at Jerusalem.

27 Yes, it has been their good pleasure, and they are their debtors. For if the Gentiles have been made partakers of their spiritual things, they owe it to them also to serve them in fleshly things.

28 When therefore I have accomplished this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I will go on by way of you to Spain.

29 I know that, when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of the Christ.

30 Now I beg you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me,

31 that I may be delivered from those who are disobedient in Judea, and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints;

32 that I may come to you in joy through the will of God, and together with you, find rest.

33 Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen.

Job 12:18–13:7

12:18 He loosens the bond of kings. He binds their waist with a belt.

12:19 He leads priests away stripped, and overthrows the mighty.

12:20 He removes the speech of those who are trusted, and takes away the understanding of the elders.

12:21 He pours contempt on princes, and loosens the belt of the strong.

12:22 He uncovers deep things out of darkness, and brings out to light the shadow of death.

12:23 He increases the nations, and he destroys them. He enlarges the nations, and he leads them captive.

12:24 He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth, and causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.

12:25 They grope in the dark without light. He makes them stagger like a drunken man.

13:1 "Behold, my eye has seen all this. My ear has heard and understood it.

13:2 What you know, I know also. I am not inferior to you.

13:3 "Surely I would speak to the Almighty. I desire to reason with God.

13:4 But you are forgers of lies. You are all physicians of no value.

13:5 Oh that you would be completely silent! Then you would be wise.

13:6 Hear now my reasoning. Listen to the pleadings of my lips.

13:7 Will you speak unrighteously for God, and talk deceitfully for him?