Day 263 of 365

Isa 28:1–29:24

28:1 Woe to the crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim, and to the fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fertile valley of those who are overcome with wine!

28:2 Behold, the Lord has a mighty and strong one. Like a storm of hail, a destroying storm, and like a storm of mighty waters overflowing, he will cast them down to the earth with his hand.

28:3 The crown of pride of the drunkards of Ephraim will be trodden under foot.

28:4 The fading flower of his glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fertile valley, shall be like the first-ripe fig before the summer; which someone picks and eats as soon as he sees it.

28:5 In that day, the Lord of hosts will become a crown of glory, and a diadem of beauty, to the residue of his people;

28:6 and a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.

28:7 They also reel with wine, and stagger with strong drink. The priest and the prophet reel with strong drink. They are swallowed up by wine. They stagger with strong drink. They err in vision. They stumble in judgment.

28:8 For all tables are completely full of filthy vomit and filthiness.

28:9 Whom will he teach knowledge? To whom will he explain the message? Those who are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts?

28:10 For it is precept on precept, precept on precept; line on line, line on line; here a little, there a little.

28:11 But he will speak to this nation with stammering lips and a strange language;

28:12 to whom he said, "This is the resting place. Give rest to weary;" and "This is the refreshing;" yet they would not hear.

28:13 Therefore the word of the Lord will be to them precept on precept, precept on precept; line on line, line on line; here a little, there a little; that they may go, fall backward, be broken, be snared, and be taken.

28:14 Therefore hear the word of the Lord, you scoffers, that rule this people in Jerusalem:

28:15 "Because you have said, 'We have made a covenant with death, and with Sheol are we in agreement. When the overflowing scourge passes through, it won't come to us; for we have made lies our refuge, and we have hidden ourselves under falsehood.'"

28:16 Therefore thus says the Lord God, "Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone of a sure foundation. He who believes shall not be in fear.

28:17 I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the plumb line. The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters will overflow the hiding place.

28:18 Your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand. When the overflowing scourge passes through, then you will be trampled down by it.

28:19 As often as it passes through, it will seize you; for morning by morning it will pass through, by day and by night; and it will be nothing but terror to understand the message."

28:20 For the bed is too short to stretch out on, and the blanket is too narrow to wrap oneself in.

28:21 For the Lord will rise up as on Mount Perazim. He will be angry as in the valley of Gibeon; that he may do his work, his unusual work, and bring to pass his act, his extraordinary act.

28:22 Now therefore do not be scoffers, lest your bonds be made strong; for I have heard a decree of destruction from the Lord, the Lord of hosts, on the whole earth.

28:23 Give ear, and hear my voice! Listen, and hear my speech!

28:24 Does he who plows to sow plow continually? Does he keep turning the soil and breaking the clods?

28:25 When he has leveled its surface, doesn't he plant the dill, and scatter the cumin seed, and put in the wheat in rows, the barley in the appointed place, and the spelt in its place?

28:26 For his God instructs him in right judgment, and teaches him.

28:27 For the dill are not threshed with a sharp instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned over the cumin; but the dill is beaten out with a stick, and the cumin with a rod.

28:28 Bread flour must be ground; so he will not always be threshing it. Although he drives the wheel of his threshing cart over it, his horses do not grind it.

28:29 This also comes forth from the Lord of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in wisdom.

29:1 Woe to Ariel! Ariel, the city where David encamped! Add year to year; let the feasts come around;

29:2 then I will distress Ariel, and there will be mourning and lamentation. She shall be to me as an altar hearth.

29:3 I will encamp against you all around you, and will lay siege against you with posted troops. I will raise siege works against you.

29:4 You will be brought down, and will speak out of the ground. Your speech will mumble out of the dust. Your voice will be as of one who has a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and your speech will whisper out of the dust.

29:5 But the multitude of your foes will be like fine dust, and the multitude of the ruthless ones like chaff that blows away. Yes, it will be in an instant, suddenly.

29:6 She will be visited by the Lord of hosts with thunder, with earthquake, with great noise, with whirlwind and storm, and with the flame of a devouring fire.

29:7 The multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all who fight against her and her stronghold, and who distress her, will be like a dream, a vision of the night.

29:8 It will be like when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he eats; but he awakes, and his hunger isn't satisfied; or like when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he drinks; but he awakes, and behold, he is faint, and he is still thirsty. The multitude of all the nations that fight against Mount Zion will be like that.

29:9 Pause and wonder! Blind yourselves and be blind! They are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.

29:10 For the Lord has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes (the prophets), and he has covered your heads (the seers).

29:11 All vision has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one who is educated, saying, "Read this, please;" and he says, "I can't, for it is sealed:"

29:12 and the book is delivered to one who is not educated, saying, "Read this, please;" and he says, "I can't read."

29:13 The Lord said, "Because this people draws near with their mouth and with their lips to honor me, but they have removed their heart far from me, but in vain do they worship me, teaching the commandments and doctrines of men.

29:14 Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men will perish, and the understanding of their prudent men will be hidden."

29:15 Woe to those who deeply hide their counsel from the Lord, and whose works are in the dark, and who say, "Who sees us?" and "Who knows us?"

29:16 You turn things upside down! Should the potter be thought to be like clay; that the thing made should say about him who made it, "He did not make me;" or the thing formed say of him who formed it, "He has no understanding?"

29:17 Isn't it yet a very little while, and Lebanon will be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field will be regarded as a forest?

29:18 In that day, the deaf will hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind will see out of obscurity and out of darkness.

29:19 The humble also will increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

29:20 For the ruthless is brought to nothing, and the scoffer ceases, and all those who are alert to do evil are cut off-

29:21 who cause a person to be indicted by a word, and lay a snare for the arbiter in the gate, and who deprive the innocent of justice with false testimony.

29:22 Therefore thus says the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob: "Jacob shall no longer be ashamed, neither shall his face grow pale.

29:23 But when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in the midst of him, they will sanctify my name. Yes, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.

29:24 They also who err in spirit will come to understanding, and those who grumble will receive instruction."

1 Cor 7:1–31

1 Now concerning the things about which you wrote: it is good for a man not to touch a woman.

2 But, because of sexual immoralities, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.

3 Let the husband fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise also the wife to her husband.

4 The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband. Likewise also the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife.

5 Do not deprive one another, unless it is by consent for a season, that you may give yourselves to prayer, and may be together again, that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

6 But this I say by way of concession, not of commandment.

7 Yet I wish that all men were like me. However each man has his own gift from God, one of this kind, and another of that kind.

8 But I say to the unmarried and to widows, it is good for them if they remain even as I am.

9 But if they do not have self-control, let them marry. For it's better to marry than to burn.

10 But to the married I command-not I, but the Lord-that the wife not leave her husband

11 (but if she departs, let her remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband not leave his wife.

12 But to the rest I-not the Lord-say, if any brother has an unbelieving wife, and she is content to live with him, let him not leave her.

13 The woman who has an unbelieving husband, and he is content to live with her, let her not leave her husband.

14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified in the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the brother. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy.

15 Yet if the unbeliever departs, let there be separation. The brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace.

16 For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?

17 Only, as the Lord has distributed to each man, as God has called each, so let him walk. So I command in all the churches.

18 Was anyone called having been circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Has anyone been called in uncircumcision? Let him not be circumcised.

19 Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.

20 Let each man stay in that calling in which he was called.

21 Were you called being a bondservant? Do not let that bother you, but if you get an opportunity to become free, use it.

22 For he who was called in the Lord being a bondservant is the Lord's free man. Likewise he who was called being free is Christ's bondservant.

23 You were bought with a price. Do not become bondservants of men.

24 Brothers, let each man, in whatever condition he was called, stay in that condition with God.

25 Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who has obtained mercy from the Lord to be trustworthy.

26 I think that it is good therefore, because of the distress that is on us, that it is good for a man to be as he is.

27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be freed. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife.

28 But if you marry, you have not sinned. If a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Yet such will have oppression in the flesh, and I want to spare you.

29 But I say this, brothers: the time is short, that from now on, both those who have wives may be as though they had none;

30 and those who weep, as though they did not weep; and those who rejoice, as though they did not rejoice; and those who buy, as though they did not possess;

31 and those who use the world, as not using it to the fullest. For the mode of this world passes away.

Ps 112:1–10

1 Praise Yah! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who delights greatly in his commandments.

2 His seed will be mighty in the land. The generation of the upright will be blessed.

3 Wealth and riches are in his house. His righteousness endures forever.

4 Light dawns in the darkness for the upright, gracious, merciful, and righteous.

5 It is well with the man who deals graciously and lends. He will maintain his cause in judgment.

6 For he will never be shaken. The righteous will be remembered forever.

7 He will not be afraid of evil news. His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.

8 His heart is established, he will not be afraid until he gaze upon his adversaries.

9 He has dispersed, he has given to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. His horn will be exalted with honor.

10 The wicked will see it, and be grieved. He shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away. The desire of the wicked will perish.