Day 271 of 365

Isa 46:1–48:22

46:1 Bel bows down, Nebo stoops; their idols are on the animals, and on the livestock: the things that you carried about are made a load, a burden to the weary.

46:2 They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but they have gone into captivity.

46:3 "Listen to me, house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, that have been borne from their birth, that have been carried from the womb;

46:4 and even to old age I am he, and even to gray hairs will I carry you. I have made, and I will bear; yes, I will carry, and will deliver.

46:5 "To whom will you liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like?

46:6 Some pour out gold from the bag, and weigh silver in the balance. They hire a goldsmith, and he makes it a god. They fall down-yes, they worship.

46:7 They bear it on the shoulder, they carry it, and set it in its place, and it stands, from its place it shall not move: yes, one may cry to it, yet it can not answer, nor save him out of his trouble.

46:8 "Remember this, and show yourselves men; bring it again to mind, you transgressors.

46:9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me;

46:10 declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done; saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure;

46:11 calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country; yes, I have spoken, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed, I will also do it.

46:12 Listen to me, you stout-hearted, who are far from righteousness:

46:13 I bring near my righteousness, it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not wait; and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.

47:1 "Come down, and sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of the Chaldeans: for you shall no more be called tender and delicate.

47:2 Take the millstones, and grind meal; remove your veil, strip off the train, uncover the leg, pass through the rivers.

47:3 Your nakedness shall be uncovered, yes, your shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and will spare no man."

47:4 Our Redeemer, the Lord of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel.

47:5 "Sit in silence, and go into darkness, daughter of the Chaldeans; for you shall no more be called the mistress of kingdoms.

47:6 I was angry with my people, I profaned my inheritance, and gave them into your hand: you showed them no mercy; on the aged you have very heavily laid your yoke.

47:7 You said, 'I shall be a mistress forever;' so that you did not lay these things to your heart, nor did you remember the latter end of it.

47:8 "Now therefore hear this, you who are given to pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, 'I am, and there is none else besides me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:'

47:9 but these two things shall come to you in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood; in their full measure shall they come on you, in the multitude of your sorceries, and the great abundance of your enchantments.

47:10 For you have trusted in your wickedness; you have said, No one sees me; your wisdom and your knowledge, it has perverted you, and you have said in your heart, 'I am, and there is none else besides me.'

47:11 Therefore disaster will come on you; you won't know when it dawns: and calamity will fall on you; you will not be able to put it away: and desolation shall come on you suddenly and unexpectedly.

47:12 "Stand now with your enchantments, and with the multitude of your sorceries, in which you have labored from your youth; if so be you shall be able to profit, if so be you may prevail.

47:13 You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels: let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save you from the things that shall come on you.

47:14 Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: it shall not be a coal to warm at, nor a fire to sit before.

47:15 Thus shall the things be to you in which you have labored: those who have trafficked with you from your youth shall wander everyone to his quarter; there shall be none to save you.

48:1 "Hear this, house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel, and have come forth out of the waters of Judah; who swear by the name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness

48:2 (for they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves on the God of Israel; the Lord of hosts is his name):

48:3 I have declared the former things from of old; yes, they went forth out of my mouth, and I showed them: suddenly I did them, and they happened.

48:4 Because I knew that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew, and your brow brass;

48:5 therefore I have declared it to you from of old; before it came to pass I showed it to you; lest you should say, 'My idol has done them, and my engraved image, and my molten image, has commanded them.'

48:6 You have heard it; see all this; and you, will you not declare it? "I have shown you new things from this time, even hidden things, which you have not known.

48:7 They are created now, and not from of old; and before this day you did not hear them; lest you should say, 'Behold, I knew them.'

48:8 Yes, you did not hear; yes, you did not know; yes, from of old your ear was not opened: for I knew that you dealt very treacherously, and was called a transgressor from the womb.

48:9 For my name's sake will I defer my anger, and for my praise will I refrain for you, that I not cut you off.

48:10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction.

48:11 For my own sake, for my own sake, will I do it; for how should my name be profaned? I will not give my glory to another.

48:12 "Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel my called: I am he; I am the first, I also am the last.

48:13 Yes, my hand has laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand has spread out the heavens: when I call to them, they stand up together.

48:14 "Assemble yourselves, all you, and hear; who among them has declared these things? He whom the Lord loves shall perform his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be on the Chaldeans.

48:15 I, even I, have spoken; yes, I have called him; I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous.

48:16 "Come near to me and hear this: "From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it was, there am I." Now the Lord God has sent me, with his Spirit.

48:17 Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way that you should go.

48:18 Oh that you had listened to my commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea:

48:19 your seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of your body like its grains: his name would not be cut off nor destroyed from before me.

48:20 Go forth from Babylon, flee from the Chaldeans; with a voice of singing declare, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth: say, the Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob.

48:21 They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts; he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them; he split the rock also, and the waters gushed out.

48:22 "There is no peace," says the Lord, "for the wicked."

1 Cor 14:1–19

1 Follow after love, and earnestly desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.

2 For he who speaks in another language speaks not to men, but to God; for no one understands; but in the Spirit he speaks mysteries.

3 But he who prophesies speaks to men for their encouragement, strengthening, and comfort.

4 He who speaks in another language edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church.

5 Now I desire to have you all speak with other languages, but rather that you would prophesy, and he is greater who prophesies than he who speaks with other languages, unless he interprets, that the church may be built up.

6 But now, brothers, if I come to you speaking with other languages, what would I profit you, unless I speak to you either by way of revelation, or of knowledge, or of prophesying, or of teaching?

7 Even things without life, giving a voice, whether pipe or harp, if they did not give a distinction in the sounds, how would it be known what is piped or harped?

8 For if the trumpet gave an uncertain sound, who would prepare himself for war?

9 So also you, unless you uttered by the tongue words easy to understand, how would it be known what is spoken? For you would be speaking into the air.

10 There are, it may be, so many kinds of sounds in the world, and none is without meaning.

11 If then I do not know the meaning of the sound, I would be to him who speaks a foreigner, and he who speaks would be a foreigner to me.

12 So also you, since you are zealous for spiritual gifts, seek that you may abound to the building up of the church.

13 Therefore let him who speaks in another language pray that he may interpret.

14 For if I pray in another language, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.

15 What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also. I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.

16 Otherwise if you bless with the spirit, how will he who fills the place of the unlearned say the "Amen" at your giving of thanks, seeing he does not know what you say?

17 For you truly give thanks well, but the other person is not built up.

18 I thank God, I speak with other languages more than you all.

19 However in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, that I might instruct others also, than ten thousand words in another language.

Job 17:1–16

1 "My spirit is consumed. My days are extinct, And the grave is ready for me.

2 Surely there are mockers with me. My eye dwells on their provocation.

3 "Now give a pledge, be collateral for me with yourself. Who is there who will strike hands with me?

4 For you have hidden their heart from understanding, Therefore you shall not exalt them.

5 He who denounces his friends for a prey, Even the eyes of his children shall fail.

6 "But he has made me a byword of the people. They spit in my face.

7 My eye also is dim by reason of sorrow. All my members are as a shadow.

8 Upright men shall be astonished at this. The innocent shall stir up himself against the godless.

9 Yet shall the righteous hold on his way. He who has clean hands shall grow stronger and stronger.

10 But as for you all, come on now again; I shall not find a wise man among you.

11 My days are past, my plans are broken off, as are the thoughts of my heart.

12 They change the night into day, saying 'The light is near' in the presence of darkness.

13 If I look for Sheol as my house, if I have spread my couch in the darkness,

14 If I have said to corruption, 'You are my father;' to the worm, 'My mother,' and 'my sister;'

15 where then is my hope? As for my hope, who shall see it?

16 Shall it go down with me to the gates of Sheol, or descend together into the dust?"