Day 277 of 365

Isa 64:1–65:25

64:1 Oh that you would tear the heavens, that you would come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence,

64:2 as when fire kindles the brushwood, and the fire causes the waters to boil; to make your name known to your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at your presence!

64:3 When you did awesome things which we did not look for, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.

64:4 For from of old men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither has the eye seen a God besides you, who works for him who waits for him.

64:5 You meet him who rejoices and works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. Behold, you were angry, and we sinned. We have been in sin for a long time; and shall we be saved?

64:6 For we have all become as one who is unclean, and all our righteousness is as a polluted garment: and we all fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

64:7 There is none who calls on your name, who stirs up himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have consumed us by means of our iniquities.

64:8 But now, Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you our potter; and we all are the work of your hand.

64:9 Do not be furious, Lord, neither remember iniquity forever: see, look, we beg you, we are all your people.

64:10 Your holy cities are become a wilderness, Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.

64:11 Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised you, is burned with fire; and all our pleasant places are laid waste.

64:12 Will you refrain yourself for these things, Lord? Will you hold your peace, and afflict us very severely?

65:1 "I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me. I was near to those who did not seek me. I said, 'Here I am! Here I am!' to a nation that did not call on my name.

65:2 I have spread out my hands all the day to a disobedient and obstinate people, who walk in a way that is not good, after their own thoughts;

65:3 a people who provoke me to my face continually, sacrificing in gardens, and burning incense on bricks;

65:4 who sit among the graves, and lodge in the secret places; who eat pig's flesh, and the broth of abominable things is in their vessels;

65:5 who say, Stand by yourself, do not come near to me, for I am holier than you. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burns all the day.

65:6 "Behold, it is written before me: I will not keep silence, but will recompense, yes, I will recompense into their bosom,

65:7 your own iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together," says the Lord, "who have burned incense on the mountains, and blasphemed me on the hills; therefore will I first measure their work into their bosom."

65:8 Thus says the Lord, "As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one says, 'Do not destroy it, for a blessing is in it:' so will I do for my servants' sake, that I may not destroy them all.

65:9 I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains; and my chosen shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.

65:10 Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down in, for my people who have sought me.

65:11 "But you who forsake the Lord, who forget my holy mountain, who prepare a table for Fortune, and who fill up mixed wine to Destiny;

65:12 I will destine you to the sword, and you shall all bow down to the slaughter; because when I called, you did not answer; when I spoke, you did not listen; but you did that which was evil in my eyes, and chose that in which I did not delight."

65:13 Therefore thus says the Lord God, "Behold, my servants shall eat, but you shall be hungry; behold, my servants shall drink, but you shall be thirsty; behold, my servants shall rejoice, but you shall be disappointed;

65:14 behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but you shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall wail for anguish of spirit.

65:15 You shall leave your name for a curse to my chosen; and the Lord God will kill you; and he will call his servants by another name:

65:16 so that he who blesses himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he who swears in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hidden from my eyes.

65:17 "For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.

65:18 But be you glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.

65:19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people; and there shall be heard in her no more the voice of weeping and the voice of crying.

65:20 "There shall be no more there an infant of days, nor an old man who has not filled his days; for the child shall die one hundred years old, and the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed.

65:21 They shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.

65:22 They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree shall be the days of my people, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

65:23 They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for calamity; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them.

65:24 It shall happen that, before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.

65:25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox; and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain," says the Lord.

2 Cor 2:1–17

1 But I determined this for myself, that I would not come to you again in sorrow.

2 For if I make you sorry, then who will make me glad but he who is made sorry by me?

3 And I wrote this very thing, so that, when I came, I would not have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice; having confidence in you all, that my joy would be shared by all of you.

4 For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you with many tears, not that you should be made sorry, but that you might know the love that I have so abundantly for you.

5 But if any has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow, not to me, but in part (that I not press too heavily) to you all.

6 Sufficient to such a one is this punishment which was inflicted by the many;

7 so that on the contrary you should rather forgive him and comfort him, lest by any means such a one should be swallowed up with his excessive sorrow.

8 Therefore I beg you to confirm your love toward him.

9 For to this end I also wrote, that I might know the proof of you, whether you are obedient in all things.

10 Now I also forgive whomever you forgive anything. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ,

11 that no advantage may be gained over us by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his schemes.

12 Now when I came to Troas for the Good News of Christ, and when a door was opened to me in the Lord,

13 I had no relief for my spirit, because I did not find Titus, my brother, but taking my leave of them, I went out into Macedonia.

14 Now thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and reveals through us the sweet aroma of his knowledge in every place.

15 For we are a sweet aroma of Christ to God, in those who are saved, and in those who perish;

16 to the one a stench from death to death; to the other a sweet aroma from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things?

17 For we are not as so many, peddling the word of God. But as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, we speak in Christ.

Ps 118:1–29

1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.

2 Let Israel now say that his loving kindness endures forever.

3 Let the house of Aaron now say that his loving kindness endures forever.

4 Now let those who fear the Lord say that his loving kindness endures forever.

5 Out of my distress, I called on Yah. Yah answered me with freedom.

6 The Lord is on my side. I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?

7 The Lord is on my side among those who help me. Therefore I will look in triumph at those who hate me.

8 It is better to take refuge in the Lord, than to put confidence in man.

9 It is better to take refuge in the Lord, than to put confidence in princes.

10 All the nations surrounded me, but in the name of the Lord, I cut them off.

11 They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me. In the name of the Lord I indeed cut them off.

12 They surrounded me like bees. They are quenched like the burning thorns. In the name of the Lord I cut them off.

13 You pushed me back hard, to make me fall, but the Lord helped me.

14 Yah is my strength and song. He has become my salvation.

15 The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous. "The right hand of the Lord does valiantly.

16 The right hand of the Lord is exalted! The right hand of the Lord does valiantly!"

17 I will not die, but live, and declare the works of Yah.

18 Yah has punished me severely, but he has not given me over to death.

19 Open to me the gates of righteousness. I will enter into them. I will give thanks to Yah.

20 This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous will enter into it.

21 I will give thanks to you, for you have answered me, and have become my salvation.

22 The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

23 This is the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in our eyes.

24 This is the day that the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it!

25 Save us now, we beg you, Lord! Lord, we beg you, send prosperity now.

26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We have blessed you out of the house of the Lord.

27 The Lord is God, and he has given us light. Bind the sacrifice with cords, even to the horns of the altar.

28 You are my God, and I will give thanks to you. You are my God, I will exalt you.

29 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.