Isaiah 32

⁶For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

⁷Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from that time and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of Hosts will accomplish this.

⁸But about the Son He says: “Your throne, O God, endures forever and ever, and justice is the scepter of Your kingdom.

⁹You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, Your God, has anointed You above Your companions with the oil of joy.”

¹⁵In those days and at that time I will cause to sprout for David a righteous Branch, and He will administer justice and righteousness in the land.

¹¹Then I saw heaven standing open, and there before me was a white horse. And its rider is called Faithful and True. With righteousness He judges and wages war.

³The God of Israel spoke; the Rock of Israel said to me, ‘He who rules the people with justice, who rules in the fear of God,

¹For the choirmaster. To the tune of “The Lilies.” A Maskil of the sons of Korah. A love song. My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I recite my verses to the king; my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer.

⁴For You have been a refuge for the poor, a stronghold for the needy in distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like rain against a wall,

⁶For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

³For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and currents on the dry ground. I will pour out My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring.

¹⁴Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will be with child and give birth to a son, and will call Him Immanuel.

²⁰The beasts of the field will honor Me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I provide water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My chosen people.

⁹Deliver me from my enemies, O Lord; I flee to You for refuge.

¹⁸On that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of the deep darkness the eyes of the blind will see.

⁵Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.

⁶Then the lame will leap like a deer and the mute tongue will shout for joy. For waters will gush forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.

¹⁸to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those sanctified by faith in Me.’

⁶For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

²⁰You, however, have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.

²¹I have not written to you because you lack knowledge of the truth, but because you have it, and because no lie comes from the truth.

¹³Then all your sons will be taught by the Lord, and great will be their prosperity.

²⁴Then the wayward in spirit will come to understanding, and those who grumble will accept instruction.”

¹⁴So make up your mind not to worry beforehand how to defend yourselves.

¹⁵For I will give you speech and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.

¹⁷Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by My Father in heaven.

⁸So they read from the Book of the Law of God, explaining it and giving insight, so that the people could understand what was being read.

⁹Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to all of them, “This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people were weeping as they heard the words of the Law.

²⁵At that time Jesus declared, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.

¹¹And the Lord said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Or who makes the mute or the deaf, the sighted or the blind? Is it not I, the Lord?

²⁰Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who turn darkness to light and light to darkness, who replace bitter with sweet and sweet with bitter.

⁴who despises the vile but honors those who fear the Lord, who does not revise a costly oath,

¹⁸So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.”

⁶Do not eat the bread of a stingy man, and do not crave his delicacies;

⁷for he is keeping track, inwardly counting the cost. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.

³His name was Nabal, and his wife’s name was Abigail. She was an intelligent and beautiful woman, but her husband, a Calebite, was harsh and evil in his dealings.

⁴While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing sheep.

²⁵My lord should pay no attention to this scoundrel Nabal, for he lives up to his name: His name means Fool, and folly accompanies him. I, your servant, did not see my lord’s young men whom you sent.

¹⁹For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander.

¹⁵Why do you crush My people and grind the faces of the poor?” declares the Lord God of Hosts.

¹³Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let in those who wish to enter.

²¹You have no part or share in our ministry, because your heart is not right before God.

²²Repent, therefore, of your wickedness, and pray to the Lord. Perhaps He will forgive you for the intent of your heart.

³Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and withhold some of the proceeds from the land?

⁴Did it not belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? How could you conceive such a deed in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God!”

²⁴One gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds what is right, only to become poor.

²⁵A generous soul will prosper, and he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.

²⁶For among My people are wicked men; they watch like fowlers lying in wait; they set a trap to catch men.

²⁷Like cages full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit. Therefore they have become powerful and rich.

¹¹Then they prompted some men to say, “We heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God.”

¹²So they stirred up the people, elders, and scribes and confronted Stephen. They seized him and brought him before the Sanhedrin,

⁴ambushing the innocent in seclusion, shooting suddenly, without fear.

⁵They hold fast to their evil purpose; they speak of hiding their snares. “Who will see them?” they say.

²³who acquit the guilty for a bribe and deprive the innocent of justice.

⁵⁹Now the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were seeking false testimony against Jesus in order to put Him to death.

⁶⁰But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward. Finally two came forward

¹⁴Then one of the Twelve, the one called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests

¹⁵and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I hand Him over to you?” And they set out for him thirty pieces of silver.

¹Then David asked, “Is there anyone left from the house of Saul to whom I can show kindness for the sake of Jonathan?”

²And there was a servant of the house of Saul named Ziba. They summoned him to David, and the king inquired, “Are you Ziba?” “I am your servant,” he replied.

²⁹So the disciples, each according to his ability, decided to send relief to the brothers living in Judea.

³⁰This they did, sending their gifts to the elders with Barnabas and Saul.

²⁴One gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds what is right, only to become poor.

²⁵A generous soul will prosper, and he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.

²³Listen and hear my voice. Pay attention and hear what I say.

¹⁶The Lord also says: “Because the daughters of Zion are haughty—walking with heads held high and wanton eyes, prancing and skipping as they go, jingling the bracelets on their ankles—

⁹He who has ears, let him hear.”

¹Woe to those at ease in Zion and those secure on Mount Samaria, the distinguished ones of the foremost nation, to whom the house of Israel comes.

²Cross over to Calneh and see; go from there to the great Hamath; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Is their territory larger than yours?

¹¹Moab has been at ease from youth, settled like wine on its dregs; he has not been poured from vessel to vessel or gone into exile. So his flavor has remained the same, and his aroma is unchanged.

¹²Therefore behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will send to him wanderers, who will pour him out. They will empty his vessels and shatter his jars.

⁵Those who once ate delicacies are destitute in the streets; those brought up in crimson huddle in ash heaps.

²³And on that day, in every place that had a thousand vines worth a thousand shekels of silver, only briers and thorns will be found.

¹³I will take away their harvest, declares the Lord. There will be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the tree, and even the leaf will wither. Whatever I have given them will be lost to them.”

⁴For the Israelites must live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, and without ephod or idol.

¹⁰Moreover, I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of the bride and bridegroom, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp.

¹¹And this whole land will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.

¹²I will destroy her vines and fig trees, which she thinks are the wages paid by her lovers. So I will make them into a thicket, and the beasts of the field will devour them.

¹²The grapevine is dried up, and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, palm, and apple—all the trees of the orchard—are withered. Surely the joy of mankind has dried up.

²⁴Instead of fragrance there will be a stench; instead of a belt, a rope; instead of styled hair, baldness; instead of fine clothing, sackcloth; instead of beauty, shame.

⁴so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old alike, naked and barefoot, with bared buttocks—to Egypt’s shame.

²⁶O daughter of my people, dress yourselves in sackcloth and roll in ashes. Mourn with bitter wailing, as you would for an only son, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.

³Otherwise, I will strip her naked and expose her like the day of her birth. I will make her like a desert and turn her into a parched land, and I will let her die of thirst.

¹⁴The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling grips the ungodly: “Who of us can dwell with a consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting flames?”

¹⁹Men will flee to caves in the rocks and holes in the ground, away from the terror of the Lord and from the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to shake the earth.

⁷For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks and fountains and springs that flow through the valleys and hills;

⁸a land of wheat, barley, vines, fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of olive oil and honey;

¹¹But the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks in the rain from heaven.

¹²It is a land for which the Lord your God cares; the eyes of the Lord your God are always on it, from the beginning to the end of the year.

¹⁵Moreover, with an uplifted hand I swore to them in the wilderness that I would not bring them into the land that I had given them—a land flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands—

¹¹My eyes fail from weeping; I am churning within. My heart is poured out in grief over the destruction of the daughter of my people, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city.

³Even jackals offer their breasts to nurse their young, but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like an ostrich in the wilderness.

⁴The nursing infant’s tongue clings in thirst to the roof of his mouth. Little children beg for bread, but no one gives them any.

⁷It is decreed that the city be exiled and carried away; her maidservants moan like doves, and beat upon their breasts.

⁶For even if they flee destruction, Egypt will gather them and Memphis will bury them. Their precious silver will be taken over by thistles, and thorns will overrun their tents.

²O city of commotion, O town of revelry? Your slain did not die by the sword, nor were they killed in battle.

¹³Her towers will be overgrown with thorns, her fortresses with thistles and briers. She will become a haunt for jackals, an abode for ostriches.

²³And on that day, in every place that had a thousand vines worth a thousand shekels of silver, only briers and thorns will be found.

⁷As much as she has glorified herself and lived in luxury, give her the same measure of torment and grief. In her heart she says, ‘I sit as queen; I am not a widow and will never see grief.’

⁸Therefore her plagues will come in one day—death and grief and famine—and she will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.”

⁸The high places of Aven will be destroyed—it is the sin of Israel; thorns and thistles will overgrow their altars. Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall on us!”

¹²The city is left in ruins; its gate is reduced to rubble.

¹⁰For the fortified city lies deserted—a homestead abandoned, a wilderness forsaken. There the calves graze, and there they lie down; they strip its branches bare.

²Indeed, You have made the city a heap of rubble, the fortified town a ruin. The fortress of strangers is a city no more; it will never be rebuilt.

¹⁰The city of chaos is shattered; every house is closed to entry.

¹¹They give drink to every beast of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

²⁴They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive into all the nations. And Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

¹⁷In a very short time, will not Lebanon become an orchard, and the orchard seem like a forest?

²⁹And I will no longer hide My face from them, for I will pour out My Spirit on the house of Israel, declares the Lord God.”

³For I will pour water on the thirsty land, and currents on the dry ground. I will pour out My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring.

⁵He saved us, not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.

⁶This is the Spirit He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

⁴⁹And behold, I am sending the promise of My Father upon you. But remain in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

²⁸And afterward, I will pour out My Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.

²⁹Even on My menservants and maidservants, I will pour out My Spirit in those days.

⁹Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts,

¹⁰nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.

²¹Then all your people will be righteous; they will possess the land forever; they are the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, so that I may be glorified.

⁹But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.

¹⁰Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

¹⁴For the Lord will not forsake His people; He will never abandon His heritage.

¹⁵Surely judgment will again be righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it.

⁴He will not grow weak or discouraged before He has established justice on the earth. In His law the islands will put their hope.”

¹¹For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to everyone.

¹²It instructs us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live sensible, upright, and godly lives in the present age,

³You will keep in perfect peace the steadfast of mind, because he trusts in You.

¹⁶⁵Abundant peace belongs to those who love Your law; nothing can make them stumble.

¹⁷But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peace-loving, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere.

¹⁸Peacemakers who sow in peace reap the fruit of righteousness.

¹⁷For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

⁸I will listen to what God the Lord will say; for He will surely speak peace to His people and His saints; He will not let them return to folly.

⁶Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

⁷And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

⁵For I will be a wall of fire around it, declares the Lord, and I will be the glory within it.’”

¹⁸On that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the creatures that crawl on the ground. And I will abolish bow and sword and battle in the land, and will make them lie down in safety.

¹⁹So I will betroth you to Me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in loving devotion and compassion.

¹⁶In those days Judah will be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell securely, and this is the name by which it will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness.

²⁵I will make with them a covenant of peace and rid the land of wild animals, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the forest.

²⁶I will make them and the places around My hill a blessing. I will send down showers in season—showers of blessing.

⁹No lion will be there, and no vicious beast will go up on it. Such will not be found there, but the redeemed will walk upon it.

¹⁰So the redeemed of the Lord will return and enter Zion with singing, crowned with everlasting joy. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee.

²⁰Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts. Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful pasture, a tent that does not wander; its tent pegs will not be pulled up, nor will any of its cords be broken.

²¹But there the Majestic One, our Lord, will be for us a place of rivers and wide canals, where no galley with oars will row, and no majestic vessel will pass.

¹⁷I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the level. Hail will sweep away your refuge of lies, and water will flood your hiding place.

²Behold, the Lord has one who is strong and mighty. Like a hailstorm or destructive tempest, like a driving rain or flooding downpour, he will smash that crown to the ground.

³⁰And the Lord will cause His majestic voice to be heard and His mighty arm to be revealed, striking in angry wrath with a flame of consuming fire, and with cloudburst, storm, and hailstones.

⁵For He has humbled those who dwell on high; He lays the lofty city low. He brings it down to the ground; He casts it into the dust.

²Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen; the majestic trees are ruined! Wail, O oaks of Bashan, for the dense forest has been cut down!

⁷Then the first angel sounded his trumpet, and hail and fire mixed with blood were hurled down upon the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, along with a third of the trees and all the green grass.

¹Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again.

²³Then He will send rain for the seed that you have sown in the ground, and the food that comes from your land will be rich and plentiful. On that day your cattle will graze in open pastures.

²⁴The oxen and donkeys that work the ground will eat salted fodder, winnowed with shovel and pitchfork.

¹⁰For just as rain and snow fall from heaven and do not return without watering the earth, making it bud and sprout, and providing seed to sow and food to eat,

¹¹so My word that proceeds from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but it will accomplish what I please, and it will prosper where I send it.

⁴¹Those who embraced his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to the believers that day.

⁶I planted the seed and Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.

¹⁴Yet more and more believers were brought to the Lord—large numbers of both men and women.