October 16: Isaiah 52–55; James 4:11–5:12; Psalm 99; Proverbs 25:28

Old Testament: Isaiah 52–55 Isaiah 52–55 (Listen) The Lord’s Coming Salvation 52   Awake, awake,    put on your strength, O Zion;  put on your beautiful garments,    O Jerusalem, the holy city;  for there shall no more come into you    the uncircumcised and the unclean.2   Shake yourself from the dust and arise;    be seated, O Jerusalem;  loose the bonds from your neck,    O captive daughter of Zion. 3 For thus says the LORD: “You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money.” 4 For thus says the Lord GOD: “My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing.1 5 Now therefore what have I here,” declares the LORD, “seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Their rulers wail,” declares the LORD, “and continually all the day my name is despised. 6 Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here I am.” 7   How beautiful upon the mountains    are the feet of him who brings good news,  who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness,    who publishes salvation,    who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”8   The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their voice;    together they sing for joy;  for eye to eye they see    the return of the LORD to Zion.9   Break forth together into singing,    you waste places of Jerusalem,  for the LORD has comforted his people;    he has redeemed Jerusalem.10   The LORD has bared his holy arm    before the eyes of all the nations,  and all the ends of the earth shall see    the salvation of our God. 11   Depart, depart, go out from there;    touch no unclean thing;  go out from the midst of her; purify yourselves,    you who bear the vessels of the LORD.12   For you shall not go out in haste,    and you shall not go in flight,  for the LORD will go before you,    and the God of Israel will be your rear guard. He Was Pierced for Our Transgressions 13   Behold, my servant shall act wisely;2    he shall be high and lifted up,    and shall be exalted.14   As many were astonished at you—    his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,    and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—15   so shall he sprinkle3 many nations.    Kings shall shut their mouths because of him,  for that which has not been told them they see,    and that which they have not heard they understand.53   Who has believed what he has heard from us?4    And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?2   For he grew up before him like a young plant,    and like a root out of dry ground;  he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,    and no beauty that we should desire him.3   He was despised and rejected5 by men,    a man of sorrows6 and acquainted with7 grief;8  and as one from whom men hide their faces9    he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4   Surely he has borne our griefs    and carried our sorrows;  yet we esteemed him stricken,    smitten by God, and afflicted.5   But he was pierced for our transgressions;    he was crushed for our iniquities;  upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,    and with his wounds we are healed.6   All we like sheep have gone astray;    we have turned—every one—to his own way;  and the LORD has laid on him    the iniquity of us all. 7   He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,    yet he opened not his mouth;  like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,    and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,    so he opened not his mouth.8   By oppression and judgment he was taken away;    and as for his generation, who considered  that he was cut off out of the land of the living,    stricken for the transgression of my people?9   And they made his grave with the wicked    and with a rich man in his death,  although he had done no violence,    and there was no deceit in his mouth. 10   Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;    he has put him to grief;10  when his soul makes11 an offering for guilt,    he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;  the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.11   Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see12 and be satisfied;  by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,    make many to be accounted righteous,    and he shall bear their iniquities.12   Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,13    and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,14  because he poured out his soul to death    and was numbered with the transgressors;  yet he bore the sin of many,    and makes intercession for the transgressors. The Eternal Covenant of Peace 54   “Sing, O barren one, who did not bear;    break forth into singing and cry aloud,    you who have not been in labor!  For the children of the desolate one will be more    than the children of her who is married,” says the LORD.2   “Enlarge the place of your tent,    and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out;  do not hold back; lengthen your cords    and strengthen your stakes.3   For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left,    and your offspring will possess the nations    and will people the desolate cities. 4   “Fear not, for you will not be ashamed;    be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced;  for you will forget the shame of your youth,    and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.5   For your Maker is your husband,    the LORD of hosts is his name;  and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,    the God of the whole earth he is called.6   For the LORD has called you    like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit,  like a wife of youth when she is cast off,    says your God.7   For a brief moment I deserted you,    but with great compassion I will gather you.8   In overflowing anger for a moment    I hid my face from you,  but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,”    says the LORD, your Redeemer. 9   “This is like the days of Noah15 to me:    as I swore that the waters of Noah    should no more go over the earth,  so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you,    and will not rebuke you.10   For the mountains may depart    and the hills be removed,  but my steadfast love shall not depart from you,    and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,”    says the LORD, who has compassion on you. 11   “O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted,    behold, I will set your stones in antimony,    and lay your foundations with sapphires.1612   I will make your pinnacles of agate,17    your gates of carbuncles,18    and all your wall of precious stones.13   All your children shall be taught by the LORD,    and great shall be the peace of your children.14   In righteousness you shall be established;    you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear;    and from terror, for it shall not come near you.15   If anyone stirs up strife,    it is not from me;  whoever stirs up strife with you    shall fall because of you.16   Behold, I have created the smith    who blows the fire of coals    and produces a weapon for its purpose.  I have also created the ravager to destroy;17     no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed,    and you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment.  This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD    and their vindication19 from me, declares the LORD.” The Compassion of the Lord 55   “Come, everyone who thirsts,    come to the waters;  and he who has no money,    come, buy and eat!  Come, buy wine and milk    without money and without price.2   Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,    and your labor for that which does not satisfy?  Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,    and delight yourselves in rich food.3   Incline your ear, and come to me;    hear, that your soul may live;  and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,    my steadfast, sure love for David.4   Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples,    a leader and commander for the peoples.5   Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know,    and a nation that did not know you shall run to you,  because of the LORD your God, and of the Holy One of Israel,    for he has glorified you. 6   “Seek the LORD while he may be found;    call upon him while he is near;7   let the wicked forsake his way,    and the unrighteous man his thoughts;  let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him,    and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.8   For my thoughts are not your thoughts,    neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.9   For as the heavens are higher than the earth,    so are my ways higher than your ways    and my thoughts than your thoughts. 10   “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven    and do not return there but water the earth,  making it bring forth and sprout,    giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,11   so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;    it shall not return to me empty,  but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,    and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. 12   “For you shall go out in joy    and be led forth in peace;  the mountains and the hills before you    shall break forth into singing,    and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.13   Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;    instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;  and it shall make a name for the LORD,    an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.” Footnotes [1] 52:4 Or the Assyrian has oppressed them of late [2] 52:13 Or shall prosper [3] 52:15 Or startle [4] 53:1 Or Who has believed what we have heard? [5] 53:3 Or forsaken [6] 53:3 Or pains; also verse 4 [7] 53:3 Or and knowing [8] 53:3 Or sickness; also verse 4 [9] 53:3 Or as one who hides his face from us [10] 53:10 Or he has made him sick [11] 53:10 Or when you make his soul [12] 53:11 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scroll he shall see light [13] 53:12 Or with the great [14] 53:12 Or with the numerous [15] 54:9 Some manuscripts For this is as the waters of Noah [16] 54:11 Or lapis lazuli [17] 54:12 Or jasper, or ruby [18] 54:12 Or crystal [19] 54:17 Or righteousness (ESV) New Testament: James 4:11–5:12 James 4:11–5:12 (Listen) 11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.1 The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor? Boasting About Tomorrow 13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. Warning to the Rich 5 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. 2 Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. 3 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days. 4 Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. 5 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. 6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you. Patience in Suffering 7 Be patient, therefore, brothers,2 until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. 8 You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door. 10 As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 11 Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. 12 But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation. Footnotes [1] 4:11 Or brothers and sisters [2] 5:7 Or brothers and sisters; also verses 9, 10, 12, 19 (ESV) Psalm: Psalm 99 Psalm 99 (Listen) The Lord Our God Is Holy 99   The LORD reigns; let the peoples tremble!    He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!2   The LORD is great in Zion;    he is exalted over all the peoples.3   Let them praise your great and awesome name!    Holy is he!4   The King in his might loves justice.1    You have established equity;  you have executed justice    and righteousness in Jacob.5   Exalt the LORD our God;    worship at his footstool!    Holy is he! 6   Moses and Aaron were among his priests,    Samuel also was among those who called upon his name.    They called to the LORD, and he answered them.7   In the pillar of the cloud he spoke to them;    they kept his testimonies    and the statute that he gave them. 8   O LORD our God, you answered them;    you were a forgiving God to them,    but an avenger of their wrongdoings.9   Exalt the LORD our God,    and worship at his holy mountain;    for the LORD our God is holy! Footnotes [1] 99:4 Or The might of the King loves justice (ESV) Proverb: Proverbs 25:28 Proverbs 25:28 (Listen) 28   A man without self-control    is like a city broken into and left without walls. (ESV)