Monday, February 23

1The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw against Judah and Jerusalem in the kingdom of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

2Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth. For the Lord has spoken: 'I have begotten and brought up sons, but they rejected Me.

3The ox knows its owner and the donkey its master's crib; but Israel does not know Me, and the people do not understand Me.'

4Alas, sinful nation, a people full of sins, an evil seed, lawless children. They forsook the Lord; they provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel.

5Why should you still be struck as you continue in lawlessness? The whole head is in pain, and the whole heart in sadness.

6From the feet all the way to the head, there is no soundness in them, only wounds and bruises and festering sores. They have not been closed or bandaged, or soothed with ointment.

7Your land is desolate; your cities are burned with fire. Strangers take over your land in your presence and it is made desolate, overthrown by foreign people.

8So the daughter of Zion is forsaken, like a tent in a vineyard, like a hut in a garden of cucumbers, like a besieged city.

9Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a seed, we would have become like Sodom and been made like Gomorrah.

10Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom. Give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah:

11'What is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?' says the Lord. 'I am full of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of lambs. I do not desire the blood of bulls and he-goats.

12When you come to appear before Me, who required these things from your hands to tread My court?

13Although you should bring fine wheat flour, it is vain. Incense is an abomination to Me. I cannot endure your new moons, and Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies, and fasting and holy day.

14Your new moons and feasts My soul hates. You have become a dissatisfaction to Me; I will not forgive your sins.

15When you stretch forth your hands to Me, I will turn My eyes from you. Although you make many prayers, I will not listen to you. Your hands are full of blood.

16Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean. Put away the evils from your souls before My eyes. Cease from your evils.

17Learn to do good. Seek judgment and redeem the wronged. Defend the orphan and justify the widow.

18Come now, and let us reason together,' says the Lord, 'although your sins are like crimson, I shall make them white like snow, and although they are as scarlet, I shall make them white like wool.

19If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good things of the land.

20But if you are unwilling and disobedient, you shall be devoured by the sword,' for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

1In the beginning God made heaven and earth.

2The earth was invisible and unfinished; and the darkness was over the deep. The Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the water.

3Then God said, 'Let there be light'; and there was light.

4God saw the light; it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.

5God called the light Day; the darkness He called Night; and there was evening and morning, one day.

6Then God said, 'Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water, and let it divide the water from the water'; and it was so.

7Thus God made the firmament, and God divided the water under the firmament from the water above the firmament.

8So God called the firmament Heaven, and God saw that it was good; and there was evening and morning, the second day.

9Then God said, 'Let the water under heaven be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear'; and it was so. The water under heaven was gathered into its places, and the dry land appeared.

10So God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas; and God saw that it was good.

11Then God said, 'Let the earth bring forth the herb of grass, bearing seed according to its kind and likeness. Let the fruit tree bear fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind on earth.' It was so.

12Thus the earth brought forth the herb of grass, bearing seed according to its kind and likeness. The fruit tree bore fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind on earth. God saw that it was good.

13So evening and morning were the third day.

1The Proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, Who reigned in Israel.

2To know wisdom and instruction, And to understand words of discernment;

3To receive both subtlety of words, And to understand true righteousness and upright judgment;

4So as to give astuteness to the simple, And both perception and understanding to a young man;

5For a wise man who hears these things will be wiser, And the man of understanding will gain direction.

6He will understand both a parable and a hidden saying, Both wise words and riddles.

7The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom, And there is good understanding in all who practice it;

8And godliness toward God is the beginning of perception, But the ungodly despise wisdom and instruction.

9Hear, my son, the instruction of your father, And do not reject the laws of your mother.

10For you will receive a crown of grace on your head And a gold chain around your neck.

11My son, do not let the ungodly lead you astray, And do not consent if they invite you, saying,

12"Come with us; take part in bloodshed, And let us hide a righteous man in the earth unjustly;

13And let us swallow him, just as Hades does the living, And let us take away his remembrance from the earth;

14Let us seize his valuable property, And let us fill our houses with spoils;

15Cast your lot with us And let us acquire a common bag; Let there be one purse for us."

16Do not walk in the way with them, But turn away your foot from their paths.

17For their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed blood.

18For nets are not spread before birds for no reason, For those who participate in murder store up evils for themselves; And evil is the destruction of lawless men.

19These are the ways of all who accomplish lawless things, For they take away their own soul in ungodliness.

20Wisdom sings in the streets; She moves boldly in the squares.