Tuesday, February 24

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.

21How the faithful city of Zion has become a prostitute! It was full of judgment. Righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers.

22Your silver is worthless; your tavernkeepers mix wine with water.

23Your rulers are disobedient and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes and follows after rewards. They do not defend the orphans, nor do they regard the cause of the widow.

24Therefore says the Master, the Lord of hosts: 'Woe to the mighty ones of Israel, for My anger against the adversaries will not cease; and I will execute judgment on My enemies.

25I will bring My hand upon you and purge you completely. I will destroy those who disobey and remove all the lawless from you; I will humble all the arrogant.

26I will establish your judges as at the first and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward, you shall be called the city of righteousness, Zion, the faithful mother-city.'

27For her captives shall be saved with judgment and with mercy.

28The lawless and sinners shall be destroyed together. Those who forsake the Lord shall come to an end.

29For they shall be ashamed of the idols they desired and the gardens they longed for.

30For they shall be as a terebinth tree that has lost its leaves; like a garden with no water.

31Their strength shall be as broken fiber and their works as sparks of fire. The lawless and the sinners will burn together, and no one shall quench them.

1The word that came from the Lord to Isaiah the son of Amoz concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

2Now it shall come to pass in the last days, the mountain of the Lord and the house of God shall be visible on the tops of the mountains and exalted above the hills. All the Gentiles shall come to it.

3Many Gentiles shall travel and say, 'Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will proclaim His way to us, and we shall walk in it.' For the law of the Lord shall go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

14Then God said, 'Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven for illumination to divide day from night.

15Let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years. Let them be for illumination in the firmament of heaven to give light on the earth.' It was so.

16Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also.

17God set them in the firmament of heaven to give light on the earth,

18and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good.

19So evening and morning were the fourth day.

20Then God said, 'Let the waters bring forth creatures having life, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of heaven's firmament.' It was so.

21Thus God made great sea creatures and every living thing that moves with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. God saw that it was good.

22God blessed them, saying, 'Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on earth.'

23So evening and morning were the fifth day.

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

21She preaches on high city walls And sits at the gates of lords. At the gates of a city she boldly says,

22"So long a time as the simple hold fast to righteousness, They shall not be ashamed;

23But those without discernment, since they are desirous of arrogance, And are become ungodly, they hate perception, And are become subject to reproofs.

24Behold, I shall bring forth upon you the utterance of my breath, And I shall teach you my word.

25Since I called, but you did not obey, And spoke at length, but you paid no attention,

26But made my counsels invalid, And were not persuaded by my reproofs;

27Consequently, I will laugh at your annihilation, And will exult when ruin comes to you,

28And when confusion reaches you unawares, And overthrow comes like a whirlwind,

29And when tribulation and anguish come to you, And when destruction comes to you.

30For it shall be, when you shall call upon me, I will not listen to you;

31Evil men will seek me, but not find me, For they hate wisdom, and choose not the fear of the Lord.

32Neither do they wish to follow my counsels, But despise my reproofs.

33Therefore, they shall eat the fruits of their own way And be filled with their own ungodliness.

17And this report about Him went throughout all Judea and all the surrounding region.

18Then the disciples of John reported to him concerning all these things.

19And John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to Jesus, saying, 'Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?'

20When the men had come to Him, they said, 'John the Baptist has sent us to You, saying, 'Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?' '

21And that very hour He cured many of infirmities, afflictions, and evil spirits; and to many blind He gave sight.

22Jesus answered and said to them, 'Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them.

23And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.'

24When the messengers of John had departed, He began to speak to the multitudes concerning John: 'What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?

25But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Indeed those who are gorgeously appareled and live in luxury are in kings' courts.

26But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet.

27This is he of whom it is written: 'Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You.'

28For I say to you, among those born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.'

29And when all the people heard Him, even the tax collectors justified God, having been baptized with the baptism of John.

30But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the will of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.

6For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

7But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

8We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;

9persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—

10always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.

11For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

12So then death is working in us, but life in you.

13And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, 'I believed and therefore I spoke,' we also believe and therefore speak,

14knowing that He who raised up the Lord Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus, and will present us with you.

15For all things are for your sakes, that grace, having spread through the many, may cause thanksgiving to abound to the glory of God.

2And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples

3and said to Him, 'Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?'

4Jesus answered and said to them, 'Go and tell John the things which you hear and see:

5The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.

6And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.'

7As they departed, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John: 'What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?

8But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Indeed, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' houses.

9But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet.

10For this is he of whom it is written: 'Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, Who will prepare Your way before You.'

11'Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

12And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.

13For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.

14And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come.

15He who has ears to hear, let him hear!