This is the vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
Listen, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the LORD has spoken: “I have raised children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against Me.
The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s manger, but Israel does not know; My people do not understand.”
Alas, O sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children of depravity! They have forsaken the LORD; they have despised the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on Him.
Why do you want more beatings? Why do you keep rebelling? Your head has a massive wound, and your whole heart is afflicted.
. . .
Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid or terrified of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.”
David also said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous, and do it. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He will neither fail you nor forsake you before all the work for the service of the house of the LORD is finished.
For the LORD your God is a merciful God; He will not abandon you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers, which He swore to them by oath.
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said: “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”
So we say with confidence: “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”
But one after another they all began to make excuses. The first one said, ‘I have bought a field, and I need to go see it. Please excuse me.’
Another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out. Please excuse me.’
Still another said, ‘I have married a wife, so I cannot come.’
Then Asa cried out to the LORD his God: “O LORD, there is no one besides You to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on You, and in Your name we have come against this multitude. O LORD, You are our God. Do not let a mere mortal prevail against You.”
So the LORD struck down the Cushites before Asa and Judah, and the Cushites fled.
So he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The LORD is with you when you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.
Therefore take up the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you will be able to stand your ground, and having done everything, to stand.
For I was ashamed to ask the king for an escort of soldiers and horsemen to protect us from our enemies on the road, since we had told him, “The hand of our God is gracious to all who seek Him, but His great anger is against all who forsake Him.”
Look, I am with you, and I will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
And let us consider how to spur one another on to love and good deeds.
Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have made a habit, but let us encourage one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who abandon You will be put to shame. All who turn away will be written in the dust, for they have abandoned the LORD, the fountain of living water.
“For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living water, and they have dug their own cisterns—broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
One Sabbath, Jesus went to eat in the home of a leading Pharisee, and those in attendance were watching Him closely.
Right there before Him was a man with dropsy.
So Jesus asked the experts in the law and the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?”
But they remained silent. Then Jesus took hold of the man, healed him, and sent him on his way.
And He asked them, “Which of you whose son or ox falls into a pit on the Sabbath day will not immediately pull him out?”
. . .
When morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people conspired against Jesus to put Him to death.
They bound Him, led Him away, and handed Him over to Pilate the governor.
When Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was filled with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders.
“I have sinned by betraying innocent blood,” he said. “What is that to us?” they replied. “You bear the responsibility.”
So Judas threw the silver into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.
. . .
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, yet our inner self is being renewed day by day.
For our light and momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal glory that is far beyond comparison.
So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
When it was decided that we would sail for Italy, Paul and some other prisoners were handed over to a centurion named Julius, who belonged to the Imperial Regiment.
We boarded an Adramyttian ship about to sail for ports along the coast of Asia, and we put out to sea. Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, was with us.
The next day we landed at Sidon, and Julius treated Paul with consideration, allowing him to visit his friends and receive their care.
After putting out from there, we sailed to the lee of Cyprus because the winds were against us.
And when we had sailed across the open sea off the coast of Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra in Lycia.
. . .
As a prisoner in the Lord, then, I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling you have received:
with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
and with diligence to preserve the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called;
one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
. . .
Then the LORD said to Moses,
“Consecrate to Me every firstborn male. The firstborn from every womb among the Israelites belongs to Me, both of man and beast.”
So Moses told the people, “Remember this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; for the LORD brought you out of it by the strength of His hand. And nothing leavened shall be eaten.
Today, in the month of Abib, you are leaving.
And when the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites—the land He swore to your fathers that He would give you, a land flowing with milk and honey—you shall keep this service in this month.
. . .
At this time a man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
(Mary, whose brother Lazarus was sick, was to anoint the Lord with perfume and wipe His feet with her hair.)
So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one You love is sick.”
When Jesus heard this, He said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
. . .
And the angels who did not stay within their own domain but abandoned their proper dwelling—these He has kept in eternal chains under darkness, bound for judgment on that great day.
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
perseverance, character; and character, hope.
And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.
. . .