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Isaiah 45:11-48 11 So the Eternal One, who is the Holy One and Maker of Israel, says, Eternal One: Are you really going to question Me about what will happen to My children,
or lecture Me about what I should do with the ones I made with My own hands?
12 It is I who made the very ground on which you stand,
I who shaped the human beings who walk around on it.
I pulled the sky and the heavens taut with My own hands,
and organized the army of stars that march across the night sky.
13 So it was perfectly right for me to raise up Cyrus;
I will make his road ahead straight and level,
So that he will rebuild My chosen place, My city Jerusalem,
and set My exiled people free
Without exacting a price or seeking a bribe. So says the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies. 14 Eternal One: I, the Eternal One, say to you things will change; the wealthy and strong
of your world—Egyptians, Cushites, Sabeans—will come under your control.
Their goods and services, their strongest warriors, will be yours,
deferring to you, as they follow in chains, saying,
"God is with you. There is no other God but yours." 15 Cyrus: You have kept yourself hidden from others,
but You are indeed God, who saved Israel in the face of great challenges.
16 Those who worshiped others will be humiliated.
Those who craft idols will be embarrassed by their folly.
17 By contrast, Israel can stand tall. The Eternal has given them
a salvation that will never die, and they will never be embarrassed or ashamed. 18 Indeed, He who created the universe—heavens and earth—gave it form and shape.
The Eternal alone set it all in motion;
He didn't make it a disorganized wasteland but made it a beautiful and comfortable home. Eternal One: I am the Eternal One, and there is no other god who exists.
19 I didn't whisper in secret or mumble in the darkness;
I didn't say to Jacob's children:
"Look around the desert and try to find Me."
No, I am the Eternal One. I will speak clearly what is right and true. 20 Come, come. Gather around, all who survived among the nations.
They have no idea what a real God is
As they coddle their wooden idols,
and pray to worthless images that cannot save them.
21 Go ahead, talk among yourselves. Present your case.
Now, who declared what would happen long ago?
Who predicted how these events would turn out at this time?
Was it not I, the Eternal One? There is no other God but Me.
I alone am the righteous God and Savior. There is no other. 22 So turn your back on those idols and your face to Me.
I will save you, wherever you are, to the ends of the earth,
For I am God. There is none other.
23 I make this solemn vow; I have spoken a word—
faithful and true—and it will not return; it will be done.
My words have wings; they will be accomplished;
every knee will bow down to Me.
Every tongue will swear allegiance to Me. 24 They will say of Me, "Only by the Eternal One shall I see things through.
Only by God shall I go with integrity and strength through life." Those who know that God is the source of life, integrity, and strength live lives marked by confidence and a calm assurance. Now all those who burned with anger against God
will come to Him and be shamed.
25 Through the Eternal, all the descendants of Israel
will be vindicated and made glorious within the world. 46 Bel and Nebo wobble and duck, as their images
sway on the backs of oxen and donkeys—such a heavy burden
For the weary animals—as they are carried about.
2 These "gods" bow and sink together, unable to escape the coming invasion;
they march off into captivity. The gods of the nations must have looked rather odd riding on the backs of animals. Even gods of the once-feared Babylonians, Bel and Nebo, are nothing but dead weight. 3 Eternal One: Listen, you who count yourselves among Jacob's descendants,
all the remnant of Israel.
It is you, not I, who have been carried from before you were born.
Indeed, when you were still in the womb, I was taking care of you.
4 And when you are old, I will still be there, carrying you.
When your limbs grow tired, your eyes are weak,
And your hair a silvery gray, I will carry you as I always have.
I will carry you and save you. 5 Does anyone compare to Me? Can you find any likeness?
Who or what might be My equal or even close to Me?
6 What about those who use precious materials for gods—
hiring artisans to carefully craft gold, silver, jewels,
And exotic wood into a god—
then they bow down and worship it!
7 Their god is a mere object. They have to lug it around on their shoulders
before they can stand it up in its proper place.
It just sits there, unmoving until they pick it up again.
It never speaks, never answers.
It cannot help them, no matter how desperate they are.
8 Remember that—and don't be tempted to conform!
Think about it, you rebels.
9 Remember the old days. For I am God; there is no other.
I am God; there are no other gods like Me.
10 From the beginning I declare how things will end;
from times long past, I tell what is yet to be, saying:
"My intentions will come to pass.
I will make things happen as I determine they should."
11 I am the one who called Cyrus, the bird of prey from the east;
from a land far away I summoned him to do what I intend.
My word went out, and I will see it done.
My plan has been made, and I will see it through. 12 Listen closely, you strong-willed people
who have veered far from the right path.
13 It won't be long until I make things right;
My salvation is getting closer and closer; it won't be delayed.
I am ready to rescue Zion, My chosen place,
and display My beauty and splendor to Israel, My chosen people. 47 Eternal One: Ah, pretty virgin daughter, Miss Babylon,
come down and sit in the dust.
Sit on the ground where you belong: your throne is no more,
daughter of the Chaldeans, no longer all dainty, delicate.
2 And with those delicate fingers grab the heavy millstones and grind the grain.
Take off your lacy veil, lift your skirt, bare your legs, and
Cross the mud and muck of the river on foot like any other slave.
3 Everyone will see you naked; your humiliation will be most public.
I intend to make you pay, and no one will interfere. 4 Israel: Our Savior, our hero—the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies,
by name—is the Holy One of Israel!
5 So you'd best go quietly, Babylon, daughter of the Chaldeans.
Slink off into the dark. No one will ever again call you Queen of All Lands. 6 Eternal One: Some time ago, I got fed up with My people.
I left My heritage to you, let you defeat them and take them away.
But you showed no mercy, abused and denigrated them;
you even made the elderly suffer beneath your heavy burden.
7 But You were carried away with your power,
thinking you would always be in charge.
You didn't consider your limits or think about how all this would end.
8 You, pursuer of pleasure, resting in the thought,
"No one exists in the world of any consequence except me.
I'll never feel as a widow or suffer the loss of my children."
9 Despite all your magic and charms, all of a sudden, in a single day,
terror and death to the highest degree.
In the midst of it all, your children and husband, too, will be gone.
10 In your wickedness you thought you were immune,
so hidden away that no one could find your faults.
But your version of wisdom and knowledge were your undoing; you thought,
"No one exists in the world of any consequence except me."
11 Evil will break upon you full force.
You won't be able to hold it off or charm it away.
Disaster will fall and, even with all your wealth, you won't stand a chance.
There's no way to know what is coming; all of a sudden,
It will ruin all that you have and all that you are.
12 But keep trying your spells;
your magic and charms have brought you this far.
Maybe they'll help in some way. Maybe they'll incite fear.
13 All of your scheming has only exhausted you.
Let the astrologers step up and save you,
After all they chart the heavens, read the stars,
and predict the future month after month.
14 Look, they're like dry straw that ignites in a flash and is burned away.
They cannot help you—they cannot help themselves
From the power of the flame.
And this is not some warm and cozy fire shared among friends!
15 So that's what they're worth to you—absolutely nothing,
even after all these years of working together.
They're gone. No one's left to rescue you. 48 Listen closely, you descendants of Jacob who are called Israel!
Hear this, you who trace your ancestors back to Judah,
Who take oaths in the name of the Eternal, and call on the God of Israel,
but do so dishonestly and inappropriately:
2 Your identity is wrapped up in the holy city,
and you claim to rely on the God of Israel,
The One who is called the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies. 3 Eternal One: In times long past, I determined
and announced the things that would come.
Then suddenly I acted, and they indeed happened.
4 Long ago, I figured that you'd resist
(after all, you are a hard-headed and stubborn lot).
5 Way back then, I told you what would happen so that you wouldn't claim
that some other god was responsible—that some figurine you crafted
From wood and molded metal commanded and accomplished it.
6 You've heard what I foretold; now you've seen what has happened—
do you agree that I'm God?
Well, from this moment, I am telling you new things,
secrets hidden that no one has known.
7 They are created now—brand new, never before announced, never before heard.
So you can't claim, "Look, I already knew them."
8 There's no way you could have heard or known
because, even from long ago, you have never listened.
For I've always known that you are a conniving lot;
you've been a troublesome rebel from birth. 9 On account of My reputation, I hold back my anger;
for My own weighty grandeur, I am patient with you,
So that I don't make an absolute break with you.
10 I have refined you, but not in the way silver is refined.
Instead, I try you in the furnace of suffering. For God, suffering is not an end in itself. God uses suffering and hardship to purge the bad and foster the good in His covenant people. 11 But it is all on account of Me, not of you, that I act,
that I retain honor, that My glory is Mine alone, and not sullied. The Voice (VOICE) The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. Ephesians 4:1-16 4 As a prisoner of the Lord, I urge you: Live a life that is worthy of the calling He has graciously extended to you. 2 Be humble. Be gentle. Be patient. Tolerate one another in an atmosphere thick with love. 3 Make every effort to preserve the unity the Spirit has already created, with peace binding you together. Now that Paul has described the new world as God would have it, he urges believers to live out their callings with humility, patience, and love: to walk as Jesus walked. These are the ways of Jesus. Paul encourages them to do whatever it takes to hold onto the unity that binds people together in peace. He does not ask them to create that unity; this has already been accomplished through the work of the Rescuer and His Spirit. Rather, he calls believers to guard that unity—a more modest but no less significant task—because that unity is founded on God's oneness and work in the world. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were all called to pursue one hope. 5 There is one Lord Jesus, one living faith, one ceremonial washing through baptism, and 6 one God—the Father over all who is above all, through all, and in all. 7 This God has given to each of us grace in full measure according to the Anointed's gift 8 as the Scripture says, When He ascended to the heights,
He put captivity in chains;
And in His triumph, He gave gifts to the people. 9 (Well, when it says "He ascended," then that must mean that He had descended earlier to the lower levels, that is, to the earth. 10 The One who descended is the same One who rose from the dead to ascend far above all the heavens so that He could fill all things.) 11 It was the risen One who handed down to us such gifted leaders—some emissaries, some prophets, some evangelists, as well as some pastor-teachers— 12 so that God's people would be thoroughly equipped to minister and build up the body of the Anointed One. 13 These ministries will continue until we are unified in faith and filled with the knowledge of the Son of God, until we stand mature in His teachings and fully formed in the likeness of the Anointed, our Liberating King. 14 Then we will no longer be like children, tossed around here and there upon ocean waves, picked up by every gust of religious teaching spoken by liars or swindlers or deceivers. 15 Instead, by truth spoken in love, we are to grow in every way into Him—the Anointed One, the head. 16 He joins and holds together the whole body with its ligaments providing the support needed so each part works to its proper design to form a healthy, growing, and mature body that builds itself up in love. The Voice (VOICE) The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. Psalm 68:19-35 19 Blessed be the Lord
who carries our heavy loads every day,
the True God who is our salvation. 20 We know our God is the God who delivers us,
and the Eternal, the Lord, is the One who saves us from the grip of death. 21 The True God will certainly shatter the skulls of those who oppose Him;
He'll smash the hairy head of the man who continues on his sinful ways.
22 The Lord said,
"I will bring the enemy back from Bashan.
I will bring them back from the deepest parts of the sea,
23 So that you may plant your feet in their blood
and your dogs may lick up their portion of the foe."
24 The solemn march in Your honor, O True God, has come into view;
the march that celebrates my God, my King, has come into the sanctuary.
25 The singers went first, and the musicians came last
between rows of girls who played tambourines.
26 Come, let us gather to bless the True God
and to praise the Eternal, He who is the fountain of Israel, the source of our life!
27 Look! There are the rulers of Benjamin, the youngest in the lead.
A great crowd follows
The princes of Judah,
the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali. 28 [Your God is the One who has given you strength];
show Your power, O True God, as You have done for us.
29 Because of Your magnificent temple in Jerusalem,
many kings will line up to bring You gifts.
30 Reprimand the beasts in the tall grass,
the herds of bulls that are with the people's calves,
Trampling over the pieces of silver.
He has driven out the people who love to be at war.
31 Ambassadors will come from Egypt;
the people of Ethiopia will reach out their hands to the one True God. 32 Let all the kingdoms of the earth sing to the True God.
Sing songs of praise to the Lord. 33 To Him who rides high up beyond the heavens, which have been since ancient times,
watch and listen. His voice speaks, and it is powerful and strong.
34 Attribute power to the one True God;
His royal splendor is evident over Israel,
and His power courses through the clouds.
35 O True God, You are awesome from the holy place where You dwell.
The True God of Israel Himself
grants strength and power to His people. The Voice (VOICE) The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. Proverbs 24:3-4 3 Wisdom is required to build a house;
understanding is necessary to make it secure.
4 Knowledge is needed to furnish all the rooms
and fill them with beautiful treasures. The Voice (VOICE) The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.  | | | | | | | Bible Gateway Recommendations | | | | | |
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