Saturday, January 6, 2029

^1:9In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰Immediately coming up from the water, he saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. ¹¹A voice came out of the sky, “You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

^2:11For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, ¹²instructing us to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we would live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age; ¹³looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, ¹⁴who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good works. ^3:4But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love toward mankind appeared, ⁵not by works of righteousness which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy, he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, ⁶whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior;

⁷that being justified by his grace, we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

^3:13Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. ¹⁴But John would have hindered him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and you come to me?” ¹⁵But Jesus, answering, said to him, “Allow it now, for this is the fitting way for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed him. ¹⁶Jesus, when he was baptized, went up directly from the water: and behold, the heavens were opened to him. He saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming on him. ¹⁷Behold, a voice out of the heavens said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

^35:1Be glad, thou thirsty desert: let the wilderness exult, and flower as the lily. ²And the desert places of Jordan shall blossom and rejoice; the glory of Libanus has been given to it, and the honour of Carmel; and my people shall see the glory of the Lord, and the majesty of God. ³Be strong, ye relaxed hands and palsied knees. ⁴Comfort one another, ye faint-hearted; be strong, fear not; behold, our God renders judgment, and he will render it; he will come and save us. ⁵Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall hear.

⁶Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the stammerers shall speak plainly; for water has burst forth in the desert, and a channel of water in a thirsty land. ⁷And the dry land shall become pools, and a fountain of water shall be poured into the thirsty land; there shall there be a joy of birds, ready habitations and marshes. ⁸There shall be there a pure way, and it shall be called a holy way; and there shall not pass by there any unclean person, neither shall there be there an unclean way; but the dispersed shall walk on it, and they shall not go astray.

⁹And there shall be no lion there, neither shall any evil beast go up upon it, nor at all be found there; but the redeemed and gathered on the Lord's behalf, shall walk in it, ¹⁰and shall return, and come to Sion with joy, and everlasting joy shall be over their head; for on their head shall be praise and exultation, and joy shall take possession of them: sorrow and pain, and groaning have fled away.

^55:1Ye that thirst, go to the water, and all that have no money, go and buy; and eat and drink wine and fat without money or price. ²Wherefore do ye value at the price of money, and give your labour for that which will not satisfy? hearken to me, and ye shall eat that which is good, and your soul shall feast itself on good things. ³Give heed with your ears, and follow my ways: hearken to me, and your soul shall live in prosperity; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, the sure mercies of David.

⁴Behold, I have made him a testimony among the Gentiles, a prince and commander to the Gentiles. ⁵Nations which know thee not, shall call upon thee, and peoples which are not acquainted with thee, shall flee to thee for refuge, for the sake of the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel; for he has glorified thee. ⁶Seek ye the Lord, and when ye find him, call upon him; and when he shall draw nigh to you, ⁷let the ungodly leave his ways, and the transgressor his counsels: and let him return to the Lord, and he shall find mercy; for he shall abundantly pardon your sins.

⁸For my counsels are not as your counsels, nor are my ways as your ways, saith the Lord. ⁹But as the heaven is distant from the earth, so is my way distant from your ways, and your thoughts from my mind. ¹⁰For as rain shall come down, or snow, from heaven, and shall not return until it have saturated the earth, and it bring forth, and bud, and give seed to the sower, and bread for food: ¹¹so shall my word be, whatever shall proceed out of my mouth, it shall by no means turn back, until all the things which I willed shall have been accomplished; and I will make thy ways prosperous, and will effect my commands.

¹²For ye shall go forth with joy, and shall be taught with gladness: for the mountains and the hills shall exult to welcome you with joy, and all the trees of the field shall applaud with their branches. ¹³And instead of the bramble shall come up the cypress, and instead of the nettle shall come up the myrtle: and the Lord shall be for a name, and for an everlasting sign, and shall not fail.

^12:3Draw ye therefore water with joy out of the wells of salvation. ⁴And in that day thou shalt say, Sing to the Lord, call aloud upon his name, proclaim his glorious deeds among the Gentiles; make mention that his name is exalted. ⁵Sing praise to the name of the Lord; for he has done great things: declare this in all the earth. ⁶Exalt and rejoice, ye that dwell in Sion: for the Holy One of Israel is exalted in the midst of her.

^10:1Now I would not have you ignorant, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; ²and were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; ³and all ate the same spiritual food; ⁴and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.

^1:9In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰Immediately coming up from the water, he saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. ¹¹A voice came out of the sky, “You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

^3:8The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Good News beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you all the nations will be blessed.” ⁹So then, those who are of faith are blessed with the faithful Abraham. ¹⁰For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who doesn’t continue in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them.” ¹¹Now that no man is justified by the law before God is evident, for, “The righteous will live by faith.” ¹²The law is not of faith, but, “The man who does them will live by them.”

^13:18He said, “What is God’s Kingdom like? To what shall I compare it? ¹⁹It is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and put in his own garden. It grew and became a large tree, and the birds of the sky live in its branches.” ²⁰Again he said, “To what shall I compare God’s Kingdom? ²¹It is like yeast, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened.” ²²He went on his way through cities and villages, teaching, and traveling on to Jerusalem.

²³One said to him, “Lord, are they few who are saved?” He said to them, ²⁴“Strive to enter in by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter in and will not be able. ²⁵When once the master of the house has risen up and has shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ then he will answer and tell you, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ ²⁶Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’

²⁷He will say, ‘I tell you, I don’t know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity.’ ²⁸There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in God’s Kingdom, and yourselves being thrown outside. ²⁹They will come from the east, west, north, and south, and will sit down in God’s Kingdom.

^1:1In the beginning God made the heaven and the earth. ²But the earth was unsightly and unfurnished, and darkness was over the deep, and the Spirit of God moved over the water. ³And God said, Let there be light, and there was light. ⁴And God saw the light that it was good, and God divided between the light and the darkness. ⁵And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night, and there was evening and there was morning, the first day. ⁶And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the water, and let it be a division between water and water, and it was so.

⁷And God made the firmament, and God divided between the water which was under the firmament and the water which was above the firmament. ⁸And God called the firmament Heaven, and God saw that it was good, and there was evening and there was morning, the second day. ⁹And God said, Let the water which is under the heaven be collected into one place, and let the dry land appear, and it was so. And the water which was under the heaven was collected into its places, and the dry land appeared.

¹⁰And God called the dry land Earth, and the gatherings of the waters he called Seas, and God saw that it was good. ¹¹And God said, Let the earth bring forth the herb of grass bearing seed according to its kind and according to its likeness, and the fruit-tree bearing fruit whose seed is in it, according to its kind on the earth, and it was so. ¹²And the earth brought forth the herb of grass bearing seed according to its kind and according to its likeness, and the fruit tree bearing fruit whose seed is in it, according to its kind on the earth, and God saw that it was good. ¹³And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

^24:3And he took up his parable and said, Balaam son of Beor says, the man who sees truly says, ⁵How goodly are thy habitations, Jacob, and thy tents, Israel! ⁶as shady groves, and as gardens by a river, and as tents which God pitched, and as cedars by the waters. ⁷There shall come a man out of his seed, and he shall rule over many nations; and the kingdom of Gog shall be exalted, and his kingdom shall be increased. ⁸God led him out of Egypt; he has as it were the glory of a unicorn: he shall consume the nations of his enemies, and he shall drain their marrow, and with his darts he shall shoot through the enemy.

⁹He lay down, he rested as a lion, and as a young lion; who shall stir him up? they that bless thee are blessed, and they that curse thee are cursed. ¹⁷I will point to him, but not now; I bless him, but he draws not near: a star shall rise out of Jacob, a man shall spring out of Israel; and shall crush the princes of Moab, and shall spoil all the sons of Seth. ¹⁸And Edom shall be an inheritance, and Esau his enemy shall be an inheritance of Israel, and Israel wrought valiantly.

^4:6In that day, saith the Lord, I will gather her that is bruised, and will receive her that is cast out, and those whom I rejected. ⁷And I will make her that was bruised a remnant, and her that was rejected a mighty nation: and the Lord shall reign over them in mount Sion from henceforth, even for ever. ^5:2Therefore shall he appoint them to wait till the time of her that travails: she shall bring forth, and then the remnant of their brethren shall return to the children of Israel.

³And the Lord shall stand, and see, and feed his flock with power, and they shall dwell in the glory of the name of the Lord their God: for now shall they be magnified to the ends of the earth. ⁴And she shall have peace when Assur shall come into your land, and when he shall come up upon your country; and there shall be raised up against him seven shepherds, and eight attacks of men.

^11:1And there shall come forth a rod out of the root of Jesse, and a blossom shall come up from his root: ²and the Spirit of God shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and godliness shall fill him; ³the spirit of the fear of God. He shall not judge according to appearance, nor reprove according to report: ⁴but he shall judge the cause of the lowly, and shall reprove the lowly of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the word of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he destroy the ungodly one.

⁵And he shall have his loins girt with righteousness, and his sides clothed with truth. ⁶And the wolf shall feed with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the young calf and bull and lion shall feed together; and a little child shall lead them. ⁷And the ox and bear shall feed together; and their young shall be together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. ⁸And an infant shall put his hand on the holes of asps, and on the nest of young asps.

⁹And they shall not hurt, nor shall they at all be able to destroy any one on my holy mountain: for the whole world is filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as much water covers the seas. ¹⁰And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall arise to rule over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust, and his rest shall be glorious.

^3:35This is our God, and there shall none other be accounted of in comparison of him. ³⁶He hath found out all the way of knowledge, and hath given it unto Jacob his servant, and to Israel his beloved. ³⁷Afterward did he shew himself upon earth, and conversed with men. ^4:1This is the book of the commandments of God, and the law that endureth for ever: all they that keep it shall come to life; but such as leave it shall die. ²Turn thee, O Jacob, and take hold of it: walk in the presence of the light thereof, that thou mayest be illuminated.

³Give not thine honour to another, nor the things that are profitable unto thee to a strange nation. ⁴O Israel, happy are we: for things that are pleasing to God are made known unto us.

^9:6His government shall be great, and of his peace there is no end: it shall be upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to establish it, and to support it with judgment and with righteousness, from henceforth and for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts shall perform this. ⁷The Lord has sent death upon Jacob, and it has come upon Israel.

^7:10And the Lord again spoke to Achaz, saying, ¹¹Ask for thyself a sign of the Lord thy God, in the depth or in the height. ¹²And Achaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord. ¹³And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; is it a little thing for you to contend with men? and how do ye contend against the Lord? ¹⁴Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; behold, a virgin shall conceive in the womb, and shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Emmanuel.

¹⁵Butter and honey shall he eat, before he knows either to prefer evil, or choose the good. ¹⁶For before the child shall know good or evil, he refuses evil, to choose the good; and the land shall be forsaken which thou art afraid of because of the two kings. ^8:1And the Lord said to me, Take to thyself a volume of a great new book, and write in it with a man's pen concerning the making a rapid plunder of spoils; for it is near at hand. ²And make me witnesses of faithful men, Urias, and Zacharias the son of Barachias.

³And I went in to the prophetess; and she conceived, and bore a son. And the Lord said to me, Call his name, Spoil quickly, plunder speedily. ⁴For before the child shall know how to call his father or his mother, one shall take the power of Damascus and the spoils of Samaria before the king of the Assyrians. ⁹Know, ye Gentiles, and be conquered; hearken ye, even to the extremity of the earth: be conquered, after ye have strengthened yourselves; for even if ye should again strengthen yourselves, ye shall again be conquered. ¹⁰And whatsoever counsel ye shall take, the Lord shall bring it to nought; and whatsoever word ye shall speak, it shall not stand among you: for God is with us.

^3:15Brothers, speaking of human terms, though it is only a man’s covenant, yet when it has been confirmed, no one makes it void or adds to it. ¹⁶Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his offspring. He doesn’t say, “To descendants”, as of many, but as of one, “To your offspring”, which is Christ. ¹⁷Now I say this: A covenant confirmed beforehand by God in Christ, the law, which came four hundred thirty years after, does not annul, so as to make the promise of no effect. ¹⁸For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no more of promise; but God has granted it to Abraham by promise.

¹⁹Then why is there the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise has been made. It was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator. ²⁰Now a mediator is not between one, but God is one. ²¹Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could make alive, most certainly righteousness would have been of the law. ²²But the Scripture imprisoned all things under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

^2:1Now in those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled. ²This was the first enrollment made when Quirinius was governor of Syria. ³All went to enroll themselves, everyone to his own city. ⁴Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to David’s city, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, ⁵to enroll himself with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him as wife, being pregnant. ⁶While they were there, the day had come for her to give birth.

⁷She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in bands of cloth and laid him in a feeding trough, because there was no room for them in the inn. ⁸There were shepherds in the same country staying in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock. ⁹Behold, an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰The angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be to all the people.

¹¹For there is born to you today, in David’s city, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹²This is the sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth, lying in a feeding trough.” ¹³Suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army praising God and saying, ¹⁴“Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good will toward men.” ¹⁵When the angels went away from them into the sky, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem, now, and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”

¹⁶They came with haste and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby was lying in the feeding trough. ¹⁷When they saw it, they publicized widely the saying which was spoken to them about this child. ¹⁸All who heard it wondered at the things which were spoken to them by the shepherds. ¹⁹But Mary kept all these sayings, pondering them in her heart. ²⁰The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, just as it was told them.