the Week of Proper 18 / Ordinary 23
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Bible Reading Plan
Daily Bible Reading
September 15 - Old & New Testament
csb
Isaiah 11,12,13
Reign of the Davidic King
1 Then a shoot will grow from the stump of Jesse,(a)
and a branch(b) from his roots will bear fruit.
2 The Spirit of the
Lord
will rest on Him(c)—
a Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
a Spirit of counsel and strength,
a Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the
Lord
.
3 His delight will be in the fear of the
Lord
.
He will not judge
by what He sees with His eyes,(d)
He will not execute justice
by what He hears with His ears,
4 but He will judge the poor righteously(e)
and execute justice for the oppressed of the land.
He will strike the land
with discipline[a] from His mouth,(f)
and He will kill the wicked(g)
with a command[b] from His lips.(h)
5 Righteousness will be a belt around His loins;(i)
faithfulness will be a belt around His waist.(j)
6 The wolf will live with the lamb,(k)
and the leopard will lie down with the goat.
The calf, the young lion, and the fatling will be together,
and a child will lead them.
7 The cow and the bear will graze,
their young ones will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
8 An infant will play beside the cobra's pit,
and a toddler will put his hand into a snake's den.
9 None will harm or destroy another
on My entire holy mountain,
for the land will be as full
of the knowledge of the
Lord
as the sea is filled with water.(l)
Israel Regathered
10 On that day the root of Jesse(m)
will stand as a banner for the peoples.(n)
The nations will seek Him,(o)
and His resting place will be glorious.(p)
11 On that day(q) the Lord will extend His hand a second time to recover—from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and the coasts and islands of the west—the remnant of His people who survive.(r)
12 He will lift up a banner for the nations
and gather the dispersed of Israel;(s)
He will collect the scattered of Judah
from the four corners of the earth.(t)
13 Ephraim's envy will cease;(u)
Judah's harassment will end.
Ephraim will no longer be envious of Judah,
and Judah will not harass Ephraim.
14 But they will swoop down
on the Philistine flank to the west.
Together they will plunder the people of the east.(v)
They will extend their power over Edom and Moab,
and the Ammonites will be their subjects.(w)
15 The
Lord
will divide[c][d] the Gulf of Suez.[e]
He will wave His hand over the Euphrates
with His mighty wind(x)
and will split it into seven streams,
letting people walk through on foot.
16 There will be a highway for the remnant of His people
who will survive from Assyria,(y)
as there was for Israel
when they came up from the land of Egypt.(z)
A Song of Praise
1 On that day you will say:
"I will praise You,
Lord
,
although You were angry with me.
Your anger has turned away,
and You have had compassion(a) on me.
2 Indeed, God is my salvation;
I will trust Him and not be afraid,
for Yah, the
Lord
,
is my strength and my song.
He has become my salvation."(b)
3 You will joyfully draw water(c)
from the springs of salvation,
4 and on that day you will say:
"Give thanks to Yahweh; proclaim His name!
Celebrate His works among the peoples.(d)
Declare that His name is exalted.
5 Sing to Yahweh, for He has done glorious things.(e)
Let this be known throughout the earth.
6 Cry out and sing, citizen of Zion,
for the Holy One of Israel(f) is among you
in His greatness."
An Oracle against Babylon
1 An oracle(a) against Babylon(b) that Isaiah son of Amoz saw:
2 Lift up a banner on a barren mountain.(c)
Call out to them.
Wave your hand, and they will go
through the gates of the nobles.
3 I have commanded My chosen ones;
I have also called My warriors,
who exult in My triumph,
to execute My wrath.(d)
4 Listen, a tumult on the mountains,
like that of a mighty people!
Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms,
like nations being gathered together!
The
Lord
of Hosts is mobilizing an army for war.
5 They are coming from a far land,
from the distant horizon—
the
Lord
and the weapons of His wrath—
to destroy the whole country.[a]
6 Wail! For the day of the
Lord
is near.(e)
It will come like destruction from the Almighty.(f)
7 Therefore everyone's hands will become weak,
and every man's heart will melt.
8 They will be horrified;
pain and agony will seize them;
they will be in anguish like a woman in labor.(g)
They will look at each other,
their faces flushed with fear.
9 Look, the day(h) of the
Lord
is coming—
cruel, with rage and burning anger—
to make the earth a desolation
and to destroy the sinners on it.(i)
10 Indeed, the stars of the sky and its constellations[b]
will not give their light.
The sun will be dark when it rises,
and the moon will not shine.(j)
11 I will bring disaster on the world,
and their own iniquity,(k) on the wicked.
I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant(l)
and humiliate the insolence of tyrants.
12 I will make man scarcer than gold,
and mankind more rare than the gold of Ophir.(m)
13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,
and the earth will shake from its foundations(n)
at the wrath of the
Lord
of Hosts,
on the day of His burning anger.
14 Like wandering gazelles
and like sheep without a shepherd,(o)
each one will turn to his own people,
each one will flee to his own land.
15 Whoever is found will be stabbed,
and whoever is caught will die by the sword.
16 Their children will be smashed to death before their eyes;(p)
their houses will be looted,
and their wives raped.
17 Look! I am stirring up the Medes against them,(q)
who cannot be bought off with[c] silver
and who have no desire for gold.
18 Their bows will cut young men to pieces.
They will have no compassion on little ones;
they will not look with pity on children.
19 And Babylon, the jewel of the kingdoms,
the glory of the pride of the Chaldeans,
will be like Sodom and Gomorrah
when God overthrew them.(r)
20 It will never be inhabited
or lived in from generation to generation;(s)
a nomad will not pitch his tent there,
and shepherds will not let their flocks rest there.
21 But desert creatures will lie down there,
and owls will fill the houses.
Ostriches will dwell there,
and wild goats will leap about.(t)
22 Hyenas will howl in the fortresses,
and jackals, in the luxurious palaces.
Babylon's time is almost up;
her days are almost over.
Ephesians 2
Chapter 2
From Death to Life
1 And you were dead(a) in your trespasses and sins 2 in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world,(b) according to the ruler who exercises authority over the lower heavens,[a](c) the spirit(d) now working in the disobedient.[b] 3 We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly(e) desires, carrying out the inclinations(f) of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath(g) as the others were also. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy,(h) because of His great love(i) that He had for us,[c] 5 made us alive(j) with the Messiah even though we were dead(k) in trespasses. You are saved by grace! 6 Together with Christ Jesus He also raised us up and seated us in the heavens,(l) 7 so that in the coming ages(m) He might display the immeasurable riches(n) of His grace through His kindness(o) to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For you are saved by grace(p) through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is God's gift— 9 not from works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are His creation, created(q) in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time(r) so that we should walk in them.
Unity in Christ
11 So then, remember that at one time you were Gentiles in the flesh—called "the uncircumcised" by those called "the circumcised,"(s) which is done in the flesh by human hands.(t) 12 At that time you were without the Messiah, excluded from the citizenship of Israel, and foreigners to the covenants of the promise,(u) without hope(v) and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus, you who were far away have been brought near by the blood(w) of the Messiah. 14 For He is our peace, who made both groups one(x) and tore down the dividing wall of hostility. In His flesh, 15 He made of no effect the law consisting of commands and expressed in regulations, so that He might create(y) in Himself one(z) new man from the two, resulting in peace. 16 He did this so that He might reconcile both to God in one body(aa) through the cross and put the hostility to death by it.[d] 17 When the Messiah came, He proclaimed the good news(ab) of peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.(ac) 18 For through Him we both have access(ad) by one Spirit to the Father.(ae) 19 So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God's household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,(af) with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone. 21 The whole building, being put together(ag) by Him, grows into a holy sanctuary in the Lord.(ah) 22 You also are being built together(ai) for God's dwelling(aj) in the Spirit.
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