the First Week of Advent
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Bible Reading Plan
Daily Bible Reading
September 27 - Old & New Testament
csb
Isaiah 41,42
The Lord versus the Nations' Gods
1 "Be silent before Me, islands!(a)
And let peoples renew their strength.
Let them approach, then let them testify;
let us come together for the trial.
2 Who has stirred him up from the east?(b)
He calls righteousness to his feet.[a](c)
The
Lord
hands nations over to him,(d)
and he subdues kings.
He makes them like dust with his sword,
like wind-driven stubble with his bow.
3 He pursues them, going on safely,
hardly touching the path with his feet.
4 Who has performed and done this,
calling the generations from the beginning?
I, Yahweh, am the first,
and with the last(e)—I am He."(f)
5 The islands see and are afraid,
the whole earth trembles.(g)
They approach and arrive.
6 Each one helps the other,
and says to another, "Take courage!"
7 The craftsman encourages the metalworker;(h)
the one who flattens with the hammer
supports the one who strikes the anvil,
saying of the soldering, "It is good."
He fastens it with nails so that it will not fall over.(i)
8 But you, Israel, My servant,(j)
Jacob, whom I have chosen,(k)
descendant of Abraham, My friend(l)—
9 I brought[b] you from the ends of the earth
and called you from its farthest corners.
I said to you: You are My servant;
I have chosen you and not rejected you.(m)
10 Do not fear, for I am with you;(n)
do not be afraid, for I am your God.(o)
I will strengthen you; I will help you;
I will hold on to you with My righteous right hand.(p)
11 Be sure that all who are enraged against you
will be ashamed and disgraced;(q)
those who contend with you
will become as nothing and will perish.
12 You will look for those who contend with you,
but you will not find them.
Those who war against you
will become absolutely nothing.
13 For I, Yahweh your God,(r)
hold your right hand
and say to you: Do not fear,
I will help you.
14 Do not fear, you worm Jacob,(s)
you men[c] of Israel:
I will help you—
this is the
Lord
's declaration.
Your Redeemer(t) is the Holy One of Israel.(u)
15 See, I will make you into a sharp threshing board,
new, with many teeth.
You will thresh mountains and pulverize them
and make hills into chaff.(v)
16 You will winnow them(w)
and a wind will carry them away,
a gale will scatter them.
But you will rejoice in the
Lord
;
you will boast in the Holy One of Israel.
17 The poor and the needy seek water, but there is none;
their tongues are parched with thirst.
I, Yahweh, will answer them;(x)
I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
18 I will open rivers on the barren heights,(y)
and springs in the middle of the plains.
I will turn the desert into a pool of water
and dry land into springs of water.(z)
19 I will plant cedars in the desert,
acacias, myrtles, and olive trees.(aa)
I will put juniper trees in the desert,
elms and cypress trees together,
20 so that all may see and know,
consider and understand,
that the hand of the
Lord
has done this,(ab)
the Holy One of Israel has created(ac) it.
21 "Submit your case," says the
Lord
.
"Present your arguments," says Jacob's King.
22 "Let them come and tell us
what will happen.(ad)
Tell us the past events,
so that we may reflect on them
and know the outcome,
or tell us the future.
23 Tell us the coming events,(ae)
then we will know that you are gods.
Indeed, do something good or bad,
then we will be in awe[d] and perceive.
24 Look, you are nothing(af)
and your work is worthless.
Anyone who chooses you is detestable.
25 "I have raised up one from the north,(ag) and he has come,
one from the east(ah) who invokes My[e] name.(ai)
He will march over rulers as if they were mud,
like a potter who treads the clay.
26 Who told about this from the beginning,
so that we might know,
and from times past,
so that we might say: He is right?
No one announced it,
no one told it,
no one heard your words.
27 I was the first to say to Zion:[f]
Look! Here they are!
And I gave a herald of good news to Jerusalem.(aj)
28 When I look, there is no one;
there is no counselor among them;
when I ask them, they have nothing to say.(ak)
29 Look, all of them are a delusion;[g]
their works are nonexistent;
their images are wind and emptiness.
The Servant's Mission
1 "This(a) is My Servant;(b) I strengthen Him,
this is My Chosen One;(c) I delight in Him.(d)
I have put My Spirit on Him;(e)
He will bring justice[a] to the nations.(f)
2 He will not cry out or shout
or make His voice heard in the streets.
3 He will not break a bruised reed,
and He will not put out a smoldering wick;
He will faithfully bring justice.
4 He will not grow weak or be discouraged
until He has established justice on earth.
The islands will wait for His instruction."(g)
5 This is what God, Yahweh, says—
who created the heavens and stretched them out,(h)
who spread out the earth and what comes from it,(i)
who gives breath to the people on it
and life[b] to those who walk on it(j)—
6 "I, Yahweh, have called You
for a righteous purpose,[c](k)
and I will hold You by Your hand.(l)
I will keep You and appoint You
to be a covenant for the people(m)
and a light to the nations,(n)
7 in order to open blind eyes,(o)
to bring out prisoners from the dungeon,(p)
and those sitting in darkness from the prison house.
8 I am Yahweh, that is My name;
I will not give My glory to another(q)
or My praise to idols.
9 The past events have indeed happened.
Now I declare new events;(r)
I announce them to you before they occur."
A Song of Praise
10 Sing a new song to the
Lord
;(s)
sing His praise from the ends of the earth,
you who go down to the sea with all that fills it,(t)
you islands with your[d] inhabitants.
11 Let the desert and its cities shout,
the settlements where Kedar dwells cry aloud.(u)
Let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy;(v)
let them cry out from the mountaintops.
12 Let them give glory to the
Lord
and declare His praise in the islands.
13 The
Lord
advances like a warrior;
He stirs up His zeal like a soldier.(w)
He shouts, He roars aloud,
He prevails over His enemies.
14 "I have kept silent from ages past;
I have been quiet and restrained Myself.(x)
But now, I will groan like a woman in labor,(y)
gasping breathlessly.
15 I will lay waste mountains and hills
and dry up all their vegetation.
I will turn rivers into islands
and dry up marshes.(z)
16 I will lead the blind by a way they did not know;(aa)
I will guide them on paths they have not known.
I will turn darkness to light in front of them(ab)
and rough places into level ground.(ac)
This is what I will do for them,
and I will not forsake them.(ad)
17 They will be turned back and utterly ashamed—
those who trust in idols
and say to metal-plated images:
You are our gods!(ae)
Israel's Blindness and Deafness
18 "Listen, you deaf!
Look, you blind, so that you may see.(af)
19 Who is blind but My servant,(ag)
or deaf like My messenger I am sending?
Who is blind like My dedicated one,[e]
or blind like the servant of the
Lord
?
20 Though seeing many things,[f] you do not obey.
Though his ears are open, he does not listen."(ah)
21 The
Lord
was pleased, because of His righteousness,
to magnify His instruction and make it glorious.
22 But this is a people plundered and looted,
all of them trapped in holes
or imprisoned in dungeons.
They have become plunder(ai)
with no one to rescue them
and loot, with no one saying, "Give it back!"
23 Who among you will pay attention to this?
Let him listen and obey in the future.
24 Who gave Jacob to the robber,[g]
and Israel to the plunderers?
Was it not the
Lord
?
Have we not sinned against Him?
They were not willing to walk in His ways,
and they would not listen to His instruction.
25 So He poured out on Jacob His furious anger
and the power of war.
It surrounded him with fire, but he did not know it;
it burned him, but he paid no attention.[h](aj)
Romans 7
Chapter 7
An Illustration from Marriage
1 Since I am speaking to those who understand law, brothers,(a) are you unaware that the law has authority over someone as long as he lives? 2 For example, a married woman is legally bound to her husband while he lives.(b) But if her husband dies, she is released from the law regarding the husband. 3 So then, if she gives herself to another man while her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law. Then, if she gives herself to another man, she is not an adulteress.
4 Therefore, my brothers, you also were put to death(c) in relation to the law(d) through the crucified body of the Messiah,(e) so that you may belong to another—to Him who was raised from the dead—that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For when we were in the flesh,[a](f) the sinful passions operated through the law in every part of us[b](g) and bore fruit for death. 6 But now we have been released from the law, since we have died to what held us, so that we may serve in the new way[c] of the Spirit(h) and not in the old letter of the law.
Sin's Use of the Law
7 What should we say then?(i) Is the law sin? Absolutely not!(j) On the contrary, I would not have known sin if it were not for the law.(k) For example, I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, Do not covet. (l)[d] 8 And sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment,(m) produced in me coveting of every kind. For apart from the law sin is dead.(n) 9 Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life 10 and I died. The commandment that was meant for life(o) resulted in death for me. 11 For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me,(p) and through it killed me. 12 So then, the law is holy,(q) and the commandment is holy and just and good.
The Problem of Sin in Us
13 Therefore, did what is good cause my death?[e] Absolutely not!(r) On the contrary, sin, in order to be recognized as sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment, sin might become sinful beyond measure. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual,(s) but I am made out of flesh,[f] sold(t) into sin's power.(u) 15 For I do not understand what I am doing,(v) because I do not practice what I want to do,(w) but I do what I hate. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 So now I am no longer the one doing it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh.(x) For the desire to do what is good is with me, but there is no ability to do it. 19 For I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but it is the sin that lives in me. 21 So I discover this principle:[g](y) When I want to do what is good, evil is with me. 22 For in my inner self[h] I joyfully agree with God's law.(z) 23 But I see a different law in the parts of my body,[i](aa) waging war against the law of my mind and taking me prisoner to the law of sin in the parts of my body.[j] 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this dying body?(ab) 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord So then, with my mind I myself am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh, to the law of sin.
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