Today’s Readings: Wed 23 Oct 2024

Isaiah 1–3

1:1The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

2Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth;for the LORD has spoken:“Children have I reared and brought up,but they have rebelled against me.3The ox knows its owner,and the donkey its master’s crib,but Israel does not know,my people do not understand.” 4Ah, sinful nation,a people laden with iniquity,offspring of evildoers,children who deal corruptly!They have forsaken the LORD,they have despised the Holy One of Israel,they are utterly estranged. 5Why will you still be struck down?Why will you continue to rebel?The whole head is sick,and the whole heart faint.6From the sole of the foot even to the head,there is no soundness in it,but bruises and soresand raw wounds;they are not pressed out or bound upor softened with oil. 7Your country lies desolate;your cities are burned with fire;in your very presenceforeigners devour your land;it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.8And the daughter of Zion is leftlike a booth in a vineyard,like a lodge in a cucumber field,like a besieged city. 9If the LORD of hostshad not left us a few survivors,we should have been like Sodom,and become like Gomorrah. 10Hear the word of the LORD,you rulers of Sodom!Give ear to the teaching of our God,you people of Gomorrah!11“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?says the LORD;I have had enough of burnt offerings of ramsand the fat of well-fed beasts;I do not delight in the blood of bulls,or of lambs, or of goats. 12“When you come to appear before me,who has required of youthis trampling of my courts?13Bring no more vain offerings;incense is an abomination to me.New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.14Your new moons and your appointed feastsmy soul hates;they have become a burden to me;I am weary of bearing them.15When you spread out your hands,I will hide my eyes from you;even though you make many prayers,I will not listen;your hands are full of blood.16Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;cease to do evil,17learn to do good;seek justice,correct oppression;bring justice to the fatherless,plead the widow’s cause. 18“Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD:though your sins are like scarlet,they shall be as white as snow;though they are red like crimson,they shall become like wool.19If you are willing and obedient,you shall eat the good of the land;20but if you refuse and rebel,you shall be eaten by the sword;for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

21How the faithful cityhas become a whore,she who was full of justice!Righteousness lodged in her,but now murderers.22Your silver has become dross,your best wine mixed with water.23Your princes are rebelsand companions of thieves.Everyone loves a bribeand runs after gifts.They do not bring justice to the fatherless,and the widow’s cause does not come to them. 24Therefore the Lord declares,the LORD of hosts,the Mighty One of Israel:“Ah, I will get relief from my enemiesand avenge myself on my foes.25I will turn my hand against youand will smelt away your dross as with lyeand remove all your alloy.26And I will restore your judges as at the first,and your counselors as at the beginning.Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness,the faithful city.” 27Zion shall be redeemed by justice,and those in her who repent, by righteousness.28But rebels and sinners shall be broken together,and those who forsake the LORD shall be consumed.29For they shall be ashamed of the oaksthat you desired;and you shall blush for the gardensthat you have chosen.30For you shall be like an oakwhose leaf withers,and like a garden without water.31And the strong shall become tinder,and his work a spark,and both of them shall burn together,with none to quench them.

2:1The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

2It shall come to pass in the latter daysthat the mountain of the house of the LORDshall be established as the highest of the mountains,and shall be lifted up above the hills;and all the nations shall flow to it,3and many peoples shall come, and say:“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,to the house of the God of Jacob,that he may teach us his waysand that we may walk in his paths.”For out of Zion shall go forth the law,and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.4He shall judge between the nations,and shall decide disputes for many peoples;and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,and their spears into pruning hooks;nation shall not lift up sword against nation,neither shall they learn war anymore. 5O house of Jacob,come, let us walkin the light of the LORD.

6For you have rejected your people,the house of Jacob,because they are full of things from the eastand of fortune-tellers like the Philistines,and they strike hands with the children of foreigners.7Their land is filled with silver and gold,and there is no end to their treasures;their land is filled with horses,and there is no end to their chariots.8Their land is filled with idols;they bow down to the work of their hands,to what their own fingers have made.9So man is humbled,and each one is brought low—do not forgive them!10Enter into the rockand hide in the dustfrom before the terror of the LORD,and from the splendor of his majesty.11The haughty looks of man shall be brought low,and the lofty pride of men shall be humbled,and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day. 12For the LORD of hosts has a dayagainst all that is proud and lofty,against all that is lifted up—and it shall be brought low;13against all the cedars of Lebanon,lofty and lifted up;and against all the oaks of Bashan;14against all the lofty mountains,and against all the uplifted hills;15against every high tower,and against every fortified wall;16against all the ships of Tarshish,and against all the beautiful craft.17And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled,and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low,and the LORD alone will be exalted in that day.18And the idols shall utterly pass away.19And people shall enter the caves of the rocksand the holes of the ground,from before the terror of the LORD,and from the splendor of his majesty,when he rises to terrify the earth. 20In that day mankind will cast awaytheir idols of silver and their idols of gold,which they made for themselves to worship,to the moles and to the bats,21to enter the caverns of the rocksand the clefts of the cliffs,from before the terror of the LORD,and from the splendor of his majesty,when he rises to terrify the earth.22Stop regarding manin whose nostrils is breath,for of what account is he?

3:1For behold, the Lord GOD of hostsis taking away from Jerusalem and from Judahsupport and supply,all support of bread,and all support of water;2the mighty man and the soldier,the judge and the prophet,the diviner and the elder,3the captain of fiftyand the man of rank,the counselor and the skillful magicianand the expert in charms.4And I will make boys their princes,and infants shall rule over them.5And the people will oppress one another,every one his fellowand every one his neighbor;the youth will be insolent to the elder,and the despised to the honorable. 6For a man will take hold of his brotherin the house of his father, saying:“You have a cloak;you shall be our leader,and this heap of ruinsshall be under your rule”;7in that day he will speak out, saying:“I will not be a healer;in my house there is neither bread nor cloak;you shall not make meleader of the people.”8For Jerusalem has stumbled,and Judah has fallen,because their speech and their deeds are against the LORD,defying his glorious presence. 9For the look on their faces bears witness against them;they proclaim their sin like Sodom;they do not hide it.Woe to them!For they have brought evil on themselves.10Tell the righteous that it shall be well with them,for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.11Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him,for what his hands have dealt out shall be done to him.12My people—infants are their oppressors,and women rule over them.O my people, your guides mislead youand they have swallowed up the course of your paths. 13The LORD has taken his place to contend;he stands to judge peoples.14The LORD will enter into judgmentwith the elders and princes of his people:“It is you who have devoured the vineyard,the spoil of the poor is in your houses.15What do you mean by crushing my people,by grinding the face of the poor?”declares the Lord GOD of hosts. 16The LORD said:Because the daughters of Zion are haughtyand walk with outstretched necks,glancing wantonly with their eyes,mincing along as they go,tinkling with their feet,17therefore the Lord will strike with a scabthe heads of the daughters of Zion,and the LORD will lay bare their secret parts.

18In that day the Lord will take away the finery of the anklets, the headbands, and the crescents; 19the pendants, the bracelets, and the scarves; 20the headdresses, the armlets, the sashes, the perfume boxes, and the amulets; 21the signet rings and nose rings; 22the festal robes, the mantles, the cloaks, and the handbags; 23the mirrors, the linen garments, the turbans, and the veils.

24Instead of perfume there will be rottenness;and instead of a belt, a rope;and instead of well-set hair, baldness;and instead of a rich robe, a skirt of sackcloth;and branding instead of beauty.25Your men shall fall by the swordand your mighty men in battle.26And her gates shall lament and mourn;empty, she shall sit on the ground.

John 5:16–30

16And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”

18This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

19So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. 20For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. 21For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. 22For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, 23that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. 24Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

25“Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

30“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

Psalm 15

A Psalm of David.

15:1O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent?Who shall dwell on your holy hill? 2He who walks blamelessly and does what is rightand speaks truth in his heart;3who does not slander with his tongueand does no evil to his neighbor,nor takes up a reproach against his friend;4in whose eyes a vile person is despised,but who honors those who fear the LORD;who swears to his own hurt and does not change;5who does not put out his money at interestand does not take a bribe against the innocent.He who does these things shall never be moved.

Proverbs 27:10–12

10Do not forsake your friend and your father’s friend,and do not go to your brother’s house in the day of your calamity.Better is a neighbor who is nearthan a brother who is far away.11Be wise, my son, and make my heart glad,that I may answer him who reproaches me.12The prudent sees danger and hides himself,but the simple go on and suffer for it.