Friday, February 26, 2021

 Isaiah 65:1–16

¹"I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, 'Here am I, here am I.' ²All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations-- ³a people who continually provoke me to my very face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on altars of brick; ⁴who sit among the graves and spend their nights keeping secret vigil; who eat the flesh of pigs, and whose pots hold broth of unclean meat; ⁵who say, 'Keep away; don't come near me, for I am too sacred for you!' Such people are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that keeps burning all day.

⁶"See, it stands written before me: I will not keep silent but will pay back in full; I will pay it back into their laps-- ⁷both your sins and the sins of your fathers," says the LORD. "Because they burned sacrifices on the mountains and defied me on the hills, I will measure into their laps the full payment for their former deeds."

⁸This is what the LORD says:

"As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes and men say, 'Don't destroy it, there is yet some good in it,' so will I do in behalf of my servants; I will not destroy them all. ⁹I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, and from Judah those who will possess my mountains; my chosen people will inherit them, and there will my servants live. ¹⁰Sharon will become a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a resting place for herds, for my people who seek me.

¹¹"But as for you who forsake the LORD and forget my holy mountain, who spread a table for Fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny, ¹²I will destine you for the sword, and you will all bend down for the slaughter; for I called but you did not answer, I spoke but you did not listen. You did evil in my sight and chose what displeases me."

¹³Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says:

"My servants will eat, but you will go hungry; my servants will drink, but you will go thirsty; my servants will rejoice, but you will be put to shame. ¹⁴My servants will sing out of the joy of their hearts, but you will cry out from anguish of heart and wail in brokenness of spirit. ¹⁵You will leave your name to my chosen ones as a curse; the Sovereign LORD will put you to death, but to his servants he will give another name. ¹⁶Whoever invokes a blessing in the land will do so by the God of truth; he who takes an oath in the land will swear by the God of truth. For the past troubles will be forgotten and hidden from my eyes.

 

 

Psalm 53

¹For the director of music. According to [mahalath.] A [maskil] of David. The fool says in his heart, "There is no God." They are corrupt, and their ways are vile; there is no one who does good. ²God looks down from heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God. ³Everyone has turned away, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one. ⁴Will the evildoers never learn-- those who devour my people as men eat bread and who do not call on God? ⁵There they were, overwhelmed with dread, where there was nothing to dread. God scattered the bones of those who attacked you; you put them to shame, for God despised them. ⁶Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion! When God restores the fortunes of his people, let Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad!

 

 

Galatians 4:21–31

²¹Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? ²²For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. ²³His son by the slave woman was born in the ordinary way; but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a promise.

²⁴These things may be taken figuratively, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. ²⁵Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. ²⁶But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. ²⁷For it is written:

"Be glad, O barren woman, who bears no children; break forth and cry aloud, you who have no labor pains; because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband."

²⁸Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise. ²⁹At that time the son born in the ordinary way persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit. It is the same now. ³⁰But what does the Scripture say? "Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman's son." ³¹Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.