Isaiah 32; Isaiah 33; Colossians 1

Isaiah 32

1 A king will rule with fairness, and officials will rule with justice.

2 Then each ruler will be like a shelter from the wind and a hiding place from the rain. They will be like streams on parched ground and the shade of a large rock in a weary land.

3 Then the vision of those who can see won't be blurred, and the ears of those who can hear will pay attention.

4 Then those who are reckless will begin to understand, and those who stutter will speak quickly and clearly.

5 Godless fools will no longer be called nobles, nor will scoundrels be considered gentlemen.

6 Godless fools speak foolishness, and their minds plan evil in order to do ungodly things. They speak falsely about the LORD. They let people go hungry and withhold water from thirsty people.

7 The tricks of scoundrels are evil. They devise wicked plans in order to ruin poor people with lies, even when needy people plead for justice.

8 But honorable people act honorably and stand firm for what is honorable.

9 Get up, and listen to me, you pampered women. Hear what I say, you overconfident daughters.

10 In a little less than a year you overconfident women will tremble, because the grape harvest will fail and no fruit will be brought in [from the fields].

11 Shudder, you pampered women. Tremble, you overconfident women. Take off your clothes, walk around naked, and wear sackcloth around your waists.

12 Beat your breasts as you mourn for the fields, for the vines bearing grapes.

13 Mourn for my people's land where thorns and briars will grow. Mourn for all the happy homes in a joyful city.

14 Palaces will be deserted. Noisy cities will be abandoned. Fortresses and watchtowers will become permanent caves. They will be a delight for wild donkeys and pastures for flocks

15 until the Spirit is poured on us from on high. Then the wilderness will be turned into a fertile field, and the fertile field will be considered a forest.

16 Then justice will live in the wilderness, and righteousness will be at home in the fertile field.

17 Then an act of righteousness will bring about peace, calm, and safety forever.

18 My people will live in a peaceful place, in safe homes and quiet places of rest.

19 The forest will be flattened because of hail, and the city will be completely leveled.

20 Blessed are those who plant beside every stream and those who let oxen and donkeys roam freely.

Isaiah 33

1 How horrible it will be for you, you destroyer, although you haven't been destroyed. How horrible it will be for you, you traitor, although you haven't been betrayed. When you've finished destroying, you will be destroyed. When you've finished being a traitor, you will be betrayed.

2 O LORD, have pity on us. We wait with hope for you. Be our strength in the morning. Yes, be our savior in times of trouble.

3 People flee from the noise of [your] army. Nations scatter when you attack.

4 You nations, your loot is gathered as grasshoppers harvest a crop. Like swarming locusts, people rush for your loot.

5 The LORD is honored because he lives on high. He will fill Zion with justice and righteousness.

6 He will be the foundation of your future. The riches of salvation are wisdom and knowledge. The fear of the LORD is [your] treasure.

7 Heroes cry in the streets. Messengers of peace cry bitterly.

8 Highways are deserted. Travelers stop traveling. Agreements are broken. Witnesses are rejected. People are no longer respected.

9 The country grieves and wastes away. Lebanon is ashamed and is decaying. Sharon has become like a wilderness. Bashan and Carmel are shaken.

10 The LORD says, "Now I will arise. Now I will get up. Now I will be lifted up."

11 You will be pregnant with hay. You will give birth to straw. Your breath will be a fire which will burn you up.

12 People will be cremated. They will be set on fire like dry thornbushes.

13 Hear what I have done, you people who are far away! Acknowledge my might, you people who are near!

14 The sinners in Zion are terrified. Trembling seizes the ungodly. Can any of us live through a fire that destroys? Can any of us live through a fire that burns forever?

15 The person who does what is right and speaks the truth will live. He rejects getting rich by extortion and refuses to take bribes. He refuses to listen to those who are plotting murders. He doesn't look for evil things to do.

16 This person will live on high. His stronghold will be a fortress made of rock. He will have plenty of food and a dependable supply of water.

17 Your eyes will see how handsome the king is. You will see a land that stretches into the distance.

18 Your mind will be thinking of the terrors [in the past]. Where are the scribes? Where are the tax collectors? Where are those who counted the towers?

19 You will no longer see those savage people, those people with an unrecognizable language, with a foreign language that you can't understand.

20 Look at Zion, the city of our festivals. Your eyes will see Jerusalem as a peaceful place. It is a tent that can't be moved. Its tent pegs will never be pulled out, and none of its ropes will be broken.

21 The LORD will be our mighty defender in a place surrounded by wide rivers and streams. Ships with oars won't travel on them. Stately ships won't sail on them.

22 The LORD is our judge. The LORD is our lawgiver. The LORD is our king. The LORD is our savior.

23 Your ropes hang loose, your mast isn't secure, and your sail isn't spread out. A large amount of loot will be distributed. Lame people will carry off your loot.

24 No one who lives [in Zion] will say, "I'm sick." The sins of its inhabitants will be forgiven.

Colossians 1

1 From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God's will, and from our brother Timothy.

2 To God's holy and faithful people, our brothers and sisters who are united with Christ in the city of Colossae. Good will and peace from God our Father are yours!

3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, in our prayers for you.

4 We thank God because we have heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all of God's people.

5 You have these because of the hope which is kept safe for you in heaven. Some time ago you heard about this hope in the Good News which is the message of truth.

6 This Good News is present with you now. It is producing results and spreading all over the world as it did among you from the first day you heard it. At that time you came to know what God's kindness truly means.

7 You learned about this Good News from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant. He is taking your place here as a trustworthy deacon for Christ

8 and has told us about the love that the Spirit has given you.

9 For this reason we have not stopped praying for you since the day we heard about you. We ask [God] to fill you with the knowledge of his will through every kind of spiritual wisdom and insight.

10 We ask this so that you will live the kind of lives that prove you belong to the Lord. Then you will want to please him in every way as you grow in producing every kind of good work by this knowledge about God.

11 We ask him to strengthen you by his glorious might with all the power you need to patiently endure everything with joy.

12 You will also thank the Father, who has made you able to share the light, which is what God's people inherit.

13 God has rescued us from the power of darkness and has brought us into the kingdom of his Son, whom he loves.

14 His Son paid the price to free us, which means that our sins are forgiven.

15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

16 He created all things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible. Whether they are kings or lords, rulers or powers-- everything has been created through him and for him.

17 He existed before everything and holds everything together.

18 He is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, the first to come back to life so that he would have first place in everything.

19 God was pleased to have all of himself live in Christ.

20 God was also pleased to bring everything on earth and in heaven back to himself through Christ. He did this by making peace through Christ's blood sacrificed on the cross.

21 Once you were separated from God. The evil things you did showed your hostile attitude.

22 But now Christ has brought you back to God by dying in his physical body. He did this so that you could come into God's presence without sin, fault, or blame.

23 This is on the condition that you continue in faith without being moved from the solid foundation of the hope that the Good News contains. You've heard this Good News of which I, Paul, became a servant. It has been spread throughout all creation under heaven.

24 I am happy to suffer for you now. In my body I am completing whatever remains of Christ's sufferings. I am doing this on behalf of his body, the church.

25 I became a servant of the church when God gave me the work of telling you his entire message.

26 In the past God hid this mystery, but now he has revealed it to his people.

27 God wanted his people throughout the world to know the glorious riches of this mystery--which is Christ living in you, giving you the hope of glory.

28 We spread the message about Christ as we instruct and teach everyone with all the wisdom there is. We want to present everyone as mature Christian people.

29 I work hard and struggle to do this while his mighty power works in me.