Isaiah 32; Isaiah 33; Colossians 1

Isaiah 32

1 Behold a king shall reign in justice, and princes shall rule in judgment.

2 And a man shall be as when one is hid from the wind, and hideth himself from a storm, as rivers of waters in drought, and the shadow of a rock that standeth out in a desert land.

3 The eyes of them that see shall not be dim, and the ears of them that hear shall hearken diligently.

4 And the heart of fools shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of stammerers shall speak readily and plain.

5 The fool shall no more be called prince: neither shall the deceitful be called great:

6 For the fool will speak foolish things, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and speak to the Lord deceitfully, and to make empty the soul of the hungry, and take away drink from the thirsty.

7 The vessels of the deceitful are most wicked: for he hath framed devices to destroy the meek, with lying words, when the poor man speaketh judgment.

8 But the prince will devise such things as are worthy of a prince, and he shall stand above the rulers.

9 Rise up, ye rich women, and hear my voice: ye confident daughters, give ear to my speech.

10 For after days and a year, you that are confident shall be troubled: for the vintage is at an end, the gathering shall come no more.

11 Be astonished, ye rich women, be troubled, ye confident ones: strip you, and be confounded, gird your loins.

12 Mourn for your breasts, for the delightful country, for the fruitful vineyard.

13 Upon the land of my people shall thorns and briers come up: how much more upon all the houses of joy, of the city that rejoiced?

14 For the house is forsaken, the multitude of the city is left, darkness and obscurity are come upon its dens for ever. A joy of wild asses, the pastures of flocks.

15 Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high: and the desert shall be as a charmel, and charmel shall be counted for a forest.

16 An judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and justice shall sit in charmel.

17 And the work of justice shall be peace, and the service of justice quietness, and security for ever.

18 And my people shall sit in the beauty of peace, and in the tabernacles of confidence, and in wealthy rest.

19 But hail shall be in the descent of the forest, and the city shall be made very low.

20 Blessed are ye that sow upon all waters, sending thither the foot of the ox and the ass.

Isaiah 33

1 Woe to thee that spoilest, shalt not thou thyself also be spoiled? and thou that despisest, shalt not thyself also be despised? when thou shalt have made an end of spoiling, thou shalt be spoiled: when being wearied thou shalt cease to despise, thou shalt be despised.

2 O Lord, have mercy on us: for we have waited for thee: be thou our arm in the morning, and our salvation in the time of trouble.

3 At the voice of the angel the people fled, and at the lifting up thyself the nations are scattered.

4 And your spoils shall be gathered together as the locusts are gathered, as when the ditches are full of them.

5 The Lord is magnified, for he hath dwelt on high: he hath filled Sion with judgment and justice.

6 And there shall be faith in thy times: riches of salvation, wisdom and knowledge: the fear of the Lord is his treasure.

7 Behold they that see shall cry without, the angels of peace shall weep bitterly.

8 The ways are made desolate, no one passeth by the road, the covenant is made void, he hath rejected the cities, he hath not regarded the men.

9 The land hath mourned, and languished: Libanus is confounded, and become foul, and Saron is become as a desert: and Basan and Carmel are shaken.

10 Now will I rise up, saith the Lord: now will I be exalted, now will I lift up myself.

11 You shall conceive heat, you shall bring forth stubble: your breath as fire shall devour you.

12 And the people shall be as ashes after a fire, as a bundle of thorns they shall be burnt with fire.

13 Hear, you that are far off, what I have done, and you that are near know my strength.

14 The sinners in Sion are afraid, trembling hath seized upon the hypocrites. Which of you can dwell with devouring fire? which of you shall dwell with everlasting burnings?

15 He that walketh in justices, and speaketh truth, that casteth away avarice by oppression, and shaketh his hands from all bribes, that stoppeth his ears lest he hear blood, and shutteth his eyes that he may see no evil.

16 He shall dwell on high, the fortifications of rocks shall be his highness: bread is given him, his waters are sure.

17 His eyes shall see the king in his beauty, they shall see the land far off.

18 Thy heart shall meditate fear: where is the learned? where is he that pondered the words of the law? where is the teacher of little ones?

19 The shameless people thou shalt not see, the people of profound speech: so that thou canst not understand the eloquence of his tongue, in whom there is no wisdom.

20 Look upon Sion the city of our solemnity: thy eyes shall see Jerusalem, a rich habitation, a tabernacle that cannot be removed: neither shall the nails thereof be taken away for ever, neither shall any of the cords thereof be broken.

21 Because only there our Lord is magnificent: a place of rivers, very broad and spacious streams: no ship with oars shall pass by it, neither shall the great galley pass through it.

22 For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king: he will save us.

23 Thy tacklings are loosed, and they shall be of no strength: thy mast shall be in such condition, that thou shalt not be able to spread the flag. Then shall the spoils of much prey be divided: the lame shall take the spoil.

24 Neither shall he that is near, say: I am feeble. The people that dwell therein, shall have their iniquity taken away from them.

Colossians 1

1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, and Timothy, a brother:

2 To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ Jesus who are at Colossa.

3 Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you.

4 Hearing your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you have towards all the saints.

5 For the hope that is laid up for you in heaven, which you have heard in the word of the truth of the gospel,

6 Which is come unto you, as also it is in the whole world and bringeth forth fruit and groweth, even as it doth in you, since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth.

7 As you learned of Epaphras, our most beloved fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ Jesus;

8 Who also hath manifested your love in the spirit.

9 Therefore we also, from the day that we heard it, cease not to pray for you and to beg that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding:

10 That you may walk worthy of God, in all things pleasing; being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God:

11 Strengthened with all might according to the power of his glory, in all patience and longsuffering with joy,

12 Giving thanks to God the Father, who hath made us worthy to be partakers of the lot of the saints in light:

13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love,

14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the remission of sins:

15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

16 For in him were all things created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones, or dominations, or principalities, or powers. All things were created by him and in him.

17 And he is before all: and by him all things consist.

18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he may hold the primacy:

19 Because in him, it hath well pleased the Father that all fulness should dwell:

20 And through him to reconcile all things unto himself, making peace through the blood of his cross, both as to the things that are on earth and the things that are in heaven.

21 And you, whereas you were some time alienated and enemies in mind in evil works:

22 Yet now he hath reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unspotted and blameless before him:

23 If so ye continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and immoveable from the hope of the gospel which you have heard, which is preached in all the creation that is under heaven: whereof I Paul am made a minister.

24 Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up those things that are wanting of the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh, for his body, which is the church:

25 Whereof I am made a minister according to the dispensation of God, which is given me towards you, that I may fulfil the word of God:

26 The mystery which hath been hidden from ages and generations, but now is manifested to his saints,

27 To whom God would make known the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ, in you the hope of glory.

28 Whom we preach, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.

29 Wherein also I labour, striving according to his working which he worketh in me in power.