Isaiah 5; Isaiah 6; Ephesians 1

1 Let me sing a lovesong to my beloved about his vineyard: My beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill.

2 He dug it up, removed its stones, planted it with the choicest vines, built a watchtower in it, and made a winepress in it. Then he waited for it to produce good grapes, but it produced only sour, wild grapes.

3 Now then, you inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judah, judge between me and my vineyard!

4 What more could have been done for my vineyard than what I have already done for it? When I waited for it to produce good grapes, why did it produce only sour, wild grapes?

5 Now then, let me tell you what I will do to my vineyard. I will tear away its hedge so that it can be devoured and tear down its wall so that it can be trampled.

6 I will make it a wasteland. It will never be pruned or hoed. Thorns and weeds will grow in it, and I will command the clouds not to rain on it.

7 The vineyard of the LORD of Armies is the nation of Israel, and the people of Judah are the garden of his delight. He hoped for justice but saw only slaughter, for righteousness but heard only cries of distress.

8 How horrible it will be for you who acquire house after house and buy field after field until there's nothing left and you have to live by yourself in the land.

9 With my own ears I heard the LORD of Armies say, "Many houses will become empty. Large, beautiful houses will be without people to live in them.

10 A ten-acre vineyard will produce only six gallons of wine, and two quarts of seed will produce only four quarts of grain."

11 How horrible it will be for those who get up early to look for a drink, who sit up late until they are drunk from wine.

12 At their feasts there are lyres and harps, tambourines and flutes, and wine. Yet, they don't pay attention to what the LORD is doing or see what his hands have done.

13 "My people will go into exile because they don't understand what I'm doing. Honored men will starve, and common people will be parched with thirst."

14 That is why the grave's appetite increases. It opens its mouth very wide so that honored people and common people will go down into it. Those who are noisy and joyous will go down into it.

15 People will be brought down. Everyone will be humbled. And the eyes of arrogant people will be humbled.

16 The LORD of Armies will be honored when he judges. The holy God will show himself to be holy when he does what is right.

17 Then lambs will graze as if they were in their own pasture, and foreigners will eat among the ruins of the rich.

18 How horrible it will be for those who string people along with lies and empty promises, whose lives are sinful.

19 They say, "Let God hurry and quickly do his work so that we may see what he has in mind. Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel happen quickly so that we may understand what he is doing."

20 How horrible it will be for those who call evil good and good evil, who turn darkness into light and light into darkness, who turn what is bitter into something sweet and what is sweet into something bitter.

21 How horrible it will be for those who think they are wise and consider themselves to be clever.

22 How horrible it will be for those who are heroes at drinking wine, who are champions at mixing drinks,

23 who declare the guilty innocent for a bribe, who take away the rights of righteous people.

24 As flames burn up straw and dry grass shrivels in flames, so their roots will rot, and their blossoms will blow away like dust. They have rejected the teachings of the LORD of Armies and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

25 That's why the anger of the LORD burns hot against his people, and he is ready to use his power to strike them down. The hills tremble, and dead bodies lie like garbage in the streets. Even after all this, his anger has not disappeared, and he is still ready to use his power.

26 The LORD raises up a flag for the nations far away. With a whistle he signals those at the ends of the earth. Look, they are coming very quickly!

27 None of them grow tired or stumble. None of them slumber or sleep. The belts on their waists aren't loose or their sandal straps broken.

28 Their arrows are sharpened; all their bows are ready to shoot. Their horses' hoofs are as hard as flint. Their chariot wheels are as quick as the wind.

29 They roar like a lioness. They growl like a young lion. They growl as they snatch their prey and carry it off to where no one can rescue it.

30 On that day they will roar over their prey as the sea roars. If they look at the land, they will see only darkness and distress. Even the light will be darkened by thick clouds.

1 In the year King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a high and lofty throne. The bottom of his robe filled the temple.

2 Angels were standing above him. Each had six wings: With two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.

3 They called to each other and said, "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Armies! The whole earth is filled with his glory."

4 Their voices shook the foundations of the doorposts, and the temple filled with smoke.

5 So I said, "Oh, no! I'm doomed. Every word that passes through my lips is sinful. I live among people with sinful lips. I have seen the king, the LORD of Armies!"

6 Then one of the angels flew to me. In his hand was a burning coal that he had taken from the altar with tongs.

7 He touched my mouth with it and said, "This has touched your lips. Your guilt has been taken away, and your sin has been forgiven."

8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, "Whom will I send? Who will go for us?" I said, "Here I am. Send me!"

9 And he said, "Go and tell these people, 'No matter how closely you listen, you'll never understand. No matter how closely you look, you'll never see.'

10 Make these people close-minded. Plug their ears. Shut their eyes. Otherwise, they may see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their minds, and return and be healed."

11 I asked, "How long, O Lord?" And he replied, "Until the cities lie in ruins with no one living in them, the houses have no people, and the land is completely desolate.

12 The LORD will send his people far away, and a large area in the middle of the land will be abandoned.

13 Even if one out of ten people is left in it, the land will be burned again. When a sacred oak or an oak is cut down, a stump is left. The holy seed will be the land's stump."

1 From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by God's will. To God's holy and faithful people who are united with Christ in the city of Ephesus.

2 Good will and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ are yours!

3 Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! Through Christ, God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing that heaven has to offer.

4 Before the creation of the world, he chose us through Christ to be holy and perfect in his presence.

5 Because of his love he had already decided to adopt us through Jesus Christ. He freely chose to do this

6 so that the kindness he had given us in his dear Son would be praised and given glory.

7 Through the blood of his Son, we are set free from our sins. God forgives our failures because of his overflowing kindness.

8 He poured out his kindness by giving us every kind of wisdom and insight

9 when he revealed the mystery of his plan to us. He had decided to do this through Christ.

10 He planned to bring all of history to its goal in Christ. Then Christ would be the head of everything in heaven and on earth.

11 God also decided ahead of time to choose us through Christ according to his plan, which makes everything work the way he intends.

12 He planned all of this so that we who had already focused our hope on Christ would praise him and give him glory.

13 You heard and believed the message of truth, the Good News that he has saved you. In him you were sealed with the Holy Spirit whom he promised.

14 This Holy Spirit is the guarantee that we will receive our inheritance. We have this guarantee until we are set free to belong to him. God receives praise and glory for this.

15 I, too, have heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all of God's people. For this reason

16 I never stop thanking God for you. I always remember you in my prayers.

17 I pray that the glorious Father, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know Christ better.

18 Then you will have deeper insight. You will know the confidence that he calls you to have and the glorious wealth that God's people will inherit.

19 You will also know the unlimited greatness of his power as it works with might and strength for us, the believers.

20 He worked with that same power in Christ when he brought him back to life and gave him the highest position in heaven.

21 He is far above all rulers, authorities, powers, lords, and all other names that can be named, not only in this present world but also in the world to come.

22 God has put everything under the control of Christ. He has made Christ the head of everything for the good of the church.

23 The church is Christ's body and completes him as he fills everything in every way.