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First Reading: Isaiah Chapter 3 and 4Isaiah 3
1 For, behold, the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah stay and staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water;
2 the mighty man, and the man of war; the judge, and the prophet, and the diviner, and the elder;
3 the captain of fifty, and the honorable man, and the counsellor, and the expert artificer, and the skilful enchanter.
4 And I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.
5 And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbor: the child shall behave himself proudly against the old man, and the base against the honorable.
6 When a man shall take hold of his brother in the house of his father, `saying', Thou hast clothing, be thou our ruler, and let this ruin be under thy hand;
7 in that day shall he lift up `his voice', saying, I will not be a healer; for in my house is neither bread nor clothing: ye shall not make me ruler of the people.
8 For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen; because their tongue and their doings are against Jehovah, to provoke the eyes of his glory.
9 The show of their countenance doth witness against them; and they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have done evil unto themselves.
10 Say ye of the righteous, that `it shall be' well `with him'; for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.
11 Woe unto the wicked! `it shall be' ill `with him'; for what his hands have done shall be done unto him.
12 As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they that lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.
13 Jehovah standeth up to contend, and standeth to judge the peoples.
14 Jehovah will enter into judgment with the elders of his people, and the princes thereof: It is ye that have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses:
15 what mean ye that ye crush my people, and grind the face of the poor? saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts.
16 Moreover Jehovah said, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with outstretched necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet;
17 therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and Jehovah will lay bare their secret parts.
18 In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, and the cauls, and the crescents;
19 the pendants, and the bracelets, and the mufflers;
20 the headtires, and the ankle chains, and the sashes, and the perfume-boxes, and the amulets;
21 the rings, and the nose-jewels;
22 the festival robes, and the mantles, and the shawls, and the satchels;
23 the hand-mirrors, and the fine linen, and the turbans, and the veils.
24 And it shall come to pass, that instead of sweet spices there shall be rottenness; and instead of a girdle, a rope; and instead of well set hair, baldness; and instead of a robe, a girding of sackcloth; branding instead of beauty.
25 Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the war.
26 And her gates shall lament and mourn; and she shall be desolate and sit upon the ground.
Isaiah 4
1 And seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name; take thou away our reproach.
2 In that day shall the branch of Jehovah be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.
3 And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem;
4 when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof, by the spirit of justice, and by the spirit of burning.
5 And Jehovah will create over the whole habitation of mount Zion, and over her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory `shall be spread' a covering.
6 And there shall be a pavilion for a shade in the day-time from the heat, and for a refuge and for a covert from storm and from rain.
Second Reading: Psalms Chapter 76
Psalms 76
1 In Judah is God known: His name is great in Israel.
2 In Salem also is his tabernacle, And his dwelling-place in Zion.
3 There he brake the arrows of the bow; The shield, and the sword, and the battle. Selah
4 Glorious art thou `and' excellent, From the mountains of prey.
5 The stouthearted are made a spoil, They have slept their sleep; And none of the men of might have found their hands.
6 At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, Both chariot and horse are cast into a deep sleep.
7 Thou, even thou, art to be feared; And who may stand in thy sight when once thou art angry?
8 Thou didst cause sentence to be heard from heaven; The earth feared, and was still,
9 When God arose to judgment, To save all the meek of the earth. Selah
10 Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: The residue of wrath shalt thou gird upon thee.
11 Vow, and pay unto Jehovah your God: Let all that are round about him bring presents unto him that ought to be feared.
12 He will cut off the spirit of princes: He is terrible to the kings of the earth. Psalm 77 For the Chief Musician; after the manner of Jeduthan. A Psalm of Asaph.
BOOKS OF THE BIBLE
ISAIAH
Part 2 of 4
Isaiah is a large book and is considered a "major" prophet. The 66 chapters can be sectioned as follows:
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