Isaiah 3-4

English Standard Version

Judgment on Judah and Jerusalem

3 For behold, the ^(A)Lord God of hosts
    is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah
support and supply,^[a]
    all ^(B)support of bread,
    and all support of water;
²^(C)the mighty man and the soldier,
    the judge and the prophet,
    the diviner and the elder,
³the captain of fifty
    and the man of rank,
the counselor and the skillful magician
    and the expert in charms.
⁴^(D)And I will make boys their princes,
    and infants^[b] shall rule over them.
⁵^(E)And the people will oppress one another,
    every one his fellow
    and every one his neighbor;
the youth will be insolent to the elder,
    and the despised to the honorable.

⁶For ^(F)a man will take hold of his brother
    in the house of his father, saying:
“You have a cloak;
    you shall be our leader,
and this heap of ruins
    shall be under your rule”;
⁷in that day he will speak out, saying:
“I will not be a ^(G)healer;^[c]
    in my house there is neither bread nor cloak;
you shall not make me
    leader of the people.”
⁸For Jerusalem has stumbled,
    and Judah has fallen,
because their ^(H)speech and their deeds are against the Lord,
    ^(I)defying his glorious presence.^[d]

⁹For the look on their faces bears witness against them;
    they proclaim their sin ^(J)like Sodom;
    they do not hide it.
Woe to them!
    ^(K)For they have brought evil on themselves.
¹⁰^(L)Tell the righteous that it shall be well with them,
    ^(M)for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.
¹¹^(N)Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him,
    for what his hands have dealt out shall be done to him.
¹²My people—^(O)infants are their oppressors,
    and women rule over them.
O my people, ^(P)your guides mislead you
    and they have swallowed up^[e] the course of your paths.

¹³The Lord ^(Q)has taken his place to contend;
    he stands to judge peoples.
¹⁴The Lord will enter into judgment
    with the ^(R)elders and princes of his people:
“It is you who ^(S)have devoured^[f] the vineyard,
    ^(T)the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
¹⁵What do you mean by ^(U)crushing my people,
    by grinding the face of the poor?”
declares the Lord God of hosts.

¹⁶The Lord said:
^(V)Because ^(W)the daughters of Zion are haughty
    and walk with outstretched necks,
    glancing wantonly with their eyes,
mincing along as they go,
    ^(X)tinkling with their feet,
¹⁷therefore the Lord ^(Y)will strike with a scab
    the heads of ^(Z)the daughters of Zion,
    and the Lord will lay bare their secret parts.

¹⁸In that day the Lord will take away ^(AA)the finery of the anklets, the ^(AB)headbands, and the ^(AC)crescents; ¹⁹the pendants, the bracelets, and the scarves; ²⁰the ^(AD)headdresses, the armlets, the sashes, the perfume boxes, and the amulets; ²¹the signet rings and ^(AE)nose rings; ²²the ^(AF)festal robes, the mantles, the cloaks, and the handbags; ²³the mirrors, the linen garments, the turbans, and the veils.

²⁴Instead of ^(AG)perfume there will be rottenness;
    and instead of a ^(AH)belt, a rope;
and instead of ^(AI)well-set hair, ^(AJ)baldness;
    and instead of a rich robe, a ^(AK)skirt of sackcloth;
    and ^(AL)branding instead of beauty.
²⁵Your men shall fall by the sword
    and your mighty men in battle.
²⁶And ^(AM)her gates shall lament and mourn;
    empty, she shall ^(AN)sit on the ground.

4 ^(AO)And seven women ^(AP)shall take hold of ^(AQ)one man in that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name; ^(AR)take away our reproach.”

The Branch of the Lord Glorified

²In that day ^(AS)the branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and ^(AT)the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. ³^(AU)And he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called ^(AV)holy, everyone who has ^(AW)been recorded for life in Jerusalem, ⁴when ^(AX)the Lord shall have washed away the filth of ^(AY)the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by ^(AZ)a spirit of burning.^[g] ⁵Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies ^(BA)a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be ^(BB)a canopy. ⁶^(BC)There will be a ^(BD)booth for shade by day from the heat, and ^(BE)for a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.

Footnotes

Isaiah 3:1 Hebrew staff
Isaiah 3:4 Or caprice
Isaiah 3:7 Hebrew binder of wounds
Isaiah 3:8 Hebrew the eyes of his glory
Isaiah 3:12 Or they have confused
Isaiah 3:14 Or grazed over; compare Exodus 22:5
Isaiah 4:4 Or purging

2 Corinthians 12

English Standard Version

Paul's Visions and His Thorn

12 I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and ^(A)revelations of the Lord. ²I know a man ^(B)in Christ who fourteen years ago was ^(C)caught up to ^(D)the third heaven—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, ^(E)God knows. ³And I know that this man was caught up into ^(F)paradise—whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, ^(G)God knows— ⁴and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. ⁵On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, ^(H)except of my weaknesses— ⁶though if I should wish to boast, ^(I)I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. ⁷So ^(J)to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations,^[a] ^(K)a thorn was given me in the flesh, ^(L)a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. ⁸^(M)Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. ⁹But he said to me, ^(N)“My grace is sufficient for you, for ^(O)my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that ^(P)the power of Christ may rest upon me. ¹⁰^(Q)For the sake of Christ, then, ^(R)I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For ^(S)when I am weak, then I am strong.

Concern for the Corinthian Church

¹¹^(T)I have been a fool! You forced me to it, for I ought to have been commended by you. For I was ^(U)not at all inferior to these super-apostles, ^(V)even though I am nothing. ¹²^(W)The signs of a true apostle were performed among you ^(X)with utmost patience, with signs and wonders and mighty works. ¹³For in what were you less favored than the rest of the churches, except that ^(Y)I myself did not burden you? Forgive me this wrong!

¹⁴Here ^(Z)for the third time I am ready to come to you. And I will not be a burden, for ^(AA)I seek not what is yours but you. For ^(AB)children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but ^(AC)parents for their children. ¹⁵^(AD)I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If ^(AE)I love you more, am I to be loved less? ¹⁶But granting that ^(AF)I myself did not burden you, I was crafty, you say, and got the better of you by deceit. ¹⁷Did I take advantage of you ^(AG)through any of those whom I sent to you? ¹⁸^(AH)I urged Titus to go, and sent ^(AI)the brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not act in the same spirit? Did we not take the same steps?

¹⁹Have you been thinking all along that we have been defending ourselves to you? It is ^(AJ)in the sight of God that we have been speaking in Christ, and ^(AK)all for your upbuilding, beloved. ²⁰For I fear that perhaps ^(AL)when I come I may find you not as I wish, and that you may find me not as you wish—that perhaps there may be quarreling, jealousy, anger, hostility, slander, gossip, conceit, and disorder. ²¹I fear that when I come again my God may humble me before you, and I may have to mourn over many of those ^(AM)who sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, ^(AN)sexual immorality, and sensuality that they have practiced.