| 56:1 | This is what the LORD says |
| 56:2 | Blessed is the man who does this, the man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath without desecrating it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil."
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| 56:3 | Let no foreigner who has bound himself to the LORD say, "The LORD will surely exclude me from his people." And let not any eunuch complain, "I am only a dry tree."
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| 56:4 | For this is what the LORD says |
| 56:5 | to them I will give within my temple and its walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off.
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| 56:6 | And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to serve him, to love the name of the LORD, and to worship him, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant--
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| 56:7 | these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations."
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| 56:8 | The Sovereign LORD declares-- he who gathers the exiles of Israel |
| 56:9 | Come, all you beasts of the field, come and devour, all you beasts of the forest!
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| 56:10 | Israel's watchmen are blind, they all lack knowledge; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they lie around and dream, they love to sleep.
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| 56:11 | They are dogs with mighty appetites; they never have enough. They are shepherds who lack understanding; they all turn to their own way, each seeks his own gain.
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| 56:12 | "Come," each one cries, "let me get wine! Let us drink our fill of beer! And tomorrow will be like today, or even far better."
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| 57:1 | The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil.
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| 57:2 | Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.
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| 57:3 | "But you-- come here, you sons of a sorceress, you offspring of adulterers and prostitutes!
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| 57:4 | Whom are you mocking? At whom do you sneer and stick out your tongue? Are you not a brood of rebels, the offspring of liars?
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| 57:5 | You burn with lust among the oaks and under every spreading tree; you sacrifice your children in the ravines and under the overhanging crags.
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| 57:6 | [The idols] among the smooth stones of the ravines are your portion; they, they are your lot. Yes, to them you have poured out drink offerings and offered grain offerings. In the light of these things, should I relent?
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| 57:7 | You have made your bed on a high and lofty hill; there you went up to offer your sacrifices.
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| 57:8 | Behind your doors and your doorposts you have put your pagan symbols. Forsaking me, you uncovered your bed, you climbed into it and opened it wide; you made a pact with those whose beds you love, and you looked on their nakedness.
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| 57:9 | You went to Molech with olive oil and increased your perfumes. You sent your ambassadors far away; you descended to the grave itself!
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| 57:10 | You were wearied by all your ways, but you would not say, "It is hopeless." You found renewal of your strength, and so you did not faint.
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| 57:11 | "Whom have you so dreaded and feared that you have been false to me, and have neither remembered me nor pondered this in your hearts? Is it not because I have long been silent that you do not fear me?
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| 57:12 | I will expose your righteousness and your works, and they will not benefit you.
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| 57:13 | When you cry out for help, let your collection [of idols] save you! The wind will carry all of them off, a mere breath will blow them away. But the man who makes me his refuge will inherit the land and possess my holy mountain."
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| 57:14 | And it will be said |
| 57:15 | For this is what the high and lofty One says-- he who lives forever, whose name is holy |
| 57:16 | I will not accuse forever, nor will I always be angry, for then the spirit of man would grow faint before me-- the breath of man that I have created.
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| 57:17 | I was enraged by his sinful greed; I punished him, and hid my face in anger, yet he kept on in his willful ways.
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| 57:18 | I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will guide him and restore comfort to him,
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| 57:19 | creating praise on the lips of the mourners in Israel. Peace, peace, to those far and near," says the LORD. "And I will heal them."
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| 57:20 | But the wicked are like the tossing sea, which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud.
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| 57:21 | "There is no peace," says my God, "for the wicked."
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| 58:1 | "Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the house of Jacob their sins.
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| 58:2 | For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them.
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| 58:3 | "Why have we fasted," they say, "and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?" "Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers.
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| 58:4 | Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.
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| 58:5 | Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?
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| 58:6 | "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen |
| 58:7 | Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-- when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
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| 58:8 | Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
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| 58:9 | Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say |
| 58:10 | and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.
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| 58:11 | The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
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| 58:12 | Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
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| 58:13 | "If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD's holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words,
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| 58:14 | then you will find your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob." The mouth of the LORD has spoken.
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| 2:1 | Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers,
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| 2:2 | not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come.
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| 2:3 | Don"t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction.
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| 2:4 | He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God.
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| 2:5 | Don"t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things?
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| 2:6 | And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time.
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| 2:7 | For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way.
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| 2:8 | And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming.
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| 2:9 | The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders,
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| 2:10 | and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.
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| 2:11 | For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie
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| 2:12 | and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.
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| 2:13 | But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth.
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| 2:14 | He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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| 2:15 | So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.
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| 2:16 | May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope,
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| 2:17 | encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.
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