Psalm 119 - Isaiah 45 - Isaiah 46 - Isaiah 47 - Isaiah 48

Psalm 119

1> Blessed are those whose ways are blameless, Who walk according to Yahweh's law.

2Blessed are those who keep his statutes, Who seek him with their whole heart.

3Yes, they do nothing wrong. They walk in his ways.

4You have commanded your precepts, That we should fully obey them.

5Oh that my ways were steadfast To obey your statutes!

6Then I wouldn't be disappointed, When I consider all of your commandments.

7I will give thanks to you with uprightness of heart, When I learn your righteous judgments.

8I will observe your statutes. Don't utterly forsake me.

9How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word.

10With my whole heart, I have sought you. Don't let me wander from your commandments.

11I have hidden your word in my heart, That I might not sin against you.

12Blessed are you, Yahweh. Teach me your statutes.

13With my lips, I have declared all the ordinances of your mouth.

14I have rejoiced in the way of your testimonies, As much as in all riches.

15I will meditate on your precepts, And consider your ways.

16I will delight myself in your statutes. I will not forget your word.

17Do good to your servant. I will live and I will obey your word.

18Open my eyes, That I may see wondrous things out of your law.

19I am a stranger on the earth. Don't hide your commandments from me.

20My soul is consumed with longing for your ordinances at all times.

21You have rebuked the proud who are cursed, Who wander from your commandments.

22Take reproach and contempt away from me, For I have kept your statutes.

23Though princes sit and slander me, Your servant will meditate on your statutes.

24Indeed your statutes are my delight, And my counselors.

25My soul is laid low in the dust. Revive me according to your word!

26I declared my ways, and you answered me. Teach me your statutes.

27Let me understand the teaching of your precepts! Then I will meditate on your wondrous works.

28My soul is weary with sorrow: Strengthen me according to your word.

29Keep me from the way of deceit. Grant me your law graciously!

30I have chosen the way of truth. I have set my heart on your law.

31I cling to your statutes, Yahweh. Don't let me be disappointed.

32I run in the path of your commandments, For you have set my heart free.

33Teach me, Yahweh, the way of your statutes. I will keep them to the end.

34Give me understanding, and I will keep your law. Yes, I will obey it with my whole heart.

35Direct me in the path of your commandments, For I delight in them.

36Turn my heart toward your statutes, Not toward selfish gain.

37Turn my eyes away from looking at worthless things. Revive me in your ways.

38Fulfill your promise to your servant, That you may be feared.

39Take away my disgrace that I dread, For your ordinances are good.

40Behold, I long for your precepts! Revive me in your righteousness.

41Let your loving kindness also come to me, Yahweh, Your salvation, according to your word.

42So I will have an answer for him who reproaches me, For I trust in your word.

43Don't snatch the word of truth out of my mouth, For I put my hope in your ordinances.

44So I will obey your law continually, Forever and ever.

45I will walk in liberty, For I have sought your precepts.

46I will also speak of your statutes before kings, And will not be disappointed.

47I will delight myself in your commandments, Because I love them.

48I reach out my hands for your commandments, which I love. I will meditate on your statutes.

49Remember your word to your servant, Because you gave me hope.

50This is my comfort in my affliction, For your word has revived me.

51The arrogant mock me excessively, But I don't swerve from your law.

52I remember your ordinances of old, Yahweh, And have comforted myself.

53Indignation has taken hold on me, Because of the wicked who forsake your law.

54Your statutes have been my songs, In the house where I live.

55I have remembered your name, Yahweh, in the night, And I obey your law.

56This is my way, That I keep your precepts.

57Yahweh is my portion. I promised to obey your words.

58I sought your favor with my whole heart. Be merciful to me according to your word.

59I considered my ways, And turned my steps to your statutes.

60I will hurry, and not delay, To obey your commandments.

61The ropes of the wicked bind me, But I won't forget your law.

62At midnight I will rise to give thanks to you, Because of your righteous ordinances.

63I am a friend of all those who fear you, Of those who observe your precepts.

64The earth is full of your loving kindness, Yahweh. Teach me your statutes.

65Do good to your servant, According to your word, Yahweh.

66Teach me good judgment and knowledge, For I believe in your commandments.

67Before I was afflicted, I went astray; But now I observe your word.

68You are good, and do good. Teach me your statutes.

69The proud have smeared a lie upon me. With my whole heart, I will keep your precepts.

70Their heart is as callous as the fat, But I delight in your law.

71It is good for me that I have been afflicted, That I may learn your statutes.

72The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of pieces of gold and silver.

73Your hands have made me and formed me. Give me understanding, that I may learn your commandments.

74Those who fear you will see me and be glad, Because I have put my hope in your word.

75Yahweh, I know that your judgments are righteous, That in faithfulness you have afflicted me.

76Please let your loving kindness be for my comfort, According to your word to your servant.

77Let your tender mercies come to me, that I may live; For your law is my delight.

78Let the proud be disappointed, for they have overthrown me wrongfully. I will meditate on your precepts.

79Let those who fear you turn to me. They will know your statutes.

80Let my heart be blameless toward your decrees, That I may not be disappointed.

81My soul faints for your salvation. I hope in your word.

82My eyes fail for your word. I say, "When will you comfort me?"

83For I have become like a wineskin in the smoke. I don't forget your statutes.

84How many are the days of your servant? When will you execute judgment on those who persecute me?

85The proud have dug pits for me, Contrary to your law.

86All of your commandments are faithful. They persecute me wrongfully. Help me!

87They had almost wiped me from the earth, But I didn't forsake your precepts.

88Preserve my life according to your loving kindness, So I will obey the statutes of your mouth.

89Yahweh, your word is settled in heaven forever.

90Your faithfulness is to all generations. You have established the earth, and it remains.

91Your laws remain to this day, For all things serve you.

92Unless your law had been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.

93I will never forget your precepts, For with them, you have revived me.

94I am yours. Save me, for I have sought your precepts.

95The wicked have waited for me, to destroy me. I will consider your statutes.

96I have seen a limit to all perfection, But your commands are boundless.

97How love I your law! It is my meditation all day.

98Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, For your commandments are always with me.

99I have more understanding than all my teachers, For your testimonies are my meditation.

100I understand more than the aged, Because I have kept your precepts.

101I have kept my feet from every evil way, That I might observe your word.

102I have not turned aside from your ordinances, For you have taught me.

103How sweet are your promises to my taste, More than honey to my mouth!

104Through your precepts, I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false way.

105Your word is a lamp to my feet, And a light for my path.

106I have sworn, and have confirmed it, That I will obey your righteous ordinances.

107I am afflicted very much. Revive me, Yahweh, according to your word.

108Accept, I beg you, the willing offerings of my mouth. Yahweh, teach me your ordinances.

109My soul is continually in my hand, Yet I won't forget your law.

110The wicked have laid a snare for me, Yet I haven't gone astray from your precepts.

111I have taken your testimonies as a heritage forever, For they are the joy of my heart.

112I have set my heart to perform your statutes forever, Even to the end.

113I hate double-minded men, But I love your law.

114You are my hiding place and my shield. I hope in your word.

115Depart from me, you evildoers, That I may keep the commandments of my God.

116Uphold me according to your word, that I may live. Let me not be ashamed of my hope.

117Hold me up, and I will be safe, And will have respect for your statutes continually.

118You reject all those who stray from your statutes, For their deceit is in vain.

119You put away all the wicked of the earth like dross. Therefore I love your testimonies.

120My flesh trembles for fear of you. I am afraid of your judgments.

121I have done what is just and righteous. Don't leave me to my oppressors.

122Ensure your servant's well-being. Don't let the proud oppress me.

123My eyes fail looking for your salvation, For your righteous word.

124Deal with your servant according to your loving kindness. Teach me your statutes.

125I am your servant. Give me understanding, That I may know your testimonies.

126It is time to act, Yahweh, For they break your law.

127Therefore I love your commandments more than gold, Yes, more than pure gold.

128Therefore I consider all of your precepts to be right. I hate every false way.

129Your testimonies are wonderful, Therefore my soul keeps them.

130The entrance of your words gives light. It gives understanding to the simple.

131I opened my mouth wide and panted, For I longed for your commandments.

132Turn to me, and have mercy on me, As you always do to those who love your name.

133Establish my footsteps in your word. Don't let any iniquity have dominion over me.

134Redeem me from the oppression of man, So I will observe your precepts.

135Make your face shine on your servant. Teach me your statutes.

136Streams of tears run down my eyes, Because they don't observe your law.

137You are righteous, Yahweh. Your judgments are upright.

138You have commanded your statutes in righteousness. They are fully trustworthy.

139My zeal wears me out, Because my enemies ignore your words.

140Your promises have been thoroughly tested, And your servant loves them.

141I am small and despised. I don't forget your precepts.

142Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness. Your law is truth.

143Trouble and anguish have taken hold of me. Your commandments are my delight.

144Your testimonies are righteous forever. Give me understanding, that I may live.

145I have called with my whole heart. Answer me, Yahweh! I will keep your statutes.

146I have called to you. Save me! I will obey your statutes.

147I rise before dawn and cry for help. I put my hope in your words.

148My eyes stay open through the night watches, That I might meditate on your word.

149Hear my voice according to your loving kindness. Revive me, Yahweh, according to your ordinances.

150They draw near who follow after wickedness. They are far from your law.

151You are near, Yahweh. All your commandments are truth.

152Of old I have known from your testimonies, That you have founded them forever.

153Consider my affliction, and deliver me, For I don't forget your law.

154Plead my cause, and redeem me! Revive me according to your promise.

155Salvation is far from the wicked, For they don't seek your statutes.

156Great are your tender mercies, Yahweh. Revive me according to your ordinances.

157Many are my persecutors and my adversaries. I haven't swerved from your testimonies.

158I look at the faithless with loathing, Because they don't observe your word.

159Consider how I love your precepts. Revive me, Yahweh, according to your loving kindness.

160All of your words are truth. Every one of your righteous ordinances endures forever.

161Princes have persecuted me without a cause, But my heart stands in awe of your words.

162I rejoice at your word, As one who finds great spoil.

163I hate and abhor falsehood. I love your law.

164Seven times a day, I praise you, Because of your righteous ordinances.

165Those who love your law have great peace. Nothing causes them to stumble.

166I have hoped for your salvation, Yahweh. I have done your commandments.

167My soul has observed your testimonies. I love them exceedingly.

168I have obeyed your precepts and your testimonies, For all my ways are before you.

169Let my cry come before you, Yahweh. Give me understanding according to your word.

170Let my supplication come before you. Deliver me according to your word.

171Let my lips utter praise, For you teach me your statutes.

172Let my tongue sing of your word, For all your commandments are righteousness.

173Let your hand be ready to help me, For I have chosen your precepts.

174I have longed for your salvation, Yahweh. Your law is my delight.

175Let my soul live, that I may praise you. Let your ordinances help me.

176I have gone astray like a lost sheep. Seek your servant, for I don't forget your commandments.

The Prophets Before the Exile

Isaiah 45

1Thus says Yahweh to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him, and I will loose the loins of kings; to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut: 2I will go before you, and make the rough places smooth; I will break in pieces the doors of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron; 3and I will give you the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that it is I, Yahweh, who call you by your name, even the God of Israel. 4For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel my chosen, I have called you by your name: I have surnamed you, though you have not known me. 5I am Yahweh, and there is none else; besides me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known me; 6that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none besides me: I am Yahweh, and there is no one else. 7I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil. I am Yahweh, who does all these things. 8Distil, you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, that it may bring forth salvation, and let it cause righteousness to spring up together; I, Yahweh, have created it. 9Woe to him who strives with his Maker--a potsherd among the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay ask him who fashions it, "What are you making?" or your work, "He has no hands?" 10Woe to him who says to a father, "What have you become the father of?" or to a woman, "With what do you travail?" 11Thus says Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: Ask me of the things that are to come; concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands, command you me. 12I have made the earth, and created man on it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens; and all their host have I commanded. 13I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will make straight all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let my exiles go free, not for price nor reward, says Yahweh of Hosts. 14Thus says Yahweh: "The labor of Egypt, and the merchandise of Ethiopia, and the Sabeans, men of stature, shall come over to you, and they shall be yours. They shall go after you. In chains they shall come over; and they shall fall down to you. They shall make supplication to you: 'Surely God is in you; and there is none else, there is no other god. 15Most assuredly you are a God who hid yourself, God of Israel, the Savior.' 16They shall be disappointed, yes, confounded, all of them; they shall go into confusion together who are makers of idols. 17[But] Israel shall be saved by Yahweh with an everlasting salvation: you shall not be disappointed nor confounded world without end. 18For thus says Yahweh who created the heavens, the God who formed the earth and made it, who established it and didn't create it a waste, who formed it to be inhabited: I am Yahweh; and there is no one else. 19I have not spoken in secret, in a place of the land of darkness; I didn't say to the seed of Jacob, Seek you me in vain: I, Yahweh, speak righteousness, I declare things that are right. 20Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you who have escaped from the nations: they have no knowledge who carry the wood of their engraved image, and pray to a god that can't save. 21Declare you, and bring [it] forth; yes, let them take counsel together: who has shown this from ancient time? who has declared it of old? Haven't I, Yahweh? and there is no God else besides me, a just God and a Savior; there is no one besides me. 22Look to me, and be you saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else. 23By myself have I sworn, the word is gone forth from my mouth [in] righteousness, and shall not return, that to me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. 24Only in Yahweh, it is said of me, is righteousness and strength; even to him shall men come; and all those who were incensed against him shall be disappointed. 25In Yahweh shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory.

Isaiah 46

1Bel bows down, Nebo stoops; their idols are on the animals, and on the cattle: the things that you carried about are made a load, a burden to the weary [animal]. 2They stoop, they bow down together; they could not deliver the burden, but themselves are gone into captivity. 3Listen to me, house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, that have been borne [by me] from their birth, that have been carried from the womb; 4and even to old age I am he, and even to gray hairs will I carry you. I have made, and I will bear; yes, I will carry, and will deliver. 5To whom will you liken me, and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be like? 6Some pour out gold from the bag, and weigh silver in the balance. They hire a goldsmith, and he makes it a god. They fall down--yes, they worship. 7They bear it on the shoulder, they carry it, and set it in its place, and it stands, from its place it shall not move: yes, one may cry to it, yet it can not answer, nor save him out of his trouble. 8Remember this, and show yourselves men; bring it again to mind, you transgressors. 9Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; [I am] God, and there is none like me; 10declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not [yet] done; saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure; 11calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country; yes, I have spoken, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed, I will also do it. 12Listen to me, you stout-hearted, who are far from righteousness: 13I bring near my righteousness, it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not wait; and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.

Isaiah 47

1Come down, and sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of the Chaldeans: for you shall no more be called tender and delicate. 2Take the millstones, and grind meal; remove your veil, strip off the train, uncover the leg, pass through the rivers. 3Your nakedness shall be uncovered, yes, your shame shall be seen: I will take vengeance, and will spare no man. 4Our Redeemer, Yahweh of hosts is his name, the Holy One of Israel. 5Sit you silent, and get you into darkness, daughter of the Chaldeans; for you shall no more be called The mistress of kingdoms. 6I was angry with my people, I profaned my inheritance, and gave them into your hand: you did show them no mercy; on the aged have you very heavily laid your yoke. 7You said, I shall be mistress forever; so that you did not lay these things to your heart, neither did remember the latter end of it. 8Now therefore hear this, you who are given to pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, I am, and there is none else besides me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children: 9but these two things shall come to you in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood; in their full measure shall they come on you, in the multitude of your sorceries, and the great abundance of your enchantments. 10For you have trusted in your wickedness; you have said, None sees me; your wisdom and your knowledge, it has perverted you, and you have said in your heart, I am, and there is none else besides me. 11Therefore shall evil come on you; you shall not know the dawning of it: and mischief shall fall on you; you shall not be able to put it away: and desolation shall come on you suddenly, which you don't know. 12Stand now with your enchantments, and with the multitude of your sorceries, in which you have labored from your youth; if so be you shall be able to profit, if so be you may prevail. 13You are wearied in the multitude of your counsels: let now the astrologers, the star-gazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save you from the things that shall come on you. 14Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: it shall not be a coal to warm at, nor a fire to sit before. 15Thus shall the things be to you in which you have labored: those who have trafficked with you from your youth shall wander everyone to his quarter; there shall be none to save you.

Isaiah 48

1Hear you this, house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah; who swear by the name of Yahweh, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness 2(for they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves on the God of Israel; Yahweh of Hosts is his name): 3I have declared the former things from of old; yes, they went forth out of my mouth, and I shown them: suddenly I did them, and they happened. 4Because I knew that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew, and your brow brass; 5therefore I have declared it to you from of old; before it came to pass I shown it you; lest you should say, My idol has done them, and my engraved image, and my molten image, has commanded them. 6You have heard it; see all this; and you, will you not declare it? I have shown you new things from this time, even hidden things, which you have not known. 7They are created now, and not from of old; and before this day you didn't hear them; lest you should say, Behold, I knew them. 8Yes, you didn't hear; yes, you didn't know; yes, from of old your ear was not opened: for I knew that you did deal very treacherously, and was called a transgressor from the womb. 9For my name's sake will I defer my anger, and for my praise will I refrain for you, that I not cut you off. 10Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction. 11For my own sake, for my own sake, will I do it; for how should [my name] be profaned? and my glory I will not give to another. 12Listen to me, O Jacob, and Israel my called: I am he; I am the first, I also am the last. 13Yes, my hand has laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand has spread out the heavens: when I call to them, they stand up together. 14Assemble yourselves, all you, and hear; who among them has declared these things? He whom Yahweh loves shall perform his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm [shall be on] the Chaldeans. 15I, even I, have spoken; yes, I have called him; I have brought him, and he shall make his way prosperous. 16Come you near to me, hear you this; from the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord Yahweh has sent me, and his Spirit. 17Thus says Yahweh, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: I am Yahweh your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way that you should go. 18Oh that you had listened to my commandments! then had your peace been as a river, and your righteousness as the waves of the sea: 19your seed also had been as the sand, and the offspring of your loins like the grains of it: his name would not be cut off nor destroyed from before me. 20Go you forth from Babylon, flee you from the Chaldeans; with a voice of singing declare you, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth: say you, Yahweh has redeemed his servant Jacob. 21They didn't thirst when he led them through the deserts; he caused the waters to flow out of the rock for them; he split the rock also, and the waters gushed out. 22There is no peace, says Yahweh, to the wicked.