Hello, this is Father Paul, and I'm glad we're
taking this journey together to read the Bible
in a year. Today's reading is from the book of
Isaiah, chapters 52 through 55. Chapter 52 Awake,
awake, put on your strength, O Zion. Put on your
beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city.
For the uncircumcised and the unclean shall no
longer come to you. Shake yourself from the dust.
Arise, sit down, O Jerusalem. Loose yourself
from the bonds of your neck, O captive daughter
of Zion. For thus says the Lord, You have sold
yourselves for nothing, and you shall be redeemed
without money. For thus says the Lord God, My
people went down at first into Egypt to dwell
there. Then Assyrian oppressed them without cause.
Now therefore, what have I here, says the Lord,
that my people are taken away for nothing? Those
who rule over them make them wail, says the Lord.
and my name is blasphemed continually every day.
Therefore my people shall know my name, therefore
they shall know in that day that I am he who
speaks, behold, it is I. How beautiful upon the
mountains are the feet of him who brings good
news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings
of good things, who proclaims salvation, who
says to Zion, your God reigns. Your watchmen
shall lift up their voices. With their voices
they shall sing together, for they shall see
eye to eye when the Lord brings back Zion. Break
forth into joy, sing together, you waste places
of Jerusalem. For the Lord has comforted his
people, he has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord has
made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the
nations, and all the ends of the earth shall
see the salvation of our God. Depart, depart.
Go out from there. Touch no unclean thing. Go
out from the midst of her. Be clean, you who
bear the vessels of the Lord. For you shall not
go out with haste, nor go by flight. For the
Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel
will be your rear guard. Behold, my servant shall
deal prudently. He shall be exalted and extolled
and be very high. Just as many were astonished
at you, so his visage. was marred more than any
man, and his form more than the sons of men.
So shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall
shut their mouths at him, for what had not been
told them they shall see, and what they had not
heard they shall consider. Chapter 53 Who has
believed our report, and to whom has the arm
of the Lord been revealed? For he shall grow
up before him as a tender plant, and as a root
out of dry ground. He has no form or comeliness,
and when we see him, there is no beauty that
we should desire him. He is despised and rejected
by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with
grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from
him. He was despised, and we did not esteem him.
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our
sorrows, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten
by God and afflicted. But he was wounded for
our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities,
the chastisement for our peace was upon him,
and by his stripes we are healed. All we like
sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone
to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and
he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth.
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as
a sheep before its shearers is silent, So he
opened not his mouth. He was taken from prison
and from judgment. And who will declare his generation?
For he was cut off from the land of the living.
For the transgressions of my people he was stricken.
And they made his grave with the wicked, but
with the rich at his death. Because he had done
no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth.
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He has
put him to grief. When you make his soul an offering
for sin, He shall see his seed, he shall prolong
his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. He shall see the labor of
his soul, and be satisfied. By his knowledge
my righteous servant shall justify many, for
he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will
divide him a portion with the great, and he shall
divide the spoil with the strong. Because he
poured out his soul unto death, and he was numbered
with the transgressors. and he bore the sin of
many, and made intercession for the transgressors.
Chapter 54 Sing, O barren, you who have not borne.
Break forth into singing and cry aloud, you who
have not labored with child. For more are the
children of the desolate than the children of
the married woman, says the Lord. Enlarge the
place of your tent, and let them stretch out
the curtains of your dwellings. Do not spare.
Lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes,
for you shall expand to the right and to the
left, and your descendants will inherit the nations
and make the desolate cities inhabited. Do not
fear, for you will not be ashamed, neither be
disgraced, for you will not be put to shame,
for you will forget the shame of your youth and
will not remember the reproach of your widowhood
anymore. For your Maker is your husband, the
Lord of hosts is his name. and your Redeemer
is the Holy One of Israel. He is called the God
of the whole earth, for the Lord has called you,
like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit,
like a youthful wife when you were refused, says
your God. For a mere moment I have forsaken you,
but with great mercies I will gather you. With
a little wrath I hid my face from you for a moment,
but with everlasting kindness I will have mercy
on you, says the Lord, your Redeemer. for this
is like the waters of noah to me for as i have
sworn that the waters of noah would no longer
cover the earth so have i sworn that i would
not be angry with you nor rebuke you for the
mountains shall depart and the hills be removed
but my kindness shall not depart from you nor
shall my covenant of peace be removed says the
lord who has mercy on you or you afflicted one
tossed with tempest and not comforted. Behold,
I will lay your stones with colorful gems, and
lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make
your pinnacles of rubies, your gates of crystal,
and all your walls of precious stones. All your
children shall be taught by the Lord, and great
shall be the peace of your children. In righteousness
you shall be established. You shall be far from
oppression, for you shall not fear, and from
terror for it shall not come near you. Indeed,
they shall surely assemble, but not because of
me. Whoever assembles against you shall fall
for your sake. Behold, I have created the blacksmith,
who blows the coals in the fire, who brings forth
an instrument for his work, and I have created
the spoiler to destroy. No weapon formed against
you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises
against you in judgment you shall condemn. This
is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
and their righteousness is from me, says the
Lord. Oh, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters,
and you who have no money, come, buy and eat.
Yes, come buy wine and milk, without money and
without price. Why do you spend money for what
is not bread, and your wages for what does not
satisfy? Listen carefully to me and eat what
is good, and let your soul delight itself in
abundance. Incline your ear and come to me. Here
and your soul shall live, and I will make an
everlasting covenant with you, the sure mercies
of David. Indeed, I have given him as a witness
to the people, a leader and commander for the
people. Surely you shall call a nation you do
not know, and nations who do not know you shall
run to you, because of the Lord your God and
the Holy One of Israel. for he has glorified
you. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call
upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake
his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts.
Let him return to the Lord, and he will have
mercy on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly
pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. for
as the heavens are higher than the earth so are
my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts
than your thoughts for as the rain comes down
and the snow from heaven and do not return there
but water the earth and make it bring forth and
bud that it may give seed to the sower and bread
to the eater so shall my word be that goes forth
from my mouth it shall not return to me void
but it shall accomplish what i please and it
shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
For you shall go out with joy and be led out
with peace. The mountains and the hills shall
break forth into singing before you, and all
the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress
tree, and instead of the briar shall come up
the myrtle tree. And it shall be to the Lord
for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall
not be cut off. I hope you enjoyed today's reading
as much as I did and I look forward to seeing
you again tomorrow to continue on our journey.
God bless you and have a great day.