WEBVTT

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Hello, this is Father Paul, and I'm glad we're

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taking this journey together to read the Bible

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in a year. Today's reading is from the book of

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Isaiah, chapters 56 through 59. Chapter 56 Thus

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says the Lord, Keep justice and do righteousness,

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for my salvation is about to come, and my righteousness

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to be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this,

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and the son of man who lays hold on it. who keeps

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from defiling the Sabbath, and keeps his hand

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from doing any evil. Do not let the son of the

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foreigner, who has joined himself to the Lord,

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speak, saying, The Lord has utterly separated

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me from his people. Nor let the eunuch say, Here

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I am, a dry tree. For thus says the Lord to the

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eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, and choose what

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pleases me, and hold fast my covenant, even to

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them I will give in my house and within my walls

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a place and a name. Better than that of sons

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and daughters, I will give them an everlasting

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name that shall not be cut off. Also the sons

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of the foreigner, who join themselves to the

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Lord to serve him, and to love the name of the

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Lord, to be his servants, everyone who keeps

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from defiling the Sabbath, and holds fast my

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covenant. Even them I will bring to my holy mountain,

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and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their

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burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be

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accepted on my altar. For my house shall be called

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a house of prayer for all nations. The Lord God,

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who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says, Yet

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I will gather to him others besides those who

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are gathered to him. All you beasts of the field

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come to devour. All you beasts in the forest.

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His watchmen are blind. They are all ignorant.

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They are all dumb dogs. They cannot bark. sleeping,

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lying down, loving to slumber. Yes, they are

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greedy dogs, which never have enough, and they

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are shepherds who cannot understand. They all

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look to their own way, every one for his own

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gain, from his own territory. Come, one says,

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I will bring wine, and we will fill ourselves

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with intoxicating drink. Tomorrow will be as

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today, and much more abundant. Chapter 57 The

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righteous perishes, and no man takes it to heart.

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Merciful men are taken away, while no one considers

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that the righteous is taken away from evil. He

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shall enter into peace. They shall rest in their

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beds, each one walking in his uprightness. But

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come here, you sons of the sorceress, you offspring

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of the adulterer and the harlot. Whom do you

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ridicule? Against whom do you make a wide mouth

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and stick out the tongue? Are you not children

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of transgression? offspring of falsehood, inflaming

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yourselves with gods under every green tree,

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slaying the children in the valleys under the

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clefts of the rocks? Among the smooth stones

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of the stream is your portion. They, they are

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your lot. Even to them you have poured a drink

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offering, you have offered a grain offering.

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Should I receive comfort in these? On a lofty

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and high mountain you have set your bed. Even

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there you went up to offer sacrifice. Also behind

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the doors and their posts you have set up your

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remembrance. For you have uncovered yourself

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to those other than me and have gone up to them.

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You have enlarged your bed and made a covenant

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with them. You have loved their bed where you

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saw their nudity. You went to the king with ointment

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and increased your perfumes. You sent your messengers

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far off and even descended to Sheol. You are

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wearied in the length of your way, yet you did

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not say there is no hope. You have found the

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life of your hand, therefore you were not grieved.

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And of whom have you been afraid or feared, that

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you have lied and not remembered me, nor taken

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it to your heart? Is it not because I have held

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my peace from of old, that you do not fear me?

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I will declare your righteousness and your works,

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for they will not profit you. When you cry out,

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let your collection of idols deliver you. But

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the wind will carry them away, a breath will

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take them. But he who puts his trust in me shall

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possess the land and shall inherit my holy mountain.

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And one shall say, heap it up, heap it up, prepare

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the way, take the stumbling block out of the

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way of my people. For thus says the High and

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Lofty One, who inhabits eternity, whose name

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is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy place,

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with him who has a contrite and humble spirit,

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to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive

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the heart of the contrite ones. For I will not

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contend forever, nor will I always be angry,

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for the spirit would fail before me, and the

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souls which I have made. For the iniquity of

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his covetousness, I was angry and struck him.

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I hid and was angry, and he went on backsliding

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in the way of his heart. I have seen his ways

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and will heal him. I will also lead him and restore

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comforts to him and to his mourners. I create

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the fruit of the lips. Peace, peace to him who

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is far off and to him who is near, says the Lord,

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and I will heal him. But the wicked are like

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the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose

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waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace,

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says my God, for the wicked. Chapter 58 Cry aloud,

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spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet,

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tell my people their transgression, and the house

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of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily,

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and delight to know my ways, as a nation that

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did righteousness, and did not forsake the ordinance

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of their God. They ask of me the ordinances of

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justice, they take delight in approaching God.

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Why have we fasted, they say, and you have not

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seen? Why have we afflicted our souls, and you

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take no notice? In fact, in the day of your fast

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you find pleasure and exploit all your laborers.

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Indeed you fast for strife and debate, and to

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strike with the fist of wickedness. You will

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not fast as you do this day, to make your voice

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heard on high. Is it a fast that I have chosen?

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A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to

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bow down his head like a bulrush and to spread

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out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this

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a fast and an acceptable day to the Lord? Is

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this not the fast that I have chosen, to lose

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the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens,

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to let the oppressed go free and that you break

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every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with

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the hungry and that you bring to your house the

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poor who are cast out? When you see the naked,

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that you cover him, and not hide yourself from

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your own flesh, then your light shall break forth

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like the morning, your healing shall spring forth

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speedily, and your righteousness shall go before

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you. The glory of the Lord shall be your rear

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guard, then you shall call, and the Lord will

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answer. You shall cry, and he will say, Here

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I am. If you take away the yoke from your midst,

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the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,

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If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy

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the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn

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in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as

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the noonday. The Lord will guide you continually

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and satisfy your soul in drought and strengthen

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your bones. You shall be like a watered garden

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and like a spring of water whose waters do not

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fail. Those from among you shall build the old

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waste places. You shall raise up the foundations

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of many generations, and you shall be called

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the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets

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to dwell in. If you turn away your foot from

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the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy

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day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy

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day of the Lord honorable, and shall honor him

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not doing your own ways, nor finding your own

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pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you

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shall delight yourself in the Lord. and I will

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cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth,

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and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your

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father. The mouth of the Lord has spoken. Chapter

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59 Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened,

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that it cannot save, nor his ear heavy, that

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it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated

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you from your God, and your sins have hidden

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his face from you, so that he will not hear.

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For your hands are defiled with blood, and your

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fingers with iniquity. Your lips have spoken

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lies, your tongue has muttered perversity. No

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one calls for justice, nor does any plead for

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truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies.

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They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity.

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They hatch vipers' eggs and weave the spider's

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web. He who eats of their eggs dies, and from

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that which is crushed a viper breaks out. Their

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webs will not become garments, nor will they

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cover themselves with their works. Their works

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are works of iniquity, and the act of violence

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is in their hands. Their feet run to evil, and

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they make haste to shed innocent blood. Their

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thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Wasting and

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destruction are in their path. The way of peace

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they have not known, and there is no justice

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in their ways. They have made themselves crooked

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paths. Whoever takes that way shall not know

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peace therefore justice is far from us nor does

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righteousness overtake us we look for light but

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there is darkness for brightness but we walk

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in blackness we grope for the wall like the blind

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and we grope as if we had no eyes we stumble

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at noon day as at twilight we are as dead men

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in desolate places we all growl like bears and

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moan sadly like doves We look for justice, but

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there is none. For salvation, but it is far from

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us. For our transgressions are multiplied before

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you, and our sins testify against us. For our

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transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities,

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we know them. In transgressing and lying against

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the Lord and departing from our God, speaking

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oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering

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from the heart words of falsehood, justice is

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turned back. and righteousness stands afar off.

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For truth is fallen in the street, and equity

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cannot enter. So truth fails, and he who departs

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from evil makes himself a prey. Then the Lord

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saw it, and it displeased him that there was

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no justice. He saw that there was no man, and

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wondered that there was no intercessor. Therefore

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his own arm brought salvation for him, and his

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own righteousness it sustained him. For he put

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on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet

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of salvation on his head. He put on the garments

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of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with

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zeal as a cloak. According to their deeds, accordingly

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he will repay. Fury to his adversaries, recompense

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to his enemies. The coastlands he will fully

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repay, so shall they fear the name of the Lord

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from the west, and his glory from the rising

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of the sun. When the enemy comes in like a flood,

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the Spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard

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against him. The Redeemer will come to Zion and

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to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,

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says the Lord. As for me, says the Lord, this

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is my covenant with them. My Spirit who is upon

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you and my words which I have put in your mouth

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shall not depart from your mouth nor from the

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mouth of your descendants. nor from the mouth

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of your descendants' descendants, says the Lord,

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from this time and forevermore. I hope you enjoyed

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today's reading as much as I did and I look forward

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to seeing you again tomorrow to continue on our

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journey. God bless you and have a great day.