Bible Reading for July 23

Isaiah 49
[1] Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD
hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made
mention of my name.
[2] And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand
hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me;
[3] And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be
glorified.
[4] Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for
nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work
with my God. [5] And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be
his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered,
yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my
strength. [6] And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my
servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of
Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest
be my salvation unto the end of the earth.
[7] Thus saith the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him
whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of
rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of
the LORD that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose
thee. [8] Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and
in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and
give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to
inherit the desolate heritages;
[9] That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in
darkness, Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures
shall be in all high places.
[10] They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite
them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs
of water shall he guide them.
[11] And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be
exalted. [12] Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the
north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim. [13] Sing, O
heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains:
for the LORD hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his
afflicted.
[14] But Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten
me. [15] Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have
compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not
forget thee. [16] Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands;
thy walls are continually before me.
[17] Thy children shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee
waste shall go forth of thee.
[18] Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather
themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith the LORD, thou
shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them
on thee, as a bride doeth.
[19] For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy
destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and
they that swallowed thee up shall be far away. [20] The children which thou
shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears,
The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell.
[21] Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing
I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and
fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where
had they been?
[22] Thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the
Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy
sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their
shoulders. [23] And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens
thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the
earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the
LORD: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.
[24] Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive
delivered? [25] But thus saith the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty
shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I
will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy
children. [26] And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh;
and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all
flesh shall know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the
mighty One of Jacob.

Isaiah 50
[1] Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement,
whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold
you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your
transgressions is your mother put away.
[2] Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none
to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no
power to deliver? behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers
a wilderness: their fish stinketh, because there is no water, and dieth for
thirst.
[3] I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their
covering. [4] The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I
should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth
morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned. [5] The
Lord GOD hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned
away back.
[6] I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off
the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting. [7] For the Lord GOD
will help me; therefore shall I not be confounded: therefore have I set my
face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed.
[8] He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? let us stand
together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me. [9] Behold, the
Lord GOD will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall
wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up. [10] Who is among you
that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh
in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and
stay upon his God. [11] Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass
yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the
sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie
down in sorrow.

Isaiah 51
[1] Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the
LORD: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit
whence ye are digged.
[2] Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I
called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him. [3] For the LORD
shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make
her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy
and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
[4] Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a
law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light
of the people.
[5] My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms
shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall
they trust.
[6] Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for
the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like
a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my
salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.
[7] Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart
is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their
revilings.
[8] For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat
them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation
from generation to generation.
[9] Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the
ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut
Rahab, and wounded the dragon?
[10] Art thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great
deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass
over? [11] Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with
singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall
obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away. [12] I,
even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be
afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made
as grass;
[13] And forgettest the LORD thy maker, that hath stretched forth the
heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually
every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to
destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?
[14] The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should
not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail. [15] But I am the LORD
thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The LORD of hosts is his
name.
[16] And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the
shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations
of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people. [17] Awake, awake,
stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of
his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung
them out.
[18] There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought
forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons
that she hath brought up.
[19] These two things are come unto thee; who shall be sorry for thee?
desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword: by whom shall I
comfort thee?
[20] Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a
wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of
thy God. [21] Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not
with wine: [22] Thus saith thy Lord the LORD, and thy God that pleadeth the
cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of
trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink
it again: [23] But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee;
which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast
laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over.

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