Luke 23:13-25
[13] Pilate then called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people, [14] and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was misleading the people. And after examining him before you, behold, I did not find this man guilty of any of your charges against him. [15] Neither did Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look, nothing deserving death has been done by him. [16] I will therefore punish and release him.”
[18] But they all cried out together, “Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas”—[19] a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city and for murder. [20] Pilate addressed them once more, desiring to release Jesus, [21] but they kept shouting, “Crucify, crucify him!” [22] A third time he said to them, “Why? What evil has he done? I have found in him no guilt deserving death. I will therefore punish and release him.” [23] But they were urgent, demanding with loud cries that he should be crucified. And their voices prevailed. [24] So Pilate decided that their demand should be granted. [25] He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, for whom they asked, but he delivered Jesus over to their will.
Hebrews 9:1-10
[1] Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. [2] For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place. [3] Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place, [4] having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. [5] Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.
[6] These preparations having thus been made, the priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, [7] but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people. [8] By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the holy places is not yet opened as long as the first section is still standing [9] (which is symbolic for the present age). According to this arrangement, gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper, [10] but deal only with food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of reformation.
Proverbs 25:15-28
[15] With patience a ruler may be persuaded,
and a soft tongue will break a bone.
[16] If you have found honey, eat only enough for you,
lest you have your fill of it and vomit it.
[17] Let your foot be seldom in your neighbor’s house,
lest he have his fill of you and hate you.
[18] A man who bears false witness against his neighbor
is like a war club, or a sword, or a sharp arrow.
[19] Trusting in a treacherous man in time of trouble
is like a bad tooth or a foot that slips.
[20] Whoever sings songs to a heavy heart
is like one who takes off a garment on a cold day,
and like vinegar on soda.
[21] If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat,
and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink,
[22] for you will heap burning coals on his head,
and the LORD will reward you.
[23] The north wind brings forth rain,
and a backbiting tongue, angry looks.
[24] It is better to live in a corner of the housetop
than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife.
[25] Like cold water to a thirsty soul,
so is good news from a far country.
[26] Like a muddied spring or a polluted fountain
is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked.
[27] It is not good to eat much honey,
nor is it glorious to seek one’s own glory.
[28] A man without self-control
is like a city broken into and left without walls.
Isaiah 40
[1] Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
[2] Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the LORD’s hand
double for all her sins.
[3] A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
[4] Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
[5] And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”
[6] A voice says, “Cry!”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
All flesh is grass,
and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
[7] The grass withers, the flower fades
when the breath of the LORD blows on it;
surely the people are grass.
[8] The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever.
[9] Go on up to a high mountain,
O Zion, herald of good news;
lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good news;
lift it up, fear not;
say to the cities of Judah,
“Behold your God!”
[10] Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.
[11] He will tend his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms;
he will carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead those that are with young.
[12] Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
and marked off the heavens with a span,
enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure
and weighed the mountains in scales
and the hills in a balance?
[13] Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD,
or what man shows him his counsel?
[14] Whom did he consult,
and who made him understand?
Who taught him the path of justice,
and taught him knowledge,
and showed him the way of understanding?
[15] Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
and are accounted as the dust on the scales;
behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust.
[16] Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,
nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.
[17] All the nations are as nothing before him,
they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.
[18] To whom then will you liken God,
or what likeness compare with him?
[19] An idol! A craftsman casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold
and casts for it silver chains.
[20] He who is too impoverished for an offering
chooses wood that will not rot;
he seeks out a skillful craftsman
to set up an idol that will not move.
[21] Do you not know? Do you not hear?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
[22] It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;
[23] who brings princes to nothing,
and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness.
[24] Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows on them, and they wither,
and the tempest carries them off like stubble.
[25] To whom then will you compare me,
that I should be like him? says the Holy One.
[26] Lift up your eyes on high and see:
who created these?
He who brings out their host by number,
calling them all by name;
by the greatness of his might
and because he is strong in power,
not one is missing.
[27] Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the LORD,
and my right is disregarded by my God”?
[28] Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
[29] He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
[30] Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
[31] but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 41
[1] Listen to me in silence, O coastlands;
let the peoples renew their strength;
let them approach, then let them speak;
let us together draw near for judgment.
[2] Who stirred up one from the east
whom victory meets at every step?
He gives up nations before him,
so that he tramples kings underfoot;
he makes them like dust with his sword,
like driven stubble with his bow.
[3] He pursues them and passes on safely,
by paths his feet have not trod.
[4] Who has performed and done this,
calling the generations from the beginning?
I, the LORD, the first,
and with the last; I am he.
[5] The coastlands have seen and are afraid;
the ends of the earth tremble;
they have drawn near and come.
[6] Everyone helps his neighbor
and says to his brother, “Be strong!”
[7] The craftsman strengthens the goldsmith,
and he who smooths with the hammer him who strikes the anvil,
saying of the soldering, “It is good”;
and they strengthen it with nails so that it cannot be moved.
[8] But you, Israel, my servant,
Jacob, whom I have chosen,
the offspring of Abraham, my friend;
[9] you whom I took from the ends of the earth,
and called from its farthest corners,
saying to you, “You are my servant,
I have chosen you and not cast you off”;
[10] fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
[11] Behold, all who are incensed against you
shall be put to shame and confounded;
those who strive against you
shall be as nothing and shall perish.
[12] You shall seek those who contend with you,
but you shall not find them;
those who war against you
shall be as nothing at all.
[13] For I, the LORD your God,
hold your right hand;
it is I who say to you, “Fear not,
I am the one who helps you.”
[14] Fear not, you worm Jacob,
you men of Israel!
I am the one who helps you, declares the LORD;
your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
[15] Behold, I make of you a threshing sledge,
new, sharp, and having teeth;
you shall thresh the mountains and crush them,
and you shall make the hills like chaff;
[16] you shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away,
and the tempest shall scatter them.
And you shall rejoice in the LORD;
in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.
[17] When the poor and needy seek water,
and there is none,
and their tongue is parched with thirst,
I the LORD will answer them;
I the God of Israel will not forsake them.
[18] I will open rivers on the bare heights,
and fountains in the midst of the valleys.
I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
and the dry land springs of water.
[19] I will put in the wilderness the cedar,
the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive.
I will set in the desert the cypress,
the plane and the pine together,
[20] that they may see and know,
may consider and understand together,
that the hand of the LORD has done this,
the Holy One of Israel has created it.
[21] Set forth your case, says the LORD;
bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob.
[22] Let them bring them, and tell us
what is to happen.
Tell us the former things, what they are,
that we may consider them,
that we may know their outcome;
or declare to us the things to come.
[23] Tell us what is to come hereafter,
that we may know that you are gods;
do good, or do harm,
that we may be dismayed and terrified.
[24] Behold, you are nothing,
and your work is less than nothing;
an abomination is he who chooses you.
[25] I stirred up one from the north, and he has come,
from the rising of the sun, and he shall call upon my name;
he shall trample on rulers as on mortar,
as the potter treads clay.
[26] Who declared it from the beginning, that we might know,
and beforehand, that we might say, “He is right”?
There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed,
none who heard your words.
[27] I was the first to say to Zion, “Behold, here they are!”
and I give to Jerusalem a herald of good news.
[28] But when I look, there is no one;
among these there is no counselor
who, when I ask, gives an answer.
[29] Behold, they are all a delusion;
their works are nothing;
their metal images are empty wind.
