DAY ONE HUNDRED-NINETY
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July 8
Devotional
Tell the righteous that it will go well for them, for they will eat the fruit of their labor. Isaiah 3:10 CSB
The book of Isaiah is written to a group of people who are facing a complete societal upheaval. In the midst of what’s to come there is a simple promise that there is still a blessing for those who stay committed to God. It can be easy to look at what’s happening around you and feel defeated and discouraged. Maybe it’s a hardship or some level of persecution you might be experiencing because your choices are counter-cultural to those around you. There is a comfort in today’s verse that God is faithful and true to His word. Your part is obedience, and the rest is up to God. God is always at work and doing what He promises to do. Find peace and hope in God’s promises and let the encouragement of this verse bring you through what you may be facing today.
Isaiah 1 CSB
1 The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah of Judah.Judah on Trial
2 Listen, heavens, and pay attention, earth,
for the Lord has spoken:
“I have raised children and brought them up,
but they have rebelled against me.
3 The ox knows its owner,
and the donkey its master’s feeding trough,
but Israel does not know;
my people do not understand.”
4 Oh sinful nation,
people weighed down with iniquity,
brood of evildoers,
depraved children!
They have abandoned the Lord;
they have despised the Holy One of Israel;
they have turned their backs on him.
5 Why do you want more beatings?
Why do you keep on rebelling?
The whole head is hurt,
and the whole heart is sick.
6 From the sole of the foot even to the head,
no spot is uninjured—
wounds, welts, and festering sores
not cleansed, bandaged,
or soothed with oil.
7 Your land is desolate,
your cities burned down;
foreigners devour your fields
right in front of you—
a desolation, like a place demolished by foreigners.
8 Daughter Zion is abandoned
like a shelter in a vineyard,
like a shack in a cucumber field,
like a besieged city.
9 If the Lord of Armies
had not left us a few survivors,
we would be like Sodom,
we would resemble Gomorrah.
10 Hear the word of the Lord,
you rulers of Sodom!
Listen to the instruction of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!
11 “What are all your sacrifices to me?”
asks the Lord.
“I have had enough of burnt offerings and rams
and the fat of well-fed cattle;
I have no desire for the blood of bulls,
lambs, or male goats.
12 When you come to appear before me,
who requires this from you—
this trampling of my courts?
13 Stop bringing useless offerings.
Your incense is detestable to me.
New Moons and Sabbaths,
and the calling of solemn assemblies—
I cannot stand iniquity with a festival.
14 I hate your New Moons and prescribed festivals.
They have become a burden to me;
I am tired of putting up with them.
15 When you spread out your hands in prayer,
I will refuse to look at you;
even if you offer countless prayers,
I will not listen.
Your hands are covered with blood.
Purification of Jerusalem
16 “Wash yourselves. Cleanse yourselves.
Remove your evil deeds from my sight.
Stop doing evil.
17 Learn to do what is good.
Pursue justice.
Correct the oppressor.
Defend the rights of the fatherless.
Plead the widow’s cause.
18 “Come, let’s settle this,”
says the Lord.
“Though your sins are scarlet,
they will be as white as snow;
though they are crimson red,
they will be like wool.
19 If you are willing and obedient,
you will eat the good things of the land.
20 But if you refuse and rebel,
you will be devoured by the sword.”
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
21 The faithful town—
what an adulteress she has become!
She was once full of justiceRighteousness once dwelt in her,
but now, murderers!
22 Your silver has become dross to be discarded,
your beer is diluted with water.
23 Your rulers are rebels,
friends of thieves.
They all love graft
and chase after bribes.
They do not defend the rights of the fatherless,
and the widow’s case never comes before them.
24 Therefore the Lord God of Armies,
the Mighty One of Israel, declares:
“Ah, I will get even with my foes;
I will take revenge against my enemies.
25 I will turn my hand against you
and will burn away your dross completely;
I will remove all your impurities.
26 I will restore your judges to what they were at first,
and your advisers to what they were at the start.
Afterward you will be called the Righteous City,
a Faithful Town.”
27 Zion will be redeemed by justice,
those who repent, by righteousness.
28 At the same time both rebels and sinners will be broken,
and those who abandon the Lord will perish.
29 Indeed, they will be ashamed of the sacred trees
you desired,
and you will be embarrassed because of the garden shrines
you have chosen.
30 For you will become like an oak
whose leaves are withered,
and like a garden without water.
31 The strong one will become tinder,
and his work a spark;
both will burn together,
with no one to extinguish the flames.
Isaiah 2 CSB
The City of Peace2 The vision that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem:
2 In the last days
the mountain of the Lord’s house will be established
at the top of the mountains
and will be raised above the hills.
All nations will stream to it,
3 and many peoples will come and say,
“Come, let’s go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us about his ways
so that we may walk in his paths.”
For instruction will go out of Zion
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4 He will settle disputes among the nations
and provide arbitration for many peoples.
They will beat their swords into plows
and their spears into pruning knives.
Nation will not take up the sword against nation,
and they will never again train for war.
The Day of the Lord
5 House of Jacob,
come and let’s walk in the Lord’s light.
6 For you have abandoned your people,
the house of Jacob,
because they are full of divination from the East
and of fortune-tellers like the Philistines.
They are in league with foreigners.
7 Their land is full of silver and gold,
and there is no limit to their treasures;
their land is full of horses,
and there is no limit to their chariots.
8 Their land is full of worthless idols;
they worship the work of their hands,
what their fingers have made.
9 So humanity is brought low,
and each person is humbled.
Do not forgive them!
10 Go into the rocks
and hide in the dust
from the terror of the Lord
and from his majestic splendor.
11 The pride of mankind will be humbled,
and human loftiness will be brought low;
the Lord alone will be exalted on that day.
12 For a day belonging to the Lord of Armies is coming
against all that is proud and lofty,
against all that is lifted up—it will be humbled—
13 against all the cedars of Lebanon,
lofty and lifted up,
against all the oaks of Bashan,
14 against all the high mountains,
against all the lofty hills,
15 against every high tower,
against every fortified wall,
16 against every ship of Tarshish,
and against every splendid sea vessel.
17 The pride of mankind will be brought low,
and human loftiness will be humbled;
the Lord alone will be exalted on that day.
18 The worthless idols will vanish completely.
19 People will go into caves in the rocks
and holes in the ground,
away from the terror of the Lord
and from his majestic splendor,
when he rises to terrify the earth.
20 On that day people will throw
their worthless idols of silver and gold,
which they made to worship,
to the moles and the bats.
21 They will go into the caves of the rocks
and the crevices in the cliffs,
away from the terror of the Lord
and from his majestic splendor,
when he rises to terrify the earth.
22 Put no more trust in a mere human,
who has only the breath in his nostrils.
What is he really worth?
Isaiah 3 CSB
Judah’s Leaders Judged3 Note this: The Lord God of Armies
is about to remove from Jerusalem and from Judah
every kind of security:
the entire supply of bread and water,
2 heroes and warriors,
judges and prophets,
fortune-tellers and elders,
3 commanders of fifty and dignitaries,
counselors, cunning magicians, and necromancers.
4 “I will make youths their leaders,
and unstable rulers will govern them.”
5 The people will oppress one another,
man against man, neighbor against neighbor;
the young will act arrogantly toward the old,
and the worthless toward the honorable.
6 A man will even seize his brother
in his father’s house, saying,
“You have a cloak—you be our leader!
This heap of rubble will be under your control.”
7 On that day he will cry out, saying,
“I’m not a healer.
I don’t even have food or clothing in my house.
Don’t make me the leader of the people!”
8 For Jerusalem has stumbled
and Judah has fallen
because they have spoken and acted against the Lord,
defying his glorious presence.
9 The look on their faces testifies against them,
and like Sodom, they flaunt their sin;
they do not conceal it.
Woe to them,
for they have brought disaster on themselves.
10 Tell the righteous that it will go well for them,
for they will eat the fruit of their labor.
11 Woe to the wicked—it will go badly for them,
for what they have done will be done to them.
12 Youths oppress my people,
and women rule over them.
My people, your leaders mislead you;
they confuse the direction of your paths.
13 The Lord rises to argue the case
and stands to judge the people.
14 The Lord brings this charge
against the elders and leaders of his people:
“You have devastated the vineyard.
The plunder from the poor is in your houses.
15 Why do you crush my people
and grind the faces of the poor?”
This is the declaration of the Lord God of Armies.
Jerusalem’s Women Judged
16 The Lord also says:
Because the daughters of Zion are haughty,
walking with heads held high
and seductive eyes,
prancing along,
jingling their ankle bracelets,
17 the Lord will put scabs on the heads
of the daughters of Zion,
and the Lord will shave their foreheads bare.
18 On that day the Lord will strip their finery: ankle bracelets, headbands, crescents, 19 pendants, bracelets, veils, 20 headdresses, ankle jewelry, sashes, perfume bottles, amulets, 21 signet rings, nose rings, 22 festive robes, capes, cloaks, purses, 23 garments, linen clothes, turbans, and shawls.
24 Instead of perfume there will be a stench;
instead of a belt, a rope;
instead of beautifully styled hair, baldness;
instead of fine clothes, sackcloth;
instead of beauty, branding.
25 Your men will fall by the sword,
your warriors in battle.
26 Then her gates will lament and mourn;
deserted, she will sit on the ground.
Isaiah 4 CSB
4 On that day seven womenwill seize one man, saying,
“We will eat our own bread
and provide our own clothing.
Just let us bear your name.
Take away our disgrace.”
Zion’s Future Glory
2 On that day the Branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of Israel’s survivors. 3 Whoever remains in Zion and whoever is left in Jerusalem will be called holy—all in Jerusalem written in the book of life— 4 when the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodguilt from the heart of Jerusalem by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of burning. 5 Then the Lord will create a cloud of smoke by day and a glowing flame of fire by night over the entire site of Mount Zion and over its assemblies. For there will be a canopy over all the glory, 6 and there will be a shelter for shade from heat by day and a refuge and shelter from storm and rain.
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