The Righteous Reign of the Branch of Jesse

111 And there will come a rod out of the broken tree of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots will give fruit. 2 And the spirit of the Lord will be resting on him, the spirit of wisdom and good sense, the spirit of wise guiding and strength, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; 3 And he will not be guided in his judging by what he sees, or give decisions by the hearing of his ears: 4 But he will do right in the cause of the poor, and give wise decisions for those in the land who are in need; and the rod of his mouth will come down on the cruel, and with the breath of his lips he will put an end to the evil-doer. 5 And righteousness will be the cord of his robe, and good faith the band round his breast. 6 And the wolf will be living with the lamb, and the leopard will take his rest with the young goat; and the lion will take grass for food like the ox; and the young lion will go with the young ones of the herd; and a little child will be their guide. 7 And the cow and the bear will be friends while their young ones are sleeping together. 8 And the child at the breast will be playing by the hole of the snake, and the older child will put his hand on the bright eye of the poison-snake. 9 There will be no cause of pain or destruction in all my holy mountain: for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the sea is covered by the waters.

10 And in that day, the eyes of the nations will be turned to the root of Jesse which will be lifted up as the flag of the peoples; and his resting-place will be glory. 11 And in that day the hand of the Lord will be stretched out the second time to get back the rest of his people, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the sea-lands. 12 And he will put up a flag as a sign to the nations, and he will get together those of Israel who had been sent away, and the wandering ones of Judah, from the four ends of the earth. 13 And the envy of Ephraim will be gone, and those who make trouble for Judah will come to an end: Ephraim will have no more envy of Judah, and there will be an end of Judah's hate for Ephraim. 14 And they will be united in attacking the Philistines on the west, and together they will take the goods of the children of the east: their hand will be on Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon will be under their rule. 15 And the Lord will make the tongue of the Egyptian sea completely dry; and with his burning wind his hand will be stretched out over the River, and it will be parted into seven streams, so that men may go over it with dry feet. 16 And there will be a highway for the rest of his people from Assyria; as there was for Israel in the day when he came up out of the land of Egypt.

The LORD to Be Praised in That Day

121 And in that day you will say I will give praise to you, O Lord; for though you were angry with me, your wrath is turned away, and I am comforted. 2 See, God is my salvation; I will have faith in the Lord, without fear: for the Lord Jah is my strength and song; and he has become my salvation. 3 So with joy will you get water out of the springs of salvation.

4 And in that day you will say, Give praise to the Lord, let his name be honoured, give word of his doings among the peoples, say that his name is lifted up. 5 Make a song to the Lord; for he has done noble things: give news of them through all the earth. 6 Let your voice be sounding in a cry of joy, O daughter of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.

The Oracle concerning Babylon

131 The word of the Lord about Babylon which Isaiah, the son of Amoz, saw. 2 Put up a flag on a clear mountain-top, make a loud outcry to them, give directions with the hand, so that they may go into the doors of the great ones. 3 I have given orders to my holy ones, I have sent out my men of war, those of mine who take pride in their power, to give effect to my wrath. 4 The noise of great numbers in the mountains, like the noise of a strong people! The noise of the kingdoms of the nations meeting together! The Lord of armies is numbering his forces for war. 5 They come from a far country, from the farthest part of heaven, even the Lord and the instruments of his wrath, with destruction for all the land.

6 Send out a cry of grief; for the day of the Lord is near; it comes as destruction from the Most High. 7 For this cause all hands will be feeble, and every heart of man be turned to water; 8 Their hearts will be full of fear; pains and sorrows will overcome them; they will be in pain like a woman in childbirth; they will be shocked at one another; their faces will be like flames. 9 See, the day of the Lord is coming, cruel, with wrath and burning passion: to make the land a waste, driving the sinners in it to destruction. 10 For the stars of heaven and its bright armies will not give their light: the sun will be made dark in his journey through the heaven, and the moon will keep back her light. 11 And I will send punishment on the world for its evil, and on the sinners for their wrongdoing; and I will put an end to all pride, and will make low the power of the cruel. 12 I will make men so small in number, that a man will be harder to get than gold, even the best gold of Ophir. 13 For this cause the heavens will be shaking, and the earth will be moved out of its place, in the wrath of the Lord of armies, and in the day of his burning passion. 14 And it will be that, like a roe in flight, and like wandering sheep, they will go every man to his people and to his land. 15 Everyone who is overtaken will have a spear put through him, and everyone who goes in flight will be put to the sword. 16 Their young children will be broken up before their eyes; their goods will be taken away, and their wives made the property of others. 17 See, I am driving the Medes against them, who put no value on silver and have no pleasure in gold. 18 In their hands are bows and spears; they are cruel, violently putting the young men to death, and crushing the young women; they have no pity for children, and no mercy for the fruit of the body.

19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beautiful town which is the pride of the Chaldaeans, will be like God's destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. 20 People will never be living in it again, and it will have no more men from generation to generation: the Arab will not put up his tent there; and those who keep sheep will not make it a resting-place for their flocks. 21 But the beasts of the waste land will have their holes there; and the houses will be full of crying jackals, and ostriches will have their place there, and evil spirits will be dancing there. 22 And wolves will be answering one another in their towers, and jackals in their houses of pleasure: her time is near, and her days of power will quickly be ended.

The Unity of the Spirit

41 I then, the prisoner in the Lord, make this request from my heart, that you will see that your behaviour is a credit to the position which God's purpose has given you,

2 With all gentle and quiet behaviour, taking whatever comes, putting up with one another in love; 3 Taking care to keep the harmony of the Spirit in the yoke of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, even as you have been marked out by God in the one hope of his purpose for you; 5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 One God and Father of all, who is over all, and through all, and in all. 7 But to every one of us has grace been given in the measure of the giving of Christ. 8 For this reason he says, He went up on high, taking his prisoners with him, and gave freely to men. 9 (Now this, He went up, what is it but that he first went down into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who went down is the same who went up far over all the heavens so that he might make all things complete.) 11 And he gave some as Apostles, and some, prophets; and some, preachers of the good news; and some to give care and teaching; 12 For the training of the saints as servants in the church, for the building up of the body of Christ: 13 Till we all come to the harmony of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to full growth, to the full measure of Christ: 14 So that we may be no longer children, sent this way and that, turned about by every wind of teaching, by the twisting and tricks of men, by the deceits of error; 15 But saying true words in love, may come to full growth in him, who is the head, even Christ; 16 Through whom all the body, being rightly formed and united together, by the full working of every part, is increased to the building up of itself in love.

The New Life in Christ

17 This I say, then, and give witness in the Lord, that you are to go no longer in the way of the Gentiles whose minds are turned to that which has no profit, 18 Whose thoughts are dark, to whom the life of God is strange because they are without knowledge, and their hearts have been made hard; 19 Who having no more power of feeling, have given themselves up to evil passions, to do all unclean things with overmuch desire. 20 For this was not the teaching of Christ which was given to you; 21 If in fact you gave ear to him, and were given teaching in him, even as what is true is made clear in Jesus: 22 That you are to put away, in relation to your earlier way of life, the old man, which has become evil by love of deceit; 23 And be made new in the spirit of your mind, 24 And put on the new man, to which God has given life, in righteousness and a true and holy way of living. 25 And so, putting away false words, let everyone say what is true to his neighbour: for we are parts one of another. 26 Be angry without doing wrong; let not the sun go down on your wrath; 27 And do not give way to the Evil One. 28 Let him who was a thief be so no longer, but let him do good work with his hands, so that he may have something to give to him who is in need. 29 Let no evil talk come out of your mouth, but only what is good for giving necessary teaching, and for grace to those who give ear. 30 And do not give grief to the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were marked for the day of salvation. 31 Let all bitter, sharp and angry feeling, and noise, and evil words, be put away from you, with all unkind acts; 32 And be kind to one another, full of pity, having forgiveness for one another, even as God in Christ had forgiveness for you.