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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