Isaiah 1-2? New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)
1 The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
The Wickedness of Judah
2
Hear, O heavens, and listen, O earth;
for the Lord has spoken:
I reared children and brought them up,
but they have rebelled against me.
3
The ox knows its owner,
and the donkey its master’s crib;
but Israel does not know,
my people do not understand.
4
Ah, sinful nation,
people laden with iniquity,
offspring who do evil,
children who deal corruptly,
who have forsaken the Lord,
who have despised the Holy One of Israel,
who are utterly estranged!
5
Why do you seek further beatings?
Why do you continue to rebel?
The whole head is sick,
and the whole heart faint.
6
From the sole of the foot even to the head,
there is no soundness in it,
but bruises and sores
and bleeding wounds;
they have not been drained, or bound up,
or softened with oil.
7
Your country lies desolate,
your cities are burned with fire;
in your very presence
aliens devour your land;
it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.
8
And daughter Zion is left
like a booth in a vineyard,
like a shelter in a cucumber field,
like a besieged city.
9
If the Lord of hosts
had not left us a few survivors,
we would have been like Sodom,
and become like Gomorrah.
10
Hear the word of the Lord,
you rulers of Sodom!
Listen to the teaching of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!
11
What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the Lord;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.
12
When you come to appear before me,[a]
who asked this from your hand?
Trample my courts no more;
13
bringing offerings is futile;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and sabbath and calling of convocation—
I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity.
14
Your new moons and your appointed festivals
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me,
I am weary of bearing them.
15
When you stretch out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.
16
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your doings
from before my eyes;
cease to do evil,
17
learn to do good;
seek justice,
rescue the oppressed,
defend the orphan,
plead for the widow.
18
Come now, let us argue it out,
says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be like snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.
19
If you are willing and obedient,
you shall eat the good of the land;
20
but if you refuse and rebel,
you shall be devoured by the sword;
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
The Degenerate City
21
How the faithful city
has become a whore!
She that was full of justice,
righteousness lodged in her—
but now murderers!
22
Your silver has become dross,
your wine is mixed with water.
23
Your princes are rebels
and companions of thieves.
Everyone loves a bribe
and runs after gifts.
They do not defend the orphan,
and the widow’s cause does not come before them.
24
Therefore says the Sovereign, the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel:
Ah, I will pour out my wrath on my enemies,
and avenge myself on my foes!
25
I will turn my hand against you;
I will smelt away your dross as with lye
and remove all your alloy.
26
And I will restore your judges as at the first,
and your counselors as at the beginning.
Afterward you shall be called the city of righteousness,
the faithful city.
27
Zion shall be redeemed by justice,
and those in her who repent, by righteousness.
28
But rebels and sinners shall be destroyed together,
and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed.
29
For you shall be ashamed of the oaks
in which you delighted;
and you shall blush for the gardens
that you have chosen.
30
For you shall be like an oak
whose leaf withers,
and like a garden without water.
31
The strong shall become like tinder,
and their work[b] like a spark;
they and their work shall burn together,
with no one to quench them.
The Future House of God
2 The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2
In days to come
the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be raised above the hills;
all the nations shall stream to it.
3
Many peoples shall come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
4
He shall judge between the nations,
and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.
Judgment Pronounced on Arrogance
5
O house of Jacob,
come, let us walk
in the light of the Lord!
6
For you have forsaken the ways of[c] your people,
O house of Jacob.
Indeed they are full of diviners[d] from the east
and of soothsayers like the Philistines,
and they clasp hands with foreigners.
7
Their land is filled with silver and gold,
and there is no end to their treasures;
their land is filled with horses,
and there is no end to their chariots.
8
Their land is filled with idols;
they bow down to the work of their hands,
to what their own fingers have made.
9
And so people are humbled,
and everyone is brought low—
do not forgive them!
10
Enter into the rock,
and hide in the dust
from the terror of the Lord,
and from the glory of his majesty.
11
The haughty eyes of people shall be brought low,
and the pride of everyone shall be humbled;
and the Lord alone will be exalted on that day.
12
For the Lord of hosts has a day
against all that is proud and lofty,
against all that is lifted up and high;[e]
13
against all the cedars of Lebanon,
lofty and lifted up;
and against all the oaks of Bashan;
14
against all the high mountains,
and against all the lofty hills;
15
against every high tower,
and against every fortified wall;
16
against all the ships of Tarshish,
and against all the beautiful craft.[f]
17
The haughtiness of people shall be humbled,
and the pride of everyone shall be brought low;
and the Lord alone will be exalted on that day.
18
The idols shall utterly pass away.
19
Enter the caves of the rocks
and the holes of the ground,
from the terror of the Lord,
and from the glory of his majesty,
when he rises to terrify the earth.
20
On that day people will throw away
to the moles and to the bats
their idols of silver and their idols of gold,
which they made for themselves to worship,
21
to enter the caverns of the rocks
and the clefts in the crags,
from the terror of the Lord,
and from the glory of his majesty,
when he rises to terrify the earth.
22
Turn away from mortals,
who have only breath in their nostrils,
for of what account are they?
Wisdom 13:1-9 New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)
The Foolishness of Nature Worship
13 For all people who were ignorant of God were foolish by nature;
and they were unable from the good things that are seen to know the one who exists,
nor did they recognize the artisan while paying heed to his works;
2
but they supposed that either fire or wind or swift air,
or the circle of the stars, or turbulent water,
or the luminaries of heaven were the gods that rule the world.
3
If through delight in the beauty of these things people assumed them to be gods,
let them know how much better than these is their Lord,
for the author of beauty created them.
4
And if people[a] were amazed at their power and working,
let them perceive from them
how much more powerful is the one who formed them.
5
For from the greatness and beauty of created things
comes a corresponding perception of their Creator.
6
Yet these people are little to be blamed,
for perhaps they go astray
while seeking God and desiring to find him.
7
For while they live among his works, they keep searching,
and they trust in what they see, because the things that are seen are beautiful.
8
Yet again, not even they are to be excused;
9
for if they had the power to know so much
that they could investigate the world,
how did they fail to find sooner the Lord of these things?
1 Timothy 1 New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (NRSVCE)
Salutation
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,
2 To Timothy, my loyal child in the faith:
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Warning against False Teachers
3 I urge you, as I did when I was on my way to Macedonia, to remain in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people not to teach any different doctrine, 4 and not to occupy themselves with myths and endless genealogies that promote speculations rather than the divine training[a] that is known by faith. 5 But the aim of such instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith. 6 Some people have deviated from these and turned to meaningless talk, 7 desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make assertions.
8 Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it legitimately. 9 This means understanding that the law is laid down not for the innocent but for the lawless and disobedient, for the godless and sinful, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their father or mother, for murderers, 10 fornicators, sodomites, slave traders, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching 11 that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.
Gratitude for Mercy
12 I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because he judged me faithful and appointed me to his service, 13 even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15 The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the foremost. 16 But for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience, making me an example to those who would come to believe in him for eternal life. 17 To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.[b] Amen.
18 I am giving you these instructions, Timothy, my child, in accordance with the prophecies made earlier about you, so that by following them you may fight the good fight, 19 having faith and a good conscience. By rejecting conscience, certain persons have suffered shipwreck in the faith; 20 among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have turned over to Satan, so that they may learn not to blaspheme.