WELS Through my Bible in Three Years

By WELSReligion & Spirituality Christianity

WELS Through my Bible in Three Years episodes

January 22, 2025Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 22
Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 22
Isaiah 58 (EHV)

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Through My Bible – January 22
Isaiah 58 (EHV)
https://wels2.blob.core.windows.net/tmb-ehv/02-0122db.mp3
See series: Through My Bible
Fast for the Right Reasons
Isaiah 58
Cry out with a full-throated shout.
Do not hold back.
Shout like the blast of a ram’s horn.
Declare to my people their rebellious deeds.
Declare to the house of Jacob their sins.
2 They seek me day by day,
and they are delighted to know my ways,
    as if they were a nation that does what is right,
    as if they had not forsaken the just ways of their God.
They ask me for just verdicts.
They are delighted to approach God:
3 “Why do we fast, but you do not see?
Why do we afflict ourselves, but you are not aware?”
    This is what you do!
    On the same day when you fast, you do whatever you please,
and you oppress all your workers.
4 You fast so you can fight and quarrel,
so you can strike with a wicked fist.
You should not fast the way you are doing it today
if you expect God on high to hear your voice.
5 Is this the kind of fast that I would choose:
    a day when a person afflicts himself
    and bows his head like a reed
    and makes his bed on sackcloth and ashes?
Do you call this a fast, a day to gain the Lord’s favor?
6 On the contrary, isn’t this the kind of fast that I would choose:
    to loosen the chains of wickedness,
    to tear apart the ropes of a yoke,
    to release the oppressed so they go free,
    and to tear every yoke to pieces?
7 Isn’t a true fast that you share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless and afflicted into a house?
Yes, when you see a naked person, you are to cover him,
and do not hide yourself from your own flesh and blood.
8 Then your light will break forth like dawn,
and your healing will spring up quickly.
Your righteousness will go out ahead of you,
and the Glory of the Lord will follow you.
9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer.
You will cry out, and he will say, “Here I am!”
If you remove the bar of the yoke from among you,
and if you stop finger-pointing and speaking wickedly,
10 if you offer your life for the hungry,
and if you satisfy the desires of the afflicted,
then your light will shine in the darkness,
and your darkest gloom will shine like the noonday sun.
11 Then the Lord will lead you continually.
He will satisfy your desire in arid places,
and he will strengthen your bones.
Then you will be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water, whose waters will not fail.
12 Then your ancient ruins will be rebuilt,
and you will restore the foundations from past generations.
Then you will be called the repairer of broken walls,
the restorer of streets to live on.
13 If you do not trample the Sabbath
    by doing whatever you please on my holy day,
if you call the Sabbath a delight,
if you treat the holy day of the Lord as something to be honored,
if you honor it by not going your own way, [1]
by not pursuing pleasure or negotiating a deal,
14 then you will delight in the Lord.
I will cause you to ride over the heights of the land.
I will provide food for you from the land inherited from
    your father Jacob.
Yes, the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Footnotes
Isaiah 58:13 Or doing your own thing

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.
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4 min
January 21, 2025Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 21
Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 21
Isaiah 56 & 57 (EHV)

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Through My Bible – January 21
Isaiah 56 & 57 (EHV)
https://wels2.blob.core.windows.net/tmb-ehv/02-0121db.mp3
See series: Through My Bible
Isaiah 56
This is what the Lord says.
Protect justice, and carry out righteousness,
because my salvation is coming very soon.
My righteousness is ready to be revealed.
2 How blessed is everyone who does this,
who grabs hold of it,
who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it,
who holds back his hand from doing any evil.
The Lord Welcomes All People
3 Therefore, the foreigner who joins himself to the Lord should not say,
“The Lord will certainly exclude me from his people.”
The eunuch should not say,
“I am just a dried-up tree.”
4 Because this is what the Lord says:
“If the eunuchs keep my Sabbaths,
choose things that delight me,
and take hold of my covenant,
5 then I will set up in my house and on my walls
    a monument and a name for them
    that is better than that of sons and daughters.
I will give them an everlasting name which will not be cut off.”
6 Then the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord,
    to minister to him and to love the name of the Lord
    and to become his servants,
    every one of them who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it,
    those who take hold of my covenant—
7 I will bring them to my holy mountain,
and I will make them glad in my house of prayer.
Their whole burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be
    acceptable on my altar.
For my house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples
    of the world.
8 This is the declaration of God the Lord,
who gathers Israel’s dispersed people:
“I will gather still more people to my house besides
    the ones already gathered.”
The Coming Judgment Against Israel’s Leaders
9 All you wild animals, come to eat—
all you animals in the forest.
10 His watchmen are blind, all of them.
They know nothing.
All of them are silent dogs.
They are not able to bark.
They are seers who lie down,
who love to sleep.
11 These dogs have a big appetite.
They are never satisfied.
These shepherds have no understanding.
All of them turn to their own ways.
Each one, without exception, turns to his own gain.
12 “Come on, I want to drink wine.
Let’s get drunk on beer.
Tomorrow will be another day, just like today,
another great day, better than ever.”
There Will Be Peace for the Righteous Even in Death
Isaiah 57
1 The righteous one perishes,
but no one takes it to heart.
Men of mercy [1] are being taken away,
but no one understands
    that the righteous one is being spared from evil.
2 He will enter into peace.
They will rest on their beds.
He is walking in his uprightness. [2]
The Coming Judgment Against Israel’s Leaders
3 But you there, come closer,
you children of a witch,
you offspring of an adulterer and a prostitute.
4 Who are you mocking? [3]
Who are you making faces at and sticking out your tongue at?
Aren’t you all children born in rebellion,
the offspring of deceit,
5 you who are in heat among the oaks and under every green tree,
you who slaughter children in the ravines under the rugged cliffs?
6 Your chosen territory is among the smooth stones of the ravines.
They, yes, they, are your lot.
You even poured out a drink offering to them,
and you offered up a grain offering.
Since you have done these things, should I spare you?
7 Upon a mountain, high and lofty, you spread out your bed.
Yes, you went up there to offer a sacrifice.
8 Behind the door and doorpost you placed your memorial.
Yes, you deserted me and uncovered yourself. [4] You climbed right into bed.
You made room for them in your bed.
You committed yourself to them.
You loved their bed.
You stared at their bodies. [5]
9 You traveled to deliver offerings of fragrant oil to the king, [6]
and you made many offerings of incense.
You sent your messengers to a distant land.
You sent them as far as hell. [7]
10 Because of the length of your journey, you became weary,
but you did not say, “It is hopeless!”
So you found new strength, and you did not faint.
11 But who is making you so anxious and so afraid that you
    practice deception?
You did not remember me
and did not keep me in your heart.
Is it because I have been silent for a long time
    that you do not fear me?
12 I will declare your righteousness and your deeds,
but they will not benefit you.
13 When you cry out for help,
let your collections of idols deliver you.
But the wind will blow them all away.
A breeze will take them away.
But the one who takes refuge in me will inherit the land.
He will possess my holy mountain.
14 I will say, [8]
“Build up, build up the highway.
Prepare the way.
Remove the stumbling block from the way of my people.”
15 Certainly this is what the High and Lofty One says,
the one who dwells with his people forever,
and whose name is holy:
    I dwell in a high and holy place,
    yet also with the one who is crushed and lowly in spirit,
    in order to revive the spirit of those who have been pushed down,
    and to revive the hearts of those who have been crushed.
16     Surely I will not accuse forever,
    and I will not always be angry,
    because every spirit would grow weak in my presence,
    and every breath of life, which I made, would fail.
17     Because of the guilt from their selfish gain, I was angry,
    and I struck them and hid my face.
    I was angry,
    but the deserter [9] kept walking in the way his heart desired.
18     I saw his ways,
    but I will heal him, and I will lead him,
    and I will restore comfort to him
    and to all who mourn with him.
19     I am the one who creates praise as the fruit of their lips. [10]
Peace, peace to the one far off and to the one nearby,
says the Lord,
and I will heal him.
20 But the wicked are like the tossing sea,
    which is not able to rest.
Its waters toss up dirt and mud.
21 There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked.

Footnotes
Isaiah 57:1 Men of mercy are the recipients and dispensers of mercy.
Isaiah 57:2 The alternation of singular and plural forms (he and they) in verses 1 and 2 is not unusual in Hebrew poetry. It does not necessarily refer to two different groups.
Isaiah 57:4 EHV generally preserves the distinction between who and whom but recognizes that it is rapidly disappearing in speech.
Isaiah 57:8 Or your bed
Isaiah 57:8 The base meaning of the Hebrew word yad is hand, but here it seems to be a euphemism for genitals.
Isaiah 57:9 Or Molek
Isaiah 57:9 Hebrew sheol
Isaiah 57:14 The translation follows the Latin. The Hebrew reads he will say. The two verb forms look alike in Hebrew script.
Isaiah 57:17 Or apostate
Isaiah 57:19 The line is difficult.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.
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7 min
January 20, 2025Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 20
Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 20
Isaiah 55 (EHV)

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Through My Bible – January 20
Isaiah 55 (EHV)
https://wels2.blob.core.windows.net/tmb-ehv/02-0120db.mp3
See series: Through My Bible
Come to the Water
Isaiah 55
Hey, [1] all of you who are thirsty, come to the water,
even if you have no money!
Come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.
2 Why do you spend money on something that is not bread?
Why do you waste your labor on something that does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good.
Satisfy your appetite with rich food.
3 Turn your ear toward me, and come to me.
Listen, so that you may continue to live.
The Creator’s Everlasting Covenant
Yes, I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
the faithful mercies promised to David.
4 Look, I appointed him as a witness for peoples,
a leader and commander of peoples.
5 Look, you will call out to a nation you do not know,
and a nation that does not know you will run to you,
on account of the Lord your God,
because of the Holy One of Israel,
for he has glorified you.
6 Seek the Lord while he may be found!
Call on him while he is near!
7 Let the wicked man abandon his way.
Let an evil man abandon his thoughts.
Let him turn to the Lord,
and he will show him mercy.
Let him turn to our God,
because he will abundantly pardon.
8 Certainly my plans are not your plans,
and your ways are not my ways, declares the Lord.
9 Just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so my ways are higher than your ways,
and my plans are higher than your plans.
10 Just as the rain and the snow come down from the sky
and do not return there
unless they first water the earth, make it give birth, and cause it to sprout,
so that it gives seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11 in the same way my word that goes out from my mouth
will not return to me empty.
Rather, it will accomplish whatever I please,
and it will succeed in the purpose for which I sent it.
12 Yes, you will go out with joy,
and in peace you will be carried along.
The mountains and the hills will break out in shouts of joy before you,
and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
13 Instead of thorns, a fir tree will grow up.
Instead of briers, a myrtle tree will grow up.
This will make a name for the Lord.
It will serve as an everlasting sign that will not be cut off.

Footnotes
Isaiah 55:1 English hey expresses the same urgency as the Hebrew hoi. It is the cry of the street vendor who is eager to sell.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.
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3 min
January 19, 2025Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 19
Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 19
Isaiah 54 (EHV)

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Through My Bible – January 19
Isaiah 54 (EHV)
https://wels2.blob.core.windows.net/tmb-ehv/02-0119db.mp3
See series: Through My Bible
Jerusalem Will Have Many Children
Isaiah 54
You barren woman who never gave birth, shout for joy.
Burst forth with shouts of joy!
Cry aloud, you who have never been in labor,
because the deserted woman has more children
    than the woman who is married, says the Lord.
2 Make more room for your tent.
Tell them to stretch out the curtains of your dwelling.
Do not hold back!
Make your tent ropes longer.
Make your tent stakes stronger,
3 because you will spread out to the right and to the left.
Your offspring will take possession of nations,
and they will repopulate devastated cities.
4 Do not be afraid,
because you will not be put to shame.
Do not be worried,
because you will not be embarrassed.
You will forget the shame of your youth,
and you will never remember the disgrace of your widowhood,
5 because your Maker is your husband.
The Lord of Armies is his name.
Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.
He is called the God of all the earth.
6 Though you are like an abandoned wife with a wounded spirit,
though you are like the wife from a man’s youth who has been rejected,
the Lord is calling you back, says your God.
7 For a brief moment I abandoned you,
but with great compassion I am gathering you.
8 In a flood of anger I hid my face from you for a moment,
but in everlasting mercy I will have compassion on you,
says your Redeemer, the Lord.
9 To me this is like the time of the waters of Noah.
As I swore that the waters of Noah will never again cover the earth,
so I am swearing that I will not be angry at you,
and I will not rebuke you.
10 For even if the mountains are removed,
and the hills are overthrown,
my mercy will not be removed from you,
and my covenant of peace will not be overthrown,
says the Lord, who is showing you mercy.
11 Watch me, you afflicted woman, storm-tossed and not comforted,
I will set your precious stones in black mortar [1]
and lay down sapphires as your foundation.
12 I will decorate your parapets with rubies,
your gates with sparkling stones,
and your city boundaries with precious gems. [2]
13 All your children will be taught by the Lord,
and the peace and prosperity of your children will be great.
14 In righteousness you will be established.
Oppression will be far from you, so you will not be afraid.
Terror will be far from you. It will never come near you.
15 If anyone attacks you, because of me he will accomplish nothing. [3]
Whoever launches an attack against you will fall before you.
16 See, I myself created the craftsman
    who blows on the charcoal in the fire
    to produce weapons for their task.
I myself have created a destroyer to cause devastation.
17 Every weapon formed against you will fail,
and you will condemn every tongue that rises up to judge you.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord.
Their righteousness is from me, declares the Lord.

Footnotes
Isaiah 54:11 Literally antimony
Isaiah 54:12 The identification of the gems in verses 11 and 12 is uncertain.
Isaiah 54:15 Or it will not be because of me

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.
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4 min
January 18, 2025Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 18
Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 18
Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12 (EHV)

LISTEN HERE
Through My Bible – January 18
Bible reading based on Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12 (EHV)
https://wels2.blob.core.windows.net/tmb-ehv/02-0118db.mp3
See series: Through My Bible
The Fourth Servant Song
The Lord’s
Servant Suffers for Straying Sheep
Isaiah 52
13 Look, my servant will succeed. [1]
He will rise. He will be lifted up. He will be highly exalted.
14 Just as many were appalled at him [2] —
his appearance was so disfigured that he did not look like a man,
and his form was disfigured more than any other person—
15 so he will sprinkle [3] many nations,
and kings will shut their mouths because of him,
because they will see something they had never been told before,
and they will understand something they had never heard before.
Isaiah 53
Who has believed our report,
and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot [4]
and like a root from dry ground.
He had no attractiveness and no majesty.
When we saw him, nothing about his appearance made us desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by men,
a man who knew grief,
who was well acquainted with suffering.
Like someone whom people cannot bear to look at,
he was despised,
and we thought nothing of him.
4 Surely he was taking up our weaknesses, [5]
and he was carrying our sufferings.
We thought it was because of God
that he was stricken, smitten, and afflicted,
5 but it was because of our rebellion that he was pierced.
He was crushed for the guilt our sins deserved.
The punishment that brought us peace was upon him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
6 We all have gone astray like sheep.
Each of us has turned to his own way,
but the Lord has charged all our guilt to him.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth.
Like a lamb he was led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep [6] that is silent in front of its shearers,
he did not open his mouth.
8 He was taken away without a fair trial [7] and without justice,
and of his generation, who even cared? [8]
So, he was cut off from the land of the living.
He was struck because of the rebellion of my people.
9 They would have assigned him a grave with the wicked,
but he was given a grave with the rich in his death,
because he had done no violence,
and no deceit was in his mouth.
10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him
and to allow him to suffer.
Because you [9] made his life a guilt offering, he will see offspring.
He will prolong his days,
and the Lord’s gracious plan will succeed in his hand.
11 After his soul experiences anguish, he will see the light of life. [10]
He will provide satisfaction. [11]
Through their knowledge of him, my just servant will justify the many,
for he himself carried their guilt. [12]
12 Therefore I will give him an allotment among the great, [13]
and with the strong he will share plunder,
because he poured out his life to death,
and he let himself be counted with rebellious sinners.
He himself carried the sin of many,
and he intercedes for the rebels.

Footnotes
Isaiah 52:13 Or act wisely
Isaiah 52:14 The translation follows some Hebrew manuscripts and ancient versions. The main Hebrew reading is at you. Sudden shifts in person are not unusual in Hebrew poetry.
Isaiah 52:15 Or startle
Isaiah 53:2 A shoot or sucker is a plant that grows up from the stump where a tree has been cut down.
Isaiah 53:4 Or sicknesses
Isaiah 53:7 Or ewe
Isaiah 53:8 Or protection
Isaiah 53:8 Verse 8 is difficult, and translations and arrangements of the verse vary widely.
Isaiah 53:10 The shift to the second person pronoun you must refer to God, who gives his Son as a sin offering.
Isaiah 53:11 The words the light of life are not included in the standard Hebrew text but are in the Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah.
Isaiah 53:11 Or be satisfied. The understanding of this line depends on whether the subject is the Messiah, as is the case in all the other lines of this verse, or it is God the Father, who is satisfied by the Messiah’s suffering. The understanding of the verse also depends on whether the variant the light of life is included in the preceding line. Another factor is whether this line goes with what precedes or with what follows. What is clear is that the Messiah provides a full payment for sin (satisfaction), and the Lord is satisfied with that payment. What is uncertain is which of these two points is stressed by this verb.
Isaiah 53:11 As in verse 5, the Hebrew term is plural and refers to the guilt deserved for sins.
Isaiah 53:12 Or give him the many as his portion

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.
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5 min
January 17, 2025Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 17
Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 17
Isaiah 51:17 – 52:12 (EHV)

LISTEN HERE
Through My Bible – January 17
Bible reading based on Isaiah 51:17 – 52:12 (EHV)
https://wels2.blob.core.windows.net/tmb-ehv/02-0117db.mp3
See series: Through My Bible
The Cup of the Lord’s Wrath
Isaiah 51
17 Rouse yourself! Rouse yourself! Get up, Jerusalem!
You have drunk the cup filled with the Lord’s wrath from his hand.
You drank it. You drained the chalice, the cup that makes you stagger.
18 There is no one to guide her from among all the sons she bore.
There is no one to take her hand from among all the sons she raised.
19 Those two things are happening to you.[1]
Who will grieve for you?
Devastation and destruction and famine and sword!
Who will comfort you? [2]
20 Your children faint and collapse at the corner of every street,
    like an antelope in a net.
They are full of the wrath of the Lord,
full of the rebuke of your God.
21 Therefore hear this, you afflicted woman,
a woman drunk, but not from wine.
22 This is what the Lord God says,
your God, who will contend for his people.
    Look, I am taking the cup that makes you stagger out of your hand,
    the chalice, the cup filled with my wrath.
    Never again will you drink from it,
23 because I will place it into the hand of your tormentors,
    who have said to you,
    “Lie down so that we can walk over you.”
    You made your back like the ground
    and like the street for those who walked over you.
Freedom for Zion
Isaiah 52
Wake, awake!
Clothe yourself with strength, O Zion.
Put on your beautiful garments,
Jerusalem, you holy city,
for never again will the uncircumcised
and the unclean enter you.
2 Shake off the dust.
Get up and take your seat, Jerusalem.
Loosen the chains from your neck,
you captive daughter of Zion.
3 Yes, this is what the Lord says.
You were sold for nothing,
and you will be redeemed without money.
4 Yes, this is what the Lord God says.
In the beginning, my people went down to Egypt to stay there
    for a while.
Later Assyria oppressed them without cause.
5 Now what do I have here? declares the Lord.
Indeed, my people have been taken away for nothing.
Their rulers howl with mockery, declares the Lord.
My name is continually despised all day.
6 Therefore my people will know my name.
So on that day they will know that I am the one—
the one who is saying, “Here I am!”
The Herald of the Gospel
7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of a herald,
    who proclaims peace and preaches good news,
    who proclaims salvation,
    who says to Zion, “Your God is king!”
8 The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their voices.
Together they shout for joy,
because with both eyes they will see it
when the Lord returns to Zion.
9 Break out, shout for joy together, you ruins of Jerusalem,
because the Lord is comforting his people.
    He is redeeming Jerusalem.
10 The Lord lays bare 3 his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations,
and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation from our God.
Get Away From Babylon
11 Get away! Get away! Get out of there!
Do not touch any unclean thing!
Go out from her midst.
Purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the Lord!
12 You will not be in a hurry when you go out.
You will not be fleeing when you walk out,
because the one who walks in front of you is the Lord,
and your rearguard is the God of Israel.

Footnotes
Isaiah 51:19 It is uncertain whether this line goes with what precedes it or with what follows, but it seems to be preceded by two disasters and followed by four disasters.
Isaiah 51:19 The translation follows the Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah and the ancient versions. The Hebrew reads how can I comfort you?
Isaiah 52:10 Or flexes

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.
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5 min
January 16, 2025Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 16
Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 16
Isaiah 50:4 – 51:16 (EHV)

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Through My Bible – January 16
Bible reading based on Isaiah 50:4 – 51:16 (EHV)
https://wels2.blob.core.windows.net/tmb-ehv/02-0116db.mp3
See series: Through My Bible
The Third Servant Song
The Lord’s Servant Is Vindicated
Isaiah 50
4 The Lord God gave me a tongue like the learned, an instructed tongue,
so I know how to sustain the weary with a word.
He wakes me up morning by morning.
He wakes up my ears so that I listen like the learned.
5 The Lord God opened my ear,
and I myself was not rebellious.
I did not turn back.
6 I submitted my back to those who beat me,
and my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard.
I did not hide my face from disgrace and from spit.
7 The Lord God will help me,
so I will not be disgraced.
Therefore I have made my face hard like flint.
I know that I will not be put to shame.
8 The one who will acquit me is near!
Who can accuse me?
Let us take our stand.
Who can pass judgment on me?
Let him approach me.
9 Look, the Lord God will help me.
Who then can declare me guilty?
Look, all of them will wear out like a garment.
A moth will consume them.
10 Who among you worships the Lord
and listens to the voice of his servant?
Anyone who walks in darkness
and who has no bright light—
let him trust in the name of the Lord,
and let him lean on his God.
11 Watch out, all of you who are lighting fires
    to arm yourselves with flaming arrows. [1]
Go ahead, walk by the light of your fires
and by the flaming arrows you lit!
But from my hand you will receive this:
You will lie down in a place of torment.
The Creator Comforts His People
Isaiah 51
Listen to me, you people who pursue righteousness,
you people who seek the Lord!
Look confidently to the rock from which you were hewn
and to the quarry from which you were cut.
2 Look confidently to Abraham your father,
and to Sarah, who gave birth to you.
Yes, when I called him, Abraham was only one person,
but I blessed him and multiplied him.
3 The Lord is certain to comfort Zion.
He will comfort all her ruins.
Certainly he will make her wilderness like Eden
and her wasteland like the garden of the Lord.
Joy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and the sound of music.
4 Pay attention to me, O my people.
My nation, listen to me!
For the law [2] will go out from me,
and I will establish my justice [3] as a light to the peoples.
5 My righteousness is near.
My salvation goes forth,
and my arms will bring justice to the peoples.
The seacoasts will wait for me.
They will have confidence in my arm.
6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens.
Look closely at the earth beneath,
because the heavens will vanish like smoke,
and the earth will wear out like a garment,
and its inhabitants will die like gnats. [4]
But my salvation will remain forever,
and my righteousness will never be abolished.
7 Listen to me, you people who know righteousness,
you people who have my law in your hearts.
Do not fear the insults of men,
and do not be discouraged by their abuse.
8 Because a moth will consume them like a garment,
and its worm will consume them like wool.
But my righteousness will remain forever,
and my salvation will last for all generations.
9 Wake up! Wake up!
Clothe yourself with strength, you arm of the Lord!
Awake as in days of old,
as in generations of long ago.
Was it not you who cut Rahab [5] to pieces,
and who pierced the sea monster? [6]
10 Was it not you who dried up the sea,
    the waters of the great deep,
and who made a road through the depths of the sea
    for the redeemed to cross over?
11 Then those ransomed by the Lord will return.
They will enter Zion with a joyful shout,
and everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Happiness and joy will overtake them.
Sorrow and sighing will flee away.
12 I, even I, am the one who comforts you.
Who are you, Zion, [7] that you fear humans, who die,
or a child of Adam, who passes away like grass?
13 You have forgotten the Lord, your Creator,
who stretches out the heavens,
who makes the earth stand firm.
You tremble continually all day,
because of the rage of the oppressor,
who is preparing to destroy.
But where is the rage of the oppressor now?
14 The prisoner [8] will soon be released.
He will not die and go to the pit,
and he will not lack bread.
15 I am the Lord your God,
who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar.
The Lord of Armies is his name!
16 I have placed my words in your mouth,
and with the shadow of my hand I have covered you—
I, who planted the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth,
I, who say to Zion, “You are my people.”

Footnotes
Isaiah 50:11 Or torches
Isaiah 51:4 Or teaching. The word torah here refers to the whole word of God, including the gospel.
Isaiah 51:4 Or just verdict
Isaiah 51:6 Or in the same way
Isaiah 51:9 Rahab is the name of a monster that sometimes represents the wild sea and sometimes hostile nations.
Isaiah 51:9 Or dragon
Isaiah 51:12 The pronouns are feminine, addressing Zion as a woman.
Isaiah 51:14 The meaning of this term is uncertain.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.
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7 min
January 15, 2025Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 15
Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 15
Isaiah 49:1 – 50:3 (EHV)

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Through My Bible – January 15
Bible reading based on Isaiah 49:1 – 50:3 (EHV)
https://wels2.blob.core.windows.net/tmb-ehv/02-0115db.mp3
See series: Through My Bible
The Second Servant Song
The Lord’s Servant Saves the Nations
Isaiah 49
Listen to me, you coastlands.
Pay attention, you faraway peoples!
The Lord called me from the womb.
When I was inside my mother, he mentioned my name.
2 He made my mouth like a sharpened sword.
He hid me in the shadow of his hand.
He made me a polished arrow.
He concealed me in his quiver.
3 He said to me, “You are my servant Israel,
in whom I will display my glory.”
4 But I said to myself, “I have labored in vain.
I spent my strength and came up empty, with nothing.
Yet a just verdict for me rests with the Lord,
and my reward is with my God.”
5 But now the Lord,
who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to turn Jacob back to him,
so that Israel might be gathered to him,
so that I will be honored in the eyes of the Lord,
because my God has been my strength—
6 the Lord said:
It is too small a thing that you should just be my servant
    to raise up only the tribes of Jacob
    and to restore the ones I have preserved in Israel,
so I will appoint you to be a light for the nations,
so that my salvation will be known to the end of the earth.
7 This is what the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, its Holy One,
says to the one deeply despised,
to the one who is detested by the nation,
to the servant of rulers.
    Kings will see and stand up.
    Officials will see and bow down,
    because of the Lord, who is faithful,
    because of the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.
8 This is what the Lord says.
In the time of favor, I will answer you.
In the day of salvation, I will help you.
I will guard you,
and I will appoint you to be a covenant for the people,
to re-establish the land,
to redistribute inheritances that are now deserted,
9 to say to the prisoners, “Go forth!”
to those who are in the darkness, “Show yourselves!”
They will graze beside roads,
and they will find pasture on all the barren heights.
10 They will not hunger, and they will not thirst,
and neither scorching wind nor sun will strike them,
because the one who shows them mercy will lead them.
He will guide them beside springs of water.
11 I will make all my mountains into a smooth road,
and my highways will be raised up.
12 Look, people will come from far away.
Look, some will come from the north and the west,
and some from the land of Sinim.[1]
13 Shout for joy, O heavens,
and rejoice, O earth.
Let mountains burst forth with shouts of joy,
because the Lord is comforting his people,
and he is showing mercy to his afflicted ones.
The Faithful Few Are Not Forgotten
14 But Zion said, “The Lord has abandoned me.
The Lord has forgotten me.”
15 Can a woman forget her nursing child
and not show mercy to the son from her womb?
Even if these women could forget,
I will never forget you.
16 Look, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands.
Your walls are never out of my sight.
17 Your children[2] are hurrying back.
Those who destroyed and devastated you will depart from you.
18 Lift up your eyes all around and see!
All of them are gathered. They are coming to you.
As surely as I live, declares the Lord,
all of them are like jewelry that you will put on.
You will wear them like a bride.
19 Though your land was wasted and desolate and devastated,
now it will be too small for its inhabitants.
Then those who are swallowing you will be far from you.
20 The children you lost will say this into your ears once again,
“The place is too small for me.
Make room for me so that I can settle there.”
21 Then you will say in your heart,
“Who has given birth to these for me?
I had lost my children and could have no more.
I was exiled and divorced.
So who raised these?
I was left all by myself.
Where did these come from?”
22 This is what God the Lord says.
Look, I will lift up my hand to nations,
and I will raise my signal flag for peoples.
Then they will bring your sons in their embrace,
and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.
23 Then kings will be your foster fathers,
and their queens will be your nursing mothers.
With their faces to the ground, they will bow down to you.
They will lick the dust at your feet.
Then you will know that I am the Lord.
Those who wait hopefully for me will not be ashamed.
24 Can plunder be taken from a mighty man?
Can captives be rescued from a tyrant?[3]
25 This is what the Lord says.
Even from a mighty man captives can be taken,
and the victims of a tyrant can be rescued.
So I myself will contend with the one who contends with you,
and I myself will save your children.
26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh.
They will get drunk on the new wine of their own blood.
So all flesh will know that I am the Lord, your Savior
and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
Isaiah 50
1 This is what the Lord says.
So where are the divorce papers of your mother,
whom I sent away?
To which of my creditors did I sell you?
It was because of your guilt that you were sold.
Because of your rebellions, your mother was sent away.
2 When I came, why was no one there?
Why, when I called, was there no one who answered?
Is my arm really too short to redeem?
Do I not have enough power to rescue?
Yes! By my rebuke I can dry up the sea.
I can turn rivers into a wilderness,
so that their fish will stink from having no water,
and they will die of thirst.
3 I can clothe the heavens with blackness,
and I can cover them with sackcloth.

Footnotes
Isaiah 49:12 Sinim, the reading of the Hebrew, may be a name for China. The Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah reads Syene, a place in the southern part of Egypt.
Isaiah 49:17 Hebrew variant your builders
Isaiah 49:24 The translation follows the Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah and ancient versions. The Hebrew reads the righteous.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.
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8 min
January 14, 2025Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 14
Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 14
Isaiah 48 (EHV)

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Through My Bible – January 14
Bible reading based on Isaiah 48 (EHV)
https://wels2.blob.core.windows.net/tmb-ehv/02-0114db.mp3
See series: Through My Bible
Judgment Is Coming on Stubborn Israel
Isaiah 48
1 Hear this, you house of Jacob,
you who call yourselves by the name of Israel,
who came forth from the waters of Judah,
who swear by the name of the Lord
and invoke the God of Israel,
but not in true righteousness.
2 Yes, they name themselves after the Holy City,
and they lean on the God of Israel—
the Lord of Armies is his name.
3 Things that took place long ago,
I announced before they happened.
From my mouth the announcement went out.
I made these things known.
Then suddenly I acted, and they came about.
4 I did this because I know that you are stubborn.
Your neck is as stiff as iron,
and your forehead is as hard as bronze.
5 I declared this to you long ago.
Before it came about, I announced it to you,
to prevent you from saying, “My false god did it.
My wooden idol and my metal image commanded it.”
6 You heard all this.
Now look at the facts.
Won’t you admit that I am right?
From now on I will also announce new things to you,
hidden things that you never knew.
7 These things are being created right now, not long ago.
You have not heard of them before today,
so you cannot say, “Oh, I already knew that!”
8 No, you have never heard them.
You certainly never knew them.
Your ear was not open, even back then.
Yes, I knew that you would be extremely unfaithful.
You were called a rebel before you were born.
9 For my name’s sake, I am slow to express my anger.
So that I will be praised, I will hold it back from you.
As a result, you are not cut off.
10 You see, I refined you, but not in the same way silver is refined.
I tested you in the furnace of affliction.
11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I will act.
Why should my name be defiled?
My glory I will not give to another.
12 Listen to me, Jacob.
Listen to me, Israel, whom I called.
I am he. I am the first.
I am also the last.
13 It was my hand that laid the foundation of the earth,
and my right hand spread out the heavens.
I summon them and they stand together.
14 Gather together, all of you, and listen.
Who among them announced these things?
The Lord’s Servant Cyrus
The Lord loves him.
He will carry out his desire against Babylon,
and his arm is against Chaldea.
15 I, yes I, have spoken. I am the one who called him.
I have brought him, and his mission will succeed.
16 Come close to me and hear this.
From the beginning, I have not spoken in secret.
From the time it first existed, I was there.
And now God the Lord has sent me with his Spirit.
17 This is what the Lord says, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
I am the Lord your God,
who teaches you how to succeed,
who leads you in the way you should walk.
18 If only you would have listened carefully to my commandments!
Then your peace would have been like a river,
and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
19 Your descendants [1] would have been like sand,
and the children from your body like grains of sand.
Their name would never have been cut off or destroyed
from my presence.
20 Get out of Babylon. Flee from Chaldea.
With a joyful voice declare and announce this.
Send it out to the end of the earth.
Say, “The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob.”
21 They did not suffer thirst in the desolate places
through which he led them.
He made water flow for them from a rock.
He split open a rock, and water gushed out.
22 There is no peace, says the Lord, for the wicked.

Footnotes
Isaiah 48:19 Or your seed

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.
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6 min
January 13, 2025Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 13
Through My Bible Yr 2 – January 13
Isaiah 46 & 47 (EHV)

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Through My Bible – January 13
Bible reading based on Isaiah 46 & 47 (EHV)
https://wels2.blob.core.windows.net/tmb-ehv/02-0113db.mp3
See series: Through My Bible
Isaiah 46
Judgment Against the Idols of Babylon
1 Bel bows down. Nebo stoops.
Babylon’s idols are a heavy load, carried by animals and cattle.
They are dead weight for the tired animals that carry them.
2 The animals stoop. They bow down together.
They are not able to save their burdensome load.
They go into captivity.
3 Listen to me, O house of Jacob,
all of you who are left from the house of Israel,
you who have been carried from birth,
you who have been lifted up from before you were born.
4     Until your old age, I am he,
    and until you have gray hair, I myself will hold you up.
    I myself made you, and I myself will lift you up.
    I myself will hold you up, and I will rescue you.
5 Whom can you set beside me as if we were equal?
Whom can you compare to me as if we were alike?
6 People pour out gold from a purse
and weigh out silver on a scale.
They hire a smith,
and he makes the metal into a god.
They bow down to it. They even worship it.
7 They lift it up. They carry it on their shoulders.
They set it up in its place, but it just stands there.
It cannot move from its place.
Even when someone cries out to it, it does not answer.
It cannot save him from his distress.
8 Remember this, and stand firm.
You rebels, take this to heart!
9 Remember the former [1] things that took place long ago,
for I am God, and there is no other.
I am God, and there is no one like me.
10 I am the one who announces the final outcome already in the beginning.
I announce ahead of time things that have not yet been done.
I am the one who says, “My plan will stand,
and I will do everything I want to do.”
11 I am the one who calls a bird of prey from the east.
I call the man who fulfills my plan from a faraway land.
Yes, I have spoken. I will certainly bring it to pass.
I have formed a plan, and I will certainly carry it out.
12 Listen to me, you who have stubborn hearts,
you who are far from righteousness.
13 I will bring my righteousness near. It will not be far away.
I will bring my salvation near. It will not be delayed.
I will set up salvation in Zion,
and I will show my splendor to Israel.
Babylon’s Fall
Isaiah 47
Go down and sit in the dust, you virgin daughter of Babylon.
Sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of the Chaldeans,
for you will never again be called delicate and pampered.
2 Take millstones and grind meal.
Remove your veil. Strip off your skirt.
Expose your thighs. Wade through rivers.
3 Let your nakedness be exposed.
Let your shame be seen!
I will take vengeance.
I will not spare anyone.
4 Our Redeemer—the Lord of Armies is his name—is the Holy One of Israel.
5 Daughter of the Chaldeans, sit silently, and enter into the darkness,
for you will never again be called queen of the kingdoms.
6 I was angry with my people.
I defiled my heritage.
I gave them into your hand.
You showed them no mercy.
Even on the aged you made your yoke very heavy.
7 You said, “I will be a lady forever.”
You did not take these things to heart.
You did not remember how this will turn out.
8 But now hear this, you wanton lover of pleasure,
who sits securely,
who says in her heart,
“I am the one, and there is no one except me.
I will not live as a widow.
I will not experience the loss of children.”
9 But these two things will come upon you in an instant, in one day:
loss of children and widowhood.
They will come to you in full measure
in spite of your many magic spells,
in spite of the great power of your magic charms.
10 You felt secure in your wickedness.
You said, “No one sees me.”
Your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray.
So you said in your heart, “I am the one,
and there is not another one beside me.”
11 But disaster will come upon you.
You do not know when it will come.
Calamity will fall upon you.
You will not be able to atone for it.
A devastating blow that you did not expect will come
    upon you suddenly.
12 Go ahead, stand secure in your magic charms
    and in your many magic spells,
    with which you have been laboring since your youth.
Perhaps you will be able to profit.
Perhaps you will be able to inspire terror.
13 You are worn out by all the advice you receive.
Let them stand up and save you—
those who make charts of the skies to practice astrology,
those who gaze at the stars to obtain omens,
those who predict what will happen to you on each new moon.
14 Look, they are nothing but stubble.
Fire consumes them.
They are not able to save themselves from the power of the flame.
There are no burning coals to warm their food. [2]
There is no firelight to sit in front of.
15 They can do nothing more for you—
those who have worn you out with all their dealings with you
    from your youth.
Each one wanders in his own direction.
There is no one left to save you.

Footnotes
Isaiah 46:9 Or first
Isaiah 47:14 The translation follows the standard Hebrew reading. The Dead Sea Scroll of Isaiah and some ancient versions read to warm them up.

The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.
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8 min