September 23  

Daily Bible in a Year

Daily Old and New Testaments, Psalms, and Proverbs

  •   Isaiah 41:17-43:13
    Isaiah 41:17-43:13

    17 
    When the poor and needy seek water,
         and there is none,
         and their tongue is parched with thirst,
     I the Lord will answer them;
         I the God of Israel will not forsake them.

    18 
    I will open rivers on the bare heights,
         and fountains in the midst of the valleys.
     I will make the wilderness a pool of water,
         and the dry land springs of water.

    19 
    I will put in the wilderness the cedar,
         the acacia, the myrtle, and the olive.
     I will set in the desert the cypress,
         the plane and the pine together,

    20 
    that they may see and know,
         may consider and understand together,
     that the hand of the Lord has done this,
         the Holy One of Israel has created it.

    The Futility of Idols
    21 
    Set forth your case, says the Lord;
         bring your proofs, says the King of Jacob.

    22 
    Let them bring them, and tell us
         what is to happen.
     Tell us the former things, what they are,
         that we may consider them,
     that we may know their outcome;
         or declare to us the things to come.

    23 
    Tell us what is to come hereafter,
         that we may know that you are gods;
     do good, or do harm,
         that we may be dismayed and terrified.[a]

    24 
    Behold, you are nothing,
         and your work is less than nothing;
         an abomination is he who chooses you.

    25 
    I stirred up one from the north, and he has come,
         from the rising of the sun, and he shall call upon my name;
     he shall trample on rulers as on mortar,
         as the potter treads clay.

    26 
    Who declared it from the beginning, that we might know,
         and beforehand, that we might say, “He is right”?
     There was none who declared it, none who proclaimed,
         none who heard your words.

    27 
    I was the first to say[b] to Zion, “Behold, here they are!”
         and I give to Jerusalem a herald of good news.

    28 
    But when I look, there is no one;
         among these there is no counselor
         who, when I ask, gives an answer.

    29 
    Behold, they are all a delusion;
         their works are nothing;
         their metal images are empty wind.

    The Lord's Chosen Servant
    42 
    Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
         my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
     I have put my Spirit upon him;
         he will bring forth justice to the nations.

    2 
    He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice,
         or make it heard in the street;

    3 
    a bruised reed he will not break,
         and a faintly burning wick he will not quench;
         he will faithfully bring forth justice.

    4 
    He will not grow faint or be discouraged[c]
         till he has established justice in the earth;
         and the coastlands wait for his law.

    5 
    Thus says God, the Lord,
         who created the heavens and stretched them out,
         who spread out the earth and what comes from it,
     who gives breath to the people on it
         and spirit to those who walk in it:

    6 
    “I am the Lord; I have called you[d] in righteousness;
         I will take you by the hand and keep you;
     I will give you as a covenant for the people,
         a light for the nations,

    7 
        to open the eyes that are blind,
     to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,
         from the prison those who sit in darkness.

    8 
    I am the Lord; that is my name;
         my glory I give to no other,
         nor my praise to carved idols.

    9 
    Behold, the former things have come to pass,
         and new things I now declare;
     before they spring forth
         I tell you of them.”

    Sing to the Lord a New Song
    10 
    Sing to the Lord a new song,
         his praise from the end of the earth,
     you who go down to the sea, and all that fills it,
         the coastlands and their inhabitants.

    11 
    Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice,
         the villages that Kedar inhabits;
     let the habitants of Sela sing for joy,
         let them shout from the top of the mountains.

    12 
    Let them give glory to the Lord,
         and declare his praise in the coastlands.

    13 
    The Lord goes out like a mighty man,
         like a man of war he stirs up his zeal;
     he cries out, he shouts aloud,
         he shows himself mighty against his foes.

    14 
    For a long time I have held my peace;
         I have kept still and restrained myself;
     now I will cry out like a woman in labor;
         I will gasp and pant.

    15 
    I will lay waste mountains and hills,
         and dry up all their vegetation;
     I will turn the rivers into islands,[e]
         and dry up the pools.

    16 
    And I will lead the blind
         in a way that they do not know,
     in paths that they have not known
         I will guide them.
     I will turn the darkness before them into light,
         the rough places into level ground.
     These are the things I do,
         and I do not forsake them.

    17 
    They are turned back and utterly put to shame,
         who trust in carved idols,
     who say to metal images,
         “You are our gods.”

    Israel's Failure to Hear and See
    18 
    Hear, you deaf,
         and look, you blind, that you may see!

    19 
    Who is blind but my servant,
         or deaf as my messenger whom I send?
     Who is blind as my dedicated one,[f]
         or blind as the servant of the Lord?

    20 
    He sees many things, but does not observe them;
         his ears are open, but he does not hear.

    21 
    The Lord was pleased, for his righteousness' sake,
         to magnify his law and make it glorious.

    22 
    But this is a people plundered and looted;
         they are all of them trapped in holes
         and hidden in prisons;
     they have become plunder with none to rescue,
         spoil with none to say, “Restore!”

    23 
    Who among you will give ear to this,
         will attend and listen for the time to come?

    24 
    Who gave up Jacob to the looter,
         and Israel to the plunderers?
     Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned,
         in whose ways they would not walk,
         and whose law they would not obey?

    25 
    So he poured on him the heat of his anger
         and the might of battle;
     it set him on fire all around, but he did not understand;
         it burned him up, but he did not take it to heart.

    Israel's Only Savior
    43 
    But now thus says the Lord,
     he who created you, O Jacob,
         he who formed you, O Israel:
     “Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
         I have called you by name, you are mine.

    2 
    When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
         and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
     when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
         and the flame shall not consume you.

    3 
    For I am the Lord your God,
         the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
     I give Egypt as your ransom,
         Cush and Seba in exchange for you.

    4 
    Because you are precious in my eyes,
         and honored, and I love you,
     I give men in return for you,
         peoples in exchange for your life.

    5 
    Fear not, for I am with you;
         I will bring your offspring from the east,
         and from the west I will gather you.

    6 
    I will say to the north, Give up,
         and to the south, Do not withhold;
     bring my sons from afar
         and my daughters from the end of the earth,

    7 
    everyone who is called by my name,
         whom I created for my glory,
         whom I formed and made.”

    8 
    Bring out the people who are blind, yet have eyes,
         who are deaf, yet have ears!

    9 
    All the nations gather together,
         and the peoples assemble.
     Who among them can declare this,
         and show us the former things?
     Let them bring their witnesses to prove them right,
         and let them hear and say, It is true.

    10 
    “You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord,
         “and my servant whom I have chosen,
     that you may know and believe me
         and understand that I am he.
     Before me no god was formed,
         nor shall there be any after me.

    11 
    I, I am the Lord,
         and besides me there is no savior.

    12 
    I declared and saved and proclaimed,
         when there was no strange god among you;
         and you are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and I am God.

    13 
    Also henceforth I am he;
         there is none who can deliver from my hand;
         I work, and who can turn it back?”

    Footnotes:
    1. Isaiah 41:23 Or that we may both be dismayed and see
    2. Isaiah 41:27 Or Formerly I said
    3. Isaiah 42:4 Or bruised
    4. Isaiah 42:6 The Hebrew for you is singular; four times in this verse
    5. Isaiah 42:15 Or into coastlands
    6. Isaiah 42:19 Or as the one at peace with me
  •   Ephesians 2
    Ephesians 2

    By Grace Through Faith
    2 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body[a] and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.[b] 4 But[c] God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
    One in Christ
    11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens,[d] but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by[e] the Spirit.
    Footnotes:
    1. Ephesians 2:3 Greek flesh
    2. Ephesians 2:3 Greek like the rest
    3. Ephesians 2:4 Or And
    4. Ephesians 2:19 Or sojourners
    5. Ephesians 2:22 Or in
  •   Psalm 67
    Psalm 67

    Make Your Face Shine upon Us
    To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song.
    67 
    May God be gracious to us and bless us
         and make his face to shine upon us, Selah

    2 
    that your way may be known on earth,
         your saving power among all nations.

    3 
    Let the peoples praise you, O God;
         let all the peoples praise you!

    4 
    Let the nations be glad and sing for joy,
         for you judge the peoples with equity
         and guide the nations upon earth. Selah

    5 
    Let the peoples praise you, O God;
         let all the peoples praise you!

    6 
    The earth has yielded its increase;
         God, our God, shall bless us.

    7 
    God shall bless us;
         let all the ends of the earth fear him!
  •   Proverbs 23:29-35

    Proverbs 23:29-35

    29 
    Who has woe? Who has sorrow?
         Who has strife? Who has complaining?
     Who has wounds without cause?
         Who has redness of eyes?

    30 
    Those who tarry long over wine;
         those who go to try mixed wine.

    31 
    Do not look at wine when it is red,
         when it sparkles in the cup
         and goes down smoothly.

    32 
    In the end it bites like a serpent
         and stings like an adder.

    33 
    Your eyes will see strange things,
         and your heart utter perverse things.

    34 
    You will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea,
         like one who lies on the top of a mast.[a]

    35 
    “They struck me,” you will say,[b] “but I was not hurt;
         they beat me, but I did not feel it.
     When shall I awake?
         I must have another drink.”

    Footnotes:
    1. Proverbs 23:34 Or of the rigging
    2. Proverbs 23:35 Hebrew lacks you will say


    English Standard Version (ESV)
    The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.