The Lord’s Coming Salvation
1 cAwake, awake,
put on your strength, O Zion;
dput on your beautiful garments,
O Jerusalem, ethe holy city;
ffor there shall no more come into you
the uncircumcised and the unclean.
2 gShake yourself from the dust and arise;
be seated, O Jerusalem;
hloose the bonds from your neck,
O captive daughter of Zion.
3 For thus says the Lord: i“You were sold for nothing, and jyou shall be redeemed without money.” 4 For thus says the Lord God: k“My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing.1 5 Now therefore what have I here,” declares the Lord, “seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Their rulers wail,” declares the Lord, “and lcontinually all the day my name is despised. 6 Therefore my people shall know my name. mTherefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here I am.”
7 nHow beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him who brings good news,
who publishes peace, owho brings good news of happiness,
who publishes salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
8 The voice of pyour watchmen—they lift up their voice;
together they sing for joy;
qfor eye to eye they see
the return of the Lord to Zion.
9 rBreak forth together into singing,
syou waste places of Jerusalem,
for tthe Lord has comforted his people;
he has redeemed Jerusalem.
10 uThe Lord has bared his holy arm
before the eyes of all the nations,
vand all the ends of the earth shall see
the salvation of our God.
11 wDepart, depart, go out from there;
touch no unclean thing;
go out from the midst of her; purify yourselves,
xyou who bear the vessels of the Lord.
12 For you shall not ygo out in haste,
and you shall not go in flight,
zfor the Lord will go before you,
aand the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
12 Brothers,1 tI entreat you, become as I am, for I also have become as you are. uYou did me no wrong. 13 You know it was vbecause of a bodily ailment that I preached the gospel to you wat first, 14 and though my condition was a trial to you, you did not scorn or despise me, but received me xas an angel of God, yas Christ Jesus. 15 What then has become of your blessedness? For I testify to you that, if possible, you would have gouged out your eyes and given them to me. 16 Have I then become your enemy by ztelling you the truth?2 17 They make much of you, but for no good purpose. They want to shut you out, that you may make much of them. 18 It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and anot only when I am present with you, 19 bmy little children, cfor whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ dis formed in you! 20 I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, for I am perplexed about you.
Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand
1 lIn those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, 2 m“I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. 3 And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.” 4 And his disciples answered him, “How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?” 5 And he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, n“Seven.” 6 And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves, and ohaving given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. 7 And they had a few small fish. And phaving blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them. 8 And qthey ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, nseven baskets full. 9 And there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. 10 And immediately he got into rthe boat with his disciples and went to the district of sDalmanutha.1
