Along The Way (August 18th - 24th)

Scroll to the day you would like to read and click the plus icon to read the day’s scripture.

• August 18th

  Isaiah 42

  The Servant, a Light to the Nations

  Here is 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.

  He will not cry out or lift up his voice

  or make it heard in the street;

  a bruised reed he will not break,

  and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;

  he will faithfully bring forth justice.

  He will not grow faint or be crushed

  until he has established justice in the earth,

  and the coastlands wait for his teaching.

  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 upon it

  and spirit to those who walk in it:

  I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness;

  I have taken you by the hand and kept you;

  I have given you as a covenant to the people,

  a light to the nations,

  to open the eyes that are blind,

  to bring out the prisoners from the dungeon,

  from the prison those who sit in darkness.

  I am the Lord; that is my name;

  my glory I give to no other,

  nor my praise to idols.

  See, the former things have come to pass,

  and new things I now declare;

  before they spring forth,

  I tell you of them.

  A Hymn of Praise

  Sing to the Lord a new song,

  his praise from the end of the earth!

  Let the sea roar and all that fills it,

  the coastlands and their inhabitants.

  Let the desert and its towns lift up their voice,

  the villages that Kedar inhabits;

  let the inhabitants of Sela shout for joy;

  let them shout from the tops of the mountains.

  Let them give glory to the Lord

  and declare his praise in the coastlands.

  The Lord goes forth like a soldier;

  like a warrior he stirs up his fury;

  he cries out; he shouts aloud;

  he shows himself mighty against his foes.

  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.

  I will lay waste mountains and hills

  and dry up all their herbage;

  I will turn the rivers into islands

  and dry up the pools.

  I will lead the blind

  by a road they do not know;

  by paths 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 will do,

  and I will not forsake them.

  They shall be turned back and utterly put to shame —

  those who trust in carved images,

  who say to cast images,

  “You are our gods.”

  Listen, you who are deaf,

  and you who are blind, look up and see!

  Who is blind but my servant

  or deaf like my messenger whom I send?

  Who is blind like my dedicated one

  or blind like the servant of the Lord?

  He sees many things, but he does not observe them;

  his ears are open, but he does not hear.

  Israel’s Disobedience

  The Lord was pleased, for the sake of his righteousness,

  to magnify his teaching and make it glorious.

  But this is a people robbed and plundered;

  all of them are trapped in holes

  and hidden in prisons;

  they have become a prey with no one to rescue,

  a spoil with no one to say, “Restore!”

  Who among you will give heed to this;

  who will attend and listen for the time to come?

  Who gave up Jacob to the spoiler

  and Israel to the robbers?

  Was it not the Lord, against whom they sinned,

  in whose ways they would not walk,

  and whose law they would not obey?

  So he poured upon him the heat of his anger

  and the fury of war;

  it set him on fire all around, but he did not understand;

  it burned him, but he did not take it to heart.

• August 19th

  Isaiah 43

  Restoration and Protection Promised

  But now thus says the Lord,

  he who created you, O Jacob,

  he who formed you, O Israel:

  Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;

  I have called you by name; you are mine.

  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.

  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.

  Because you are precious in my sight

  and honored and I love you,

  I give people in return for you,

  nations in exchange for your life.

  Do not fear, for I am with you;

  I will bring your offspring from the east,

  and from the west I will gather you;

  I will say to the north, “Give them up,”

  and to the south, “Do not withhold;

  bring my sons from far away

  and my daughters from the end of the earth —

  everyone who is called by my name,

  whom I created for my glory,

  whom I formed and made.”

  Bring forth the people who are blind yet have eyes,

  who are deaf yet have ears!

  Let all the nations gather together,

  and let the peoples assemble.

  Who among them declared this

  and foretold to us the former things?

  Let them bring their witnesses to justify them,

  and let them hear and say, “It is true.”

  You are my witnesses, says the Lord,

  and my servant whom I have chosen,

  so 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.

  I, I am the Lord,

  and besides me there is no savior.

  I am the one who declared and saved and proclaimed,

  not some strange god among you;

  you are my witnesses, says the Lord, and I am God.

  Indeed, since that day I am he;

  there is no one who can deliver from my hand;

  I work, and who can hinder it?

  Thus says the Lord,

  your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

  For your sake I will send to Babylon

  and break down all the bars,

  and the shouting of the Chaldeans will be turned to lamentation.

  I am the Lord, your Holy One,

  the Creator of Israel, your King.

  Thus says the Lord,

  who makes a way in the sea,

  a path in the mighty waters,

  who brings out chariot and horse,

  army and warrior;

  they lie down; they cannot rise;

  they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:

  Do not remember the former things

  or consider the things of old.

  I am about to do a new thing;

  now it springs forth; do you not perceive it?

  I will make a way in the wilderness

  and rivers in the desert.

  The wild animals will honor me,

  the jackals and the ostriches,

  for I give water in the wilderness,

  rivers in the desert,

  to give drink to my chosen people,

  the people whom I formed for myself

  so that they might declare my praise.

  Yet you did not call upon me, O Jacob;

  but you have been weary of me, O Israel!

  You have not brought me your sheep for burnt offerings

  or honored me with your sacrifices.

  I have not burdened you with offerings

  or wearied you with frankincense.

  You have not bought me sweet cane with money

  or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices.

  Rather, you have burdened me with your sins;

  you have wearied me with your iniquities.

  I alone am the one

  who blots out your transgressions for my own sake,

  and I will not remember your sins.

  Accuse me; let us go to trial;

  set forth your case, so that you may be proved right.

  Your first ancestor sinned,

  and your mediators rebelled against me.

  Therefore I profaned the princes of the sanctuary;

  I delivered Jacob to utter destruction

  and Israel to reviling.

• August 20th

  Isaiah 44

  God’s Blessing on Israel

  But now hear, O Jacob my servant,

  Israel whom I have chosen!

  Thus says the Lord who made you,

  who formed you in the womb and will help you:

  Do not fear, O Jacob my servant,

  Jeshurun whom I have chosen.

  For I will pour water on the thirsty land

  and streams on the dry ground;

  I will pour my spirit upon your descendants

  and my blessing on your offspring.

  They shall spring up like a green tamarisk,

  like willows by flowing streams.

  This one will say, “I am the Lord’s”;

  another will be called by the name of Jacob;

  yet another will write on the hand, “The Lord’s,”

  and adopt the name of Israel.

  Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel,

  and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:

  I am the first, and I am the last;

  besides me there is no god.

  Who is like me? Let them proclaim it;

  let them declare and set it forth before me.

  Who has announced from of old the things to come?

  Let them tell us what is yet to be.

  Do not fear or be afraid;

  have I not told you from of old and declared it?

  You are my witnesses!

  Is there any god besides me?

  There is no other rock; I know not one.

  The Absurdity of Idol Worship

  All who make idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit; their witnesses neither see nor know, and so they will be put to shame. Who would fashion a god or cast an image that can do no good? All its devotees shall be put to shame; the artisans, too, are merely human. Let them all assemble; let them stand up; they shall be terrified; they shall all be put to shame.

  The blacksmith works it with a tool over the coals, shaping it with hammers and forging it with his strong arm; he becomes hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water and is faint. The carpenter stretches a line, marks it out with a stylus, fashions it with planes, and marks it with a compass; he makes it in human form, with human beauty, to be set up in a shrine. He cuts down cedars or chooses a holm tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. Then it can be used as fuel. Part of it he takes and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Then he makes a god and worships it, makes it a carved image and bows down before it. Half of it he burns in the fire; over this half he roasts meat, eats it, and is satisfied. He also warms himself and says, “Ah, I am warm by the fire!” The rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, bows down to it and worships it; he prays to it and says, “Save me, for you are my god!”

  They do not know, nor do they comprehend, for their eyes are shut, so that they cannot see, and their minds as well, so that they cannot understand. No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, “Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. Now shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” He feeds on ashes; a deluded mind has led him astray, and he cannot save himself or say, “Is not this thing in my right hand a fraud?”

  Israel Is Not Forgotten

  Remember these things, O Jacob,

  and Israel, for you are my servant;

  I formed you, you are my servant;

  O Israel, do not forget me.

  I have swept away your transgressions like a cloud

  and your sins like mist;

  return to me, for I have redeemed you.

  Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it;

  shout, O depths of the earth;

  break forth into singing, O mountains,

  O forest and every tree in it!

  For the Lord has redeemed Jacob

  and will be glorified in Israel.

  Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer,

  who formed you in the womb:

  I am the Lord, who made all things,

  who alone stretched out the heavens,

  who by myself spread out the earth;

  who frustrates the omens of soothsayers

  and makes fools of diviners;

  who turns back the wise

  and makes their knowledge foolish;

  who confirms the word of his servant

  and fulfills the prediction of his messengers;

  who says of Jerusalem, “It shall be inhabited,”

  and of the cities of Judah, “They shall be rebuilt,

  and I will raise up their ruins”;

  who says to the deep, “Be dry —

  I will dry up your rivers”;

  who says of Cyrus, “He is my shepherd,

  and he shall carry out all my purpose”;

  and who says of Jerusalem, “It shall be rebuilt,”

  and of the temple, “Your foundation shall be laid.”

• August 21st

  Isaiah 45

  Cyrus, God’s Instrument

  Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus,

  whose right hand I have grasped

  to subdue nations before him

  and to strip kings of their robes,

  to open doors before him —

  and the gates shall not be closed:

  I will go before you

  and level the mountains;

  I will break in pieces the doors of bronze

  and cut through the bars of iron;

  I will give you the treasures of darkness

  and riches hidden in secret places,

  so that you may know that it is I, the Lord,

  the God of Israel, who call you by your name.

  For the sake of my servant Jacob

  and Israel my chosen,

  I call you by your name;

  I give you a title, though you do not know me.

  I am the Lord, and there is no other;

  besides me there is no god.

  I arm you, though you do not know me,

  so that they may know, from the rising of the sun

  and from the west, that there is no one besides me;

  I am the Lord, and there is no other.

  I form light and create darkness,

  I make weal and create woe;

  I the Lord do all these things.

  Shower, O heavens, from above,

  and let the skies rain down righteousness;

  let the earth open, that salvation may spring up,

  and let it cause righteousness to sprout up also;

  I the Lord have created it.

  Woe to those who strive with their Maker,

  earthen vessels with the potter!

  Does the clay say to the one who fashions it, “What are you making”?

  or “Your work has no handles”?

  Woe to anyone who says to a father, “What are you fathering?”

  or to a woman, “With what are you in labor?”

  Thus says the Lord,

  the Holy One of Israel and its Maker:

  Will you question me about my children

  or command me concerning the work of my hands?

  I made the earth

  and created humankind upon it;

  it was my hands that stretched out the heavens,

  and I commanded all their host.

  I have aroused Cyrus in righteousness,

  and I will make all his paths straight;

  he shall build my city

  and set my exiles free,

  not for price or reward,

  says the Lord of hosts.

  Thus says the Lord:

  The wealth of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush

  and the Sabeans, tall of stature,

  shall come over to you and be yours;

  they shall follow you;

  they shall come over in chains and bow down to you.

  They will make supplication to you, saying,

  “God is with you alone, and there is no other;

  there is no god besides him.”

  Truly, you are a God who hides himself,

  O God of Israel, the Savior.

  All of them are put to shame and confounded;

  the makers of idols go in disgrace together.

  But Israel is saved by the Lord

  with everlasting salvation;

  you shall not be put to shame or confounded

  ever again.

  For thus says the Lord,

  who created the heavens

  (he is God!),

  who formed the earth and made it

  (he established it;

  he did not create it a chaos;

  he formed it to be inhabited!):

  I am the Lord, and there is no other.

  I did not speak in secret

  in a land of darkness;

  I did not say to the offspring of Jacob,

  “Seek me in chaos.”

  I the Lord speak the truth;

  I declare what is right.

  Idols Cannot Save Babylon

  Assemble yourselves and come together;

  draw near, you survivors of the nations!

  They have no knowledge —

  those who carry about their wooden idols

  and keep on praying to a god

  that cannot save.

  Declare and present your case;

  take counsel together!

  Who told this long ago?

  Who declared it of old?

  Was it not I, the Lord?

  There is no other god besides me,

  a righteous God and a Savior;

  there is no one besides me.

  Turn to me and be saved,

  all the ends of the earth!

  For I am God, and there is no other.

  By myself I have sworn;

  from my mouth has gone forth in righteousness

  a word that shall not return:

  “To me every knee shall bow,

  every tongue shall swear.”

  Only in the Lord, it shall be said of me,

  are righteousness and strength;

  all who were incensed against him

  shall come to him and be ashamed.

  In the Lord all the offspring of Israel

  shall triumph and glory.

• August 22nd

  Isaiah 46 & 47

  Bel bows down; Nebo stoops;

  their idols are on beasts and cattle;

  these things you carry are loaded

  as burdens on weary animals.

  They stoop; they bow down together;

  they cannot save the burden

  but themselves go into captivity.

  Listen to me, O house of Jacob,

  all the remnant of the house of Israel,

  who have been borne by me from your birth,

  carried from the womb;

  even to your old age I am he;

  even when you turn gray I will carry you.

  I have made, and I will bear;

  I will carry and will save.

  To whom will you liken me and make me equal

  and compare me, as though we were alike?

  Those who lavish gold from the purse

  and weigh out silver in the scales —

  they hire a goldsmith, who makes it into a god;

  then they fall down and worship!

  They lift it to their shoulders; they carry it;

  they set it in its place, and it stands there;

  it cannot move from its place.

  If one cries out to it, it does not answer

  or save anyone from trouble.

  Remember this and consider;

  recall it to mind, you transgressors;

  remember the former things of old,

  for I am God, and there is no other;

  I am God, and there is no one like me,

  declaring the outcome from the beginning

  and from ancient times things not yet done,

  saying, “My purpose shall stand,

  and I will fulfill my intention,”

  calling a bird of prey from the east,

  the man for my purpose from a far country.

  I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass;

  I have planned, and I will do it.

  Listen to me, you stubborn of heart,

  you who are far from deliverance:

  I bring near my deliverance; it is not far off,

  and my salvation will not tarry;

  I will put salvation in Zion,

  for Israel my glory.

  The Humiliation of Babylon

  Come down and sit in the dust,

  virgin daughter Babylon!

  Sit on the ground without a throne,

  daughter Chaldea!

  For you shall no more be called

  tender and delicate.

  Take the millstones and grind meal;

  remove your veil;

  strip off your robe; uncover your legs;

  pass through the rivers.

  Your nakedness shall be uncovered,

  and your shame shall be seen.

  I will take vengeance,

  and I will spare no one.

  Our Redeemer — the Lord of hosts is his name —

  is the Holy One of Israel.

  Sit in silence, and go into darkness,

  daughter Chaldea!

  For you shall no more be called

  the mistress of kingdoms.

  I was angry with my people;

  I profaned my heritage;

  I gave them into your hand;

  you showed them no mercy;

  on the aged you made your yoke

  exceedingly heavy.

  You said, “I shall be mistress forever,”

  so that you did not lay these things to heart

  or remember their end.

  Now therefore hear this, you lover of pleasures,

  who sit securely,

  who say in your heart,

  “I am, and there is no one besides me;

  I shall not sit as a widow

  or know the loss of children” —

  both these things shall come upon you

  in a moment, in one day:

  the loss of children and widowhood

  shall come upon you in full measure,

  in spite of your many sorceries

  and the great power of your enchantments.

  You felt secure in your wickedness;

  you said, “No one sees me.”

  Your wisdom and your knowledge

  led you astray,

  and you said in your heart,

  “I am, and there is no one besides me.”

  But evil shall come upon you,

  which you cannot charm away;

  disaster shall fall upon you,

  which you will not be able to ward off,

  and ruin shall come on you suddenly,

  of which you know nothing.

  Stand fast in your enchantments

  and your many sorceries,

  with which you have labored from your youth;

  perhaps you may be able to succeed;

  perhaps you may inspire terror.

  You are wearied with your many consultations;

  let those who study the heavens

  stand up and save you,

  those who gaze at the stars

  and at each new moon predict

  what shall befall you.

  See, they are like stubble;

  the fire consumes them;

  they cannot deliver themselves

  from the power of the flame.

  No coal for warming oneself is this,

  no fire to sit before!

  Such to you are those with whom you have labored,

  who have trafficked with you from your youth;

  they all wander about in their own paths;

  there is no one to save you.

• August 23rd

  Isaiah 48

  God the Creator and Redeemer

  Hear this, O house of Jacob,

  who are called by the name of Israel

  and who came forth from the loins of Judah,

  who swear by the name of the Lord

  and invoke the God of Israel

  but not in truth or right.

  For they call themselves after the holy city

  and lean on the God of Israel;

  the Lord of hosts is his name.

  The former things I declared long ago;

  they went out from my mouth, and I made them known;

  then suddenly I did them, and they came to pass.

  Because I know that you are obstinate,

  and your neck is an iron sinew

  and your forehead brass,

  I declared them to you from long ago,

  before they came to pass I announced them to you,

  so that you would not say, “My idol did them;

  my carved image and my cast image commanded them.”

  You have heard; now see all this;

  and will you not declare it?

  From this time forward I tell you new things,

  hidden things that you have not known.

  They are created now, not long ago;

  before today you have never heard of them,

  so that you could not say, “I already knew them.”

  You have never heard; you have never known;

  from of old your ear has not been opened.

  For I knew that you would act very treacherously

  and that from birth you were called a rebel.

  For my name’s sake I defer my anger;

  for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you,

  so that I may not cut you off.

  See, I have refined you but not like silver;

  I have tested you in the furnace of adversity.

  For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it,

  for why should my name be profaned?

  My glory I will not give to another.

  Listen to me, O Jacob,

  and Israel, whom I called:

  I am he; I am the first,

  and I am the last.

  My hand laid the foundation of the earth,

  and my right hand spread out the heavens;

  when I summon them,

  they stand at attention.

  Assemble, all of you, and hear!

  Who among them has declared these things?

  The one the Lord loves shall perform his purpose against Babylon,

  and his arm shall be against the Chaldeans.

  I, even I, have spoken and called him;

  I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way.

  Draw near to me; hear this!

  From the beginning I have not spoken in secret;

  from the time it came to be I have been there.

  And now the Lord God has sent me and his spirit.

  Thus says the Lord,

  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 go.

  O that you had paid attention to my commandments!

  Then your prosperity would have been like a river

  and your success like the waves of the sea;

  your offspring would have been like the sand

  and your descendants like its grains;

  their name would never be cut off

  or destroyed from before me.

  Go out from Babylon; flee from Chaldea;

  declare this with a shout of joy; proclaim it;

  send it forth to the end of the earth;

  say, “The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob!”

  They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts;

  he made water flow for them from the rock;

  he split open the rock, and the water gushed out.

  “There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked.”

• August 24th

  Isaiah 49

  The Servant’s Mission

  Listen to me, O coastlands;

  pay attention, you peoples from far away!

  The Lord called me before I was born;

  while I was in my mother’s womb he named me.

  He made my mouth like a sharp sword;

  in the shadow of his hand he hid me;

  he made me a polished arrow;

  in his quiver he hid me away.

  And he said to me, “You are my servant,

  Israel, in whom I will be glorified.”

  But I said, “I have labored in vain;

  I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;

  yet surely my cause is with the Lord

  and my reward with my God.”

  And now the Lord says,

  who formed me in the womb to be his servant,

  to bring Jacob back to him,

  and that Israel might be gathered to him,

  for I am honored in the sight of the Lord,

  and my God has become my strength —

  he says,

  “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant

  to raise up the tribes of Jacob

  and to restore the survivors of Israel;

  I will give you as a light to the nations,

  that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

  Thus says the Lord,

  the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,

  to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations,

  the slave of rulers,

  “Kings shall see and stand up;

  princes, and they shall prostrate themselves,

  because of the Lord, who is faithful,

  the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”

  Zion’s Children to Be Brought Home

  Thus says the Lord:

  In a time of favor I have answered you;

  on a day of salvation I have helped you;

  I have kept you and given you

  as a covenant to the people,

  to establish the land,

  to apportion the desolate heritages,

  saying to the prisoners, “Come out,”

  to those who are in darkness, “Show yourselves.”

  They shall feed along the ways;

  on all the bare heights shall be their pasture;

  they shall not hunger or thirst,

  neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them down,

  for he who has pity on them will lead them

  and by springs of water will guide them.

  And I will turn all my mountains into a road,

  and my highways shall be raised up.

  Look, some shall come from far away,

  some from the north and from the west,

  and some from the land of Syene.

  Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;

  break forth, O mountains, into singing!

  For the Lord has comforted his people

  and will have compassion on his suffering ones.

  But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me;

  my Lord has forgotten me.”

  Can a woman forget her nursing child

  or show no compassion for the child of her womb?

  Even these might forget,

  yet I will not forget you.

  See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands;

  your walls are continually before me.

  Your builders outdo your destroyers,

  and those who laid you waste go away from you.

  Lift up your eyes all around and see;

  they all gather; they come to you.

  As I live, says the Lord,

  you shall put all of them on like an ornament,

  and like a bride you shall bind them on.

  For your wastelands, your desolate places,

  and your devastated land —

  now you will be too crowded for your inhabitants,

  and those who swallowed you up will be far away.

  The children born in the time of your bereavement

  will yet say in your hearing:

  “The place is too crowded for me;

  make room for me to settle.”

  Then you will say in your heart,

  “Who has borne me these?

  I was bereaved and barren,

  exiled and put away —

  so who has reared these?

  I was left all alone —

  where, then, have these come from?”

  Thus says the Lord God:

  I will soon lift up my hand to the nations

  and raise my signal to the peoples,

  and they shall bring your sons in their bosom,

  and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders.

  Kings shall be your foster fathers

  and their queens your nursing mothers.

  With their faces to the ground they shall bow down to you

  and lick the dust of your feet.

  Then you will know that I am the Lord;

  those who wait for me shall not be put to shame.

  Can the prey be taken from the mighty

  or the captives of a tyrant be rescued?

  But thus says the Lord:

  Even the captives of the mighty will be taken,

  and the prey of the tyrant will be rescued,

  for I will contend with those who contend with you,

  and I will save your children.

  I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh,

  and they shall be drunk with their own blood as with wine.

  Then all flesh shall know

  that I am the Lord your Savior

  and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.