Isaiah 14

Translation: ESV

The Restoration of Jacob

14 For the Lord will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and will set them in their own land, and sojourners will join them and will attach themselves to the house of Jacob. 2 And the peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them in the Lord's land as male and female slaves.[a] They will take captive those who were their captors, and rule over those who oppressed them.

Israel's Remnant Taunts Babylon

3 When the Lord has given you rest from your pain and turmoil and the hard service with which you were made to serve, 4 you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon:

Patreon image patron: Nikola Nenadović
Date: October 27 2026
Inktober prompt: Flimsy

“How the oppressor has ceased,

    the insolent fury ceased!

5 The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked,

    the scepter of rulers,

6 that struck the peoples in wrath

    with unceasing blows,

that ruled the nations in anger

    with unrelenting persecution.

7 The whole earth is at rest and quiet;

    they break forth into singing.

8 The cypresses rejoice at you,

    the cedars of Lebanon, saying,

‘Since you were laid low,

    no woodcutter comes up against us.’

9 Sheol beneath is stirred up

    to meet you when you come;

it rouses the shades to greet you,

    all who were leaders of the earth;

it raises from their thrones

    all who were kings of the nations.

10 All of them will answer

    and say to you:

‘You too have become as weak as we!

    You have become like us!’

11 Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,

    the sound of your harps;

maggots are laid as a bed beneath you,

    and worms are your covers.

12 “How you are fallen from heaven,

    O Day Star, son of Dawn!

How you are cut down to the ground,

    you who laid the nations low!

13 You said in your heart,

    ‘I will ascend to heaven;

above the stars of God

    I will set my throne on high;

I will sit on the mount of assembly

    in the far reaches of the north;[c]

14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;

    I will make myself like the Most High.’

15 But you are brought down to Sheol,

    to the far reaches of the pit.

16 Those who see you will stare at you

    and ponder over you:

‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble,

    who shook kingdoms,

17 who made the world like a desert

    and overthrew its cities,

    who did not let his prisoners go home?’

18 All the kings of the nations lie in glory,

    each in his own tomb;[d]

19 but you are cast out, away from your grave,

    like a loathed branch,

clothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword,

    who go down to the stones of the pit,

    like a dead body trampled underfoot.

20 You will not be joined with them in burial,

    because you have destroyed your land,

    you have slain your people.

“May the offspring of evildoers

    nevermore be named!

21 Prepare slaughter for his sons

    because of the guilt of their fathers,

lest they rise and possess the earth,

    and fill the face of the world with cities.”

22 “I will rise up against them,” declares the Lord of hosts, “and will cut off from Babylon name and remnant, descendants and posterity,” declares the Lord. 23 “And I will make it a possession of the hedgehog,[e] and pools of water, and I will sweep it with the broom of destruction,” declares the Lord of hosts.

An Oracle Concerning Assyria

24 The Lord of hosts has sworn:

“As I have planned,

    so shall it be,

and as I have purposed,

    so shall it stand,

25 that I will break the Assyrian in my land,

    and on my mountains trample him underfoot;

and his yoke shall depart from them,

    and his burden from their shoulder.”

26 This is the purpose that is purposed

    concerning the whole earth,

and this is the hand that is stretched out

    over all the nations.

27 For the Lord of hosts has purposed,

    and who will annul it?

His hand is stretched out,

    and who will turn it back?

An Oracle Concerning Philistia

28 In the year that King Ahaz died came this oracle:

29 Rejoice not, O Philistia, all of you,

    that the rod that struck you is broken,

for from the serpent's root will come forth an adder,

    and its fruit will be a flying fiery serpent.

30 And the firstborn of the poor will graze,

    and the needy lie down in safety;

but I will kill your root with famine,

    and your remnant it will slay.

31 Wail, O gate; cry out, O city;

    melt in fear, O Philistia, all of you!

For smoke comes out of the north,

    and there is no straggler in his ranks.

32 What will one answer the messengers of the nation?

“The Lord has founded Zion,

    and in her the afflicted of his people find refuge.”

Previous Chapter   Book of Isaiah   Next Chapter

Job 10

Translation: ESV

1 “I loathe my very life;

    therefore I will give free rein to my complaint

    and speak out in the bitterness of my soul.

2 I say to God: Do not declare me guilty,

    but tell me what charges you have against me.

3 Does it please you to oppress me,

    to spurn the work of your hands,

    while you smile on the plans of the wicked?

4 Do you have eyes of flesh?

    Do you see as a mortal sees?

5 Are your days like those of a mortal

    or your years like those of a strong man,

6 that you must search out my faults

    and probe after my sin—

7 though you know that I am not guilty

    and that no one can rescue me from your hand?

8 “Your hands shaped me and made me.

    Will you now turn and destroy me?

9 Remember that you molded me like clay.

    Will you now turn me to dust again?

Ko-Fi image patron: Zoticus
Date: October 12 2026
Inktober prompt: Stinky

10 Did you not pour me out like milk

    and curdle me like cheese,

11 clothe me with skin and flesh

    and knit me together with bones and sinews?

12 You gave me life and showed me kindness,

    and in your providence watched over my spirit.

13 “But this is what you concealed in your heart,

    and I know that this was in your mind:

14 If I sinned, you would be watching me

    and would not let my offense go unpunished.

15 If I am guilty—woe to me!

    Even if I am innocent, I cannot lift my head,

for I am full of shame

    and drowned in my affliction.

16 If I hold my head high, you stalk me like a lion

    and again display your awesome power against me.

17 You bring new witnesses against me

    and increase your anger toward me;

    your forces come against me wave upon wave.

18 “Why then did you bring me out of the womb?

    I wish I had died before any eye saw me.

19 If only I had never come into being,

    or had been carried straight from the womb to the grave!

20 Are not my few days almost over?

    Turn away from me so I can have a moment’s joy

21 before I go to the place of no return,

    to the land of gloom and utter darkness,

22 to the land of deepest night,

    of utter darkness and disorder,

    where even the light is like darkness.”

Previous Chapter   Book of Job   Next Chapter

Isaiah 55

Translation: ESV

The Compassion of the Lord

1 “Come, everyone who thirsts,

    come to the waters;

and he who has no money,

    come, buy and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk

    without money and without price.

2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,

    and your labor for that which does not satisfy?

Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,

    and delight yourselves in rich food.

3 Incline your ear, and come to me;

    hear, that your soul may live;

and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,

    my steadfast, sure love for David.

4 Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples,

    a leader and commander for the peoples.

5 Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know,

    and a nation that did not know you shall run to you,

because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel,

    for he has glorified you.

6 “Seek the Lord while he may be found;

    call upon him while he is near;

7 let the wicked forsake his way,

    and the unrighteous man his thoughts;

let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,

    and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

    neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

    so are my ways higher than your ways

    and my thoughts than your thoughts.

10 “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven

    and do not return there but water the earth,

making it bring forth and sprout,

    giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

11 so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;

    it shall not return to me empty,

but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,

    and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

12 “For you shall go out in joy

    and be led forth in peace;

the mountains and the hills before you

    shall break forth into singing,

Patreon image patron: Fr. Branko Bosančić
Date: October 11 2026

    and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;

    instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;

and it shall make a name for the Lord,

    an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

Previous Chapter   Book of Isaiah   Next Chapter

Donors 15

[Previous 10] 11 12 13 14 15

Phil

David Termin

Kenji Ichino

Donors and Contributors

Main Page

1 Ezra 1

Translation: ESV

The Proclamation of Cyrus

Patreon image patron: Randy B
Date: September 14 2026

1 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing:

2 “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3 Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel—he is the God who is in Jerusalem. 4 And let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.”

5 Then rose up the heads of the fathers' houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem. 6 And all who were about them aided them with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, with beasts, and with costly wares, besides all that was freely offered. 7 Cyrus the king also brought out the vessels of the house of the Lord that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his gods. 8 Cyrus king of Persia brought these out in the charge of Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah. 9 And this was the number of them: 30 basins of gold, 1,000 basins of silver, 29 censers, 10 30 bowls of gold, 410 bowls of silver, and 1,000 other vessels; 11 all the vessels of gold and of silver were 5,400. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up, when the exiles were brought up from Babylonia to Jerusalem.

Previous Chapter   1 Ezra   Next Chapter

1 Ezra

Chapter

1

Previous Book (2 Chronicles)   Bible   Next Book (Ezra 2)

Ecclesiastes 7

Translation: ESV

The Contrast of Wisdom and Folly
7 A good name is better than precious ointment,
and the day of death than the day of birth.
2 It is better to go to the house of mourning
than to go to the house of feasting,
for this is the end of all mankind,

    and the living will lay it to heart.

3 Sorrow is better than laughter,

    for by sadness of face the heart is made glad.

4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,

    but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.

5 It is better for a man to hear the rebuke of the wise

    than to hear the song of fools.

6 For as the crackling of thorns under a pot,

    so is the laughter of the fools;

    this also is vanity.

7 Surely oppression drives the wise into madness,

    and a bribe corrupts the heart.

8 Better is the end of a thing than its beginning,

    and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.

9 Be not quick in your spirit to become angry,

    for anger lodges in the heart of fools.

10 Say not, “Why were the former days better than these?”

    For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.

11 Wisdom is good with an inheritance,

    an advantage to those who see the sun.

12 For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money,

    and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom preserves the life of him who has it.

Patreon image patron: Sean A. Lotz
Date: September 11 2026
Inktober prompt: Wonky

13 Consider the work of God:

    who can make straight what he has made crooked?

14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.

15 In my vain life I have seen everything. There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evildoing. 16 Be not overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself? 17 Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool. Why should you die before your time? 18 It is good that you should take hold of this, and from that withhold not your hand, for the one who fears God shall come out from both of them.

19 Wisdom gives strength to the wise man more than ten rulers who are in a city.

20 Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.

21 Do not take to heart all the things that people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you. 22 Your heart knows that many times you yourself have cursed others.

23 All this I have tested by wisdom. I said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me. 24 That which has been is far off, and deep, very deep; who can find it out?

25 I turned my heart to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the scheme of things, and to know the wickedness of folly and the foolishness that is madness. 26 And I find something more bitter than death: the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and whose hands are fetters. He who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is taken by her. 27 Behold, this is what I found, says the Preacher, while adding one thing to another to find the scheme of things— 28 which my soul has sought repeatedly, but I have not found. One man among a thousand I found, but a woman among all these I have not found. 

Patreon image patron: Nikola Nenadović
Date: September 23 2026
Inktober prompt: Spine

29 See, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.

Previous Chapter   Ecclesiastes   Next Chapter