Is. 61:1–11

61:1 The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me,

because the Lord has chosen me.

He has commissioned me to encourage the poor,

to help the brokenhearted,

to decree the release of captives

and the freeing of prisoners,

2to announce the year when the Lord will show his favor,

the day when our God will seek vengeance,

to console all who mourn,

3to strengthen those who mourn in Zion

by giving them a turban, instead of ashes,

oil symbolizing joy, instead of mourning,

a garment symbolizing praise, instead of discouragement.

They will be called oaks of righteousness,

trees planted by the Lord to reveal his splendor.

4They will rebuild the perpetual ruins

and restore the places that were desolate;

they will reestablish the ruined cities,

the places that have been desolate since ancient times.

5 “Foreigners will take care of your sheep;

foreigners will work in your fields and vineyards.

6You will be called, ‘the Lord’s priests,

servants of our God.’

You will enjoy the wealth of nations

and boast about the riches you receive from them.

7Instead of shame, you will get a double portion;

instead of humiliation, they will rejoice over the land they receive.

Yes, they will possess a double portion in their land

and experience lasting joy.

8For I, the Lord, love justice

and hate robbery and sin.

I will repay them because of my faithfulness;

I will make a permanent covenant with them.

9Their descendants will be known among the nations,

their offspring among the peoples.

All who see them will recognize that

the Lord has blessed them.”

10I will greatly rejoice in the Lord;

I will be overjoyed because of my God.

For he clothes me in garments of deliverance;

he puts on me a robe symbolizing vindication.

I look like a bridegroom when he wears a turban as a priest would;

I look like a bride when she puts on her jewelry.

11For just as the ground produces its crops

and a garden yields its produce,

so the Sovereign Lord will cause deliverance to grow

and give his people reason to praise him in the sight of all the nations.

Ps. 49

49:1 For the music director, a psalm by the Korahites.

Listen to this, all you nations.

Pay attention, all you inhabitants of the world.

2Pay attention, all you people,

both rich and poor.

3I will declare a wise saying;

I will share my profound thoughts.

4I will learn a song that imparts wisdom;

I will then sing my insightful song to the accompaniment of a harp.

5Why should I be afraid in times of trouble,

when the sinful deeds of deceptive men threaten to overwhelm me?

6They trust in their wealth

and boast in their great riches.

7Certainly a man cannot rescue his brother;

he cannot pay God an adequate ransom price

8(the ransom price for a human life is too high,

and people go to their final destiny),

9so that he might continue to live forever

and not experience death.

10Surely one sees that even wise people die;

fools and spiritually insensitive people all pass away

and leave their wealth to others.

11Their grave becomes their permanent residence,

their eternal dwelling place.

They name their lands after themselves,

12but, despite their wealth, people do not last.

They are like animals that perish.

13This is the destiny of fools,

and of those who approve of their philosophy. (Selah)

14They will travel to Sheol like sheep,

with death as their shepherd.

The godly will rule over them when the day of vindication dawns.

Sheol will consume their bodies, and they will no longer live in impressive houses.

15But God will rescue my life from the power of Sheol;

certainly he will pull me to safety. (Selah)

16Do not be afraid when a man becomes rich

and his wealth multiplies.

17For he will take nothing with him when he dies;

his wealth will not follow him down into the grave.

18He pronounces this blessing on himself while he is alive:

“May men praise you, for you have done well.”

19But he will join his ancestors;

they will never again see the light of day.

20Wealthy people do not understand;

they are like animals that perish.

Gal. 2:1–14

2:1 Then after fourteen years I went up to Jerusalem again with Barnabas, taking Titus along too. 2I went there because of a revelation and presented to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. But I did so only in a private meeting with the influential people, to make sure that I was not running—or had not run—in vain. 3Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, although he was a Greek. 4Now this matter arose because of the false brothers with false pretenses who slipped in unnoticed to spy on our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, to make us slaves. 5But we did not surrender to them even for a moment, in order that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

6But from those who were influential (whatever they were makes no difference to me; God shows no favoritism between people)—those influential leaders added nothing to my message. 7On the contrary, when they saw that I was entrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised just as Peter was entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised 8(for he who empowered Peter for his apostleship to the circumcised also empowered me for my apostleship to the Gentiles) 9and when James, Cephas, and John, who had a reputation as pillars, recognized the grace that had been given to me, they gave to Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, agreeing that we would go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10They requested only that we remember the poor, the very thing I also was eager to do.

11But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he had clearly done wrong. 12Until certain people came from James, he had been eating with the Gentiles. But when they arrived, he stopped doing this and separated himself because he was afraid of those who were pro-circumcision. 13And the rest of the Jews also joined with him in this hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was led astray with them by their hypocrisy. 14But when I saw that they were not behaving consistently with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in front of them all, “If you, although you are a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you try to force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”