Is. 41:14–29

41:14 Don’t be afraid, despised, insignificant Jacob,

men of Israel.

I am helping you,” says the Lord,

your Protector, the Holy One of Israel.

15“Look, I am making you like a sharp threshing sledge,

new and double-edged.

You will thresh the mountains and crush them;

you will make the hills like straw.

16You will winnow them and the wind will blow them away;

the wind will scatter them.

You will rejoice in the Lord;

you will boast in the Holy One of Israel.

17The oppressed and the poor look for water, but there is none;

their tongues are parched from thirst.

I, the Lord, will respond to their prayers;

I, the God of Israel, will not abandon them.

18I will make streams flow down the slopes

and produce springs in the middle of the valleys.

I will turn the wilderness into a pool of water

and the arid land into springs.

19I will make cedars, acacias, myrtles, and olive trees grow in the wilderness;

I will make evergreens, firs, and cypresses grow together in the arid rift valley.

20I will do this so people will observe and recognize,

so they will pay attention and understand

that the Lord’s power has accomplished this,

and that the Holy One of Israel has brought it into being.

21“Present your argument,” says the Lord.

“Produce your evidence,” says Jacob’s King.

22“Let them produce evidence! Let them tell us what will happen!

Tell us about your earlier predictive oracles,

so we may examine them and see how they were fulfilled.

Or decree for us some future events!

23Predict how future events will turn out,

so we might know you are gods.

Yes, do something good or something bad,

so we might be frightened and in awe.

24Look, you are nothing, and your accomplishments are nonexistent;

the one who chooses to worship you is disgusting.

25I have stirred up one out of the north and he advances,

one from the eastern horizon who prays in my name.

He steps on rulers as if they were clay,

like a potter treading the clay.

26Who decreed this from the beginning, so we could know?

Who announced it ahead of time, so we could say, ‘He’s correct’?

Indeed, none of them decreed it.

Indeed, none of them announced it.

Indeed, no one heard you say anything!

27I first decreed to Zion, ‘Look, here’s what will happen!’

I sent a herald to Jerusalem.

28I look, but there is no one,

among them there is no one who serves as an adviser

that I might ask questions and receive answers.

29Look, all of them are nothing,

their accomplishments are nonexistent;

their metal images lack any real substance.

Ps. 23

23:1 A psalm of David.

The Lord is my shepherd,

I lack nothing.

2He takes me to lush pastures,

he leads me to refreshing water.

3He restores my strength.

He leads me down the right paths

for the sake of his reputation.

4Even when I must walk through the darkest valley,

I fear no danger,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff reassure me.

5You prepare a feast before me

in plain sight of my enemies.

You refresh my head with oil;

my cup is completely full.

6Surely your goodness and faithfulness will pursue me all my days,

and I will live in the Lord’s house for the rest of my life.

John 10:22–42

10:22 Then came the feast of the Dedication in Jerusalem. 23It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple area in Solomon’s Portico. 24The Jewish leaders surrounded him and asked, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” 25Jesus replied, “I told you and you do not believe. The deeds I do in my Father’s name testify about me. 26But you refuse to believe because you are not my sheep. 27My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; no one will snatch them from my hand. 29My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them from my Father’s hand. 30The Father and I are one.”

31The Jewish leaders picked up rocks again to stone him to death. 32Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many good deeds from the Father. For which one of them are you going to stone me?” 33The Jewish leaders replied, “We are not going to stone you for a good deed but for blasphemy because you, a man, are claiming to be God.”

34Jesus answered, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’? 35If those people to whom the word of God came were called ‘gods’ (and the scripture cannot be broken), 36do you say about the one whom the Father set apart and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? 37If I do not perform the deeds of my Father, do not believe me. 38But if I do them, even if you do not believe me, believe the deeds, so that you may come to know and understand that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” 39Then they attempted again to seize him, but he escaped their clutches.

40Jesus went back across the Jordan River again to the place where John had been baptizing at an earlier time, and he stayed there. 41Many came to him and began to say, “John performed no miraculous sign, but everything John said about this man was true!” 42And many believed in Jesus there.