Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany

1Verse 1. “Cry aloud, do not hold back! Raise your voice like a ram’s horn. Declare to My people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins. 2Verse 2. For day after day they seek Me and delight to know My ways, like a nation that does what is right and does not forsake the justice of their God. They ask Me for righteous judgments; they delight in the nearness of God.” 3Verse 3. “Why have we fasted, and You have not seen? Why have we humbled ourselves, and You have not noticed?” “Behold, on the day of your fast, you do as you please, and you oppress all your workers. 4Verse 4. You fast with contention and strife to strike viciously with your fist. You cannot fast as you do today and have your voice be heard on high. 5Verse 5. Is this the fast I have chosen: a day for a man to deny himself, to bow his head like a reed, and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast and a day acceptable to the LORD? 6Verse 6. Isn’t this the fast that I have chosen: to break the chains of wickedness, to untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and tear off every yoke? 7Verse 7. Isn’t it to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your home, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? 8Verse 8. Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will come quickly. Your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. 9Verse 9. Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry out, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and malicious talk,

1Verse 1. When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. 2Verse 2. For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. 3Verse 3. I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling. 4Verse 4. My message and my preaching were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5Verse 5. so that your faith would not rest on men’s wisdom, but on God’s power. 6Verse 6. Among the mature, however, we speak a message of wisdom — but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. 7Verse 7. No, we speak of the mysterious and hidden wisdom of God, which He destined for our glory before time began. 8Verse 8. None of the rulers of this age understood it. For if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9Verse 9. Rather, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.” 10Verse 10. But God has revealed it to us by the Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. 11Verse 11. For who among men knows the thoughts of man except his own spirit within him? So too, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12Verse 12. We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.

13Verse 13. You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its savor, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. 14Verse 14. You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Verse 15. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket. Instead, they set it on a stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16Verse 16. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. 17Verse 17. Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. 18Verse 18. For I tell you truly, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single jot, not a stroke of a pen, will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19Verse 19. So then, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do likewise will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever practices and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20Verse 20. For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.