I do not turn aside from your regulations, for you teach me.

O Lord, please accept the freewill offerings of my praise! Teach me your regulations!

Show your servant your loyal love! Teach me your statutes!

Smile on your servant! Teach me your statutes!

I take note of the treacherous and despise them, because they do not keep your instructions.

May praise flow freely from my lips, for you teach me your statutes.

If your sons keep my covenant and the rules I teach them, their sons will also sit on your throne forever."

Surely I am looking to you, O sovereign Lord. In you I take shelter. Do not expose me to danger!

Teach me to do what pleases you, for you are my God. May your kind presence lead me into a level land.

who loves me and is my stronghold, my refuge and my deliverer, my shield and the one in whom I take shelter, who makes nations submit to me.

O Lord, make the sky sink and come down! Touch the mountains and make them smolder!

in order to take revenge on the nations, and punish foreigners.

Give instruction to a wise person, and he will become wiser still; teach a righteous person and he will add to his learning.

Take a man's garment when he has given security for a stranger, and when he gives surety for strangers, hold him in pledge.

Do you see a person skilled in his work? He will take his position before kings; he will not take his position before obscure people.

Do not move an ancient boundary stone, or take over the fields of the fatherless,

Like a dog that returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.

Like one who grabs a wild dog by the ears, so is the person passing by who becomes furious over a quarrel not his own.

Take a man's garment when he has given security for a stranger, and when he gives surety for a stranger, hold him in pledge.

Every word of God is purified; he is like a shield for those who take refuge in him.

Her hands take hold of the distaff, and her hands grasp the spindle.

Just as he came forth from his mother's womb, naked will he return as he came, and he will take nothing in his hand that he may carry away from his toil.

It is better to go to a funeral than a feast. For death is the destiny of every person, and the living should take this to heart.

It is best to take hold of one warning without letting go of the other warning; for the one who fears God will follow both warnings.

Obey the king's command, because you took an oath before God to be loyal to him.

But whoever is among the living has hope; a live dog is better than a dead lion.

The watchmen found me as they made their rounds in the city. They beat me, they bruised me; they took away my cloak, those watchmen on the walls!

I want to climb the palm tree, and take hold of its fruit stalks. May your breasts be like the clusters of grapes, and may the fragrance of your breath be like apricots!

Learn to do what is right! Promote justice! Give the oppressed reason to celebrate! Take up the cause of the orphan! Defend the rights of the widow!

Your officials are rebels, they associate with thieves. All of them love bribery, and look for payoffs. They do not take up the cause of the orphan, or defend the rights of the widow.

Therefore, the sovereign Lord who commands armies, the powerful ruler of Israel, says this: "Ah, I will seek vengeance against my adversaries, I will take revenge against my enemies.

many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the Lord's mountain, to the temple of the God of Jacob, so he can teach us his requirements, and we can follow his standards." For Zion will be the center for moral instruction; the Lord will issue edicts from Jerusalem.

He will judge disputes between nations; he will settle cases for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations will not take up the sword against other nations, and they will no longer train for war.

Seven women will grab hold of one man at that time. They will say, "We will provide our own food, we will provide our own clothes; but let us belong to you -- take away our shame!"

Indeed Israel is the vineyard of the Lord who commands armies, the people of Judah are the cultivated place in which he took delight. He waited for justice, but look what he got -- disobedience! He waited for fairness, but look what he got -- cries for help!

They say, "Let him hurry, let him act quickly, so we can see; let the plan of the Holy One of Israel take shape and come to pass, then we will know it!"

For this reason the sovereign master, the Lord, says: "It will not take place; it will not happen.

The Lord told me, "Take a large tablet and inscribe these words on it with an ordinary stylus: 'Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz.'

Indeed this is what the Lord told me. He took hold of me firmly and warned me not to act like these people:

The leaders and the highly respected people are the head, the prophets who teach lies are the tail.

So the sovereign master was not pleased with their young men, he took no pity on their orphans and widows; for the whole nation was godless and did wicked things, every mouth was speaking disgraceful words. Despite all this, his anger does not subside, and his hand is ready to strike again.

I sent him against a godless nation, I ordered him to attack the people with whom I was angry, to take plunder and to carry away loot, to trample them down like dirt in the streets.

He will take delight in obeying the Lord. He will not judge by mere appearances, or make decisions on the basis of hearsay.

They will swoop down on the Philistine hills to the west; together they will loot the people of the east. They will take over Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites will be their subjects.

Nations will take them and bring them back to their own place. Then the family of Jacob will make foreigners their servants as they settle in the Lord's land. They will make their captors captives and rule over the ones who oppressed them.

Prepare to execute his sons for the sins their ancestors have committed. They must not rise up and take possession of the earth, or fill the surface of the world with cities."

The canals will stink; the streams of Egypt will trickle and then dry up; the bulrushes and reeds will decay,

At that time the Lord announced through Isaiah son of Amoz: "Go, remove the sackcloth from your waist and take your sandals off your feet." He did as instructed and walked around in undergarments and barefoot.

Those who put their hope in Cush and took pride in Egypt will be afraid and embarrassed.

Your very best valleys were full of chariots; horsemen confidently took their positions at the gate.

"Take the harp, go through the city, forgotten prostitute! Play it well, play lots of songs, so you'll be noticed!"

The time is coming when Jacob will take root; Israel will blossom and grow branches. The produce will fill the surface of the world.

Who is the Lord trying to teach? To whom is he explaining a message? Those just weaned from milk! Those just taken from their mother's breast!

The downtrodden will again rejoice in the Lord; the poor among humankind will take delight in the Holy One of Israel.

until I come and take you to a land just like your own -- a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.

Look, I will take control of his mind; he will receive a report and return to his own land. I will cut him down with a sword in his own land."'"

Hezekiah took the letter from the messengers and read it. Then Hezekiah went up to the Lord's temple and spread it out before the Lord.

I dug wells and drank water. With the soles of my feet I dried up all the rivers of Egypt.'

Those who remain in Judah will take root in the ground and bear fruit.

Isaiah ordered, "Let them take a fig cake and apply it to the ulcerated sore and he will get well."

Indeed, they are barely planted; yes, they are barely sown; yes, they barely take root in the earth, and then he blows on them, causing them to dry up, and the wind carries them away like straw.

"Here is my servant whom I support, my chosen one in whom I take pleasure. I have placed my spirit on him; he will make just decrees for the nations.

"I, the Lord, officially commission you; I take hold of your hand. I protect you and make you a covenant mediator for people, and a light to the nations,

"Listen, you deaf ones! Take notice, you blind ones!

Look, all his associates will be put to shame; the craftsmen are mere humans. Let them all assemble and take their stand! They will panic and be put to shame.

Even when you are old, I will take care of you, even when you have gray hair, I will carry you. I made you and I will support you; I will carry you and rescue you.

You are tired out from listening to so much advice. Let them take their stand -- the ones who see omens in the sky, who gaze at the stars, who make monthly predictions -- let them rescue you from the disaster that is about to overtake you!

Listen to this, O family of Jacob, you who are called by the name 'Israel,' and are descended from Judah, who take oaths in the name of the Lord, and invoke the God of Israel -- but not in an honest and just manner.

"Listen to me, you who pursue godliness, who seek the Lord! Look at the rock from which you were chiseled, at the quarry from which you were dug!

There was no one to lead her among all the children she bore; there was no one to take her by the hand among all the children she raised.

Shake off the dirt! Get up, captive Jerusalem! Take off the iron chains around your neck, O captive daughter Zion!

Leave! Leave! Get out of there! Don't touch anything unclean! Get out of it! Stay pure, you who carry the Lord's holy items!

He sprouted up like a twig before God, like a root out of parched soil; he had no stately form or majesty that might catch our attention, no special appearance that we should want to follow him.

You take olive oil as tribute to your king, along with many perfumes. You send your messengers to a distant place; you go all the way to Sheol.

"Foreigners will take care of your sheep; foreigners will work in your fields and vineyards.

You will no longer be called, "Abandoned," and your land will no longer be called "Desolate." Indeed, you will be called "My Delight is in Her," and your land "Married." For the Lord will take delight in you, and your land will be married to him.

Look down from heaven and take notice, from your holy, majestic palace! Where are your zeal and power? Do not hold back your tender compassion!

When you performed awesome deeds that took us by surprise, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.

No one invokes your name, or makes an effort to take hold of you. For you have rejected us and handed us over to our own sins.

Lord, do not be too angry! Do not hold our sins against us continually! Take a good look at your people, at all of us!

I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, and from Judah people to take possession of my mountains. My chosen ones will take possession of the land; my servants will live there.

The one who slaughters a bull also strikes down a man; the one who sacrifices a lamb also breaks a dog's neck; the one who presents an offering includes pig's blood with it; the one who offers incense also praises an idol. They have decided to behave this way; they enjoy these disgusting practices.

"Do so because my people have committed a double wrong: they have rejected me, the fountain of life-giving water, and they have dug cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns which cannot even hold water."

"My, how good you have become at chasing after your lovers! Why, you could even teach prostitutes a thing or two!

"If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and becomes another man's wife, he may not take her back again. Doing that would utterly defile the land. But you, Israel, have given yourself as a prostitute to many gods. So what makes you think you can return to me?" says the Lord.

Because she took her prostitution so lightly, she defiled the land through her adulterous worship of gods made of wood and stone.

"Come back to me, my wayward sons," says the Lord, "for I am your true master. If you do, I will take one of you from each town and two of you from each family group, and I will bring you back to Zion.

You must be truthful, honest and upright when you take an oath saying, 'As surely as the Lord lives!' If you do, the nations will pray to be as blessed by him as you are and will make him the object of their boasting."

"Run for safety, people of Benjamin! Get out of Jerusalem! Sound the trumpet in Tekoa! Light the signal fires at Beth Hakkerem! For disaster lurks out of the north; it will bring great destruction.

So take warning, Jerusalem, or I will abandon you in disgust and make you desolate, a place where no one can live."

So the Lord said, "Hear, you nations! Be witnesses and take note of what will happen to these people.

Hear this, you peoples of the earth: 'Take note! I am about to bring disaster on these people. It will come as punishment for their scheming. For they have paid no attention to what I have said, and they have rejected my law.

I take no delight when they offer up to me frankincense that comes from Sheba or sweet-smelling cane imported from a faraway land. I cannot accept the burnt offerings they bring me. I get no pleasure from the sacrifices they offer to me.'

Do you think this temple I have claimed as my own is to be a hideout for robbers? You had better take note! I have seen for myself what you have done! says the Lord.

The Lord says, "When that time comes, the bones of the kings of Judah and its leaders, the bones of the priests and prophets and of all the other people who lived in Jerusalem will be dug up from their graves.

How can you say, "We are wise! We have the law of the Lord"? The truth is, those who teach it have used their writings to make it say what it does not really mean.

I will take away their harvests, says the Lord. There will be no grapes on their vines. There will be no figs on their fig trees. Even the leaves on their trees will wither. The crops that I gave them will be taken away.'"

The Lord who rules over all told me to say to this people, "Take note of what I say. Call for the women who mourn for the dead! Summon those who are the most skilled at it!"

I said, "So now, you wailing women, hear what the Lord says. Open your ears to the words from his mouth. Teach your daughters this mournful song, and each of you teach your neighbor this lament.

The Lord says to the people of Judah, "What right do you have to be in my temple, my beloved people? Many of you have done wicked things. Can your acts of treachery be so easily canceled by sacred offerings that you take joy in doing evil even while you make them?