Isaiah 64:5

¹⁶Let’s therefore draw near with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace for help in time of need.

¹³Brothers, I don’t regard myself as yet having taken hold, but one thing I do: forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. ¹⁵Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, think this way. If in anything you think otherwise, God will also reveal that to you.

³⁵but in every nation he who fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him.

¹Praise the LORD!Blessed ^[+] is the man who fears the LORD,^[+] who delights greatly in his commandments.

¹The LORD says: “Maintain justice and do what is right, for my salvation is near and my righteousness will soon be revealed. ²Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast; who keeps the Sabbath without profaning it and keeps his hand from doing any evil.” ³Let no foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD speak, saying, “The LORD will surely separate me from his people.” Do not let the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.” ⁴For the LORD says, “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, choose the things that please me, and hold fast to my covenant, ⁵I will give them in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name better than of sons and of daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off. ⁶Also the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD to serve him, and to love the LORD’s name, to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it, and holds fast my covenant, ⁷I will bring these to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”

⁸“How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned within me, my compassion is aroused.

⁸Yes, in the way of your judgments, LORD, we have waited for you. Your name and your renown are the desire of our soul. ⁹With my soul I have desired you in the night. Yes, with my spirit within me I will seek you earnestly; for when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

²a devout man, and one who feared God with all his house, who gave gifts for the needy generously to the people, and always prayed to God. ³At about the ninth hour of the day,^[+] he clearly saw in a vision an angel of God coming to him and saying to him, “Cornelius!”

⁴He, fastening his eyes on him and being frightened, said, “What is it, Lord?” He said to him, “Your prayers and your gifts to the needy have gone up for a memorial before God.

⁶You shall put it before the veil that is by the ark of the covenant, before the mercy seat that is over the covenant, where I will meet with you.

⁷For we are consumed in your anger. We are troubled in your wrath. ⁸You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. ⁹For all our days have passed away in your wrath. We bring our years to an end as a sigh.