Isaiah 62:6

rejoicing in hope; enduring in troubles; continuing steadfastly in prayer;

Continue steadfastly in prayer, watching in it with thanksgiving,

A man’s heart plans his course, but Yahweh directs his steps.

He also spoke a parable to them that they must always pray, and not give up,

So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.

with all prayer and requests, praying at all times in the Spirit, and being watchful to this end in all perseverance and requests for all the saints:

Therefore be watchful all the time, praying that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will happen, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

But we beg you, brothers, to know those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you,

Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

Your watchmen lift up their voice. Together they sing; for they shall see eye to eye when Yahweh returns to Zion.

Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the assembly of the Lord and God which he purchased with his own blood.

Remember your leaders, men who spoke to you the word of God, and considering the results of their conduct, imitate their faith.

Confess your offenses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective.

Evening, morning, and at noon, I will cry out in distress. He will hear my voice.

I was glad when they said to me, “Let’s go to Yahweh’s house!”

Unless Yahweh builds the house, they who build it labor in vain. Unless Yahweh watches over the city, the watchman guards it in vain.

His watchmen are blind. They are all without knowledge. They are all mute dogs. They can’t bark— dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.

Set up a standard against the walls of Babylon! Make the watch strong! Set the watchmen, and prepare the ambushes; for Yahweh has both purposed and done that which he spoke concerning the inhabitants of Babylon.

Indeed, he struggled with the angel, and prevailed; he wept, and made supplication to him. He found him at Bethel, and there he spoke with us,

Therefore as many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as innumerable as the sand which is by the sea shore, were fathered by one man, and him as good as dead.

Your strength will be spent in vain; for your land won’t yield its increase, neither will the trees of the land yield their fruit.

Is this the way you repay Yahweh, foolish and unwise people? Isn’t he your father who has bought you? He has made you and established you.

He set the Levites in Yahweh’s house with cymbals, with stringed instruments, and with harps, according to the commandment of David, of Gad the king’s seer, and Nathan the prophet; for the commandment was from Yahweh by his prophets.

Prepare yourselves after your fathers’ houses by your divisions, according to the writing of David king of Israel, and according to the writing of Solomon his son.

I will lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from?

He will not allow your foot to be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber.

I lift up my eyes to you, you who sit in the heavens.

If it had not been Yahweh who was on our side, let Israel now say,

When Yahweh brought back those who returned to Zion, we were like those who dream.

But the path of the righteous is like the dawning light that shines more and more until the perfect day.

Set me as a seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm; for love is strong as death. Jealousy is as cruel as Sheol. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a very flame of Yahweh.

“Cry aloud! Don’t spare! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Declare to my people their disobedience, and to the house of Jacob their sins.

Yahweh has sent to you all his servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them (but you have not listened or inclined your ear to hear),

“Yahweh says: ‘Stand in the court of Yahweh’s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in Yahweh’s house, all the words that I command you to speak to them. Don’t omit a word.

Go to them of the captivity, to the children of your people, and speak to them, and tell them, ‘This is what the Lord Yahweh says,’ whether they will hear, or whether they will refuse.

Now while he executed the priest’s office before God in the order of his division

God has set some in the assembly: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracle workers, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, and various kinds of languages.

subjecting yourselves to one another in the fear of Christ.

Beware of the dogs; beware of the evil workers; beware of the false circumcision.

Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching.

Greet all of your leaders and all the saints. The Italians greet you.

It shall be for a sign to you on your hand, and for a memorial between your eyes, that Yahweh’s law may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand Yahweh has brought you out of Egypt.

Terror and dread falls on them. By the greatness of your arm they are as still as a stone, until your people pass over, Yahweh, until the people you have purchased pass over.

For Yahweh’s portion is his people. Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.

The gatekeepers: Shallum, Akkub, Talmon, Ahiman, and their brothers (Shallum was the chief),

So he left Asaph and his brothers there before the ark of Yahweh’s covenant, to minister before the ark continually, as every day’s work required;

David divided them into divisions according to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

He appointed, according to the ordinance of David his father, the divisions of the priests to their service, and the Levites to their offices, to praise and to minister before the priests, as the duty of every day required; the doorkeepers also by their divisions at every gate, for David the man of God had so commanded.

Whenever any controversy comes to you from your brothers who dwell in their cities, between blood and blood, between law and commandment, statutes and ordinances, you must warn them, that they not be guilty toward Yahweh, and so wrath come on you and on your brothers. Do this, and you will not be guilty.

For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler, and from the deadly pestilence.

The burden of Dumah. One calls to me out of Seir, “Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?”

For Yahweh has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes, the prophets; and he has covered your heads, the seers.

Violence shall no more be heard in your land, nor desolation or destruction within your borders; but you will call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise.

“You therefore put your belt on your waist, arise, and say to them all that I command you. Don’t be dismayed at them, lest I dismay you before them.

I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen!’

The portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the maker of all things; and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance: Yahweh of Armies is his name.

and I brought them into Yahweh’s house, into the room of the sons of Hanan the son of Igdaliah, the man of God, which was by the room of the princes, which was above the room of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the threshold.

then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet, and doesn’t heed the warning, if the sword comes, and takes him away, his blood will be on his own head.

“ ‘Yet the children of your people say, “The way of the Lord is not fair;” but as for them, their way is not fair.

“As for you, son of man, the children of your people talk about you by the walls and in the doors of the houses, and speak to one another, everyone to his brother, saying, ‘Please come and hear what the word is that comes out from Yahweh.’

“Listen to this, you priests! Listen, house of Israel, and give ear, house of the king! For the judgment is against you; for you have been a snare at Mizpah, and a net spread on Tabor.

Many nations will go and say, “Come! Let’s go up to the mountain of Yahweh, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For the law will go out of Zion, and Yahweh’s word from Jerusalem;

But they refused to listen, and turned their backs, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear.

Turn to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope! Even today I declare that I will restore double to you.

“Go stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.”

Therefore watch, remembering that for a period of three years I didn’t cease to admonish everyone night and day with tears.

If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith also is in vain.

that you also be in subjection to such, and to everyone who helps in the work and labors.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

But the end of all things is near. Therefore be of sound mind, self-controlled, and sober in prayer.

Yet in the same way, these also in their dreaming defile the flesh, despise authority, and slander celestial beings.

Then I said, ‘I will die in my own house, I will count my days as the sand.

For you will light my lamp, Yahweh. My God will light up my darkness.

Remember your congregation, which you purchased of old, which you have redeemed to be the tribe of your inheritance: Mount Zion, in which you have lived.

Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands. Your walls are continually before me.

For Zion’s sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her righteousness shines out like the dawn, and her salvation like a burning lamp.

I will bring Israel again to his pasture, and he will feed on Carmel and Bashan. His soul will be satisfied on the hills of Ephraim and in Gilead.

“Son of man, I have made you a watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore hear the word from my mouth, and warn them from me.

“So you, son of man: I have set you a watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore hear the word from my mouth, and give them warnings from me.

A prophet watches over Ephraim with my God. A fowler’s snare is on all of his paths, and hostility in the house of his God.

Leave them alone. They are blind guides of the blind. If the blind guide the blind, both will fall into a pit.”

The man said, “Let me go, for the day breaks.” Jacob said, “I won’t let you go unless you bless me.”

You shall put the two stones on the shoulder straps of the ephod, to be stones of memorial for the children of Israel. Aaron shall bear their names before Yahweh on his two shoulders for a memorial.

Elihoreph and Ahijah, the sons of Shisha, scribes; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the recorder;

Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel, and he spied the company of Jehu as he came, and said, “I see a company.” Joram said, “Take a horseman, and send to meet them, and let him say, ‘Is it peace?’ ”

Yahweh, the God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before you.

Remember your word to your servant, because you gave me hope.

The watchmen who go about the city found me; “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?”

The watchmen who go about the city found me. They beat me. They bruised me. The keepers of the walls took my cloak away from me.

For the Lord said to me, “Go, set a watchman. Let him declare what he sees.

He cried like a lion: “Lord, I stand continually on the watchtower in the daytime, and every night I stay at my post.

For there will be a day that the watchmen on the hills of Ephraim cry, ‘Arise! Let’s go up to Zion to Yahweh our God.’ ”

“Son of man, speak to the children of your people, and tell them, ‘When I bring the sword on a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and set him for their watchman;

I will stand at my watch, and set myself on the ramparts, and will look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

don’t cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers,

But you be sober in all things, suffer hardship, do the work of an evangelist, and fulfill your ministry.

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they watch on behalf of your souls, as those who will give account, that they may do this with joy, and not with groaning, for that would be unprofitable for you.

You said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which can’t be counted because there are so many.’ ”

Pray without ceasing.