Psalms 73 Cross References - WEB

¹ A Psalm by Asaph. Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. ² But as for me, my feet were almost gone. My steps had nearly slipped. ³ For I was envious of the arrogant, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. ⁴ For there are no struggles in their death, but their strength is firm. ⁵ They are free from burdens of men, neither are they plagued like other men. ⁶ Therefore pride is like a chain around their neck. Violence covers them like a garment. ⁷ Their eyes bulge with fat. Their minds pass the limits of conceit. ⁸ They scoff and speak with malice. In arrogance, they threaten oppression. ⁹ They have set their mouth in the heavens. Their tongue walks through the earth. ¹⁰ Therefore their people return to them, and they drink up waters of abundance. ¹¹ They say, “How does God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?” ¹² Behold, these are the wicked. Being always at ease, they increase in riches. ¹³ Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence, ¹⁴ For all day long I have been plagued, and punished every morning. ¹⁵ If I had said, “I will speak thus”; behold, I would have betrayed the generation of your children. ¹⁶ When I tried to understand this, it was too painful for me, ¹⁷ until I entered God’s sanctuary, and considered their latter end. ¹⁸ Surely you set them in slippery places. You throw them down to destruction. ¹⁹ How they are suddenly destroyed! They are completely swept away with terrors. ²⁰ As a dream when one wakes up, so, Lord, when you awake, you will despise their fantasies. ²¹ For my soul was grieved. I was embittered in my heart. ²² I was so senseless and ignorant. I was a brute beast before you. ²³ Nevertheless, I am continually with you. You have held my right hand. ²⁴ You will guide me with your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. ²⁵ Whom do I have in heaven? There is no one on earth whom I desire besides you. ²⁶ My flesh and my heart fails, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. ²⁷ For, behold, those who are far from you shall perish. You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to you. ²⁸ But it is good for me to come close to God. I have made the Lord Yahweh my refuge, that I may tell of all your works.

³⁹ His brother Asaph, who stood on his right hand, even Asaph the son of Berechiah, the son of Shimea,

¹⁷ So the Levites appointed Heman the son of Joel; and of his brothers, Asaph the son of Berechiah; and of the sons of Merari their brothers, Ethan the son of Kushaiah;

⁷ Then on that day David first ordained to give thanks to Yahweh, by the hand of Asaph and his brothers.

³⁷ 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;

¹ Moreover, David and the captains of the army set apart for the service certain of the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who were to prophesy with harps, with stringed instruments, and with cymbals. The number of those who did the work according to their service was: ² of the sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asharelah. The sons of Asaph were under the hand of Asaph, who prophesied at the order of the king. ³ Of Jeduthun, the sons of Jeduthun: Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei, Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, six, under the hands of their father Jeduthun, who prophesied in giving thanks and praising Yahweh with the harp. ⁴ Of Heman, the sons of Heman: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel, Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, Romamti-Ezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, and Mahazioth. ⁵ All these were the sons of Heman the king’s seer in the words of God, to lift up the horn. God gave to Heman fourteen sons and three daughters. ⁶ All these were under the hands of their father for song in Yahweh’s house, with cymbals, stringed instruments, and harps, for the service of God’s house: Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman being under the order of the king.

³⁰ Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praises to Yahweh with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer. They sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshiped.

⁶ “Yet I have set my King on my holy hill of Zion.”

⁴ He who has clean hands and a pure heart; who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood, and has not sworn deceitfully.

¹¹ Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God! For I shall still praise him, the saving help of my countenance, and my God.

¹ A Psalm by Asaph. The Mighty One, God, Yahweh, speaks, and calls the earth from sunrise to sunset.

¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me.

¹⁸ Surely you set them in slippery places. You throw them down to destruction.

¹ A song. A Psalm by Asaph. God, don’t keep silent. Don’t keep silent, and don’t be still, God.

¹¹ For Yahweh God is a sun and a shield. Yahweh will give grace and glory. He withholds no good thing from those who walk blamelessly.

⁷ I will tell of the loving kindnesses of Yahweh and the praises of Yahweh, according to all that Yahweh has given to us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he has given to them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses. ⁸ For he said, “Surely, they are my people, children who will not deal falsely;” so he became their Savior. ⁹ In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and in his pity he redeemed them. He bore them, and carried them all the days of old.

¹⁴ Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. How long will your evil thoughts lodge within you?

⁸ Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

³² Don’t be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.

⁴⁷ Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and said about him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit!”

²⁸ For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh; ²⁹ but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit not in the letter; whose praise is not from men, but from God.

¹⁶ For this cause it is of faith, that it may be according to grace, to the end that the promise may be sure to all the offspring, not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.

⁶ But it is not as though the word of God has come to nothing. For they are not all Israel that are of Israel. ⁷ Neither, because they are Abraham’s offspring, are they all children. But, “your offspring will be accounted as from Isaac.”

⁵ not by works of righteousness which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy, he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,

⁸ Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded.

¹⁵ If it seems evil to you to serve Yahweh, choose today whom you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh.”

⁹ He will keep the feet of his holy ones, but the wicked will be put to silence in darkness; for no man will prevail by strength.

²³ Moreover as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against Yahweh in ceasing to pray for you: but I will instruct you in the good and the right way.

⁷ David said to Solomon his son, “As for me, it was in my heart to build a house to the name of Yahweh my God.

⁵ In the thought of him who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune. It is ready for them whose foot slips.

⁴ As for me, is my complaint to man? Why shouldn’t I be impatient?

⁷ But as for me, in the abundance of your loving kindness I will come into your house. I will bow toward your holy temple in reverence of you.

⁵ My steps have held fast to your paths. My feet have not slipped.

¹⁵ As for me, I shall see your face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with seeing your form.

¹³ But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth. I afflicted my soul with fasting. My prayer returned into my own bosom.

¹⁶ For I said, “Don’t let them gloat over me, or exalt themselves over me when my foot slips.”

¹⁸ When I said, “My foot is slipping!” Your loving kindness, Yahweh, held me up.

⁸ For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.

²³ but I see a different law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity under the law of sin which is in my members. ²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will deliver me out of the body of this death?

⁷ “Why do the wicked live, become old, yes, and grow mighty in power?

¹ By David. Don’t fret because of evildoers, neither be envious against those who work unrighteousness.

⁷ Rest in Yahweh, and wait patiently for him. Don’t fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who makes wicked plots happen.

³¹ Don’t envy the man of violence. Choose none of his ways.

¹⁷ Don’t let your heart envy sinners, but rather fear Yahweh all day long.

¹ Don’t be envious of evil men, neither desire to be with them;

¹ You are righteous, Yahweh, when I contend with you; yet I would like to reason the cause with you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are they all at ease who deal very treacherously?

⁵ Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who lives in us yearns jealously”?

²³ One dies in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet. ²⁴ His pails are full of milk. The marrow of his bones is moistened.

²⁰ The womb will forget him. The worm will feed sweetly on him. He will be no more remembered. Unrighteousness will be broken as a tree.

¹⁰ They close up their callous hearts. With their mouth they speak proudly.

¹⁴ from men by your hand, Yahweh, from men of the world, whose portion is in this life. You fill the belly of your cherished ones. Your sons have plenty, and they store up wealth for their children.

¹⁶ For of the wise man, even as of the fool, there is no memory forever, since in the days to come all will have been long forgotten. Indeed, the wise man must die just like the fool!

¹⁵ All this I have seen in my days of vanity: there is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who lives long in his evildoing.

²² The beggar died, and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died, and was buried.

⁶ When I remember, I am troubled. Horror takes hold of my flesh.

⁹ Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.

¹² Behold, these are the wicked. Being always at ease, they increase in riches.

¹¹ My son, don’t despise Yahweh’s discipline, neither be weary of his correction; ¹² for whom Yahweh loves, he corrects, even as a father reproves the son in whom he delights.

¹ You are righteous, Yahweh, when I contend with you; yet I would like to reason the cause with you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are they all at ease who deal very treacherously? ² You have planted them. Yes, they have taken root. They grow. Yes, they produce fruit. You are near in their mouth, and far from their heart.

³² But when we are judged, we are punished by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.

⁸ But if you are without discipline, of which all have been made partakers, then you are illegitimate, and not children.

¹⁹ As many as I love, I reprove and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent.

⁴² Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand, and put it on Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in robes of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck.

¹³ and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; ¹⁴ then your heart might be lifted up, and you forget Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage;

¹⁵ But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked. You have grown fat. You have grown thick. You have become sleek. Then he abandoned God who made him, and rejected the Rock of his salvation.

²⁶ The weight of the golden earrings that he requested was one thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold, in addition to the crescents, and the pendants, and the purple clothing that was on the kings of Midian, and in addition to the chains that were about their camels’ necks.

¹ After these things King Ahasuerus promoted Haman the son of Hammedatha the Agagite, and advanced him, and set his seat above all the princes who were with him.

⁵ When Haman saw that Mordecai didn’t bow down, nor pay him homage, Haman was full of wrath. ⁶ But he scorned the thought of laying hands on Mordecai alone, for they had made known to him Mordecai’s people. Therefore Haman sought to destroy all the Jews who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus, even Mordecai’s people.

⁹ Then Haman went out that day joyful and glad of heart, but when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate, that he didn’t stand up nor move for him, he was filled with wrath against Mordecai. ¹⁰ Nevertheless Haman restrained himself, and went home. There, he sent and called for his friends and Zeresh his wife. ¹¹ Haman recounted to them the glory of his riches, the multitude of his children, all the things in which the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king.

⁷ “Why do the wicked live, become old, yes, and grow mighty in power? ⁸ Their child is established with them in their sight, their offspring before their eyes. ⁹ Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them. ¹⁰ Their bulls breed without fail. Their cows calve, and don’t miscarry. ¹¹ They send out their little ones like a flock. Their children dance. ¹² They sing to the tambourine and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the pipe. ¹³ They spend their days in prosperity. In an instant they go down to Sheol. ¹⁴ They tell God, ‘Depart from us, for we don’t want to know about your ways. ¹⁵ What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What profit should we have, if we pray to him?’

¹⁸ He clothed himself also with cursing as with his garment. It came into his inward parts like water, like oil into his bones.

²⁹ Let my adversaries be clothed with dishonor. Let them cover themselves with their own shame as with a robe.

⁹ for they will be a garland to grace your head, and chains around your neck.

¹⁷ For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.

¹¹ Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.

⁹ You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride. You have ravished my heart with one of your eyes, with one chain of your neck.

¹⁹ the earrings, the bracelets, the veils,

¹¹ “Moab has been at ease from his youth, and he has settled on his lees, and has not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither has he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remains in him, and his scent is not changed.

²⁹ “We have heard of the pride of Moab. He is very proud in his loftiness, his pride, his arrogance, and the arrogance of his heart.

¹¹ I decked you with ornaments, put bracelets on your hands, and put a chain on your neck.

² “Son of man, tell the prince of Tyre, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Because your heart is lifted up, and you have said, ‘I am a god, I sit in the seat of God, in the middle of the seas;’ yet you are man, and not God, though you set your heart as the heart of God— ³ behold, you are wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that is hidden from you; ⁴ by your wisdom and by your understanding you have gotten yourself riches, and have gotten gold and silver into your treasures; ⁵ by your great wisdom and by your trading you have increased your riches, and your heart is lifted up because of your riches—”

³⁰ The king spoke and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built for the royal dwelling place, by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?”

¹ Woe to those who devise iniquity and work evil on their beds! When the morning is light, they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand. ² They covet fields, and seize them; and houses, and take them away: and they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.

⁵ Yahweh says concerning the prophets who lead my people astray; for those who feed their teeth, they proclaim, “Peace!” and whoever doesn’t provide for their mouths, they prepare war against him:

⁴ Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Armies. ⁵ You have lived in luxury on the earth, and taken your pleasure. You have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter. ⁶ You have condemned and you have murdered the righteous one. He doesn’t resist you.

⁵ Likewise, you younger ones, be subject to the elder. Yes, all of you clothe yourselves with humility, to subject yourselves to one another; for “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

² There was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great. He had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats; and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel.

³⁶ Abigail came to Nabal; and behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. Therefore she told him nothing until the morning light.

²⁷ because he has covered his face with his fatness, and gathered fat on his thighs.

⁷⁰ Their heart is as callous as the fat, but I delight in your law.

⁹ The look of their faces testify against them. They parade their sin like Sodom. They don’t hide it. Woe to their soul! For they have brought disaster upon themselves.

²⁸ They have grown fat. They shine; yes, they excel in deeds of wickedness. They don’t plead the cause, the cause of the fatherless, that they may prosper; and they don’t defend the rights of the needy.

⁴⁹ “‘“Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and prosperous ease was in her and in her daughters. She also didn’t strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.

¹⁶ He spoke a parable to them, saying, “The ground of a certain rich man produced abundantly. ¹⁷ He reasoned within himself, saying, ‘What will I do, because I don’t have room to store my crops?’ ¹⁸ He said, ‘This is what I will do. I will pull down my barns, build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. ¹⁹ I will tell my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, and be merry.”’

⁹ He said to his people, “Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we. ¹⁰ Come, let’s deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it happen that when any war breaks out, they also join themselves to our enemies and fight against us, and escape out of the land.”

¹⁹ Now there was no blacksmith found throughout all the land of Israel; for the Philistines said, “Lest the Hebrews make themselves swords or spears”;

⁷ Jezebel his wife said to him, “Do you now govern the kingdom of Israel? Arise, and eat bread, and let your heart be merry. I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.” ⁸ So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, and sealed them with his seal, and sent the letters to the elders and to the nobles who were in his city, who lived with Naboth. ⁹ She wrote in the letters, saying, “Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people. ¹⁰ Set two men, wicked fellows, before him, and let them testify against him, saying, ‘You cursed God and the king!’ Then carry him out, and stone him to death.” ¹¹ The men of his city, even the elders and the nobles who lived in his city, did as Jezebel had instructed them in the letters which she had written and sent to them. ¹² They proclaimed a fast, and set Naboth on high among the people. ¹³ The two men, the wicked fellows, came in and sat before him. The wicked fellows testified against him, even against Naboth, in the presence of the people, saying, “Naboth cursed God and the king!” Then they carried him out of the city and stoned him to death with stones. ¹⁴ Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, “Naboth has been stoned, and is dead.” ¹⁵ When Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned, and was dead, Jezebel said to Ahab, “Arise, take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to give you for money; for Naboth is not alive, but dead.” ¹⁶ When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, Ahab rose up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, to take possession of it. ¹⁷ Yahweh’s word came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ¹⁸ “Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who dwells in Samaria. Behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone down to take possession of it. ¹⁹ You shall speak to him, saying, ‘Yahweh says, “Have you killed and also taken possession?”’ You shall speak to him, saying, ‘Yahweh says, “In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, dogs will lick your blood, even yours.”’” ²⁰ Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me, my enemy?” He answered, “I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do that which is evil in Yahweh’s sight. ²¹ Behold, I will bring evil on you, and will utterly sweep you away and will cut off from Ahab everyone who urinates against a wall, and him who is shut up and him who is left at large in Israel. ²² I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah for the provocation with which you have provoked me to anger, and have made Israel to sin.” ²³ Yahweh also spoke of Jezebel, saying, “The dogs will eat Jezebel by the rampart of Jezreel. ²⁴ The dogs will eat he who dies of Ahab in the city; and the birds of the sky will eat he who dies in the field.” ²⁵ But there was no one like Ahab, who sold himself to do that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up. ²⁶ He did very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites did, whom Yahweh cast out before the children of Israel. ²⁷ When Ahab heard those words, he tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his flesh, and fasted, and lay in sackcloth, and went softly. ²⁸ Yahweh’s word came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ²⁹ “See how Ahab humbles himself before me? Because he humbles himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days; but I will bring the evil on his house in his son’s day.”

² In arrogance, the wicked hunt down the weak. They are caught in the schemes that they devise.

¹⁰ The helpless are crushed. They collapse. They fall under his strength. ¹¹ He says in his heart, “God has forgotten. He hides his face. He will never see it.”

⁴ who have said, “With our tongue we will prevail. Our lips are our own. Who is lord over us?” ⁵ “Because of the oppression of the weak and because of the groaning of the needy, I will now arise,” says Yahweh; “I will set him in safety from those who malign him.”

¹ For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “Mahalath.” A contemplation by David. The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity. There is no one who does good. ² God looks down from heaven on the children of men, to see if there are any who understood, who seek after God. ³ Every one of them has gone back. They have become filthy together. There is no one who does good, no, not one. ⁴ Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and don’t call on God?

¹³ There is a generation, oh how lofty are their eyes! Their eyelids are lifted up. ¹⁴ There is a generation whose teeth are like swords, and their jaws like knives, to devour the poor from the earth, and the needy from among men.

⁹ Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known, ¹⁰ then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered,’ that you may do all these abominations? ¹¹ Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it,” says Yahweh.

¹⁶ They return, but not to the Most High. They are like a faulty bow. Their princes will fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue. This will be their derision in the land of Egypt.

¹⁰ but chiefly those who walk after the flesh in the lust of defilement and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignitaries;

¹⁸ For, uttering great swelling words of emptiness, they entice in the lusts of the flesh, by licentiousness, those who are indeed escaping from those who live in error;

¹⁶ These are murmurers and complainers, walking after their lusts—and their mouth speaks proud things—showing respect of persons to gain advantage.

² Pharaoh said, “Who is Yahweh, that I should listen to his voice to let Israel go? I don’t know Yahweh, and moreover I will not let Israel go.”

¹⁵ Now therefore don’t let Hezekiah deceive you, nor persuade you in this way. Don’t believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom was able to deliver his people out of my hand, and out of the hand of my fathers. How much less will your God deliver you out of my hand?”

¹⁴ They tell God, ‘Depart from us, for we don’t want to know about your ways.

⁴ You love all devouring words, you deceitful tongue.

¹⁵ Now if you are ready whenever you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music to fall down and worship the image which I have made, good; but if you don’t worship, you shall be cast the same hour into the middle of a burning fiery furnace. Who is that god that will deliver you out of my hands?”

²⁵ He will speak words against the Most High, and will wear out the saints of the Most High. He will plan to change the times and the law; and they will be given into his hand until a time and times and half a time.

⁴ He wouldn’t for a while, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God, nor respect man,

⁶ And the tongue is a fire. The world of iniquity among our members is the tongue, which defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire by Gehenna.

⁶ He opened his mouth for blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his dwelling, those who dwell in heaven.

⁸ For in Yahweh’s hand there is a cup, full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours it out. Indeed the wicked of the earth drink and drink it to its very dregs.

¹³ You say, ‘What does God know? Can he judge through the thick darkness? ¹⁴ Thick clouds are a covering to him, so that he doesn’t see. He walks on the vault of the sky.’

¹¹ He says in his heart, “God has forgotten. He hides his face. He will never see it.”

²¹ won’t God search this out? For he knows the secrets of the heart.

⁹ They have set their mouth in the heavens. Their tongue walks through the earth.

⁷ They say, “Yah will not see, neither will Jacob’s God consider.”

¹ For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. Yahweh, you have searched me, and you know me. ² You know my sitting down and my rising up. You perceive my thoughts from afar. ³ You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. ⁴ For there is not a word on my tongue, but, behold, Yahweh, you know it altogether. ⁵ You hem me in behind and before. You laid your hand on me. ⁶ This knowledge is beyond me. It’s lofty. I can’t attain it.

¹² Then he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in his rooms of imagery? For they say, ‘Yahweh doesn’t see us. Yahweh has forsaken the land.’”

² They don’t consider in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness. Now their own deeds have engulfed them. They are before my face.

¹² It will happen at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are settled on their dregs, who say in their heart, “Yahweh will not do good, neither will he do evil.”

³⁵ I have seen the wicked in great power, spreading himself like a green tree in its native soil.

⁶ Those who trust in their wealth, and boast in the multitude of their riches—

⁷ “Behold, this is the man who didn’t make God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness.”

¹⁰ Don’t trust in oppression. Don’t become vain in robbery. If riches increase, don’t set your heart on them.

¹⁷ They will eat up your harvest and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat. They will eat up your flocks and your herds. They will eat up your vines and your fig trees. They will beat down your fortified cities in which you trust with the sword.

⁷ A merchant has dishonest scales in his hand. He loves to defraud. ⁸ Ephraim said, “Surely I have become rich, I have found myself wealth. In all my wealth they won’t find in me any iniquity that is sin.”

¹⁹ “Now there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day.

¹ Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you. ² Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten. ³ Your gold and your silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be for a testimony against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up your treasure in the last days.

²⁷ If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face, and cheer up;’

³¹ yet you will plunge me in the ditch. My own clothes will abhor me.

¹⁵ What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What profit should we have, if we pray to him?’

⁹ For he has said, ‘It profits a man nothing that he should delight himself with God.’

³ that you ask, ‘What advantage will it be to you? What profit will I have, more than if I had sinned?’

⁶ I will wash my hands in innocence, so I will go about your altar, Yahweh,

¹⁴ You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God;’ and ‘What profit is it that we have followed his instructions, and that we have walked mournfully before Yahweh of Armies?

¹⁹ Having therefore, brothers, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh, ²¹ and having a great priest over God’s house, ²² let’s draw near with a true heart in fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and having our body washed with pure water,

³ so I am made to possess months of misery, wearisome nights are appointed to me. ⁴ When I lie down, I say, ‘When will I arise, and the night be gone?’ I toss and turn until the dawning of the day.

¹⁸ that you should visit him every morning, and test him every moment?

³ Is it good to you that you should oppress, that you should despise the work of your hands, and smile on the counsel of the wicked?

¹⁷ You renew your witnesses against me, and increase your indignation on me. Changes and warfare are with me.

¹⁹ Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but Yahweh delivers him out of them all.

¹² Blessed is the man whom you discipline, Yah, and teach out of your law,

¹⁸ Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuses to be healed? Will you indeed be to me as a deceitful brook, like waters that fail?

² “I have only chosen you of all the families of the earth. Therefore I will punish you for all of your sins.”

⁵ You have forgotten the exhortation which reasons with you as with children, “My son, don’t take lightly the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him;

⁶ Wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved in various trials,

²⁴ No, my sons; for it is not a good report that I hear! You make Yahweh’s people disobey.

⁵ There they were in great fear, for God is in the generation of the righteous.

³⁰ Posterity shall serve him. Future generations shall be told about the Lord.

⁶ This is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek your face—even Jacob. Selah.

⁸ But you have turned away from the path. You have caused many to stumble in the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,” says Yahweh of Armies.

⁶ but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him if a huge millstone were hung around his neck, and that he were sunk in the depths of the sea. ⁷ “Woe to the world because of occasions of stumbling! For it must be that the occasions come, but woe to that person through whom the occasion comes!

¹⁵ Yet if because of food your brother is grieved, you walk no longer in love. Don’t destroy with your food him for whom Christ died.

²¹ It is good to not eat meat, drink wine, nor do anything by which your brother stumbles, is offended, or is made weak.

¹¹ And through your knowledge, he who is weak perishes, the brother for whose sake Christ died. ¹² Thus, sinning against the brothers, and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ. ¹³ Therefore if food causes my brother to stumble, I will eat no meat forever more, that I don’t cause my brother to stumble.

⁹ 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.

⁶ Your righteousness is like the mountains of God. Your judgments are like a great deep. Yahweh, you preserve man and animal.

⁶ “Surely every man walks like a shadow. Surely they busy themselves in vain. He heaps up, and doesn’t know who shall gather.

¹⁹ Your way was through the sea; your paths through the great waters. Your footsteps were not known.

² Clouds and darkness are around him. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.

² “Surely I am the most ignorant man, and don’t have a man’s understanding. ³ I have not learned wisdom, neither do I have the knowledge of the Holy One.

¹⁷ then I saw all the work of God, that man can’t find out the work that is done under the sun, because however much a man labors to seek it out, yet he won’t find it. Yes even though a wise man thinks he can comprehend it, he won’t be able to find it.

³² For he will be delivered up to the Gentiles, will be mocked, treated shamefully, and spit on. ³³ They will scourge and kill him. On the third day, he will rise again.” ³⁴ They understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they didn’t understand the things that were said.

¹⁸ They said therefore, “What is this that he says, ‘A little while’? We don’t know what he is saying.” ¹⁹ Therefore Jesus perceived that they wanted to ask him, and he said to them, “Do you inquire among yourselves concerning this, that I said, ‘A little while, and you won’t see me, and again a little while, and you will see me?’

³³ Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out!

⁸ For what is the hope of the godless, when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?

⁴ One thing I have asked of Yahweh, that I will seek after: that I may dwell in Yahweh’s house all the days of my life, to see Yahweh’s beauty, and to inquire in his temple.

³⁷ Mark the perfect man, and see the upright, for there is a future for the man of peace. ³⁸ As for transgressors, they shall be destroyed together. The future of the wicked shall be cut off.

² So I have seen you in the sanctuary, watching your power and your glory.

¹³ Your way, God, is in the sanctuary. What god is great like God?

²⁴ Indeed your statutes are my delight, and my counselors.

¹³⁰ The entrance of your words gives light. It gives understanding to the simple.

¹² Though a sinner commits crimes a hundred times, and lives long, yet surely I know that it will be better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him. ¹³ But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he lengthen days like a shadow, because he doesn’t fear God.

³¹ The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority; and my people love to have it so. What will you do in the end of it?

²⁰ “But God said to him, ‘You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared—whose will they be?’

²² The beggar died, and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died, and was buried. ²³ In Hades, he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus at his bosom.

³⁵ Vengeance is mine, and recompense, at the time when their foot slides; for the day of their calamity is at hand. Their doom rushes at them.”

⁶ Let their way be dark and slippery, Yahweh’s angel pursuing them.

²⁰ But the wicked shall perish. The enemies of Yahweh shall be like the beauty of the fields. They will vanish— vanish like smoke.

²⁴ Though he stumble, he shall not fall, for Yahweh holds him up with his hand.

³⁵ I have seen the wicked in great power, spreading himself like a green tree in its native soil. ³⁶ But he passed away, and behold, he was not. Yes, I sought him, but he could not be found.

²³ But you, God, will bring them down into the pit of destruction. Bloodthirsty and deceitful men shall not live out half their days, but I will trust in you.

⁷ though the wicked spring up as the grass, and all the evildoers flourish, they will be destroyed forever.

²³ He has brought on them their own iniquity, and will cut them off in their own wickedness. Yahweh, our God, will cut them off.

¹² Therefore their way will be to them as slippery places in the darkness. They will be driven on, and fall therein; for I will bring evil on them, even the year of their visitation,” says Yahweh.

⁹ who will pay the penalty: eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might,

²¹ “Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment!”

¹² The children of Israel spoke to Moses, saying, “Behold, we perish! We are undone! We are all undone! ¹³ Everyone who keeps approaching Yahweh’s tabernacle, dies! Will we all perish?”

²⁰ Then Saul fell immediately his full length on the earth, and was terrified, because of Samuel’s words. There was no strength in him; for he had eaten no bread all day long or all night long.

²¹ A sound of terrors is in his ears. In prosperity the destroyer will come on him.

¹¹ Terrors will make him afraid on every side, and will chase him at his heels.

⁵ that the triumphing of the wicked is short, the joy of the godless but for a moment?

²³ When he is about to fill his belly, God will cast the fierceness of his wrath on him. It will rain on him while he is eating. ²⁴ He will flee from the iron weapon. The bronze arrow will strike him through. ²⁵ He draws it out, and it comes out of his body. Yes, the glittering point comes out of his liver. Terrors are on him.

⁹ Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns, he will sweep away the green and the burning alike.

¹ The wicked flee when no one pursues; but the righteous are as bold as a lion.

³ Therefore my thighs are filled with anguish. Pains have seized me, like the pains of a woman in labor. I am in so much pain that I can’t hear. I am so dismayed that I can’t see. ⁴ My heart flutters. Horror has frightened me. The twilight that I desired has been turned into trembling for me.

¹³ therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking comes suddenly in an instant.

¹¹ Therefore disaster will come on you. You won’t know when it dawns. Mischief will fall on you. You won’t be able to put it away. Desolation will come on you suddenly, which you don’t understand.

⁶ Then the king’s face was changed in him, and his thoughts troubled him; and the joints of his thighs were loosened, and his knees struck one against another.

²³ him, being delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by the hand of lawless men, crucified and killed;

³ For when they are saying, “Peace and safety,” then sudden destruction will come on them, like birth pains on a pregnant woman. Then they will in no way escape.

¹⁰ standing far away for the fear of her torment, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! For your judgment has come in one hour.’

⁸ He will fly away as a dream, and will not be found. Yes, he will be chased away like a vision of the night.

⁶ Arise, Yahweh, in your anger. Lift up yourself against the rage of my adversaries. Awake for me. You have commanded judgment.

⁶⁵ Then the Lord awakened as one out of sleep, like a mighty man who shouts by reason of wine.

⁵ You sweep them away as they sleep. In the morning they sprout like new grass.

⁷ The multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all who fight against her and her stronghold, and who distress her, will be like a dream, a vision of the night. ⁸ It will be like when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he eats; but he awakes, and his hunger isn’t satisfied; or like when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he drinks; but he awakes, and behold, he is faint, and he is still thirsty. The multitude of all the nations that fight against Mount Zion will be like that.

¹³ His archers surround me. He splits my kidneys apart, and does not spare. He pours out my bile on the ground.

³ For I was envious of the arrogant, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

¹³ He has caused the shafts of his quiver to enter into my kidneys.

³ Why are we counted as animals, which have become unclean in your sight?

⁹ Don’t be like the horse, or like the mule, which have no understanding, who are controlled by bit and bridle, or else they will not come near to you.

¹⁰ For he sees that wise men die; likewise the fool and the senseless perish, and leave their wealth to others.

⁵ God, you know my foolishness. My sins aren’t hidden from you.

⁶ A senseless man doesn’t know, neither does a fool understand this:

² “Surely I am the most ignorant man, and don’t have a man’s understanding.

¹⁸ I said in my heart, “As for the sons of men, God tests them, so that they may see that they themselves are like animals.

³ The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master’s crib; but Israel doesn’t know. My people don’t consider.”

¹ When Abram was ninety-nine years old, Yahweh appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty. Walk before me and be blameless.

⁸ I have set Yahweh always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

⁴ Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

¹⁷ For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but Yahweh upholds the righteous.

⁸ My soul stays close to you. Your right hand holds me up.

¹ For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. Yahweh, you have searched me, and you know me. ² You know my sitting down and my rising up. You perceive my thoughts from afar. ³ You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. ⁴ For there is not a word on my tongue, but, behold, Yahweh, you know it altogether. ⁵ You hem me in behind and before. You laid your hand on me. ⁶ This knowledge is beyond me. It’s lofty. I can’t attain it. ⁷ Where could I go from your Spirit? Or where could I flee from your presence? ⁸ If I ascend up into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there! ⁹ If I take the wings of the dawn, and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea, ¹⁰ even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will hold me. ¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me. The light around me will be night,” ¹² even the darkness doesn’t hide from you, but the night shines as the day. The darkness is like light to you.

¹⁸ If I would count them, they are more in number than the sand. When I wake up, I am still with you.

¹⁰ Don’t you be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you. Yes, I will uphold you with the right hand of my righteousness.

¹³ For I, Yahweh your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, ‘Don’t be afraid. I will help you.’

¹ “Behold, my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights: I have put my Spirit on him. He will bring justice to the nations.

²³ “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall give birth to a son. They shall call his name Immanuel;” which is, being interpreted, “God with us.”

²⁰ teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

⁵ Be free from the love of money, content with such things as you have, for he has said, “I will in no way leave you, neither will I in any way forsake you.”

⁷ I will bless Yahweh, who has given me counsel. Yes, my heart instructs me in the night seasons.

⁹ He will guide the humble in justice. He will teach the humble his way.

⁸ I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go. I will counsel you with my eye on you.

¹⁴ For this God is our God forever and ever. He will be our guide even to death.

¹⁵ But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. Selah.

⁸ Cause me to hear your loving kindness in the morning, for I trust in you. Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul to you. ⁹ Deliver me, Yahweh, from my enemies. I flee to you to hide me. ¹⁰ Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness.

⁵ Trust in Yahweh with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding. ⁶ In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

²⁰ I walk in the way of righteousness, in the middle of the paths of justice,

²¹ and when you turn to the right hand, and when you turn to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way. Walk in it.”

¹⁷ Yahweh, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says: “I am Yahweh your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way that you should go.

⁸ Then your light will break out as the morning, and your healing will appear quickly; then your righteousness shall go before you, and Yahweh’s glory will be your rear guard.

¹¹ and Yahweh will guide you continually, satisfy your soul in dry places, and make your bones strong. You will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters don’t fail.

¹³ If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

⁴⁶ Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” Having said this, he breathed his last.

³ If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and will receive you to myself; that where I am, you may be there also.

¹³ However when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak from himself; but whatever he hears, he will speak. He will declare to you things that are coming.

⁵ Now, Father, glorify me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world existed.

²⁴ Father, I desire that they also whom you have given me be with me where I am, that they may see my glory, which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world.

⁵⁹ They stoned Stephen as he called out, saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”

¹ For we know that if the earthly house of our tent is dissolved, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal, in the heavens.

⁵ But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

⁴ to an incorruptible and undefiled inheritance that doesn’t fade away, reserved in Heaven for you, ⁵ who by the power of God are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

² My soul, you have said to Yahweh, “You are my Lord. Apart from you I have no good thing.”

⁵ Yahweh assigned my portion and my cup. You made my lot secure.

¹¹ You will show me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy. In your right hand there are pleasures forever more.

⁴ Also delight yourself in Yahweh, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

¹ For the Chief Musician. A contemplation by the sons of Korah. As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants after you, God. ² My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

⁴ Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my exceeding joy. I will praise you on the harp, God, my God.

³ Because your loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise you.

⁶ For who in the skies can be compared to Yahweh? Who among the sons of the heavenly beings is like Yahweh,

³⁴ Let my meditation be sweet to him. I will rejoice in Yahweh.

⁶ I spread out my hands to you. My soul thirsts for you, like a parched land. Selah. ⁷ Hurry to answer me, Yahweh. My spirit fails. Don’t hide your face from me, so that I don’t become like those who go down into the pit. ⁸ Cause me to hear your loving kindness in the morning, for I trust in you. Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul to you.

⁸ Yes, in the way of your judgments, Yahweh, we have waited for you. Your name and your renown are the desire of our soul. ⁹ With 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.

¹⁷ For though the fig tree doesn’t flourish, nor fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive fails, the fields yield no food; the flocks are cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls: ¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in Yahweh. I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!

³⁷ He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me isn’t worthy of me.

⁸ Yes most certainly, and I count all things to be a loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I suffered the loss of all things, and count them nothing but refuse, that I may gain Christ

² Beloved, now we are children of God. It is not yet revealed what we will be; but we know that when he is revealed, we will be like him; for we will see him just as he is.

³ I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with people, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

²² I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb, are its temple. ²³ The city has no need for the sun or moon to shine, for the very glory of God illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb.

¹⁵ Behold, he will kill me. I have no hope. Nevertheless, I will maintain my ways before him.

⁵ Yahweh assigned my portion and my cup. You made my lot secure. ⁶ The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. Yes, I have a good inheritance.

² Yahweh is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower.

¹⁴ Wait for Yahweh. Be strong, and let your heart take courage. Yes, wait for Yahweh.

¹² For innumerable evils have surrounded me. My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to look up. They are more than the hairs of my head. My heart has failed me.

¹ A Psalm by David, when he was in the desert of Judah. God, you are my God. I will earnestly seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My flesh longs for you, in a dry and weary land, where there is no water.

² My soul longs, and even faints for the courts of Yahweh. My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.

⁵⁷ CHET Yahweh is my portion. I promised to obey your words.

⁸¹ KAF My soul faints for your salvation. I hope in your word. ⁸² My eyes fail for your word. I say, “When will you comfort me?”

³ In the day that I called, you answered me. You encouraged me with strength in my soul.

⁵ I cried to you, Yahweh. I said, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”

²⁹ He gives power to the weak. He increases the strength of him who has no might. ³⁰ Even the youths faint and get weary, and the young men utterly fall; ³¹ but those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run, and not be weary. They will walk, and not faint.

²⁴ “Yahweh is my portion,” says my soul. “Therefore I will hope in him.”

⁸ We are pressed on every side, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not to despair; ⁹ pursued, yet not forsaken; struck down, yet not destroyed; ¹⁰ always carrying in the body the putting to death of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.

¹⁶ Therefore we don’t faint, but though our outward man is decaying, yet our inward man is renewed day by day. ¹⁷ For our light affliction, which is for the moment, works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory, ¹⁸ while we don’t look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

⁹ He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me. ¹⁰ Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, and in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong.

²¹ For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

⁶ For I am already being offered, and the time of my departure has come. ⁷ I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith. ⁸ From now on, the crown of righteousness is stored up for me, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give to me on that day; and not to me only, but also to all those who have loved his appearing.

¹⁴ knowing that the putting off of my tent comes swiftly, even as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me.

³ I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with people, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. ⁴ He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more. The first things have passed away.”

⁷ He who overcomes, I will give him these things. I will be his God, and he will be my son.

¹⁵ “Don’t make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, lest they play the prostitute after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods, and one call you and you eat of his sacrifice;

³⁹ It shall be to you for a fringe, that you may see it, and remember all Yahweh’s commandments, and do them; and that you don’t follow your own heart and your own eyes, after which you used to play the prostitute;

³⁹ Thus they were defiled with their works, and prostituted themselves in their deeds.

¹⁵⁵ Salvation is far from the wicked, for they don’t seek your statutes.

¹³ The Lord said, “Because this people draws near with their mouth and honors me with their lips, but they have removed their heart far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men which has been taught;

² You have planted them. Yes, they have taken root. They grow. Yes, they produce fruit. You are near in their mouth, and far from their heart.

⁷ You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, ⁸ ‘These people draw near to me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.

¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off are made near in the blood of Christ.

¹⁷ He came and preached peace to you who were far off and to those who were near.

⁴ You adulterers and adulteresses, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

¹ One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here. I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who sits on many waters, ² with whom the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality. Those who dwell in the earth were made drunken with the wine of her sexual immorality.” ³ He carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet-colored beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. ⁴ The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of the sexual immorality of the earth. ⁵ And on her forehead a name was written, “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”

⁶ You frustrate the plan of the poor, because Yahweh is his refuge.

⁵ Many, Yahweh, my God, are the wonderful works which you have done, and your thoughts which are toward us. They can’t be declared back to you. If I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be counted.

⁴ Blessed is the one whom you choose and cause to come near, that he may live in your courts. We will be filled with the goodness of your house, your holy temple.

¹⁶ Come and hear, all you who fear God. I will declare what he has done for my soul.

¹⁷ God, you have taught me from my youth. Until now, I have declared your wondrous works.

²⁴ My tongue will also talk about your righteousness all day long, for they are disappointed, and they are confounded, who want to harm me.

¹⁰ For a day in your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.

²² Let them offer the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his deeds with singing.

⁷ Return to your rest, my soul, for Yahweh has dealt bountifully with you.

¹⁷ I will not die, but live, and declare Yah’s works.

²⁵ Yahweh is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. ²⁶ It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of Yahweh.

¹⁷ But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough to spare, and I’m dying with hunger! ¹⁸ I will get up and go to my father, and will tell him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight. ¹⁹ I am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants.”’ ²⁰ “He arose, and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.

¹⁸ Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit,