Psalm 101

New International Version

Psalm 101

Of David. A psalm.

¹I will sing of your love^(A) and justice;
to you, Lord, I will sing praise.
²I will be careful to lead a blameless life^(B)—
when will you come to me?

I will conduct the affairs^(C) of my house
with a blameless heart.
³I will not look with approval
on anything that is vile.^(D)

I hate what faithless people do;^(E)
I will have no part in it.
⁴The perverse of heart^(F) shall be far from me;
I will have nothing to do with what is evil.

⁵Whoever slanders their neighbor^(G) in secret,
I will put to silence;
whoever has haughty eyes^(H) and a proud heart,
I will not tolerate.

⁶My eyes will be on the faithful in the land,
that they may dwell with me;
the one whose walk is blameless^(I)
will minister to me.

⁷No one who practices deceit
will dwell in my house;
no one who speaks falsely
will stand in my presence.

⁸Every morning^(J) I will put to silence
all the wicked^(K) in the land;
I will cut off every evildoer^(L)
from the city of the Lord.^(M)

Psalm 109

New International Version

Psalm 109

For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.

¹My God, whom I praise,^(A)
    do not remain silent,^(B)
²for people who are wicked and deceitful^(C)
    have opened their mouths against me;
    they have spoken against me with lying tongues.^(D)
³With words of hatred^(E) they surround me;
    they attack me without cause.^(F)
⁴In return for my friendship they accuse me,
    but I am a man of prayer.^(G)
⁵They repay me evil for good,^(H)
    and hatred for my friendship.

⁶Appoint someone evil to oppose my enemy;
    let an accuser^(I) stand at his right hand.
⁷When he is tried, let him be found guilty,^(J)
    and may his prayers condemn^(K) him.
⁸May his days be few;^(L)
    may another take his place^(M) of leadership.
⁹May his children be fatherless
    and his wife a widow.^(N)
¹⁰May his children be wandering beggars;^(O)
    may they be driven^[a] from their ruined homes.
¹¹May a creditor^(P) seize all he has;
    may strangers plunder^(Q) the fruits of his labor.^(R)
¹²May no one extend kindness to him
    or take pity^(S) on his fatherless children.
¹³May his descendants be cut off,^(T)
    their names blotted out^(U) from the next generation.
¹⁴May the iniquity of his fathers^(V) be remembered before the Lord;
    may the sin of his mother never be blotted out.
¹⁵May their sins always remain before^(W) the Lord,
    that he may blot out their name^(X) from the earth.

¹⁶For he never thought of doing a kindness,
    but hounded to death the poor
    and the needy^(Y) and the brokenhearted.^(Z)
¹⁷He loved to pronounce a curse—
    may it come back on him.^(AA)
He found no pleasure in blessing—
    may it be far from him.
¹⁸He wore cursing^(AB) as his garment;
    it entered into his body like water,^(AC)
    into his bones like oil.
¹⁹May it be like a cloak wrapped^(AD) about him,
    like a belt tied forever around him.
²⁰May this be the Lord’s payment^(AE) to my accusers,
    to those who speak evil^(AF) of me.

²¹But you, Sovereign Lord,
    help me for your name’s sake;^(AG)
    out of the goodness of your love,^(AH) deliver me.^(AI)
²²For I am poor and needy,
    and my heart is wounded within me.
²³I fade away like an evening shadow;^(AJ)
    I am shaken off like a locust.
²⁴My knees give^(AK) way from fasting;^(AL)
    my body is thin and gaunt.^(AM)
²⁵I am an object of scorn^(AN) to my accusers;
    when they see me, they shake their heads.^(AO)

²⁶Help me,^(AP) Lord my God;
    save me according to your unfailing love.
²⁷Let them know^(AQ) that it is your hand,
    that you, Lord, have done it.
²⁸While they curse,^(AR) may you bless;
    may those who attack me be put to shame,
    but may your servant rejoice.^(AS)
²⁹May my accusers be clothed with disgrace
    and wrapped in shame^(AT) as in a cloak.

³⁰With my mouth I will greatly extol the Lord;
in the great throng^(AU) of worshipers I will praise him.
³¹For he stands at the right hand^(AV) of the needy,
to save their lives from those who would condemn them.

Footnotes

Psalm 109:10 Septuagint; Hebrew sought

Acts 21:15-26

New International Version

¹⁵After this, we started on our way up to Jerusalem.^(A) ¹⁶Some of the disciples from Caesarea^(B) accompanied us and brought us to the home of Mnason, where we were to stay. He was a man from Cyprus^(C) and one of the early disciples.

Paul’s Arrival at Jerusalem

¹⁷When we arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters^(D) received us warmly.^(E) ¹⁸The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James,^(F) and all the elders^(G) were present. ¹⁹Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles^(H) through his ministry.^(I)

²⁰When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous^(J) for the law.^(K) ²¹They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses,^(L) telling them not to circumcise their children^(M) or live according to our customs.^(N) ²²What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come, ²³so do what we tell you. There are four men with us who have made a vow.^(O) ²⁴Take these men, join in their purification rites^(P) and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved.^(Q) Then everyone will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law. ²⁵As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.”^(R)

²⁶The next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he went to the temple to give notice of the date when the days of purification would end and the offering would be made for each of them.^(S)

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Luke 5:27-39

New International Version

Jesus Calls Levi and Eats With Sinners^(A)

²⁷After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,”^(B) Jesus said to him, ²⁸and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.^(C)

²⁹Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors^(D) and others were eating with them. ³⁰But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect^(E) complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”^(F)

³¹Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. ³²I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”^(G)

Jesus Questioned About Fasting^(H)

³³They said to him, “John’s disciples^(I) often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”

³⁴Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom^(J) fast while he is with them? ³⁵But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them;^(K) in those days they will fast.”

³⁶He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. ³⁷And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. ³⁸No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. ³⁹And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’”

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