Psalm 119:97-104

New International Version

מ Mem

⁹⁷Oh, how I love your law!^(A)
    I meditate^(B) on it all day long.
⁹⁸Your commands are always with me
    and make me wiser^(C) than my enemies.
⁹⁹I have more insight than all my teachers,
    for I meditate on your statutes.^(D)
¹⁰⁰I have more understanding than the elders,
    for I obey your precepts.^(E)
¹⁰¹I have kept my feet^(F) from every evil path
    so that I might obey your word.^(G)
¹⁰²I have not departed from your laws,^(H)
    for you yourself have taught^(I) me.
¹⁰³How sweet are your words to my taste,
    sweeter than honey^(J) to my mouth!^(K)
¹⁰⁴I gain understanding^(L) from your precepts;
    therefore I hate every wrong path.^(M)

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Nehemiah 9:1-15

New International Version

The Israelites Confess Their Sins

9 On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and putting dust on their heads.^(A) ²Those of Israelite descent had separated themselves from all foreigners.^(B) They stood in their places and confessed their sins and the sins of their ancestors.^(C) ³They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshiping the Lord their God. ⁴Standing on the stairs of the Levites^(D) were Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani and Kenani. They cried out with loud voices to the Lord their God. ⁵And the Levites—Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah and Pethahiah—said: “Stand up and praise the Lord your God,^(E) who is from everlasting to everlasting.^[a]”

“Blessed be your glorious name,^(F) and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. ⁶You alone are the Lord.^(G) You made the heavens,^(H) even the highest heavens, and all their starry host,^(I) the earth^(J) and all that is on it, the seas^(K) and all that is in them.^(L) You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven^(M) worship you.

⁷“You are the Lord God, who chose Abram^(N) and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans^(O) and named him Abraham.^(P) ⁸You found his heart faithful to you, and you made a covenant with him to give to his descendants the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Jebusites and Girgashites.^(Q) You have kept your promise^(R) because you are righteous.^(S)

⁹“You saw the suffering of our ancestors in Egypt;^(T) you heard their cry at the Red Sea.^[b]^(U) ¹⁰You sent signs^(V) and wonders^(W) against Pharaoh, against all his officials and all the people of his land, for you knew how arrogantly the Egyptians treated them. You made a name^(X) for yourself,^(Y) which remains to this day. ¹¹You divided the sea before them,^(Z) so that they passed through it on dry ground, but you hurled their pursuers into the depths,^(AA) like a stone into mighty waters.^(AB) ¹²By day^(AC) you led^(AD) them with a pillar of cloud,^(AE) and by night with a pillar of fire to give them light on the way they were to take.

¹³“You came down on Mount Sinai;^(AF) you spoke^(AG) to them from heaven.^(AH) You gave them regulations and laws that are just^(AI) and right, and decrees and commands that are good.^(AJ) ¹⁴You made known to them your holy Sabbath^(AK) and gave them commands, decrees and laws through your servant Moses. ¹⁵In their hunger you gave them bread from heaven^(AL) and in their thirst you brought them water from the rock;^(AM) you told them to go in and take possession of the land you had sworn with uplifted hand^(AN) to give them.^(AO)

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Footnotes

Nehemiah 9:5 Or God for ever and ever
Nehemiah 9:9 Or the Sea of Reeds

Ephesians 5:21-6:9

New International Version

Instructions for Christian Households^(A)

²¹Submit to one another^(B) out of reverence for Christ.

²²Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands^(C) as you do to the Lord.^(D) ²³For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church,^(E) his body, of which he is the Savior. ²⁴Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands^(F) in everything.

²⁵Husbands, love your wives,^(G) just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her^(H) ²⁶to make her holy,^(I) cleansing^[a] her by the washing^(J) with water through the word, ²⁷and to present her to himself^(K) as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.^(L) ²⁸In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives^(M) as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church— ³⁰for we are members of his body.^(N) ³¹“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”^[b]^(O) ³²This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. ³³However, each one of you also must love his wife^(P) as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

6 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.^(Q) ²“Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— ³“so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”^[c]^(R)

⁴Fathers,^[d] do not exasperate your children;^(S) instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.^(T)

⁵Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect^(U) and fear, and with sincerity of heart,^(V) just as you would obey Christ.^(W) ⁶Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but as slaves of Christ,^(X) doing the will of God from your heart. ⁷Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people,^(Y) ⁸because you know that the Lord will reward each one for whatever good they do,^(Z) whether they are slave or free.

⁹And masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Do not threaten them, since you know that he who is both their Master and yours^(AA) is in heaven, and there is no favoritism^(AB) with him.