Psalm 144:9-15

New International Version

⁹I will sing a new song^(A) to you, my God;
on the ten-stringed lyre^(B) I will make music to you,
¹⁰to the One who gives victory to kings,^(C)
who delivers his servant David.^(D)

From the deadly sword^(E) ¹¹deliver me;
rescue me^(F) from the hands of foreigners^(G)
whose mouths are full of lies,^(H)
whose right hands are deceitful.^(I)

¹²Then our sons in their youth
    will be like well-nurtured plants,^(J)
and our daughters will be like pillars^(K)
    carved to adorn a palace.
¹³Our barns will be filled^(L)
    with every kind of provision.
Our sheep will increase by thousands,
    by tens of thousands in our fields;
¹⁴    our oxen^(M) will draw heavy loads.^[a]
There will be no breaching of walls,^(N)
    no going into captivity,
    no cry of distress in our streets.^(O)
¹⁵Blessed is the people^(P) of whom this is true;
    blessed is the people whose God is the Lord.

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Footnotes

Psalm 144:14 Or our chieftains will be firmly established

Song of Songs 8:5-7

New International Version

Friends

⁵Who is this coming up from the wilderness^(A)
leaning on her beloved?

She

Under the apple tree I roused you;
    there your mother conceived^(B) you,
    there she who was in labor gave you birth.
⁶Place me like a seal over your heart,
    like a seal on your arm;
for love^(C) is as strong as death,
    its jealousy^[a]^(D) unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire,
    like a mighty flame.^[b]
⁷Many waters cannot quench love;
    rivers cannot sweep it away.
If one were to give
    all the wealth of one’s house for love,
    it^[c] would be utterly scorned.^(E)

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Footnotes

Song of Songs 8:6 Or ardor
Song of Songs 8:6 Or fire, / like the very flame of the Lord
Song of Songs 8:7 Or he

Mark 7:9-23

New International Version

⁹And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe^[a] your own traditions!^(A) ¹⁰For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’^[b]^(B) and, ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’^[c]^(C) ¹¹But you say^(D) that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is Corban (that is, devoted to God)— ¹²then you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother. ¹³Thus you nullify the word of God^(E) by your tradition^(F) that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.”

¹⁴Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. ¹⁵Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.” ^[16]^[d]

¹⁷After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him^(G) about this parable. ¹⁸“Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? ¹⁹For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods^(H) clean.)^(I)

²⁰He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. ²¹For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, ²²adultery, greed,^(J) malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. ²³All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”