Psalm 23

New International Version

Psalm 23

A psalm of David.

¹The Lord is my shepherd,^(A) I lack nothing.^(B)
²    He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,^(C)
³    he refreshes my soul.^(D)
He guides me^(E) along the right paths^(F)
    for his name’s sake.^(G)
⁴Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,^[a]^(H)
I will fear no evil,^(I)
    for you are with me;^(J)
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

⁵You prepare a table^(K) before me
    in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;^(L)
    my cup^(M) overflows.
⁶Surely your goodness and love^(N) will follow me
    all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
    forever.

Footnotes

Psalm 23:4 Or the valley of the shadow of death

Jeremiah 10:17-25

New International Version

Coming Destruction

¹⁷Gather up your belongings^(A) to leave the land,
    you who live under siege.
¹⁸For this is what the Lord says:
    “At this time I will hurl^(B) out
    those who live in this land;
I will bring distress^(C) on them
    so that they may be captured.”

¹⁹Woe to me because of my injury!
    My wound^(D) is incurable!
Yet I said to myself,
    “This is my sickness, and I must endure^(E) it.”
²⁰My tent^(F) is destroyed;
    all its ropes are snapped.
My children are gone from me and are no more;^(G)
    no one is left now to pitch my tent
    or to set up my shelter.
²¹The shepherds^(H) are senseless^(I)
    and do not inquire of the Lord;^(J)
so they do not prosper^(K)
    and all their flock is scattered.^(L)
²²Listen! The report is coming—
    a great commotion from the land of the north!^(M)
It will make the towns of Judah desolate,^(N)
    a haunt of jackals.^(O)

Jeremiah’s Prayer

²³Lord, I know that people’s lives are not their own;
    it is not for them to direct their steps.^(P)
²⁴Discipline me, Lord, but only in due measure—
    not in your anger,^(Q)
    or you will reduce me to nothing.^(R)
²⁵Pour out your wrath on the nations^(S)
    that do not acknowledge you,
    on the peoples who do not call on your name.^(T)
For they have devoured^(U) Jacob;
    they have devoured him completely
    and destroyed his homeland.^(V)

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Acts 17:16-31

New International Version

In Athens

¹⁶While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. ¹⁷So he reasoned in the synagogue^(A) with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there. ¹⁸A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began to debate with him. Some of them asked, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others remarked, “He seems to be advocating foreign gods.” They said this because Paul was preaching the good news^(B) about Jesus and the resurrection.^(C) ¹⁹Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus,^(D) where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching^(E) is that you are presenting? ²⁰You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears, and we would like to know what they mean.” ²¹(All the Athenians^(F) and the foreigners who lived there spent their time doing nothing but talking about and listening to the latest ideas.)

²²Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus^(G) and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.^(H) ²³For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship^(I)—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.

²⁴“The God who made the world and everything in it^(J) is the Lord of heaven and earth^(K) and does not live in temples built by human hands.^(L) ²⁵And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.^(M) ²⁶From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.^(N) ²⁷God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.^(O) ²⁸‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’^[a]^(P) As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’^[b]

²⁹“Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill.^(Q) ³⁰In the past God overlooked^(R) such ignorance,^(S) but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.^(T) ³¹For he has set a day when he will judge^(U) the world with justice^(V) by the man he has appointed.^(W) He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”^(X)