Psalm 17

A prayer of David.

¹⁶ May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father,^(A) who loved us^(B) and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, ¹⁷ encourage^(C) your hearts and strengthen^(D) you in every good deed and word.

Request for Prayer

3 As for other matters, brothers and sisters,^(E) pray for us^(F) that the message of the Lord^(G) may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you.^{(H) 2} And pray that we may be delivered from wicked and evil people,^(I) for not everyone has faith. ³ But the Lord is faithful,^(J) and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one.^{(K) 4} We have confidence^(L) in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command. ⁵ May the Lord direct your hearts^(M) into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.

⁵ and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness,^(A) the firstborn from the dead,^(B) and the ruler of the kings of the earth.^(C)

To him who loves us^(D) and has freed us from our sins by his blood,^(E)

⁶ and has made us to be a kingdom and priests^(A) to serve his God and Father^(B)—to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen.^(C)

The Resurrection and Marriage^(A)

²⁷ Some of the Sadducees,^(B) who say there is no resurrection,^(C) came to Jesus with a question. ²⁸ “Teacher,” they said, “Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.^{(D) 29} Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless. ³⁰ The second ³¹ and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children. ³² Finally, the woman died too. ³³ Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?”

³⁴ Jesus replied, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. ³⁵ But those who are considered worthy of taking part in the age to come^(E) and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, ³⁶ and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children,^(F) since they are children of the resurrection. ³⁷ But in the account of the burning bush, even Moses showed that the dead rise, for he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’^{[a](G) 38} He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”

The Resurrection and Marriage^(A)

²⁷ Some of the Sadducees,^(B) who say there is no resurrection,^(C) came to Jesus with a question.