Psalm 71

New International Version

Psalm 71^(A)

¹In you, Lord, I have taken refuge;^(B)
    let me never be put to shame.^(C)
²In your righteousness, rescue me and deliver me;
    turn your ear^(D) to me and save me.
³Be my rock of refuge,
    to which I can always go;
give the command to save me,
    for you are my rock and my fortress.^(E)
⁴Deliver^(F) me, my God, from the hand of the wicked,^(G)
    from the grasp of those who are evil and cruel.^(H)

⁵For you have been my hope,^(I) Sovereign Lord,
    my confidence^(J) since my youth.
⁶From birth^(K) I have relied on you;
    you brought me forth from my mother’s womb.^(L)
    I will ever praise^(M) you.
⁷I have become a sign^(N) to many;
    you are my strong refuge.^(O)
⁸My mouth^(P) is filled with your praise,
    declaring your splendor^(Q) all day long.

⁹Do not cast^(R) me away when I am old;^(S)
    do not forsake^(T) me when my strength is gone.
¹⁰For my enemies^(U) speak against me;
    those who wait to kill^(V) me conspire^(W) together.
¹¹They say, “God has forsaken^(X) him;
    pursue him and seize him,
    for no one will rescue^(Y) him.”
¹²Do not be far^(Z) from me, my God;
    come quickly, God, to help^(AA) me.
¹³May my accusers^(AB) perish in shame;^(AC)
    may those who want to harm me
    be covered with scorn and disgrace.^(AD)

¹⁴As for me, I will always have hope;^(AE)
I will praise you more and more.

¹⁵My mouth will tell^(AF) of your righteous deeds,^(AG)
    of your saving acts all day long—
    though I know not how to relate them all.
¹⁶I will come and proclaim your mighty acts,^(AH) Sovereign Lord;
    I will proclaim your righteous deeds, yours alone.
¹⁷Since my youth, God, you have taught^(AI) me,
    and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.^(AJ)
¹⁸Even when I am old and gray,^(AK)
    do not forsake me, my God,
till I declare your power^(AL) to the next generation,
    your mighty acts to all who are to come.^(AM)

¹⁹Your righteousness, God, reaches to the heavens,^(AN)
    you who have done great things.^(AO)
    Who is like you, God?^(AP)
²⁰Though you have made me see troubles,^(AQ)
    many and bitter,
    you will restore^(AR) my life again;
from the depths of the earth^(AS)
    you will again bring me up.
²¹You will increase my honor^(AT)
    and comfort^(AU) me once more.

²²I will praise you with the harp^(AV)
    for your faithfulness, my God;
I will sing praise to you with the lyre,^(AW)
    Holy One of Israel.^(AX)
²³My lips will shout for joy^(AY)
    when I sing praise to you—
    I whom you have delivered.^(AZ)
²⁴My tongue will tell of your righteous acts
    all day long,^(BA)
for those who wanted to harm me^(BB)
    have been put to shame and confusion.^(BC)

Jeremiah 16:10-21

New International Version

¹⁰“When you tell these people all this and they ask you, ‘Why has the Lord decreed such a great disaster against us? What wrong have we done? What sin have we committed against the Lord our God?’^(A) ¹¹then say to them, ‘It is because your ancestors forsook me,’ declares the Lord, ‘and followed other gods and served and worshiped^(B) them. They forsook me and did not keep my law.^(C) ¹²But you have behaved more wickedly than your ancestors.^(D) See how all of you are following the stubbornness of your evil hearts^(E) instead of obeying me. ¹³So I will throw you out of this land^(F) into a land neither you nor your ancestors have known,^(G) and there you will serve other gods^(H) day and night, for I will show you no favor.’^(I)

¹⁴“However, the days are coming,”^(J) declares the Lord, “when it will no longer be said, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’^(K) ¹⁵but it will be said, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of the land of the north^(L) and out of all the countries where he had banished them.’^(M) For I will restore^(N) them to the land I gave their ancestors.^(O)

¹⁶“But now I will send for many fishermen,” declares the Lord, “and they will catch them.^(P) After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt^(Q) them down on every mountain and hill and from the crevices of the rocks.^(R) ¹⁷My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden^(S) from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes.^(T) ¹⁸I will repay^(U) them double^(V) for their wickedness and their sin, because they have defiled my land^(W) with the lifeless forms of their vile images^(X) and have filled my inheritance with their detestable idols.^(Y)”^(Z)

¹⁹Lord, my strength and my fortress,
    my refuge^(AA) in time of distress,
to you the nations will come^(AB)
    from the ends of the earth and say,
“Our ancestors possessed nothing but false gods,^(AC)
    worthless idols^(AD) that did them no good.^(AE)
²⁰Do people make their own gods?
    Yes, but they are not gods!”^(AF)

²¹“Therefore I will teach them—
    this time I will teach them
    my power and might.
Then they will know
    that my name^(AG) is the Lord.

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Romans 7:1-12

New International Version

Released From the Law, Bound to Christ

7 Do you not know, brothers and sisters^(A)—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law has authority over someone only as long as that person lives? ²For example, by law a married woman is bound to her husband as long as he is alive, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law that binds her to him.^(B) ³So then, if she has sexual relations with another man while her husband is still alive, she is called an adulteress.^(C) But if her husband dies, she is released from that law and is not an adulteress if she marries another man.

⁴So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law^(D) through the body of Christ,^(E) that you might belong to another,^(F) to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. ⁵For when we were in the realm of the flesh,^[a]^(G) the sinful passions aroused by the law^(H) were at work in us,^(I) so that we bore fruit for death.^(J) ⁶But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law^(K) so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.^(L)

The Law and Sin

⁷What shall we say, then?^(M) Is the law sinful? Certainly not!^(N) Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law.^(O) For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”^[b]^(P) ⁸But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment,^(Q) produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead.^(R) ⁹Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. ¹⁰I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life^(S) actually brought death. ¹¹For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment,^(T) deceived me,^(U) and through the commandment put me to death. ¹²So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.^(V)

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Footnotes

Romans 7:5 In contexts like this, the Greek word for flesh (sarx) refers to the sinful state of human beings, often presented as a power in opposition to the Spirit.
Romans 7:7 Exodus 20:17; Deut. 5:21

John 7:14-36

New International Version

Jesus Teaches at the Festival

¹⁴Not until halfway through the festival did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach.^(A) ¹⁵The Jews^(B) there were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning^(C) without having been taught?”^(D)

¹⁶Jesus answered, “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me.^(E) ¹⁷Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out^(F) whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. ¹⁸Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory,^(G) but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him. ¹⁹Has not Moses given you the law?^(H) Yet not one of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me?”^(I)

²⁰“You are demon-possessed,”^(J) the crowd answered. “Who is trying to kill you?”

²¹Jesus said to them, “I did one miracle,^(K) and you are all amazed. ²²Yet, because Moses gave you circumcision^(L) (though actually it did not come from Moses, but from the patriarchs),^(M) you circumcise a boy on the Sabbath. ²³Now if a boy can be circumcised on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses may not be broken, why are you angry with me for healing a man’s whole body on the Sabbath? ²⁴Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly.”^(N)

Division Over Who Jesus Is

²⁵At that point some of the people of Jerusalem began to ask, “Isn’t this the man they are trying to kill?^(O) ²⁶Here he is, speaking publicly, and they are not saying a word to him. Have the authorities^(P) really concluded that he is the Messiah?^(Q) ²⁷But we know where this man is from;^(R) when the Messiah comes, no one will know where he is from.”

²⁸Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts,^(S) cried out, “Yes, you know me, and you know where I am from.^(T) I am not here on my own authority, but he who sent me is true.^(U) You do not know him, ²⁹but I know him^(V) because I am from him and he sent me.”^(W)

³⁰At this they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him,^(X) because his hour had not yet come.^(Y) ³¹Still, many in the crowd believed in him.^(Z) They said, “When the Messiah comes, will he perform more signs^(AA) than this man?”

³²The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him.

³³Jesus said, “I am with you for only a short time,^(AB) and then I am going to the one who sent me.^(AC) ³⁴You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come.”^(AD)

³⁵The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered^(AE) among the Greeks,^(AF) and teach the Greeks? ³⁶What did he mean when he said, ‘You will look for me, but you will not find me,’ and ‘Where I am, you cannot come’?”^(AG)