Psalm 46^[a]

For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. According to alamoth.^[b] A song.

The Ark Brought to Jerusalem^(A)(B)

6 David again brought together all the able young men of Israel—thirty thousand. ² He and all his men went to Baalah^[a](C) in Judah to bring up from there the ark^(D) of God, which is called by the Name,^[b](E) the name of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned^(F) between the cherubim^(G) on the ark. ³ They set the ark of God on a new cart^(H) and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill.^(I) Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart ⁴ with the ark of God on it,^[c] and Ahio was walking in front of it. ⁵ David and all Israel were celebrating^(J) with all their might before the Lord, with castanets,^[d] harps, lyres, timbrels, sistrums and cymbals.^(K)

⁶ When they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of^(L) the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. ⁷ The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act;^(M) therefore God struck him down,^(N) and he died there beside the ark of God.

⁸ Then David was angry because the Lord’s wrath^(O) had broken out against Uzzah, and to this day that place is called Perez Uzzah.^[e](P)

⁹ David was afraid of the Lord that day and said, “How^(Q) can the ark of the Lord ever come to me?” ¹⁰ He was not willing to take the ark of the Lord to be with him in the City of David. Instead, he took it to the house of Obed-Edom^(R) the Gittite. ¹¹ The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months, and the Lord blessed him and his entire household.^(S)

¹² Now King David^(T) was told, “The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God.” So David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. ¹³ When those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, he sacrificed^(U) a bull and a fattened calf. ¹⁴ Wearing a linen ephod,^(V) David was dancing^(W) before the Lord with all his might, ¹⁵ while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts^(X) and the sound of trumpets.^(Y)

¹⁶ As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David,^(Z) Michal^(AA) daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart.

¹⁷ They brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it,^(AB) and David sacrificed burnt offerings^(AC) and fellowship offerings before the Lord. ¹⁸ After he had finished sacrificing^(AD) the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed^(AE) the people in the name of the Lord Almighty. ¹⁹ Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins^(AF) to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women.^(AG) And all the people went to their homes.

²⁰ When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half-naked^(AH) in full view of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!”

²¹ David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed^(AI) me ruler^(AJ) over the Lord’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the Lord. ²² I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.”

²³ And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.

Doom for the Mountains of Israel

6 The word of the Lord came to me: ² “Son of man, set your face^(A) against the mountains^(B) of Israel; prophesy against them^{(C) 3} and say: ‘You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Sovereign Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys:^(D) I am about to bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places.^{(E) 4} Your altars will be demolished and your incense altars^(F) will be smashed; and I will slay your people in front of your idols.^{(G) 5} I will lay the dead bodies of the Israelites in front of their idols, and I will scatter your bones^(H) around your altars.^{(I) 6} Wherever you live,^(J) the towns will be laid waste and the high places^(K) demolished, so that your altars will be laid waste and devastated, your idols^(L) smashed and ruined, your incense altars^(M) broken down, and what you have made wiped out.^{(N) 7} Your people will fall slain^(O) among you, and you will know that I am the Lord.^(P)

⁸ “‘But I will spare some, for some of you will escape^(Q) the sword when you are scattered among the lands and nations.^{(R) 9} Then in the nations where they have been carried captive, those who escape will remember^(S) me—how I have been grieved^(T) by their adulterous hearts, which have turned away from me, and by their eyes, which have lusted after their idols.^(U) They will loathe themselves for the evil^(V) they have done and for all their detestable practices.^{(W) 10} And they will know that I am the Lord;^(X) I did not threaten in vain to bring this calamity on them.^(Y)

¹¹ “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Strike your hands together and stamp your feet and cry out “Alas!” because of all the wicked and detestable practices of the people of Israel, for they will fall by the sword, famine and plague.^{(Z) 12} One who is far away will die of the plague, and one who is near will fall by the sword, and anyone who survives and is spared will die of famine. So will I pour out my wrath^(AA) on them.^{(AB) 13} And they will know that I am the Lord, when their people lie slain among their idols^(AC) around their altars, on every high hill and on all the mountaintops, under every spreading tree and every leafy oak^(AD)—places where they offered fragrant incense to all their idols.^{(AE) 14} And I will stretch out my hand^(AF) against them and make the land a desolate waste from the desert to Diblah^[a]—wherever they live. Then they will know that I am the Lord.^(AG)’”

Jesus’ Teaching on Prayer^(A)(B)

11 One day Jesus was praying^(C) in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord,^(D) teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

² He said to them, “When you pray, say:

⁵ Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; ⁶ a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ ⁷ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ ⁸ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity^[e] he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.^(H)

⁹ “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you;^(I) seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

¹¹ “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for^[f] a fish, will give him a snake instead? ¹² Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? ¹³ If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Jesus and Beelzebul^(J)(K)

¹⁴ Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed.^{(L) 15} But some of them said, “By Beelzebul,^(M) the prince of demons, he is driving out demons.”^{(N) 16} Others tested him by asking for a sign from heaven.^(O)

¹⁷ Jesus knew their thoughts^(P) and said to them: “Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. ¹⁸ If Satan^(Q) is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebul. ¹⁹ Now if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your followers drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. ²⁰ But if I drive out demons by the finger of God,^(R) then the kingdom of God^(S) has come upon you.

²¹ “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. ²² But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armor in which the man trusted and divides up his plunder.

²³ “Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.^(T)

²⁴ “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ ²⁵ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. ²⁶ Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first.”^(U)

²⁷ As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.”^(V)

²⁸ He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God^(W) and obey it.”^(X)

The Sign of Jonah^(Y)

²⁹ As the crowds increased, Jesus said, “This is a wicked generation. It asks for a sign,^(Z) but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.^{(AA) 30} For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation. ³¹ The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom;^(AB) and now something greater than Solomon is here. ³² The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah;^(AC) and now something greater than Jonah is here.

The Lamp of the Body^(AD)

³³ “No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light.^{(AE) 34} Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy,^[g] your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy,^[h] your body also is full of darkness. ³⁵ See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. ³⁶ Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.”