Prayer for Rescue from Persecutors.

For the music director; set to ^[a]Al-tashheth. A ^[b]Mikhtam of David, ^[c]when he fled from Saul in the cave.

The Lord Exalted for His Goodness.

A Psalm of Praise, of David.

Balak Sends for Balaam

22 ^(A)Then the sons of Israel journeyed on, and camped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan opposite Jericho.

² Now ^(B)Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. ^3 (C)So Moab was in great fear because of the people, for they were numerous; and Moab was in dread of the sons of Israel. ⁴ Moab said to the elders of ^(D)Midian, “Now this ^[a]horde will eat up all that is around us, as the ox eats up the grass of the field!” And Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time. ⁵ So he sent messengers to ^(E)Balaam the son of Beor, at ^(F)Pethor, which is near the Euphrates River, in the land of the sons of his people, to call for him, saying, “Behold, a people came out of Egypt; behold, they have covered the surface of the land, and they are living opposite me. ^6 (G)Now, therefore, please come, ^(H)curse this people for me since they are too ^[b]mighty for me; perhaps I will be able to ^[c]defeat them and drive them out of the land. For I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.”

⁷ So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian left with the fees for ^(I)divination in their hands; and they came to Balaam and ^[d]repeated Balak’s words to him. ⁸ And he said to them, “Spend the night here, and I will bring word back to you just as the Lord may speak to me.” And the leaders of Moab stayed with Balaam. ⁹ Then ^(J)God came to Balaam and said, “Who are these men with you?” ¹⁰ Balaam said to God, “Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, sent word to me: ¹¹ ‘Behold, there is a people who came out of Egypt, and they cover the surface of the land; now come, curse them for me; perhaps I will be able to fight against them and drive them out.’” ¹² But God said to Balaam, “Do not go with them; ^(K)you shall not curse the people, for they ^(L)are blessed.” ¹³ So Balaam got up in the morning and said to Balak’s representatives, “Go back to your land, for the Lord has refused to let me go with you.” ¹⁴ And the representatives from Moab got up and went to Balak, and said, “Balaam refused to come with us.”

¹⁵ Then Balak sent representatives once again, more numerous and more distinguished than ^[e]the previous. ¹⁶ They came to Balaam and said to him, “This is what Balak the son of Zippor says: ‘I beg you, let nothing keep you from coming to me; ¹⁷ for I will indeed honor you richly, and I will do whatever you tell me. ^(M)Please come then, curse this people for me.’” ¹⁸ But Balaam replied to the servants of Balak, “^(N)Even if Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything, either small or great, contrary to the ^[f]command of the Lord my God. ¹⁹ Now please, you also stay here tonight, and I will find out what else the Lord will say to me.” ²⁰ And God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men have come to call you, rise and go with them; but you shall do ^(O)only the thing that I tell you.”

^21 (P)So Balaam arose in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the leaders of Moab.

¹² Therefore sin is not to ^(A)reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, ¹³ and do not go on ^(B)presenting ^[a]the parts of your body to sin as ^[b]instruments of unrighteousness; but ^(C)present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead, and ^[c]your body’s parts as ^[d]instruments of righteousness for God. ¹⁴ For ^(D)sin shall not ^(E)be master over you, for ^(F)you are not under ^[e]the Law but ^(G)under grace.

¹⁵ What then? ^(H)Are we to sin because we are not under ^[f]the Law but under grace? ^[g](I)Far from it! ¹⁶ Do you not ^(J)know that the one to whom you present yourselves as ^(K)slaves for obedience, you are slaves of that same one whom you obey, either of ^(L)sin ^[h]resulting in death, or of obedience ^[i]resulting in righteousness? ¹⁷ But ^(M)thanks be to God that ^[j]though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that ^[k](N)form of teaching to which you were entrusted, ¹⁸ and after being ^(O)freed from sin, you became slaves to righteousness. ^19 (P)I am speaking ^[l]in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just ^(Q)as you presented ^[m]the parts of your body as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, ^[n]resulting in further lawlessness, so now present ^[o]your body’s parts as slaves to righteousness, ^[p]resulting in sanctification.

²⁰ For ^(R)when you were slaves of sin, you were free in relation to righteousness. ²¹ Therefore what ^[q](S)benefit were you then ^[r]deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is ^(T)death. ²² But now having been ^(U)freed from sin and ^(V)enslaved to God, you ^[s]derive your ^[t](W)benefit, ^[u]resulting in sanctification, and ^(X)the outcome, eternal life. ²³ For the wages of ^(Y)sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is ^(Z)eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Cleansing the Temple

^12 (A)And Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all those who were selling and buying on the temple grounds, and He overturned the tables of the ^(B)money changers and the seats of those who were selling ^(C)doves. ¹³ And He *said to them, “It is written: ‘^(D)My house will be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a ^(E)den of robbers.”

¹⁴ And those who were blind and those who limped came to Him in the temple area, and ^(F)He healed them. ¹⁵ But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that He had done, and the children who were shouting in the temple area, “^[a]Hosanna to the ^(G)Son of David,” they became indignant, ¹⁶ and they said to Him, “Do You hear what these children are saying?” And Jesus *said to them, “Yes. Have you never read, ‘^(H)From the mouths of infants and nursing babies You have prepared praise for Yourself’?” ¹⁷ And He left them and went out of the city to ^(I)Bethany, and spent the night there.

The Barren Fig Tree

^18 (J)Now in the early morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry. ¹⁹ And seeing a lone ^(K)fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves alone; and He *said to it, “No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.” And at once the fig tree withered.

²⁰ Seeing this, the disciples were amazed and ^[b]asked, “How did the fig tree wither all at once?” ²¹ And Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, ^(L)if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen. ²² And ^(M)whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive it all.”