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18 Discipline your son, for there is hope;
    don’t be a willing party to his death.
19 A hot-tempered man must pay the penalty,
    for if you rescue him, you must do it again.

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A contemplation by Asaph.

78 Hear my teaching, my people.
    Turn your ears to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth in a parable.
    I will utter dark sayings of old,
which we have heard and known,
    and our fathers have told us.
We will not hide them from their children,
    telling to the generation to come the praises of Yahweh,
    his strength, and his wondrous deeds that he has done.
For he established a covenant in Jacob,
    and appointed a teaching in Israel,
    which he commanded our fathers,
    that they should make them known to their children;
that the generation to come might know, even the children who should be born;
    who should arise and tell their children,
that they might set their hope in God,
    and not forget God’s deeds,
    but keep his commandments,
and might not be as their fathers—
    a stubborn and rebellious generation,
    a generation that didn’t make their hearts loyal,
    whose spirit was not steadfast with God.
The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows,
    turned back in the day of battle.
10 They didn’t keep God’s covenant,
    and refused to walk in his law.
11 They forgot his doings,
    his wondrous deeds that he had shown them.
12 He did marvelous things in the sight of their fathers,
    in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
13 He split the sea, and caused them to pass through.
    He made the waters stand as a heap.
14 In the daytime he also led them with a cloud,
    and all night with a light of fire.
15 He split rocks in the wilderness,
    and gave them drink abundantly as out of the depths.
16 He brought streams also out of the rock,
    and caused waters to run down like rivers.
17 Yet they still went on to sin against him,
    to rebel against the Most High in the desert.
18 They tempted God in their heart
    by asking food according to their desire.
19 Yes, they spoke against God.
    They said, “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?
20 Behold, he struck the rock, so that waters gushed out,
    and streams overflowed.
Can he give bread also?
    Will he provide meat for his people?”
21 Therefore Yahweh heard, and was angry.
    A fire was kindled against Jacob,
    anger also went up against Israel,
22 because they didn’t believe in God,
    and didn’t trust in his salvation.
23 Yet he commanded the skies above,
    and opened the doors of heaven.
24 He rained down manna on them to eat,
    and gave them food from the sky.
25 Man ate the bread of angels.
    He sent them food to the full.
26 He caused the east wind to blow in the sky.
    By his power he guided the south wind.
27 He also rained meat on them as the dust,
    winged birds as the sand of the seas.
28 He let them fall in the middle of their camp,
    around their habitations.
29 So they ate, and were well filled.
    He gave them their own desire.
30 They didn’t turn from their cravings.
    Their food was yet in their mouths,
31     when the anger of God went up against them,
    killed some of their strongest,
    and struck down the young men of Israel.
32 For all this they still sinned,
    and didn’t believe in his wondrous works.
33 Therefore he consumed their days in vanity,
    and their years in terror.
34 When he killed them, then they inquired after him.
    They returned and sought God earnestly.
35 They remembered that God was their rock,
    the Most High God, their redeemer.
36 But they flattered him with their mouth,
    and lied to him with their tongue.
37 For their heart was not right with him,
    neither were they faithful in his covenant.
38 But he, being merciful, forgave iniquity, and didn’t destroy them.
    Yes, many times he turned his anger away,
    and didn’t stir up all his wrath.
39 He remembered that they were but flesh,
    a wind that passes away, and doesn’t come again.
40 How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness,
    and grieved him in the desert!
41 They turned again and tempted God,
    and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
42 They didn’t remember his hand,
    nor the day when he redeemed them from the adversary;
43 how he set his signs in Egypt,
    his wonders in the field of Zoan,
44 he turned their rivers into blood,
    and their streams, so that they could not drink.
45 He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them;
    and frogs, which destroyed them.
46 He also gave their increase to the caterpillar,
    and their labor to the locust.
47 He destroyed their vines with hail,
    their sycamore fig trees with frost.
48 He also gave over their livestock to the hail,
    and their flocks to hot thunderbolts.
49 He threw on them the fierceness of his anger,
    wrath, indignation, and trouble,
    and a band of angels of evil.
50 He made a path for his anger.
    He didn’t spare their soul from death,
    but gave their life over to the pestilence,
51 and struck all the firstborn in Egypt,
    the chief of their strength in the tents of Ham.
52 But he led out his own people like sheep,
    and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
53 He led them safely, so that they weren’t afraid,
    but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54 He brought them to the border of his sanctuary,
    to this mountain, which his right hand had taken.
55 He also drove out the nations before them,
    allotted them for an inheritance by line,
    and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.
56 Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God,
    and didn’t keep his testimonies,
57 but turned back, and dealt treacherously like their fathers.
    They were twisted like a deceitful bow.
58 For they provoked him to anger with their high places,
    and moved him to jealousy with their engraved images.
59 When God heard this, he was angry,
    and greatly abhorred Israel,
60 so that he abandoned the tent of Shiloh,
    the tent which he placed among men,
61 and delivered his strength into captivity,
    his glory into the adversary’s hand.
62 He also gave his people over to the sword,
    and was angry with his inheritance.
63 Fire devoured their young men.
    Their virgins had no wedding song.
64 Their priests fell by the sword,
    and their widows couldn’t weep.
65 Then the Lord awakened as one out of sleep,
    like a mighty man who shouts by reason of wine.
66 He struck his adversaries backward.
    He put them to a perpetual reproach.
67 Moreover he rejected the tent of Joseph,
    and didn’t choose the tribe of Ephraim,
68 But chose the tribe of Judah,
    Mount Zion which he loved.
69 He built his sanctuary like the heights,
    like the earth which he has established forever.
70 He also chose David his servant,
    and took him from the sheepfolds;
71 from following the ewes that have their young,
    he brought him to be the shepherd of Jacob, his people,
    and Israel, his inheritance.
72 So he was their shepherd according to the integrity of his heart,
    and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.

Soon afterwards, he went about through cities and villages, preaching and bringing the good news of God’s Kingdom. With him were the twelve, and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary who was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out; and Joanna, the wife of Chuzas, Herod’s steward; Susanna; and many others who served them[a] from their possessions. When a great multitude came together and people from every city were coming to him, he spoke by a parable: “The farmer went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some fell along the road, and it was trampled under foot, and the birds of the sky devoured it. Other seed fell on the rock, and as soon as it grew, it withered away, because it had no moisture. Other fell amid the thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. Other fell into the good ground and grew and produced one hundred times as much fruit.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”

Then his disciples asked him, “What does this parable mean?”

10 He said, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of God’s Kingdom, but to the rest it is given in parables, that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’(A)

11 “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12 Those along the road are those who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, that they may not believe and be saved. 13 Those on the rock are they who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; but these have no root. They believe for a while, then fall away in time of temptation. 14 What fell among the thorns, these are those who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life; and they bring no fruit to maturity. 15 Those in the good ground, these are those who with an honest and good heart, having heard the word, hold it tightly, and produce fruit with perseverance.

16 “No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a container or puts it under a bed; but puts it on a stand, that those who enter in may see the light. 17 For nothing is hidden that will not be revealed, nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light. 18 Be careful therefore how you hear. For whoever has, to him will be given; and whoever doesn’t have, from him will be taken away even that which he thinks he has.”

19 His mother and brothers came to him, and they could not come near him for the crowd. 20 Some people told him, “Your mother and your brothers stand outside, desiring to see you.”

21 But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.”

22 Now on one of those days, he entered into a boat, himself and his disciples, and he said to them, “Let’s go over to the other side of the lake.” So they launched out. 23 But as they sailed, he fell asleep. A wind storm came down on the lake, and they were taking on dangerous amounts of water. 24 They came to him and awoke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are dying!” He awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water; then they ceased, and it was calm.(B) 25 He said to them, “Where is your faith?” Being afraid, they marveled, saying to one another, “Who is this then, that he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him?”

26 Then they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27 When Jesus stepped ashore, a certain man out of the city who had demons for a long time met him. He wore no clothes, and didn’t live in a house, but in the tombs. 28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, “What do I have to do with you, Jesus, you Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torment me!” 29 For Jesus was commanding the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For the unclean spirit had often seized the man. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and fetters. Breaking the bonds apart, he was driven by the demon into the desert.

30 Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

He said, “Legion,” for many demons had entered into him. 31 They begged him that he would not command them to go into the abyss.

32 Now there was there a herd of many pigs feeding on the mountain, and they begged him that he would allow them to enter into those. Then he allowed them. 33 The demons came out of the man and entered into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.

34 When those who fed them saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country.

35 People went out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. 36 Those who saw it told them how he who had been possessed by demons was healed. 37 All the people of the surrounding country of the Gadarenes asked him to depart from them, for they were very much afraid. Then he entered into the boat and returned. 38 But the man from whom the demons had gone out begged him that he might go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Return to your house, and declare what great things God has done for you.” He went his way, proclaiming throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.

40 When Jesus returned, the multitude welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him. 41 Behold, a man named Jairus came. He was a ruler of the synagogue. He fell down at Jesus’ feet and begged him to come into his house, 42 for he had an only born[b] daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying. But as he went, the multitudes pressed against him. 43 A woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her living on physicians and could not be healed by any, 44 came behind him and touched the fringe[c] of his cloak. Immediately the flow of her blood stopped.

45 Jesus said, “Who touched me?”

When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, “Master, the multitudes press and jostle you, and you say, ‘Who touched me?’

46 But Jesus said, “Someone did touch me, for I perceived that power has gone out of me.” 47 When the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before him declared to him in the presence of all the people the reason why she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately. 48 He said to her, “Daughter, cheer up. Your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”

49 While he still spoke, one from the ruler of the synagogue’s house came, saying to him, “Your daughter is dead. Don’t trouble the Teacher.”

50 But Jesus hearing it, answered him, “Don’t be afraid. Only believe, and she will be healed.”

51 When he came to the house, he didn’t allow anyone to enter in, except Peter, John, James, the father of the child, and her mother. 52 All were weeping and mourning her, but he said, “Don’t weep. She isn’t dead, but sleeping.”

53 They were ridiculing him, knowing that she was dead. 54 But he put them all outside, and taking her by the hand, he called, saying, “Child, arise!” 55 Her spirit returned, and she rose up immediately. He commanded that something be given to her to eat. 56 Her parents were amazed, but he commanded them to tell no one what had been done.

Footnotes

  1. 8:3 TR reads “him” instead of “them”
  2. 8:42 The phrase “only born” is from the Greek word “μονογενη”, which is sometimes translated “only begotten” or “one and only”.
  3. 8:44 or, tassel