Psalm 134

A song of ascents.

¹⁷ “Son of man, I have made you a watchman^(A) for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me.^{(B) 18} When I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,^(C)’ and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for^[a] their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood.^{(D) 19} But if you do warn the wicked person and they do not turn^(E) from their wickedness^(F) or from their evil ways, they will die^(G) for their sin; but you will have saved yourself.^(H)

²⁰ “Again, when a righteous person turns^(I) from their righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block^(J) before them, they will die. Since you did not warn them, they will die for their sin. The righteous things that person did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for their blood.^{(K) 21} But if you do warn the righteous person not to sin and they do not sin, they will surely live because they took warning, and you will have saved yourself.^(L)”

¹⁷ pray continually,^(A)

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^[a] he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.^(A)

⁹ “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you;^(B) 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^[b] 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!”

² “Son of man, speak to your people and say to them: ‘When I bring the sword^(A) against a land, and the people of the land choose one of their men and make him their watchman,^{(B) 3} and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet^(C) to warn the people, ⁴ then if anyone hears the trumpet but does not heed the warning^(D) and the sword comes and takes their life, their blood will be on their own head.^{(E) 5} Since they heard the sound of the trumpet but did not heed the warning, their blood will be on their own head.^(F) If they had heeded the warning, they would have saved themselves.^{(G) 6} But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet to warn the people and the sword comes and takes someone’s life, that person’s life will be taken because of their sin, but I will hold the watchman accountable for their blood.’^(H)

⁷ “Son of man, I have made you a watchman^(I) for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me.^{(J) 8} When I say to the wicked, ‘You wicked person, you will surely die,^(K)’ and you do not speak out to dissuade them from their ways, that wicked person will die for^[a] their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood.^{(L) 9} But if you do warn the wicked person to turn from their ways and they do not do so,^(M) they will die for their sin, though you yourself will be saved.^(N)