Numbers 20

New King James Version

Moses’ Error at Kadesh^(A)

20 Then^(B) the children of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the Wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in ^(C)Kadesh; and ^(D)Miriam died there and was buried there.

²^(E)Now there was no water for the congregation; ^(F)so they gathered together against Moses and Aaron. ³And the people ^(G)contended with Moses and spoke, saying: “If only we had died ^(H)when our brethren died before the Lord! ⁴^(I)Why have you brought up the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we and our animals should die here? ⁵And why have you made us come up out of Egypt, to bring us to this evil place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates; nor is there any water to drink.” ⁶So Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and ^(J)they ^[a]fell on their faces. And ^(K)the glory of the Lord appeared to them.

⁷Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ⁸^(L)“Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus ^(M)you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.” ⁹So Moses took the rod ^(N)from before the Lord as He commanded him.

¹⁰And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock; and he said to them, ^(O)“Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?” ¹¹Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; ^(P)and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank.

¹²Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because ^(Q)you did not believe Me, to ^(R)hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”

¹³^(S)This was the water of ^[b]Meribah, because the children of Israel contended with the Lord, and He was hallowed among them.

Passage Through Edom Refused

¹⁴^(T)Now Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of ^(U)Edom. ^(V)“Thus says your brother Israel: ‘You know all the hardship that has befallen us, ¹⁵^(W)how our fathers went down to Egypt, ^(X)and we dwelt in Egypt a long time, ^(Y)and the Egyptians ^[c]afflicted us and our fathers. ¹⁶^(Z)When we cried out to the Lord, He heard our voice and ^(AA)sent the Angel and brought us up out of Egypt; now here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your border. ¹⁷Please ^(AB)let us pass through your country. We will not pass through fields or vineyards, nor will we drink water from wells; we will go along the King’s Highway; we will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through your territory.’ ”

¹⁸Then ^(AC)Edom said to him, “You shall not pass through my land, lest I come out against you with the sword.”

¹⁹So the children of Israel said to him, “We will go by the Highway, and if I or my livestock drink any of your water, ^(AD)then I will pay for it; let me only pass through on foot, nothing more.”

²⁰Then he said, ^(AE)“You shall not pass through.” So Edom came out against them with many men and with a strong hand. ²¹Thus Edom ^(AF)refused to give Israel passage through his territory; so Israel ^(AG)turned away from him.

Death of Aaron

²²Now the children of Israel, the whole congregation, journeyed from ^(AH)Kadesh ^(AI)and came to Mount Hor. ²³And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor by the border of the land of Edom, saying: ²⁴“Aaron shall ^[d]be ^(AJ)gathered to his people, for he shall not enter the land which I have given to the children of Israel, because you rebelled against My word at the water of Meribah. ²⁵^(AK)Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up to Mount Hor; ²⁶and strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son; for Aaron shall be gathered to his people and die there.” ²⁷So Moses did just as the Lord commanded, and they went up to Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. ²⁸^(AL)Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son; and ^(AM)Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. ²⁹Now when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, all the house of Israel mourned for Aaron ^(AN)thirty days.

Footnotes

Numbers 20:6 prostrated themselves
Numbers 20:13 Lit. Contention
Numbers 20:15 did evil to
Numbers 20:24 Die and join his ancestors

Psalm 58

New King James Version

The Just Judgment of the Wicked

To the Chief Musician. Set to ^[a]“Do Not Destroy.” A Michtam of David.

58 Do you indeed speak righteousness, you silent ones?
Do you judge uprightly, you sons of men?
²No, in heart you work wickedness;
You weigh out the violence of your hands in the earth.

³^(A)The wicked are estranged from the womb;
They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies.
⁴^(B)Their poison is like the poison of a serpent;
They are like the deaf cobra that stops its ear,
⁵Which will not ^(C)heed the voice of charmers,
Charming ever so skillfully.

⁶^(D)Break^[b] their teeth in their mouth, O God!
Break out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord!
⁷^(E)Let them flow away as waters which run continually;
When he bends his bow,
Let his arrows be as if cut in pieces.
⁸Let them be like a snail which melts away as it goes,
^(F)Like a stillborn child of a woman, that they may not see the sun.

⁹Before your ^(G)pots can feel the burning thorns,
He shall take them away ^(H)as with a whirlwind,
As in His living and burning wrath.
¹⁰The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the ^(I)vengeance;
^(J)He shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked,
¹¹^(K)So that men will say,
“Surely there is a reward for the righteous;
Surely He is God who ^(L)judges in the earth.”

Footnotes

Psalm 58:1 Heb. Al Tashcheth
Psalm 58:6 Break away

Psalm 59

New King James Version

The Assured Judgment of the Wicked

To the Chief Musician. Set to ^[a]“Do Not Destroy.” A Michtam of David ^(A)when Saul sent men, and they watched the house in order to kill him.

59 Deliver me from my enemies, O my God;
^[b]Defend me from those who rise up against me.
²Deliver me from the workers of iniquity,
And save me from bloodthirsty men.

³For look, they lie in wait for my life;
^(B)The mighty gather against me,
Not for my transgression nor for my sin, O Lord.
⁴They run and prepare themselves through no fault of mine.

^(C)Awake to help me, and behold!
⁵You therefore, O Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel,
Awake to punish all the ^[c]nations;
Do not be merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah

⁶^(D)At evening they return,
They growl like a dog,
And go all around the city.
⁷Indeed, they belch with their mouth;
^(E)Swords are in their lips;
For they say, ^(F)“Who hears?”

⁸But ^(G)You, O Lord, shall laugh at them;
You shall have all the ^[d]nations in derision.
⁹I will wait for You, O You ^[e]his Strength;
^(H)For God is my ^[f]defense.
¹⁰^[g]My God of mercy shall ^(I)come to meet me;
God shall let ^(J)me see my desire on my enemies.

¹¹Do not slay them, lest my people forget;
Scatter them by Your power,
And bring them down,
O Lord our shield.
¹²^(K)For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips,
Let them even be taken in their pride,
And for the cursing and lying which they speak.
¹³^(L)Consume them in wrath, consume them,
That they may not be;
And ^(M)let them know that God rules in Jacob
To the ends of the earth. Selah

¹⁴And ^(N)at evening they return,
They growl like a dog,
And go all around the city.
¹⁵They ^(O)wander up and down for food,
And ^[h]howl if they are not satisfied.

¹⁶But I will sing of Your power;
Yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning;
For You have been my defense
And refuge in the day of my trouble.
¹⁷To You, ^(P)O my Strength, I will sing praises;
For God is my defense,
My God of mercy.

Footnotes

Psalm 59:1 Heb. Al Tashcheth
Psalm 59:1 Lit. Set me on high
Psalm 59:5 Gentiles
Psalm 59:8 Gentiles
Psalm 59:9 So with MT, Syr.; some Heb. mss., LXX, Tg., Vg. my Strength
Psalm 59:9 Lit. fortress
Psalm 59:10 So with Qr.; some Heb. mss., LXX, Vg. My God, His mercy; Kt., some Heb. mss., Tg. O God, my mercy; Syr. O God, Your mercy
Psalm 59:15 So with LXX, Vg.; MT, Syr., Tg. spend the night

Isaiah 9:8-10:4

New King James Version

The Punishment of Samaria

⁸The Lord sent a word against ^(A)Jacob,
And it has fallen on Israel.
⁹All the people will know—
Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria—
Who say in pride and arrogance of heart:
¹⁰“The bricks have fallen down,
But we will rebuild with hewn stones;
The sycamores are cut down,
But we will replace them with cedars.”
¹¹Therefore the Lord shall set up
The adversaries of Rezin against him,
And spur his enemies on,
¹²The Syrians before and the Philistines behind;
And they shall devour Israel with an open mouth.

For all this His anger is not turned away,
But His hand is ^[a]stretched out still.

¹³For the people do not turn to Him who strikes them,
Nor do they seek the Lord of hosts.
¹⁴Therefore the Lord will cut off head and tail from Israel,
Palm branch and bulrush ^(B)in one day.
¹⁵The elder and honorable, he is the head;
The prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail.
¹⁶For ^(C)the leaders of this people cause them to err,
And those who are led by them are destroyed.
¹⁷Therefore the Lord ^(D)will have no joy in their young men,
Nor have mercy on their fatherless and widows;
For everyone is a hypocrite and an evildoer,
And every mouth speaks ^[b]folly.

^(E)For all this His anger is not turned away,
But His hand is stretched out still.

¹⁸For wickedness ^(F)burns as the fire;
It shall devour the briers and thorns,
And kindle in the thickets of the forest;
They shall mount up like rising smoke.
¹⁹Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts
^(G)The land is burned up,
And the people shall be as fuel for the fire;
^(H)No man shall spare his brother.
²⁰And he shall ^[c]snatch on the right hand
And be hungry;
He shall devour on the left hand
^(I)And not be satisfied;
^(J)Every man shall eat the flesh of his own arm.
²¹Manasseh shall devour Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh;
Together they shall be ^(K)against Judah.

^(L)For all this His anger is not turned away,
But His hand is stretched out still.

Assyria Shall Be Broken

10 “Woe to those who ^(M)decree unrighteous decrees,
Who write misfortune,
Which they have prescribed
²To rob the needy of justice,
And to take what is right from the poor of My people,
That widows may be their prey,
And that they may rob the fatherless.
³^(N)What will you do in ^(O)the day of punishment,
And in the desolation which will come from ^(P)afar?
To whom will you flee for help?
And where will you leave your glory?
⁴Without Me they shall bow down among the ^(Q)prisoners,
And they shall fall ^[d]among the slain.”

^(R)For all this His anger is not turned away,
But His hand is stretched out still.

Footnotes

Isaiah 9:12 In judgment
Isaiah 9:17 foolishness
Isaiah 9:20 slice off or tear
Isaiah 10:4 Lit. under

James 3

New King James Version

The Untamable Tongue

3 My brethren, ^(A)let not many of you become teachers, ^(B)knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment. ²For ^(C)we all stumble in many things. ^(D)If anyone does not stumble in word, ^(E)he is a ^[a]perfect man, able also to bridle the whole body. ³^[b]Indeed, ^(F)we put bits in horses’ mouths that they may obey us, and we turn their whole body. ⁴Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a very small rudder wherever the pilot desires. ⁵Even so ^(G)the tongue is a little member and ^(H)boasts great things.

See how great a forest a little fire kindles! ⁶And ^(I)the tongue is a fire, a world of ^[c]iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it ^(J)defiles the whole body, and sets on fire the course of ^[d]nature; and it is set on fire by ^[e]hell. ⁷For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and creature of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by mankind. ⁸But no man can tame the tongue. It is an unruly evil, ^(K)full of deadly poison. ⁹With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made ^(L)in the ^[f]similitude of God. ¹⁰Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. ¹¹Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? ¹²Can a ^(M)fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? ^[g]Thus no spring yields both salt water and fresh.

Heavenly Versus Demonic Wisdom

¹³^(N)Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. ¹⁴But if you have ^(O)bitter envy and ^[h]self-seeking in your hearts, ^(P)do not boast and lie against the truth. ¹⁵^(Q)This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. ¹⁶For ^(R)where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. ¹⁷But ^(S)the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, ^(T)without partiality ^(U)and without hypocrisy. ¹⁸^(V)Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.