Psalm 119:145-168
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
145 With my whole heart I cry; answer me, O Lord.
I will keep your statutes.(A)
146 I cry to you; save me,
that I may observe your decrees.
147 I rise before dawn and cry for help;
I put my hope in your words.(B)
148 My eyes are awake before each watch of the night,
that I may meditate on your promise.
149 In your steadfast love hear my voice;
O Lord, in your justice preserve my life.(C)
150 Those who persecute me with evil purpose draw near;
they are far from your law.
151 Yet you are near, O Lord,
and all your commandments are true.(D)
152 Long ago I learned from your decrees
that you have established them forever.(E)
153 Look on my misery and rescue me,
for I do not forget your law.(F)
154 Plead my cause and redeem me;
give me life according to your promise.(G)
155 Salvation is far from the wicked,
for they do not seek your statutes.(H)
156 Great is your mercy, O Lord;
be gracious to me[a] according to your justice.(I)
157 Many are my persecutors and my adversaries,
yet I do not swerve from your decrees.(J)
158 I look at the faithless with disgust
because they do not keep your commands.(K)
159 Consider how I love your precepts;
be gracious to me[b] according to your steadfast love.(L)
160 The sum of your word is truth,
and every one of your righteous ordinances endures forever.(M)
161 Princes persecute me without cause,
but my heart stands in awe of your words.(N)
162 I rejoice at your word
like one who finds great spoil.(O)
163 I hate and abhor falsehood,
but I love your law.
164 Seven times a day I praise you
for your righteous ordinances.(P)
165 Great peace have those who love your law;
nothing can make them stumble.(Q)
166 I hope for your salvation, O Lord,
and I fulfill your commandments.(R)
167 My soul keeps your decrees;
I love them exceedingly.
168 I keep your precepts and decrees,
for all my ways are before you.(S)
Jeremiah 11:18-23
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Jeremiah’s Life Threatened
18 It was the Lord who made it known to me, and I knew;
then you showed me their deeds.
19 But I was like a gentle lamb
led to the slaughter.
And I did not know it was against me
that they devised schemes, saying,
“Let us destroy the tree with its fruit;
let us cut him off from the land of the living,
so that his name will no longer be remembered!”(A)
20 But you, O Lord of hosts, who judge righteously,
who try the heart and the mind,
let me see your retribution upon them,
for to you I have committed my cause.(B)
21 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the people of Anathoth who seek your life and say, “You shall not prophesy in the name of the Lord, or you will die by our hand”(C)— 22 therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: I am going to punish them; the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine, 23 and not even a remnant shall be left of them. For I will bring disaster upon the people of Anathoth, the year of their punishment.(D)
Read full chapter
Matthew 10:16-22
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Coming Persecutions
16 “I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.(A) 17 Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues, 18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the gentiles.(B) 19 When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you at that time, 20 for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.(C) 21 Sibling will betray sibling to death and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, 22 and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.(D)
Read full chapter
Isaiah 65:17-25
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Glorious New Creation
17 For I am about to create new heavens
and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
or come to mind.(A)
18 But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I am creating,
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy
and its people as a delight.(B)
19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem
and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it
or the cry of distress.(C)
20 No more shall there be in it
an infant who lives but a few days
or an old person who does not live out a lifetime,
for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,
and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.(D)
21 They shall build houses and inhabit them;
they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.(E)
22 They shall not build and another inhabit;
they shall not plant and another eat,
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.(F)
23 They shall not labor in vain
or bear children for calamity,[a]
for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord—
and their descendants as well.(G)
24 Before they call I will answer,
while they are yet speaking I will hear.(H)
25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together;
the lion shall eat straw like the ox,
but the serpent—its food shall be dust!
They shall not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain,
says the Lord.(I)
Footnotes
- 65.23 Or sudden terror
Hebrews 12:12-24
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
12 Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees(A) 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.(B)
Warnings against Rejecting God’s Grace
14 Pursue peace with everyone and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble and through it many become defiled.(C) 16 See to it that no one becomes an immoral and godless person, as Esau was, who sold his birthright for a single meal.(D) 17 You know that later, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, even though he sought the blessing[a] with tears.(E)
18 You have not come to something[b] that can be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest,(F) 19 and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that not another word be spoken to them.(G) 20 (For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to death.”(H) 21 Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.”)(I) 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,(J) 23 and to the assembly[c] of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,(K) 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.(L)
Read full chapter
Psalm 122
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Psalm 122
Song of Praise and Prayer for Jerusalem
A Song of Ascents. Of David.
1 I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord!”(A)
2 Our feet are standing
within your gates, O Jerusalem.
Psalm 125
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Psalm 125
The Security of God’s People
A Song of Ascents.
1 Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be moved but abides forever.(A)
2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so the Lord surrounds his people
from this time on and forevermore.(B)
3 For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest
on the land allotted to the righteous,
so that the righteous might not stretch out
their hands to do wrong.(C)
4 Do good, O Lord, to those who are good
and to those who are upright in their hearts.(D)
5 But those who turn aside to their own crooked ways,
the Lord will lead away with evildoers.
Peace be upon Israel!(E)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.