Psalm 129:1
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Psalm 129
Prayer for the Downfall of Israel’s Enemies
A Song of Ascents.
1 Often have they attacked me from my youth
—let Israel now say—(A)
Psalm 124:1
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Psalm 124
Thanksgiving for Israel’s Deliverance
A Song of Ascents. Of David.
1 If it had not been the Lord who was on our side
—let Israel now say—(A)
Hosea 11:1
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
God’s Compassion Despite Israel’s Ingratitude
11 When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son.(A)
Jeremiah 2:2
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2 Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord:
I remember the devotion of your youth,
your love as a bride,
how you followed me in the wilderness,
in a land not sown.(A)
Psalm 120:1
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Psalm 120
Prayer for Deliverance from Slanderers
A Song of Ascents.
1 In my distress I cry to the Lord,
that he may answer me:(A)
Isaiah 47:12
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12 Stand fast in your enchantments
and your many sorceries,
with which you have labored from your youth;
perhaps you may be able to succeed;
perhaps you may inspire terror.(A)
Psalm 127:1
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Psalm 127
God’s Blessings in the Home
A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon.
1 Unless the Lord builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain.
Unless the Lord guards the city,
the guard keeps watch in vain.(A)
Psalm 126:1
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Psalm 126
A Harvest of Joy
A Song of Ascents.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 126.1 Or brought back those who returned to Zion
Psalm 122:1
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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)
Hosea 2:15
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15 From there I will give her her vineyards
and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
There she shall respond as in the days of her youth,
as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.(A)
Judges 10:8-12
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8 and they crushed and oppressed the Israelites that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the Israelites who were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. 9 The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah and against Benjamin and against the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was greatly distressed.
10 So the Israelites cried to the Lord, saying, “We have sinned against you, because we have abandoned our God and have served the Baals.”(A) 11 And the Lord said to the Israelites, “Did I not deliver you[a] from the Egyptians and from the Amorites, from the Ammonites and from the Philistines?(B) 12 The Sidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites oppressed you, and you cried to me, and I delivered you out of their hand.(C)
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- 10.11 Heb lacks Did I not deliver you
Judges 3:8
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8 Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of King Cushan-rishathaim of Aram-naharaim, and the Israelites served Cushan-rishathaim eight years.
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Judges 2:15
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15 Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them to bring misfortune, as the Lord had warned them and sworn to them, and they were in great distress.
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Exodus 5:7-19
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7 “You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as before; let them go and gather straw for themselves. 8 But you shall require of them the same quantity of bricks as they have made previously; do not diminish it, for they are lazy; that is why they cry, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’(A) 9 Let heavier work be laid on them; then they will pay attention to[a] it and not to deceptive words.”
10 So the taskmasters and the supervisors of the people went out and said to the people, “Thus says Pharaoh: I will not give you straw.(B) 11 Go and get straw yourselves, wherever you can find it, but your work will not be lessened in the least.” 12 So the people scattered throughout the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. 13 The taskmasters urged them on, saying, “Complete your work, the same daily assignment as when you were given straw.”[b] 14 And the Israelite supervisors whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them were beaten and were asked, “Why did you not finish the required quantity of bricks yesterday and today, as you did before?”(C)
15 Then the Israelite supervisors came to Pharaoh and cried, “Why do you treat your servants like this? 16 No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, ‘Make bricks!’ Look how your servants are beaten! But the fault is with you.”[c] 17 He said, “You are lazy, lazy; that is why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’(D) 18 Go now and work, for no straw shall be given you, but you shall still deliver the same number of bricks.” 19 The Israelite supervisors saw that they were in trouble when they were told, “You shall not lessen your daily number of bricks.”
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Exodus 1:22
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22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews[a] you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”(A)
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- 1.22 Sam Gk Tg: Heb lacks to the Hebrews
Exodus 1:12-14
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12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites. 13 The Egyptians subjected the Israelites to hard servitude 14 and made their lives bitter with hard servitude in mortar and bricks and in every kind of field labor. They were ruthless in all the tasks that they imposed on them.(A)
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Ezekiel 23:3
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3 they prostituted themselves in Egypt; they prostituted themselves in their youth; their breasts were caressed there, and their virgin bosoms were fondled.(A)
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Lamentations 1:3
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3 Judah has gone into exile with suffering
and hard servitude;
she lives now among the nations;
she finds no resting place;
her pursuers have all overtaken her
in the midst of her distress.(A)
Jeremiah 22:21
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
21 I spoke to you in your prosperity,
but you said, “I will not listen.”
This has been your way from your youth,
for you have not obeyed my voice.(A)
Psalm 128:1
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Psalm 128
The Happy Home of the Faithful
A Song of Ascents.
1 Happy is everyone who fears the Lord,
who walks in his ways.(A)
Psalm 125:1
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)
Psalm 123:1
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Psalm 123
Supplication for Mercy
A Song of Ascents.
1 To you I lift up my eyes,
O you who are enthroned in the heavens!(A)
Psalm 121:1
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Psalm 121
Assurance of God’s Protection
A Song of Ascents.
1 I lift up my eyes to the hills—
from where will my help come?
Psalm 88:15
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Footnotes
- 88.15 Meaning of Heb uncertain
Ezra 4:1-23
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Resistance to Rebuilding the Temple
4 When the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel,(A) 2 they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of families and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of King Esar-haddon of Assyria, who brought us here.”(B) 3 But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of families in Israel said to them, “You shall have no part with us in building a house for our God, but we alone will build for the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus of Persia has commanded us.”(C)
4 Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build,(D) 5 and they bribed officials to frustrate their plan throughout the reign of King Cyrus of Persia and until the reign of King Darius of Persia.
Rebuilding of Jerusalem Opposed
6 In the reign of Ahasuerus, in his accession year, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.(E)
7 And in the days of Artaxerxes, Bishlam and Mithredath and Tabeel and the rest of their associates wrote to King Artaxerxes of Persia; the letter was written in Aramaic and translated.[a](F) 8 Rehum the royal deputy and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes as follows 9 (then Rehum the royal deputy, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their associates, the judges, the envoys, the officials, the Persians, the people of Erech, the Babylonians, the people of Susa, that is, the Elamites, 10 and the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Osnappar deported and settled in the cities of Samaria and in the rest of the province Beyond the River wrote—and now(G) 11 this is a copy of the letter that they sent):
“To King Artaxerxes: Your servants, the people of the province Beyond the River, send greeting. And now 12 may it be known to the king that the Jews who came up from you to us have gone to Jerusalem. They are rebuilding that rebellious and wicked city; they are finishing the walls and repairing the foundations.(H) 13 Now may it be known to the king that, if this city is rebuilt and the walls finished, they will not pay tribute, custom, or toll, and the royal revenue will be reduced.(I) 14 Now because we share the salt of the palace and it is not fitting for us to witness the king’s dishonor, therefore we send and inform the king, 15 so that a search may be made in the annals of your ancestors. You will discover in the annals that this is a rebellious city, hurtful to kings and provinces, and that sedition was stirred up in it from long ago. On that account this city was laid waste. 16 We make known to the king that, if this city is rebuilt and its walls finished, you will then have no possession in the province Beyond the River.”
17 The king sent an answer: “To Rehum the royal deputy and Shimshai the scribe and the rest of their associates who live in Samaria and in the rest of the province Beyond the River, greeting. And now 18 the letter that you sent to us has been read in translation before me.(J) 19 So I made a decree, and someone searched and discovered that this city has risen against kings from long ago and that rebellion and sedition have been made in it. 20 Jerusalem has had mighty kings who ruled over the whole province Beyond the River, to whom tribute, custom, and toll were paid.(K) 21 Therefore issue an order that these people be made to cease and that this city not be rebuilt, until I make a decree. 22 Moreover, take care not to be slack in this matter; why should damage grow to the hurt of the king?”
23 Then when the copy of King Artaxerxes’s letter was read before Rehum and the scribe Shimshai and their associates, they hurried to the Jews in Jerusalem and by force and power made them cease.
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