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Psalm 30

Thanksgiving for Recovery from Grave Illness

A Psalm. A Song at the dedication of the temple. Of David.

I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up
    and did not let my foes rejoice over me.(A)
O Lord my God, I cried to you for help,
    and you have healed me.(B)
O Lord, you brought up my soul from Sheol,
    restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit.[a](C)

Sing praises to the Lord, O you his faithful ones,
    and give thanks to his holy name.(D)
For his anger is but for a moment;
    his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may linger for the night,
    but joy comes with the morning.(E)

As for me, I said in my prosperity,
    “I shall never be moved.”
By your favor, O Lord,
    you had established me as a strong mountain;
you hid your face;
    I was dismayed.(F)

To you, O Lord, I cried,
    and to the Lord I made supplication:
“What profit is there in my death,
    if I go down to the Pit?
Will the dust praise you?
    Will it tell of your faithfulness?(G)
10 Hear, O Lord, and be gracious to me!
    O Lord, be my helper!”[b]

11 You have turned my mourning into dancing;
    you have taken off my sackcloth
    and clothed me with joy,(H)
12 so that my soul[c] may praise you and not be silent.
    O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever.(I)

Footnotes

  1. 30.3 Or that I should not go down to the Pit
  2. 30.10 Or The Lord heard and was gracious to me; the Lord became my helper
  3. 30.12 Heb that glory

Psalm 32

The Joy of Forgiveness

Of David. A Maskil.

Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven,
    whose sin is covered.(A)
Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity
    and in whose spirit there is no deceit.(B)

While I kept silent, my body wasted away
    through my groaning all day long.(C)
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
    my strength was dried up[a] as by the heat of summer. Selah(D)

Then I acknowledged my sin to you,
    and I did not hide my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
    and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah(E)

Therefore let all who are faithful
    offer prayer to you;
at a time of distress,[b] the rush of mighty waters
    shall not reach them.(F)
You are a hiding place for me;
    you preserve me from trouble;
    you surround me with glad cries of deliverance. Selah(G)

I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go;
    I will counsel you with my eye upon you.(H)
Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
    whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle,
    else it will not stay near you.(I)

10 Many are the torments of the wicked,
    but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the Lord.(J)
11 Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous,
    and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.(K)

Footnotes

  1. 32.4 Meaning of Heb uncertain
  2. 32.6 Cn: Heb at a time of finding only

16 Then the king gave the command, and Daniel was brought and thrown into the den of lions. The king said to Daniel, “May your God, whom you faithfully serve, deliver you!”(A) 17 A stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the signet ring of his lords, so that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel. 18 Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting; no entertainment was brought to him, and sleep fled from him.(B)

Daniel Saved from the Lions

19 Then at dawn, the king got up and at first light hurried to the den of lions. 20 When he came near the den where Daniel was, he cried out anxiously to Daniel, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God whom you faithfully serve been able to deliver you from the lions?”(C) 21 Daniel then said to the king, “O king, live forever! 22 My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths so that they would not hurt me, because I was found blameless before him; also before you, O king, I have done no wrong.”(D) 23 Then the king was exceedingly glad and commanded that Daniel be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him because he had trusted in his God.(E) 24 The king gave a command, and those who had maliciously accused Daniel were brought and thrown into the den of lions—they, their children, and their wives. Before they reached the bottom of the den, the lions overpowered them and broke all their bones in pieces.(F)

25 Then King Darius wrote to all peoples and nations of every language throughout the whole world: “May you have abundant prosperity!(G) 26 I make a decree, that in all my royal dominion people shall tremble and fear before the God of Daniel:

For he is the living God,
    enduring forever.
His kingdom shall never be destroyed,
    and his dominion has no end.(H)
27 He delivers and rescues;
    he works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth;
he has saved Daniel
    from the power of the lions.”

28 So this Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.(I)

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Jesus Calls Levi

27 After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax-collection station, and he said to him, “Follow me.” 28 And he got up, left everything, and followed him.(A)

29 Then Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house, and there was a large crowd of tax collectors and others reclining at the table with them.(B) 30 The Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”(C) 31 Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick; 32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”(D)

The Question about Fasting

33 Then they said to him, “John’s disciples, like the disciples of the Pharisees, frequently fast and pray, but your disciples eat and drink.”(E) 34 Jesus said to them, “You cannot make wedding attendants fast while the bridegroom is with them, can you? 35 The days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.”(F) 36 He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and sews it on an old garment; otherwise, not only will one tear the new garment, but the piece from the new will not match the old garment. 37 Similarly, no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins and will spill out, and the skins will be ruined. 38 But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.[a] 39 And no one after drinking old wine desires new wine but says, ‘The old is good.’ ”[b]

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Footnotes

  1. 5.38 Other ancient authorities add and both are preserved
  2. 5.39 Other ancient authorities read better; others lack 5.39

Book II

(Psalms 42–72)

Psalm 42

Longing for God and His Help in Distress

To the leader. A Maskil of the Korahites.

As a deer longs for flowing streams,
    so my soul longs for you, O God.(A)
My soul thirsts for God,
    for the living God.
When shall I come and behold
    the face of God?(B)
My tears have been my food
    day and night,
while people say to me continually,
    “Where is your God?”(C)

These things I remember,
    as I pour out my soul:
how I went with the throng[a]
    and led them in procession to the house of God,
with glad shouts and songs of thanksgiving,
    a multitude keeping festival.(D)
Why are you cast down, O my soul,
    and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God, for I shall again praise him,
my help(E)     and my God.

My soul is cast down within me;
    therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
    from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep
    at the thunder of your torrents;
all your waves and your billows
    have gone over me.(F)
By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,
    and at night his song is with me,
    a prayer to the God of my life.(G)

I say to God, my rock,
    “Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I walk about mournfully
    because the enemy oppresses me?”(H)
10 As with a deadly wound in my body,
    my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me continually,
    “Where is your God?”(I)

11 Why are you cast down, O my soul,
    and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God, for I shall again praise him,
    my help and my God.(J)

Footnotes

  1. 42.4 Meaning of Heb uncertain

Psalm 43

Prayer to God in Time of Trouble

Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause
    against an ungodly people;
from those who are deceitful and unjust,
    deliver me!(A)
For you are the God in whom I take refuge;
    why have you cast me off?
Why must I walk about mournfully
    because of the oppression of the enemy?(B)

O send out your light and your truth;
    let them lead me;
let them bring me to your holy hill
    and to your dwelling.(C)
Then I will go to the altar of God,
    to God my exceeding joy,
and I will praise you with the harp,
    O God, my God.(D)

Why are you cast down, O my soul,
    and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God, for I shall again praise him,
    my help and my God.(E)