Psalm 44:17-26

New International Version

¹⁷All this came upon us,
    though we had not forgotten^(A) you;
    we had not been false to your covenant.
¹⁸Our hearts had not turned^(B) back;
    our feet had not strayed from your path.
¹⁹But you crushed^(C) us and made us a haunt for jackals;^(D)
    you covered us over with deep darkness.^(E)

²⁰If we had forgotten^(F) the name of our God
    or spread out our hands to a foreign god,^(G)
²¹would not God have discovered it,
    since he knows the secrets of the heart?^(H)
²²Yet for your sake we face death all day long;
    we are considered as sheep^(I) to be slaughtered.^(J)

²³Awake,^(K) Lord! Why do you sleep?^(L)
Rouse yourself!^(M) Do not reject us forever.^(N)
²⁴Why do you hide your face^(O)
and forget^(P) our misery and oppression?^(Q)

²⁵We are brought down to the dust;^(R)
our bodies cling to the ground.
²⁶Rise up^(S) and help us;
rescue^(T) us because of your unfailing love.^(U)

Read full chapter

Proverbs 10:26-28

New International Version

²⁶As vinegar to the teeth and smoke^(A) to the eyes,
so are sluggards to those who send them.^(B)

²⁷The fear of the Lord adds length to life,^(C)
but the years of the wicked are cut short.^(D)

²⁸The prospect of the righteous is joy,
but the hopes of the wicked come to nothing.^(E)

Read full chapter

Matthew 28:11-15

New International Version

The Guards’ Report

¹¹While the women were on their way, some of the guards^(A) went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened. ¹²When the chief priests had met with the elders and devised a plan, they gave the soldiers a large sum of money, ¹³telling them, “You are to say, ‘His disciples came during the night and stole him away^(B) while we were asleep.’ ¹⁴If this report gets to the governor,^(C) we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” ¹⁵So the soldiers took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been widely circulated among the Jews to this very day.

Read full chapter

Romans 11:1-10

New International Version

The Remnant of Israel

11 I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means!^(A) I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham,^(B) from the tribe of Benjamin.^(C) ²God did not reject his people,^(D) whom he foreknew.^(E) Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: ³“Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”^[a]?^(F) ⁴And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”^[b]^(G) ⁵So too, at the present time there is a remnant^(H) chosen by grace.^(I) ⁶And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works;^(J) if it were, grace would no longer be grace.

⁷What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain.^(K) The elect among them did, but the others were hardened,^(L) ⁸as it is written:

“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
eyes that could not see
and ears that could not hear,^(M)
to this very day.”^[c]^(N)

⁹And David says:

“May their table become a snare and a trap,
a stumbling block and a retribution for them.
¹⁰May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see,^(O)
and their backs be bent forever.”^[d]^(P)