Psalm 44:17-26
EasyEnglish Bible
17 We have not turned away from you,
but all this has happened to us.
We have not turned against the covenant that you made with us.
18 We have continued to serve you
and obey your commands.
19 But you have broken us in pieces.
You have left us for wild dogs to eat.
You have covered us with the darkness of death.
20 We might have turned against you, our God,
and worshipped a strange god.
21 But if we had done that,
you would have discovered it.
You know even our most secret thoughts.
22 But, because we are your people, God,
people try to kill us all the time.
They think that we are like sheep
and we are ready to be killed.
23 Lord, do something!
Why are you sleeping? Wake up!
Do not turn away from us for ever!
24 Why do you turn away from us?
Why do you forget our troubles
and the way that people hurt us?
25 We have fallen down in the dirt.
Our bodies are lying on the ground.
26 Wake up and help us!
Save us, because of your faithful love.
Proverbs 10:26-28
EasyEnglish Bible
26 Do not send a lazy person with a message.
He will bring you pain, like the taste of bitter wine,
or like smoke in your eyes.
27 If you respect and obey the Lord, you will live longer.
But wicked people will die before they are old.
28 What good people hope to receive causes them to be happy.
But wicked people never receive what they hope for.
Matthew 28:11-15
EasyEnglish Bible
The soldiers tell the leaders of the priests what happened
11 The women went to tell the disciples Jesus' message. At the same time, some of the soldiers who had watched the rock also went into the city. The soldiers told the leaders of the priests everything that had happened at the rock. 12 The leaders of the priests and the important Jews met together. They decided what they should do now. They gave the soldiers a lot of money as a bribe. 13 They said to the soldiers, ‘When people ask you, you must say this: “Jesus' disciples came to the rock in the night and they took his body away. We were asleep when they did this.” 14 If the Roman ruler Pilate hears about this, we will explain things to him. Do not be afraid. He will not punish you.’
15 The soldiers took the money. They told people what the Jewish leaders told them to say. Many Jews heard the soldiers' story. Even today they still believe that it happened like that.
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Romans 11:1-10
EasyEnglish Bible
Some of the Jews do trust God
11 So I ask this: ‘Has God turned away from his people?’ No, certainly, he has not done that! I myself belong to Israel's people. I am a descendant of Abraham and I belong to Benjamin's tribe. 2 God chose who would be his people from the beginning. He has not turned against them now. Remember what the Bible tells us about Elijah. He wanted God to punish Israel's people. Elijah said: 3 ‘Lord God, they have killed your prophets. They have destroyed the altars where people offered sacrifices to you. I am the only person alive who still serves you. And they are trying to kill me.’ 4 This was God's answer to Elijah: ‘There are still 7,000 men that I have kept for myself. Those men have not worshipped the false god Baal.’[a]
5 It is the same at this time too. There is a small number of Israel's people that God has chosen to trust him. He has chosen them because he is very kind. 6 This shows that God has not chosen them because of any good things that they have done. If that was true, we could not say that God was really being kind to them. It would not be his gift.
7 So we can say this: Israel's people did not all find what they were looking for. Only those people that God had chosen received it. But the other people of Israel became unable to understand God's message. 8 It says this in the Bible:
‘God caused them to be like people who are sleeping.
Even until this day, their eyes cannot really see,
and their ears cannot really hear.’[b]
9 King David says this:
‘They enjoy eating lots of good food together.
I pray that God will catch them while they are eating!
I want those good things to lead them into trouble.
I want God to punish them because of what they have done.
10 I want their eyes to become dark so that they cannot see.
I want their bodies always to be in pain, like slaves.’[c]
Footnotes
- 11:4 See 1 Kings 19:10-18.
- 11:8 See Deuteronomy 29:4; Isaiah 29:10.
- 11:10 See Psalms 69:22-23.
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