Psalm 80
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Psalm 80
Prayer for Israel’s Restoration
To the leader: on Lilies, a Covenant. Of Asaph. A Psalm.
1 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
you who lead Joseph like a flock!
You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth(A)
2 before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh.
Stir up your might,
and come to save us!(B)
3 Restore us, O God;
let your face shine, that we may be saved.(C)
4 O Lord God of hosts,
how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?(D)
5 You have fed them with the bread of tears
and given them tears to drink in full measure.(E)
6 You make us the scorn[a] of our neighbors;
our enemies laugh among themselves.(F)
7 Restore us, O God of hosts;
let your face shine, that we may be saved.
8 You brought a vine out of Egypt;
you drove out the nations and planted it.(G)
9 You cleared the ground for it;
it took deep root and filled the land.(H)
10 The mountains were covered with its shade,
the mighty cedars with its branches;
11 it sent out its branches to the sea
and its shoots to the River.
12 Why then have you broken down its walls,
so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?(I)
13 The boar from the forest ravages it,
and all that move in the field feed on it.(J)
14 Turn again, O God of hosts;
look down from heaven and see;
have regard for this vine,(K)
15 the stock that your right hand planted.[b]
16 It has been burned with fire; it has been cut down;
may they perish at the rebuke of your countenance.(L)
17 But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand,
the one whom you made strong for yourself.(M)
18 Then we will never turn back from you;
give us life, and we will call on your name.(N)
19 Restore us, O Lord God of hosts;
let your face shine, that we may be saved.
Deuteronomy 8:1-10
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
A Warning Not to Forget God in Prosperity
8 “The entire commandment that I command you today you must diligently observe, so that you may live and increase and go in and occupy the land that the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors.(A) 2 Remember the long way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments.(B) 3 He humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.(C) 4 The clothes on your back did not wear out, and your feet did not swell these forty years.(D) 5 Know, then, in your heart that, as a parent disciplines a child, so the Lord your God disciplines you.(E) 6 Therefore keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him.(F) 7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with flowing streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills,(G) 8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey, 9 a land where you may eat bread without scarcity, where you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron and from whose hills you may mine copper. 10 You shall eat your fill and bless the Lord your God for the good land that he has given you.(H)
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James 1:1-15
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Salutation
1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,
To the twelve tribes in the dispersion:
Greetings.
Faith and Wisdom
2 My brothers and sisters, whenever you face various trials, consider it all joy,(A) 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance complete its work, so that you may be complete and whole, lacking in nothing.
5 If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you.(B) 6 But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.(C) 7,8 For the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord.
Poverty and Riches
9 Let the brother or sister of humble means boast in having a high position 10 and the rich in having been humbled, because the rich will disappear like a flower in the field.(D) 11 For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the field; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. It is the same way with the rich; in the midst of a busy life, they will wither away.
Trial and Temptation
12 Blessed is anyone who endures temptation. Such a one has stood the test and will receive the crown of life that the Lord[a] has promised to those who love him.(E) 13 No one, when tempted, should say, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted by evil and he himself tempts no one. 14 But one is tempted by one’s own desire, being lured and enticed by it; 15 then, when desire has conceived, it engenders sin, and sin, when it is fully grown, gives birth to death.(F)
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- 1.12 Gk he; other ancient authorities read God
Luke 9:18-27
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Peter’s Declaration about Jesus
18 Once when Jesus[a] was praying alone, with only the disciples near him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”(A) 19 They answered, “John the Baptist; but others, Elijah; and still others, that one of the ancient prophets has arisen.”(B) 20 Then he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “The Messiah[b] of God.”(C)
Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection
21 He sternly ordered and commanded them not to tell anyone,(D) 22 saying, “The Son of Man must undergo great suffering and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised.”(E)
23 Then he said to them all, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.(F) 24 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will save it.(G) 25 For what does it profit them if they gain the whole world but lose or forfeit themselves?(H) 26 Those who are ashamed of me and of my words, of them the Son of Man will be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.(I) 27 Indeed, truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.”(J)
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Psalm 77
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Psalm 77
God’s Mighty Deeds Recalled
To the leader: according to Jeduthun. Of Asaph. A Psalm.
1 I cry aloud to God,
aloud to God, that he may hear me.(A)
2 In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;
in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;
my soul refuses to be comforted.(B)
3 I think of God, and I moan;
I meditate, and my spirit faints. Selah(C)
4 You keep my eyelids from closing;
I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
5 I consider the days of old
and remember the years of long ago.(D)
6 I commune[a] with my heart in the night;
I meditate and search my spirit:[b](E)
7 “Will the Lord spurn forever
and never again be favorable?(F)
8 Has his steadfast love ceased forever?
Are his promises at an end for all time?(G)
9 Has God forgotten to be gracious?
Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah(H)
10 And I say, “It is my grief
that the right hand of the Most High has changed.”(I)
11 I will call to mind the deeds of the Lord;
I will remember your wonders of old.(J)
12 I will meditate on all your work
and muse on your mighty deeds.
13 Your way, O God, is holy.
What god is so great as our God?(K)
14 You are the God who works wonders;
you have displayed your might among the peoples.
15 With your strong arm you redeemed your people,
the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. Selah(L)
16 When the waters saw you, O God,
when the waters saw you, they were afraid;
the very deep trembled.(M)
17 The clouds poured out water;
the skies thundered;
your arrows flashed on every side.(N)
18 The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind;
your lightnings lit up the world;
the earth trembled and shook.(O)
19 Your way was through the sea,
your path through the mighty waters,
yet your footprints were unseen.(P)
20 You led your people like a flock
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.(Q)
Psalm 79
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Psalm 79
Plea for Mercy for Jerusalem
A Psalm of Asaph.
1 O God, the nations have come into your inheritance;
they have defiled your holy temple;
they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.(A)
2 They have given the bodies of your servants
to the birds of the air for food,
the flesh of your faithful to the wild animals of the earth.(B)
3 They have poured out their blood like water
all around Jerusalem,
and there was no one to bury them.(C)
4 We have become a taunt to our neighbors,
mocked and derided by those around us.(D)
5 How long, O Lord? Will you be angry forever?
Will your jealous wrath burn like fire?(E)
6 Pour out your anger on the nations
that do not know you
and on the kingdoms
that do not call on your name.(F)
7 For they have devoured Jacob
and laid waste his habitation.
8 Do not remember against us the iniquities of our ancestors;
let your compassion come speedily to meet us,
for we are brought very low.(G)
9 Help us, O God of our salvation,
for the glory of your name;
deliver us and forgive our sins,
for your name’s sake.(H)
10 Why should the nations say,
“Where is their God?”
Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants
be known among the nations before our eyes.(I)
11 Let the groans of the prisoners come before you;
according to your great power, preserve those doomed to die.(J)
12 Return sevenfold into the bosom of our neighbors
the taunts with which they taunted you, O Lord!(K)
13 Then we your people, the flock of your pasture,
will give thanks to you forever;
from generation to generation we will recount your praise.(L)
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.