21 But you, Sovereign Lord,
    help me for your name’s sake;(A)
    out of the goodness of your love,(B) deliver me.(C)
22 For I am poor and needy,
    and my heart is wounded within me.
23 I fade away like an evening shadow;(D)
    I am shaken off like a locust.
24 My knees give(E) way from fasting;(F)
    my body is thin and gaunt.(G)
25 I am an object of scorn(H) to my accusers;
    when they see me, they shake their heads.(I)

26 Help me,(J) Lord my God;
    save me according to your unfailing love.
27 Let them know(K) that it is your hand,
    that you, Lord, have done it.
28 While they curse,(L) may you bless;
    may those who attack me be put to shame,
    but may your servant rejoice.(M)
29 May my accusers be clothed with disgrace
    and wrapped in shame(N) as in a cloak.

30 With my mouth I will greatly extol the Lord;
    in the great throng(O) of worshipers I will praise him.
31 For he stands at the right hand(P) of the needy,
    to save their lives from those who would condemn them.

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21 But do thou for me, O God the Lord, for thy name's sake: because thy mercy is good, deliver thou me.

22 For I am poor and needy, and my heart is wounded within me.

23 I am gone like the shadow when it declineth: I am tossed up and down as the locust.

24 My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness.

25 I became also a reproach unto them: when they looked upon me they shaked their heads.

26 Help me, O Lord my God: O save me according to thy mercy:

27 That they may know that this is thy hand; that thou, Lord, hast done it.

28 Let them curse, but bless thou: when they arise, let them be ashamed; but let thy servant rejoice.

29 Let mine adversaries be clothed with shame, and let them cover themselves with their own confusion, as with a mantle.

30 I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth; yea, I will praise him among the multitude.

31 For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those that condemn his soul.

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18 I said to their children in the wilderness, “Do not follow the statutes of your parents(A) or keep their laws or defile yourselves(B) with their idols. 19 I am the Lord your God;(C) follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.(D) 20 Keep my Sabbaths(E) holy, that they may be a sign(F) between us. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.(G)

21 “‘But the children rebelled against me: They did not follow my decrees, they were not careful to keep my laws,(H) of which I said, “The person who obeys them will live by them,” and they desecrated my Sabbaths. So I said I would pour out my wrath on them and spend my anger(I) against them in the wilderness.(J) 22 But I withheld(K) my hand, and for the sake of my name(L) I did what would keep it from being profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out. 23 Also with uplifted hand I swore to them in the wilderness that I would disperse them among the nations and scatter(M) them through the countries, 24 because they had not obeyed my laws but had rejected my decrees(N) and desecrated my Sabbaths,(O) and their eyes lusted after(P) their parents’ idols.(Q) 25 So I gave(R) them other statutes that were not good and laws through which they could not live;(S) 26 I defiled them through their gifts—the sacrifice(T) of every firstborn—that I might fill them with horror so they would know that I am the Lord.(U)

27 “Therefore, son of man, speak to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: In this also your ancestors(V) blasphemed(W) me by being unfaithful to me:(X) 28 When I brought them into the land(Y) I had sworn to give them and they saw any high hill or any leafy tree, there they offered their sacrifices, made offerings that aroused my anger, presented their fragrant incense and poured out their drink offerings.(Z) 29 Then I said to them: What is this high place(AA) you go to?’” (It is called Bamah[a] to this day.)

Rebellious Israel Renewed

30 “Therefore say to the Israelites: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Will you defile yourselves(AB) the way your ancestors did and lust after their vile images?(AC) 31 When you offer your gifts—the sacrifice of your children(AD) in the fire—you continue to defile yourselves with all your idols to this day. Am I to let you inquire of me, you Israelites? As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I will not let you inquire of me.(AE)

32 “‘You say, “We want to be like the nations, like the peoples of the world, who serve wood and stone.” But what you have in mind will never happen.

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Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 20:29 Bamah means high place.

18 But I said unto their children in the wilderness, Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols:

19 I am the Lord your God; walk in my statutes, and keep my judgments, and do them;

20 And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.

21 Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me: they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted my sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them, to accomplish my anger against them in the wilderness.

22 Nevertheless I withdrew mine hand, and wrought for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted in the sight of the heathen, in whose sight I brought them forth.

23 I lifted up mine hand unto them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the heathen, and disperse them through the countries;

24 Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers' idols.

25 Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live;

26 And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the Lord.

27 Therefore, son of man, speak unto the house of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Yet in this your fathers have blasphemed me, in that they have committed a trespass against me.

28 For when I had brought them into the land, for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to them, then they saw every high hill, and all the thick trees, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering: there also they made their sweet savour, and poured out there their drink offerings.

29 Then I said unto them, What is the high place whereunto ye go? And the name whereof is called Bamah unto this day.

30 Wherefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God; Are ye polluted after the manner of your fathers? and commit ye whoredom after their abominations?

31 For when ye offer your gifts, when ye make your sons to pass through the fire, ye pollute yourselves with all your idols, even unto this day: and shall I be enquired of by you, O house of Israel? As I live, saith the Lord God, I will not be enquired of by you.

32 And that which cometh into your mind shall not be at all, that ye say, We will be as the heathen, as the families of the countries, to serve wood and stone.

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To the Church in Philadelphia

“To the angel of the church in Philadelphia(A) write:

These are the words of him who is holy(B) and true,(C) who holds the key of David.(D) What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. I know your deeds.(E) See, I have placed before you an open door(F) that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.(G) I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan,(H) who claim to be Jews though they are not,(I) but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet(J) and acknowledge that I have loved you.(K) 10 Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you(L) from the hour of trial that is going to come on the whole world(M) to test(N) the inhabitants of the earth.(O)

11 I am coming soon.(P) Hold on to what you have,(Q) so that no one will take your crown.(R) 12 The one who is victorious(S) I will make a pillar(T) in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of my God(U) and the name of the city of my God,(V) the new Jerusalem,(W) which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name. 13 Whoever has ears, let them hear(X) what the Spirit says to the churches.

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And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;

I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.

Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.

10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.

11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.

12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

13 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

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