Psalm 86:1-10
The Voice
Psalm 86
A prayer of David.
1 O Eternal One, lend an ear to my prayer and answer me,
for I am weak and wanting.
2 Safeguard my soul, for I remain loyal to You.
Save me, Your servant, who trusts in You, my God.
3 O Lord, please be merciful to me,
as all day long I cry out to You.
4 Bring joy into the life of Your servant,
for it’s only to You, O Lord, that I offer my soul.
5 O Lord, You are good and ready to forgive;
Your loyal love flows generously over all who cry out to You.
6 O Eternal One, lend an ear and hear my prayer;
listen to my pleading voice.
7 When times of trouble come, I will call to You
because I know You will respond to me.
8 O Lord, You stand alone among the other gods;
nothing they have done compares to Your wonderful works.
9 O Lord, all the peoples of earth—every nation You established—
will come to You, bowing low to worship,
and rightly honor Your great name.
10 For You are great, and Your works are wondrous;
You are the one True God.
Exodus 12:43-49
The Voice
Eternal One (to Moses and Aaron): 43 This is the requirement for Passover: no foreigner or outsider should eat this meal. 44 But every slave bought with money may participate in this celebration if he has been initiated into the community by circumcision. 45 No temporary residents or paid servants may share in it. 46 The meal must be eaten in only one house. Don’t take any of the meat outside. Not one of the lamb’s bones shall be broken.[a] 47 The entire community of Israel must celebrate it. 48 If you have outsiders living among you and they want to celebrate the Passover to the Eternal with you, then all the men must agree to be circumcised. Only after circumcision may they join in and celebrate with you; then you must treat them as if they were native-born. But make sure no uncircumcised male eats any part of the sacred meal. 49 The same instruction applies to everyone equally—without distinction—the native as well as the outsider who is living among you.
Footnotes
Hebrews 2:5-9
The Voice
This letter is punctuated with passages that sound an alarm: danger, both imminent and eternal, is at hand. The real danger is the gentle erosion of rock-solid commitments.
How often it happens! A person makes a decision to follow Jesus. He practically explodes with joy. Then life happens and the invisible forces that shape culture in our world—the idols of consumerism, relativism, and materialism—begin their exacting work to shape us into an image that no longer reflects our Savior. Over and over again, the writer warns us to be careful. Don’t neglect this great salvation. Make sure the anchor holds.
5 Now clearly God didn’t set up the heavenly messengers to bring the final word or to rule over the world that is coming. 6 I have read something somewhere:
I can’t help but wonder why You care about mortals
or choose to love the son of man.
7-8 Though he was born below the heavenly messengers,
You honored the son of man like royalty,
crowning him with glory and honor,
Raising him above all earthly things,
placing everything under his feet.[a]
When God placed everything under the son of man, He didn’t leave out anything. Maybe we don’t see all that happening yet; 9 but what we do see is Jesus, born a little lower than the heavenly messengers, who is now crowned with glory and honor because He willingly suffered and died. And He did that so that through God’s grace, He might taste death on behalf of everyone.
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The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
