Psalm 1-2

English Standard Version

Book One

The Way of the Righteous and the Wicked

1 Blessed is the man^[a]
    who ^(A)walks not in ^(B)the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in ^(C)the way of sinners,
    nor ^(D)sits in ^(E)the seat of ^(F)scoffers;
²but his ^(G)delight is in the law^[b] of the Lord,
    and on his ^(H)law he meditates day and night.

³He is like ^(I)a tree
    planted by ^(J)streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
    and its ^(K)leaf does not wither.
^(L)In all that he does, he prospers.
⁴The wicked are not so,
    but are like ^(M)chaff that the wind drives away.

⁵Therefore the wicked ^(N)will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in ^(O)the congregation of the righteous;
⁶for the Lord ^(P)knows ^(Q)the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.

The Reign of the Lord's Anointed

2 ^(R)Why do ^(S)the nations rage^[c]
    and the peoples plot in vain?
²The kings of the earth set themselves,
    and the rulers take counsel together,
    against the Lord and against his ^(T)Anointed, saying,
³“Let us ^(U)burst their bonds apart
    and cast away their cords from us.”

⁴He who ^(V)sits in the heavens ^(W)laughs;
    the Lord holds them in derision.
⁵Then he will speak to them in his ^(X)wrath,
    and terrify them in his fury, saying,
⁶“As for me, I have ^(Y)set my King
    on ^(Z)Zion, my ^(AA)holy hill.”

⁷I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me, ^(AB)“You are my Son;
    today I have begotten you.
⁸Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,
    and ^(AC)the ends of the earth your possession.
⁹You shall ^(AD)break^[d] them with ^(AE)a rod of iron
    and dash them in pieces like ^(AF)a potter's vessel.”

¹⁰Now therefore, O kings, be wise;
    be warned, O rulers of the earth.
¹¹^(AG)Serve the Lord with ^(AH)fear,
    and ^(AI)rejoice with ^(AJ)trembling.
¹²^(AK)Kiss ^(AL)the Son,
    lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,
    for his ^(AM)wrath is quickly kindled.
^(AN)Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Footnotes

Psalm 1:1 The singular Hebrew word for man (ish) is used here to portray a representative example of a godly person; see Preface
Psalm 1:2 Or instruction
Psalm 2:1 Or nations noisily assemble
Psalm 2:9 Revocalization yields (compare Septuagint) You shall rule

Jeremiah 32

English Standard Version

Jeremiah Buys a Field During the Siege

32 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord ^(A)in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, ^(B)which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. ²At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet ^(C)was shut up in ^(D)the court of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah. ³For Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying, “Why do you prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord: ^(E)Behold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall capture it; ⁴^(F)Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, ^(G)but shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye. ⁵And ^(H)he shall take Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall remain until I visit him, declares the Lord. ^(I)Though you fight against the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed’?”

⁶Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me: ⁷Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you and say, ^(J)‘Buy my field that is at ^(K)Anathoth, ^(L)for the right of redemption by purchase is yours.’ ⁸Then Hanamel my cousin came to me in ^(M)the court of the guard, in accordance with the word of the Lord, and said to me, ‘Buy my field that is at ^(N)Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord.

⁹“And I bought the field at ^(O)Anathoth from Hanamel my cousin, and ^(P)weighed out the money to him, seventeen shekels of silver. ¹⁰^(Q)I signed the deed, ^(R)sealed it, ^(S)got witnesses, and ^(T)weighed the money on scales. ¹¹Then I took the sealed deed of purchase, containing the terms and conditions and the open copy. ¹²And I gave the deed of purchase to ^(U)Baruch the son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my cousin, in the presence of ^(V)the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, and in the presence of all the Judeans who were sitting in ^(W)the court of the guard. ¹³I charged ^(X)Baruch in their presence, saying, ¹⁴‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, both this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware vessel, that they may last for a long time. ¹⁵For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and ^(Y)fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.’

Jeremiah Prays for Understanding

¹⁶“After I had given the deed of purchase to ^(Z)Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying: ¹⁷‘Ah, Lord God! It is ^(AA)you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by ^(AB)your outstretched arm! ^(AC)Nothing is too hard for you. ¹⁸^(AD)You show steadfast love to thousands, ^(AE)but you repay the guilt of fathers ^(AF)to their children after them, O great and ^(AG)mighty God, whose name is the ^(AH)Lord of hosts, ¹⁹^(AI)great in counsel and ^(AJ)mighty in deed, ^(AK)whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man, ^(AL)rewarding each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds. ²⁰You have shown ^(AM)signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, and to this day in Israel and among all mankind, ^(AN)and have made a name for yourself, as at this day. ²¹^(AO)You brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and ^(AP)outstretched arm, ^(AQ)and with great terror. ²²And you gave them this land, ^(AR)which you swore to their fathers to give them, ^(AS)a land flowing with milk and honey. ²³And they entered and took possession of it. ^(AT)But they did not obey your voice or walk in your law. They did nothing of all you commanded them to do. Therefore you have made all this disaster come upon them. ²⁴Behold, ^(AU)the siege mounds have come up to the city to take it, and ^(AV)because of sword and famine and pestilence ^(AW)the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What you spoke has come to pass, and behold, you see it. ²⁵Yet you, O Lord God, have said to me, ^(AX)“Buy the field for money ^(AY)and get witnesses”—though ^(AZ)the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans.’”

²⁶The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁷“Behold, I am the Lord, ^(BA)the God of all flesh. ^(BB)Is anything too hard for me? ²⁸Therefore, thus says the Lord: ^(BC)Behold, I am giving this city into the hands of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall capture it. ²⁹The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city ^(BD)shall come and set this city on fire and burn it, ^(BE)with the houses on whose roofs offerings have been made to Baal ^(BF)and drink offerings have been poured out to other gods, ^(BG)to provoke me to anger. ³⁰For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight ^(BH)from their youth. The children of Israel have done nothing but ^(BI)provoke me to anger ^(BJ)by the work of their hands, declares the Lord. ³¹This city has aroused my anger and wrath, from the day it was built to this day, ^(BK)so that I will remove it from my sight ³²because of all the evil of the children of Israel and the children of Judah that they did to provoke me to anger—^(BL)their kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ³³^(BM)They have turned to me their back and not their face. And though I have taught them ^(BN)persistently, they have not listened ^(BO)to receive instruction. ³⁴They set up ^(BP)their abominations in the house that is called by my name, to defile it. ³⁵They built the high places of Baal ^(BQ)in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, ^(BR)to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech, ^(BS)though I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind, that they should do ^(BT)this abomination, ^(BU)to cause Judah to sin.

They Shall Be My People; I Will Be Their God

³⁶“Now therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, ^(BV)‘It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by pestilence’: ³⁷^(BW)Behold, I will gather them from all the countries ^(BX)to which I drove them in ^(BY)my anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, ^(BZ)and I will make them dwell in safety. ³⁸^(CA)And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. ³⁹^(CB)I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, ^(CC)for their own good and the good of their children after them. ⁴⁰^(CD)I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. ^(CE)And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. ⁴¹^(CF)I will rejoice in doing them good, ^(CG)and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.

⁴²“For thus says the Lord: ^(CH)Just as I have brought all this great disaster upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise them. ⁴³^(CI)Fields shall be bought in this land ^(CJ)of which you are saying, ‘It is a desolation, without man or beast; ^(CK)it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’ ⁴⁴Fields shall be bought for money, and ^(CL)deeds shall be signed and ^(CM)sealed and ^(CN)witnessed, ^(CO)in the land of Benjamin, ^(CP)in the places about Jerusalem, ^(CQ)and in the cities of Judah, ^(CR)in the cities of the hill country, ^(CS)in the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negeb; for ^(CT)I will restore their fortunes, declares the Lord.”

2 Corinthians 9

English Standard Version

The Collection for Christians in Jerusalem

9 Now ^(A)it is superfluous for me to write to you about ^(B)the ministry for the saints, ²for I know your readiness, ^(C)of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready ^(D)since last year. And your zeal has stirred up most of them. ³But ^(E)I am sending^[a] the brothers so that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter, so that you may be ready, ^(F)as I said you would be. ⁴Otherwise, if some Macedonians ^(G)come with me and find that you are not ready, we would be humiliated—to say nothing of you—for being so confident. ⁵So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the ^(H)gift^[b] you have promised, so that it may be ready ^(I)as a willing gift, ^(J)not as an exaction.^[c]

The Cheerful Giver

⁶The point is this: ^(K)whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully^[d] will also reap bountifully. ⁷Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, ^(L)not reluctantly or under compulsion, for ^(M)God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸And ^(N)God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency^[e] in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. ⁹As it is written,

^(O)“He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever.”

¹⁰He who supplies ^(P)seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and ^(Q)increase the harvest of your righteousness. ¹¹^(R)You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which ^(S)through us will produce thanksgiving to God. ¹²For the ministry of this service is not only supplying ^(T)the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. ¹³By their approval of this service, ^(U)they^[f] will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your ^(V)confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, ¹⁴while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. ¹⁵^(W)Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!