Psalm 119:1-8

Common English Bible

Psalm 119^[a]

א alef

119 Those whose way is blameless—
    who walk in the Lord’s Instruction—are truly happy!
²Those who guard God’s laws are truly happy!
    They seek God with all their hearts.
³They don’t even do anything wrong!
    They walk in God’s ways.
⁴God, you have ordered that your decrees
    should be kept most carefully.
⁵How I wish my ways were strong
    when it comes to keeping your statutes!
⁶Then I wouldn’t be ashamed
    when I examine all your commandments.
⁷I will give thanks to you with a heart that does right
    as I learn your righteous rules.
⁸I will keep your statutes.
    Please don’t leave me all alone!

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Footnotes

Psalm 119:1 Ps 119 is an alphabetic acrostic poem (cf Pss 9–10) in Heb, with each line of Heb within the marked sections beginning with the same letter of the alphabet.

Amos 8:4-6

Common English Bible

Judgment on oppressors and hypocrites

⁴    Hear this, you who trample on the needy and destroy
        the poor of the land, ⁵saying,
    “When will the new moon
        be over so that we may sell grain,
        and the Sabbath
        so that we may offer wheat for sale,
        make the ephah smaller, enlarge the shekel,
        and deceive with false balances,
⁶        in order to buy the needy for silver
        and the helpless for sandals,
        and sell garbage as grain?”

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Amos 8:9-12

Common English Bible

⁹    On that day, says the Lord God,
        I will make the sun go down at noon,
        and I will darken the earth in broad daylight.
¹⁰I will turn your feasts into sad affairs
        and all your singing into a funeral song;
    I will make people wear mourning clothes
        and shave their heads;
    I will make it like the loss of an only child,
        and the end of it like a bitter day.
¹¹The days are surely coming, says the Lord God,
        when I will send hunger and thirst on the land;
    neither a hunger for bread, nor a thirst for water,
        but of hearing the Lord ’s words.
¹²They will wander from sea to sea,
        and from north to east;
    they will roam all around, seeking the Lord’s word,
        but they won’t find it.

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Matthew 9:9-13

Common English Bible

Calling of Matthew

⁹As Jesus continued on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at a kiosk for collecting taxes. He said to him, “Follow me,” and he got up and followed him. ¹⁰As Jesus sat down to eat in Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners joined Jesus and his disciples at the table.

¹¹But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

¹²When Jesus heard it, he said, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor, but sick people do. ¹³Go and learn what this means: I want mercy and not sacrifice.^[a] I didn’t come to call righteous people, but sinners.”

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