Psalm 119:97-120
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
97 Oh, how I love your law!
It is my meditation all day long.(A)
98 Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies,
for it is always with me.
99 I have more understanding than all my teachers,
for your decrees are my meditation.
100 I understand more than the aged,
for I keep your precepts.(B)
101 I hold back my feet from every evil way,
in order to keep your word.(C)
102 I do not turn away from your ordinances,
for you have taught me.
103 How sweet are your words to my taste,
sweeter than honey to my mouth!(D)
104 Through your precepts I get understanding;
therefore I hate every false way.(E)
105 Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.(F)
106 I have sworn an oath and confirmed it,
to observe your righteous ordinances.(G)
107 I am severely afflicted;
give me life, O Lord, according to your word.(H)
108 Accept my offerings of praise, O Lord,
and teach me your ordinances.(I)
109 I hold my life in my hand continually,
but I do not forget your law.(J)
110 The wicked have laid a snare for me,
but I do not stray from your precepts.(K)
111 Your decrees are my heritage forever;
they are the joy of my heart.(L)
112 I incline my heart to perform your statutes
forever, to the end.(M)
113 I hate the double-minded,
but I love your law.(N)
114 You are my hiding place and my shield;
I hope in your word.(O)
115 Go away from me, you evildoers,
that I may keep the commandments of my God.(P)
116 Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live,
and let me not be put to shame in my hope.(Q)
117 Hold me up, that I may be safe
and have regard for your statutes continually.
118 You spurn all who go astray from your statutes,
for their cunning is in vain.(R)
119 All the wicked of the earth I count[a] as dross;
therefore I love your decrees.(S)
120 My flesh trembles for fear of you,
and I am afraid of your judgments.(T)
Footnotes
- 119.119 Q ms Gk Vg: MT you bring to an end
Psalm 81-82
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Psalm 81
God’s Appeal to Stubborn Israel
To the leader: according to The Gittith. Of Asaph.
1 Sing aloud to God our strength;
shout for joy to the God of Jacob.(A)
2 Raise a song; sound the tambourine,
the sweet lyre with the harp.
3 Blow the trumpet at the new moon,
at the full moon, on our festal day.(B)
4 For it is a statute for Israel,
an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
5 He made it a decree in Joseph,
when he went out over[a] the land of Egypt.
I hear a voice I had not known:(C)
6 “I relieved your[b] shoulder of the burden;
your[c] hands were freed from the basket.(D)
7 In distress you called, and I rescued you;
I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah(E)
8 Hear, O my people, while I admonish you;
O Israel, if you would but listen to me!(F)
9 There shall be no strange god among you;
you shall not bow down to a foreign god.(G)
10 I am the Lord your God,
who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.(H)
11 “But my people did not listen to my voice;
Israel would not submit to me.(I)
12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
to follow their own counsels.(J)
13 O that my people would listen to me,
that Israel would walk in my ways!(K)
14 Then I would quickly subdue their enemies
and turn my hand against their foes.(L)
15 Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him,
and their doom would last forever.
16 I would feed you[d] with the finest of the wheat,
and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”(M)
Psalm 82
A Plea for Justice
A Psalm of Asaph.
1 God has taken his place in the divine council;
in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:(N)
2 “How long will you judge unjustly
and show partiality to the wicked? Selah(O)
3 Give justice to the weak and the orphan;
maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute.(P)
4 Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”(Q)
5 They have neither knowledge nor understanding;
they walk around in darkness;
all the foundations of the earth are shaken.(R)
6 I say, “You are gods,
children of the Most High, all of you;(S)
7 nevertheless, you shall die like mortals
and fall like any prince.”[e](T)
8 Rise up, O God, judge the earth,
for all the nations belong to you!(U)
Numbers 11:24-35
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
24 So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord, and he gathered seventy of the elders of the people and placed them all around the tent.(A) 25 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him and took some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders, and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do so again.(B)
26 Two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad and the other named Medad, and the spirit rested on them; they were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, so they prophesied in the camp.(C) 27 And a young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” 28 And Joshua son of Nun, the assistant of Moses, one of his chosen men,[a] said, “My lord Moses, stop them!”(D) 29 But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!”(E) 30 And Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp.
The Quails
31 Then a wind went out from the Lord, and it brought quails from the sea and let them fall beside the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and a day’s journey on the other side, all around the camp, about two cubits deep on the ground.(F) 32 So the people worked all that day and night and all the next day gathering the quails; the least anyone gathered was ten homers, and they spread them out for themselves all around the camp. 33 But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very great plague.(G) 34 So that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah,[b] because there they buried the people who had the craving.(H) 35 From Kibroth-hattaavah the people journeyed to Hazeroth.(I)
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Romans 1:28-2:11
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to an unfit mind and to do things that should not be done.(A) 29 They were filled with every kind of injustice, evil, covetousness, malice. Full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, they are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters,[a] insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, rebellious toward parents,(B) 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.(C) 32 They know God’s decree, that those who practice such things deserve to die, yet they not only do them but even applaud others who practice them.(D)
The Righteous Judgment of God
2 Therefore you are without excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others, for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things.(E) 2 We know that God’s judgment on those who do such things is in accordance with truth. 3 Do you imagine, whoever you are, that when you judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself, you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not realize that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?(F) 5 But by your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.(G) 6 He will repay according to each one’s deeds:(H) 7 to those who by patiently doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life, 8 while for those who are self-seeking and who obey not the truth but injustice, there will be wrath and fury.(I) 9 There will be affliction and distress for everyone who does evil, both the Jew first and the Greek,(J) 10 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, both the Jew first and the Greek. 11 For God shows no partiality.(K)
Footnotes
- 1.30 Or God-hated
Matthew 18:1-9
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
True Greatness
18 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 2 He called a child, whom he put among them, 3 and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.(A) 4 Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.(B)
Temptations to Sin
6 “If any of you cause one of these little ones who believe in me to sin,[a] it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea.(C) 7 Woe to the world because of things that cause sin![b] Such things are bound to come, but woe to the one through whom they come!(D)
8 “If your hand or your foot causes you to sin,[c] cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than to have two hands or two feet and to be thrown into the eternal fire.(E) 9 And if your eye causes you to sin,[d] tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into the hell[e] of fire.(F)
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