Psalm 144

New International Version

Psalm 144

Of David.

¹Praise be to the Lord my Rock,^(A)
    who trains my hands for war,
    my fingers for battle.
²He is my loving God and my fortress,^(B)
    my stronghold^(C) and my deliverer,
my shield,^(D) in whom I take refuge,
    who subdues peoples^[a]^(E) under me.

³Lord, what are human beings^(F) that you care for them,
mere mortals that you think of them?
⁴They are like a breath;^(G)
their days are like a fleeting shadow.^(H)

⁵Part your heavens,^(I) Lord, and come down;^(J)
    touch the mountains, so that they smoke.^(K)
⁶Send forth lightning^(L) and scatter^(M) the enemy;
    shoot your arrows^(N) and rout them.
⁷Reach down your hand from on high;^(O)
    deliver me and rescue me^(P)
from the mighty waters,^(Q)
    from the hands of foreigners^(R)
⁸whose mouths are full of lies,^(S)
    whose right hands^(T) are deceitful.^(U)

⁹I will sing a new song^(V) to you, my God;
on the ten-stringed lyre^(W) I will make music to you,
¹⁰to the One who gives victory to kings,^(X)
who delivers his servant David.^(Y)

From the deadly sword^(Z) ¹¹deliver me;
rescue me^(AA) from the hands of foreigners^(AB)
whose mouths are full of lies,^(AC)
whose right hands are deceitful.^(AD)

¹²Then our sons in their youth
    will be like well-nurtured plants,^(AE)
and our daughters will be like pillars^(AF)
    carved to adorn a palace.
¹³Our barns will be filled^(AG)
    with every kind of provision.
Our sheep will increase by thousands,
    by tens of thousands in our fields;
¹⁴    our oxen^(AH) will draw heavy loads.^[b]
There will be no breaching of walls,^(AI)
    no going into captivity,
    no cry of distress in our streets.^(AJ)
¹⁵Blessed is the people^(AK) of whom this is true;
    blessed is the people whose God is the Lord.

Footnotes

Psalm 144:2 Many manuscripts of the Masoretic Text, Dead Sea Scrolls, Aquila, Jerome and Syriac; most manuscripts of the Masoretic Text subdues my people
Psalm 144:14 Or our chieftains will be firmly established

Song of Songs 8:5-14

New International Version

Friends

⁵Who is this coming up from the wilderness^(A)
leaning on her beloved?

She

Under the apple tree I roused you;
    there your mother conceived^(B) you,
    there she who was in labor gave you birth.
⁶Place me like a seal over your heart,
    like a seal on your arm;
for love^(C) is as strong as death,
    its jealousy^[a]^(D) unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire,
    like a mighty flame.^[b]
⁷Many waters cannot quench love;
    rivers cannot sweep it away.
If one were to give
    all the wealth of one’s house for love,
    it^[c] would be utterly scorned.^(E)

She

¹⁰I am a wall,
    and my breasts are like towers.
Thus I have become in his eyes
    like one bringing contentment.
¹¹Solomon had a vineyard^(F) in Baal Hamon;
    he let out his vineyard to tenants.
Each was to bring for its fruit
    a thousand shekels^[d]^(G) of silver.
¹²But my own vineyard^(H) is mine to give;
    the thousand shekels are for you, Solomon,
    and two hundred^[e] are for those who tend its fruit.

He

¹³You who dwell in the gardens
with friends in attendance,
let me hear your voice!

She

¹⁴Come away, my beloved,
and be like a gazelle^(I)
or like a young stag^(J)
on the spice-laden mountains.^(K)

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Footnotes

Song of Songs 8:6 Or ardor
Song of Songs 8:6 Or fire, / like the very flame of the Lord
Song of Songs 8:7 Or he
Song of Songs 8:11 That is, about 25 pounds or about 12 kilograms; also in verse 12
Song of Songs 8:12 That is, about 5 pounds or about 2.3 kilograms

John 11:45-57

New International Version

The Plot to Kill Jesus

⁴⁵Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary,^(A) and had seen what Jesus did,^(B) believed in him.^(C) ⁴⁶But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. ⁴⁷Then the chief priests and the Pharisees^(D) called a meeting^(E) of the Sanhedrin.^(F)

“What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs.^(G) ⁴⁸If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.”

⁴⁹Then one of them, named Caiaphas,^(H) who was high priest that year,^(I) spoke up, “You know nothing at all! ⁵⁰You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”^(J)

⁵¹He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, ⁵²and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one.^(K) ⁵³So from that day on they plotted to take his life.^(L)

⁵⁴Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea.^(M) Instead he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.

⁵⁵When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover,^(N) many went up from the country to Jerusalem for their ceremonial cleansing^(O) before the Passover. ⁵⁶They kept looking for Jesus,^(P) and as they stood in the temple courts they asked one another, “What do you think? Isn’t he coming to the festival at all?” ⁵⁷But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was should report it so that they might arrest him.