Psalm 147

This is the way

¹⁹ People in Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no longer. God will certainly be merciful to you. Hearing the sound of your outcry, God will answer you. ²⁰ Though the Lord gives you the bread of distress and the water of oppression, your teacher will no longer hide, but you will see your teacher. ²¹ If you stray to the right or the left, you will hear a word that comes from behind you: “This is the way; walk in it.”

²³ God will provide rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the food the ground produces will be rich and abundant. On that day, your cattle will graze in large pastures. ²⁴ The oxen and donkeys that are working the ground will eat tasty feed spread for them with shovel and fork.

²⁵ On every lofty mountain, and on every high hill, streams will run with water on the day of the great massacre, when the towers fall. ²⁶ The light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter—like the light of seven days—on the day that the Lord bandages the people’s brokenness and heals the wounds inflicted by his blows.

Compassion

³⁵ Jesus traveled among all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, announcing the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness. ³⁶ Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them because they were troubled and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷ Then he said to his disciples, “The size of the harvest is bigger than you can imagine, but there are few workers. ³⁸ Therefore, plead with the Lord of the harvest to send out workers for his harvest.”

Mission of the Twelve

10 He called his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits to throw them out and to heal every disease and every sickness.

Commissioning of the Twelve

⁵ Jesus sent these twelve out and commanded them, “Don’t go among the Gentiles or into a Samaritan city. ⁶ Go instead to the lost sheep, the people of Israel. ⁷ As you go, make this announcement: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ ⁸ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with skin diseases, and throw out demons. You received without having to pay. Therefore, give without demanding payment.