20 In your day of trouble, may the Lord be with you! May the God of Jacob keep you from all harm. ² May he send you aid from his sanctuary in Zion. ³ May he remember with pleasure the gifts you have given him, your sacrifices and burnt offerings. ⁴ May he grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill all your plans. ⁵ May there be shouts of joy when we hear the news of your victory, flags flying with praise to God for all that he has done for you. May he answer all your prayers!

⁶ “God save the king”—I know he does! He hears me from highest heaven and sends great victories. ⁷ Some nations boast of armies and of weaponry, but our boast is in the Lord our God. ⁸ Those nations will collapse and perish; we will arise to stand firm and sure!

⁹ Give victory to our king, O Lord; oh, hear our prayer.

21 How the king rejoices in your strength, O Lord! How he exults in your salvation. ² For you have given him his heart’s desire, everything he asks you for!

³ You welcomed him to the throne with success and prosperity. You set a royal crown of solid gold upon his head. ⁴ He asked for a long, good life, and you have granted his request; the days of his life stretch on and on forever. ⁵ You have given him fame and honor. You have clothed him with splendor and majesty. ⁶ You have endowed him with eternal happiness. You have given him the unquenchable joy of your presence. ⁷ And because the king trusts in the Lord, he will never stumble, never fall; for he depends upon the steadfast love of the God who is above all gods.

⁸ Your hand, O Lord, will find your enemies, all who hate you. ^9-10 When you appear, they will be destroyed in the fierce fire of your presence. The Lord will destroy them and their children. ¹¹ For these men plot against you, Lord, but they cannot possibly succeed. ¹² They will turn and flee when they see your arrows aimed straight at them.

¹³ Accept our praise, O Lord, for all your glorious power. We will write songs to celebrate your mighty acts!

110 Jehovah said to my Lord the Messiah,^[a] “Rule as my regent—I will subdue your enemies and make them bow low before you.”

² Jehovah has established your throne^[b] in Jerusalem to rule over your enemies. ³ In that day of your power your people shall come to you willingly, dressed in holy altar robes.^[c] And your strength shall be renewed day by day like morning dew. ⁴ Jehovah has taken oath and will not rescind his vow that you are a priest forever like^[d] Melchizedek. ⁵ God stands beside you to protect you. He will strike down many kings in the day of his anger. ⁶ He will punish the nations and fill them with their dead. He will crush many heads. ⁷ But he himself shall be refreshed from springs along the way.

116 I love the Lord because he hears my prayers and answers them. ² Because he bends down and listens, I will pray as long as I breathe!

³ Death stared me in the face—I was frightened and sad. ⁴ Then I cried, “Lord, save me!” ⁵ How kind he is! How good he is! So merciful, this God of ours! ⁶ The Lord protects the simple and the childlike; I was facing death, and then he saved me. ⁷ Now I can relax. For the Lord has done this wonderful miracle for me. ⁸ He has saved me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling. ⁹ I shall live! Yes, in his presence—here on earth!

^10-11 In my discouragement I thought, “They are lying when they say I will recover.”^{[a] 12} But now what can I offer Jehovah for all he has done for me? ¹³ I will bring him an offering of wine^[b] and praise his name for saving me. ¹⁴ I will publicly bring him the sacrifice I vowed I would. ¹⁵ His loved ones are very precious to him, and he does not lightly let them die.^[c]

¹⁶ O Lord, you have freed me from my bonds, and I will serve you forever. ¹⁷ I will worship you and offer you a sacrifice of thanksgiving. ^18-19 Here in the courts of the Temple in Jerusalem, before all the people, I will pay everything I vowed to the Lord. Praise the Lord.

117 Praise the Lord, all nations everywhere. Praise him, all the peoples of the earth. ² For he loves us very dearly, and his truth endures. Praise the Lord.

34 Then Moses climbed from the plains of Moab to Pisgah Peak in Mount Nebo, across from Jericho. And the Lord pointed out to him the Promised Land, as they gazed out across Gilead as far as Dan:

² “There is Naphtali; and there is Ephraim and Manasseh; and across there, Judah, extending to the Mediterranean Sea; ³ there is the Negeb; and the Jordan Valley; and Jericho, the city of palm trees; and Zoar,” the Lord told him.

⁴ “It is the Promised Land,” the Lord told Moses. “I promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that I would give it to their descendants. Now you have seen it, but you will not enter it.”

⁵ So Moses, the disciple of the Lord, died in the land of Moab as the Lord had said. ⁶ The Lord buried him in a valley near Beth-peor in Moab, but no one knows the exact place.

⁷ Moses was 120 years old when he died, yet his eyesight was perfect and he was as strong as a young man. ⁸ The people of Israel mourned for him for thirty days on the plains of Moab.

⁹ Joshua (son of Nun) was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands upon him; so the people of Israel obeyed him and followed the commandments the Lord had given to Moses.

¹⁰ There has never been another prophet like Moses, for the Lord talked to him face to face. ^11-12 And at God’s command he performed amazing miracles that have never been equaled.

¹⁴ But how shall they ask him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? ¹⁵ And how will anyone go and tell them unless someone sends him? That is what the Scriptures are talking about when they say, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Gospel of peace with God and bring glad tidings of good things.”^[a] In other words, how welcome are those who come preaching God’s Good News!

¹⁶ But not everyone who hears the Good News has welcomed it, for Isaiah the prophet said, “Lord, who has believed me when I told them?”^{[b] 17} Yet faith comes from listening to this Good News—the Good News about Christ.

¹⁸ But what about the Jews? Have they heard God’s Word? Yes, for it has gone wherever they are; the Good News has been told to the ends of the earth. ¹⁹ And did they understand that God would give his salvation to others if they refused to take it^[c]? Yes, for even back in the time of Moses, God had said that he would make his people jealous and try to wake them up by giving his salvation to the foolish heathen nations. ²⁰ And later on Isaiah said boldly that God would be found by people who weren’t even looking for him.^{[d] 21} In the meantime, he keeps on reaching out his hands to the Jews, but they keep arguing^[e] and refusing to come.

³² “Now learn a lesson from the fig tree. When her branch is tender and the leaves begin to sprout, you know that summer is almost here. ³³ Just so, when you see all these things beginning to happen, you can know that my return is near,^[a] even at the doors. ³⁴ Then at last this age will come to its close.^[b]

³⁵ “Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words remain forever. ³⁶ But no one knows the date and hour when the end will be—not even the angels. No, nor even God’s Son.^[c] Only the Father knows.

^37-38 “The world will be at ease^[d] —banquets and parties and weddings—just as it was in Noah’s time before the sudden coming of the Flood; ³⁹ people wouldn’t believe^[e] what was going to happen until the Flood actually arrived and took them all away. So shall my coming be.

⁴⁰ “Two men will be working together in the fields, and one will be taken, the other left. ⁴¹ Two women will be going about their household tasks; one will be taken, the other left.

⁴² “So be prepared, for you don’t know what day your Lord is coming.

⁴³ “Just as a man can prevent trouble from thieves by keeping watch for them, ⁴⁴ so you can avoid trouble by always being ready for my unannounced return.

⁴⁵ “Are you a wise and faithful servant of the Lord? Have I given you the task of managing my household, to feed my children day by day? ⁴⁶ Blessings on you if I return and find you faithfully doing your work. ⁴⁷ I will put such faithful ones in charge of everything I own!

⁴⁸ “But if you are evil and say to yourself, ‘My Lord won’t be coming for a while,’ ⁴⁹ and begin oppressing your fellow servants, partying and getting drunk, ⁵⁰ your Lord will arrive unannounced and unexpected, ⁵¹ and severely whip you and send you off to the judgment of the hypocrites; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.