Psalm 27

English Standard Version

The Lord Is My Light and My Salvation

Of David.

27 The Lord is my ^(A)light and my ^(B)salvation;
^(C)whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold^[a] of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?

²When evildoers assail me
to ^(D)eat up my flesh,
my adversaries and foes,
it is they who stumble and fall.

³^(E)Though an army encamp against me,
my heart shall not fear;
though war arise against me,
yet^[b] I will be confident.

⁴^(F)One thing have I asked of the Lord,
    that will I seek after:
that I may ^(G)dwell in the house of the Lord
    all the days of my life,
to gaze upon ^(H)the beauty of the Lord
    and to inquire^[c] in his temple.

⁵For he will ^(I)hide me in his shelter
in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
he will ^(J)lift me high upon a rock.

⁶And now my ^(K)head shall be lifted up
above my enemies all around me,
and I will offer in his tent
sacrifices with shouts of ^(L)joy;
^(M)I will sing and make melody to the Lord.

⁷^(N)Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud;
    be gracious to me and answer me!
⁸You have said, ^(O)“Seek^[d] my face.”
My heart says to you,
    “Your face, Lord, do I seek.”^[e]
⁹    ^(P)Hide not your face from me.
Turn not your servant away in anger,
    O you who have been my help.
Cast me not off; forsake me not,
    ^(Q)O God of my salvation!
¹⁰For ^(R)my father and my mother have forsaken me,
    but the Lord will ^(S)take me in.

¹¹^(T)Teach me your way, O Lord,
    and lead me on ^(U)a level path
    because of my enemies.
¹²^(V)Give me not up to the will of my adversaries;
    for ^(W)false witnesses have risen against me,
    and they ^(X)breathe out violence.

¹³I believe that I shall look^[f] upon ^(Y)the goodness of the Lord
    in ^(Z)the land of the living!
¹⁴^(AA)Wait for the Lord;
    ^(AB)be strong, and let your heart take courage;
    wait for the Lord!

Footnotes

Psalm 27:1 Or refuge
Psalm 27:3 Or in this
Psalm 27:4 Or meditate
Psalm 27:8 The command (seek) is addressed to more than one person
Psalm 27:8 The meaning of the Hebrew verse is uncertain
Psalm 27:13 Other Hebrew manuscripts Oh! Had I not believed that I would look

Micah 7

English Standard Version

Wait for the God of Salvation

7 Woe is me! For I have become
    ^(A)as when the summer fruit has been gathered,
    as when the grapes have been gleaned:
there is no cluster to eat,
    no ^(B)first-ripe fig that my soul desires.
²^(C)The godly has perished from the earth,
    and ^(D)there is no one upright among mankind;
^(E)they all lie in wait for blood,
    and ^(F)each hunts the other with a net.
³^(G)Their hands are on what is evil, to do it well;
    ^(H)the prince and ^(I)the judge ask for a bribe,
and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul;
    thus they weave it together.
⁴The best of them is ^(J)like a brier,
    the most upright of them a thorn hedge.
The day of ^(K)your watchmen, of your punishment, has come;
    ^(L)now their confusion is at hand.
⁵^(M)Put no trust in a neighbor;
    have no confidence in a friend;
guard ^(N)the doors of your mouth
    from her who lies in your arms;^[a]
⁶for ^(O)the son treats the father with contempt,
    the daughter rises up against her mother,
the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
    ^(P)a man's enemies are the men of his own house.
⁷But as for me, I will look to the Lord;
    ^(Q)I will wait for the God of my salvation;
    my God will hear me.

⁸^(R)Rejoice not over me, O ^(S)my enemy;
    ^(T)when I fall, I shall rise;
^(U)when I sit in darkness,
    the Lord will be a light to me.
⁹^(V)I will bear the indignation of the Lord
    because I have sinned against him,
until ^(W)he pleads my cause
    and executes judgment for me.
^(X)He will bring me out to the light;
    I shall look upon his vindication.
¹⁰Then ^(Y)my enemy will see,
    and shame will cover her who ^(Z)said to me,
    “Where is the Lord your God?”
^(AA)My eyes will look upon her;
    now she will be trampled down
    ^(AB)like the mire of the streets.

¹¹^(AC)A day for the building of your walls!
    In that day the boundary shall be far extended.
¹²In that day they^[b] will come to you,
    ^(AD)from Assyria and the cities of Egypt,
and from Egypt to ^(AE)the River,^[c]
    ^(AF)from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain.
¹³But ^(AG)the earth will be desolate
    because of its inhabitants,
    for the fruit of their deeds.

¹⁴^(AH)Shepherd your people ^(AI)with your staff,
    the flock of your inheritance,
who dwell alone in a forest
    ^(AJ)in the midst of ^(AK)a garden land;^[d]
let them graze in Bashan and Gilead
    as in the days of old.
¹⁵^(AL)As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,
    I will show them^[e] marvelous things.
¹⁶^(AM)The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might;
^(AN)they shall lay their hands on their mouths;
    their ears shall be deaf;
¹⁷^(AO)they shall lick the dust like a serpent,
    like the crawling things of the earth;
^(AP)they shall come trembling out of their strongholds;
    ^(AQ)they shall turn in dread to the Lord our God,
    and they shall be in fear of you.

God's Steadfast Love and Compassion

¹⁸^(AR)Who is a God like you, ^(AS)pardoning iniquity
    and passing over transgression
    ^(AT)for the remnant of his inheritance?
^(AU)He does not retain his anger forever,
    because he delights in steadfast love.
¹⁹He will ^(AV)again have compassion on us;
    ^(AW)he will tread our iniquities underfoot.
^(AX)You will cast all our^[f] sins
    into the depths of the sea.
²⁰^(AY)You will show faithfulness to Jacob
    and steadfast love to Abraham,
^(AZ)as you have sworn to our fathers
    from the days of old.

Footnotes

Micah 7:5 Hebrew bosom
Micah 7:12 Hebrew he
Micah 7:12 That is, the Euphrates
Micah 7:14 Hebrew of Carmel
Micah 7:15 Hebrew him
Micah 7:19 Hebrew their

Matthew 9:1-17

English Standard Version

Jesus Heals a Paralytic

9 And getting into a boat he crossed over and came to ^(A)his own city. ²^(B)And behold, some people brought to him a paralytic, lying on a bed. And when Jesus ^(C)saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ^(D)“Take heart, my son; ^(E)your sins are forgiven.” ³And behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, ^(F)“This man is blaspheming.” ⁴But Jesus, ^(G)knowing^[a] their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts? ⁵For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? ⁶But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” ⁷And he rose and went home. ⁸When the crowds saw it, ^(H)they were afraid, and ^(I)they glorified God, who had ^(J)given such authority to men.

Jesus Calls Matthew

⁹^(K)As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called ^(L)Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

¹⁰And as Jesus^[b] reclined at table in the house, behold, many ^(M)tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. ¹¹And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ^(N)“Why does your teacher eat with ^(O)tax collectors and sinners?” ¹²But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ¹³Go and learn ^(P)what this means: ^(Q)‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For ^(R)I came not to call the righteous, ^(S)but sinners.”

A Question About Fasting

¹⁴Then ^(T)the disciples of John came to him, saying, ^(U)“Why do we and ^(V)the Pharisees fast,^[c] but your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁵And Jesus said to them, ^(W)“Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? ^(X)The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and ^(Y)then they will fast. ¹⁶No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. ¹⁷Neither is new wine put into old ^(Z)wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”