Psalm 38

Psalm 37 Psalm 39

Psalm 38 English Standard Version (ESV)

Do Not Forsake Me, O Lord

A Psalm of David, for the memorial offering.

38 O Lord, rebuke me not in your anger,
nor discipline me in your wrath!
²For your arrows have sunk into me,
and your hand has come down on me.

³There is no soundness in my flesh
    because of your indignation;
there is no health in my bones
    because of my sin.
⁴For my iniquities have gone over my head;
    like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me.

⁵My wounds stink and fester
    because of my foolishness,
⁶I am utterly bowed down and prostrate;
    all the day I go about mourning.
⁷For my sides are filled with burning,
    and there is no soundness in my flesh.
⁸I am feeble and crushed;
    I groan because of the tumult of my heart.

⁹O Lord, all my longing is before you;
    my sighing is not hidden from you.
¹⁰My heart throbs; my strength fails me,
    and the light of my eyes—it also has gone from me.
¹¹My friends and companions stand aloof from my plague,
    and my nearest kin stand far off.

¹²Those who seek my life lay their snares;
those who seek my hurt speak of ruin
and meditate treachery all day long.

¹³But I am like a deaf man; I do not hear,
like a mute man who does not open his mouth.
¹⁴I have become like a man who does not hear,
and in whose mouth are no rebukes.

¹⁵But for you, O Lord, do I wait;
it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer.
¹⁶For I said, “Only let them not rejoice over me,
who boast against me when my foot slips!”

¹⁷For I am ready to fall,
    and my pain is ever before me.
¹⁸I confess my iniquity;
    I am sorry for my sin.
¹⁹But my foes are vigorous, they are mighty,
    and many are those who hate me wrongfully.
²⁰Those who render me evil for good
    accuse me because I follow after good.

²¹Do not forsake me, O Lord!
O my God, be not far from me!
²²Make haste to help me,
O Lord, my salvation!

English Standard Version (ESV)

Isaiah 44:24-45:7

Isaiah 43 Isaiah 46

Isaiah 44:24-45:7 English Standard Version (ESV)

²⁴Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer,
    who formed you from the womb:
“I am the Lord, who made all things,
    who alone stretched out the heavens,
    who spread out the earth by myself,
²⁵who frustrates the signs of liars
    and makes fools of diviners,
who turns wise men back
    and makes their knowledge foolish,
²⁶who confirms the word of his servant
    and fulfills the counsel of his messengers,
who says of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be inhabited,’
    and of the cities of Judah, ‘They shall be built,
    and I will raise up their ruins’;
²⁷who says to the deep, ‘Be dry;
    I will dry up your rivers’;
²⁸who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd,
    and he shall fulfill all my purpose’;
saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be built,’
    and of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid.’”

Cyrus, God's Instrument

45 Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus,
    whose right hand I have grasped,
to subdue nations before him
    and to loose the belts of kings,
to open doors before him
    that gates may not be closed:
²“I will go before you
    and level the exalted places,^[a]
I will break in pieces the doors of bronze
    and cut through the bars of iron,
³I will give you the treasures of darkness
    and the hoards in secret places,
that you may know that it is I, the Lord,
    the God of Israel, who call you by your name.
⁴For the sake of my servant Jacob,
    and Israel my chosen,
I call you by your name,
    I name you, though you do not know me.
⁵I am the Lord, and there is no other,
    besides me there is no God;
    I equip you, though you do not know me,
⁶that people may know, from the rising of the sun
    and from the west, that there is none besides me;
    I am the Lord, and there is no other.
⁷I form light and create darkness;
    I make well-being and create calamity;
    I am the Lord, who does all these things.

Footnotes:

Isaiah 45:2 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint level the mountains

English Standard Version (ESV)

Ephesians 5:1-14

Ephesians 4 Ephesians 6

Ephesians 5:1-14 English Standard Version (ESV)

Walk in Love

5 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. ²And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

³But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. ⁴Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving. ⁵For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. ⁶Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. ⁷Therefore do not become partners with them; ⁸for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light ⁹(for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), ¹⁰and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. ¹¹Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. ¹²For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret. ¹³But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, ¹⁴for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,

“Awake, O sleeper,
and arise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you.”

English Standard Version (ESV)

Mark 4:1-20

Mark 3 Mark 5

Mark 4:1-20 English Standard Version (ESV)

The Parable of the Sower

4 Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. ²And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: ³“Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. ⁴And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. ⁵Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. ⁶And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. ⁷Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. ⁸And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” ⁹And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

The Purpose of the Parables

¹⁰And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. ¹¹And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, ¹²so that

“‘they may indeed see but not perceive,
and may indeed hear but not understand,
lest they should turn and be forgiven.’”

¹³And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? ¹⁴The sower sows the word. ¹⁵And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. ¹⁶And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. ¹⁷And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.^[a] ¹⁸And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, ¹⁹but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. ²⁰But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”