Psalm 57

Praise and Assurance under Persecution

To the leader: Do Not Destroy. Of David. A Miktam, when he fled from Saul, in the cave.

⁵³ The seven years of plenty that prevailed in the land of Egypt came to an end, ⁵⁴ and the seven years of famine began to come, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in every country, but throughout the land of Egypt there was bread.^(A)

¹⁰ We are fools for the sake of Christ, but you are sensible people in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are honored, but we are dishonored.^{(A) 11} To the present hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are naked and beaten and homeless,^{(B) 12} and we grow weary from the work of our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure;^(C)

A Multitude at the Seaside

⁷ Jesus departed with his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed him;^{(A) 8} hearing all that he was doing, they came to him in great numbers from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and the region around Tyre and Sidon.^{(B) 9} He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him, ¹⁰ for he had cured many, so that all who had diseases pressed upon him to touch him.^{(C) 11} Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and shouted, “You are the Son of God!”^{(D) 12} But he sternly ordered them not to make him known.^(E)

Jesus Appoints the Twelve

¹³ He went up the mountain and called to him those whom he wanted, and they came to him.^{(F) 14} And he appointed twelve^[a] to be with him and to be sent out to preach ¹⁵ and to have authority to cast out demons. ¹⁶ So he appointed the twelve:^[b] Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter),^{(G) 17} James son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder), ¹⁸ and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, ¹⁹ and Judas Iscariot, who handed him over.

Psalm 65

Thanksgiving for Earth’s Bounty

To the leader. A Psalm of David. A Song.