Lead Me to the Rock

To the choirmaster: with ^(A)stringed instruments. Of David.

My Soul Waits for God Alone

To the choirmaster: according to ^(A)Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.

The Choice of Life and Death

¹¹ “For this commandment that I command you today ^(A)is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. ^12 (B)It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ ¹³ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ ¹⁴ But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.

¹⁵ “See, ^(C)I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. ¹⁶ If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God^[a] that I command you today, ^(D)by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules,^[b] then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. ¹⁷ But if ^(E)your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, ^18 (F)I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. ¹⁹ I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, ^(G)blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, ²⁰ loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice ^(H)and holding fast to him, for ^(I)he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in ^(J)the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

Paul and the False Apostles

11 I wish you would bear with me in a little foolishness. Do bear with me! ² For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since ^(A)I betrothed you to one husband, ^(B)to present you ^(C)as a pure virgin to Christ. ³ But I am afraid that ^(D)as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts ^(E)will be led astray from a ^(F)sincere and ^(G)pure devotion to Christ. ⁴ For if someone comes and ^(H)proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept ^(I)a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough. ⁵ Indeed, I consider that ^(J)I am not in the least inferior to these super-apostles. ^6 (K)Even if I am unskilled in speaking, ^(L)I am not so in knowledge; indeed, in every way ^(M)we have made this plain to you in all things.

⁷ Or ^(N)did I commit a sin in humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because ^(O)I preached God's gospel to you free of charge? ⁸ I robbed other churches by accepting support from them in order to serve you. ⁹ And when I was with you and was ^(P)in need, ^(Q)I did not burden anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia ^(R)supplied my need. So I refrained and will refrain ^(S)from burdening you in any way. ^10 (T)As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine ^(U)will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia. ¹¹ And why? ^(V)Because I do not love you? ^(W)God knows I do!

¹² And what I am doing I will continue to do, ^(X)in order to undermine the claim of those who would like to claim that in their boasted mission they work on the same terms as we do. ¹³ For such men are ^(Y)false apostles, ^(Z)deceitful workmen, ^(AA)disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. ¹⁴ And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as ^(AB)an angel of light. ¹⁵ So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as ^(AC)servants of righteousness. ^(AD)Their end will correspond to their deeds.

Paul's Sufferings as an Apostle

¹⁶ I repeat, ^(AE)let no one think me foolish. But even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. ¹⁷ What I am saying ^(AF)with this boastful confidence, ^(AG)I say not as the Lord would^[a] but as a fool. ¹⁸ Since ^(AH)many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast. ¹⁹ For you gladly bear with fools, ^(AI)being wise yourselves! ²⁰ For you bear it if someone ^(AJ)makes slaves of you, or ^(AK)devours you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or ^(AL)strikes you in the face. ²¹ To my shame, I must say, ^(AM)we were too weak for that!

But whatever anyone else dares to boast of—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that.

Jesus and Zacchaeus

19 ^(A)He entered Jericho and was passing through. ² And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. ³ And ^(B)he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. ⁴ So he ran on ahead and climbed up into ^(C)a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. ⁵ And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for ^(D)I must stay at your house today.” ⁶ So he hurried and came down and ^(E)received him joyfully. ⁷ And when they saw it, they all ^(F)grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” ⁸ And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods ^(G)I give to the poor. And if I have ^(H)defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it ^(I)fourfold.” ⁹ And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since ^(J)he also is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰ For ^(K)the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”