Psalm 69

English Standard Version

Save Me, O God

To the choirmaster: according to ^(A)Lilies. Of David.

69 Save me, O God!
    For ^(B)the waters have come up to my neck.^[a]
²I sink in deep ^(C)mire,
    where there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters,
    and the flood ^(D)sweeps over me.
³^(E)I am weary with my crying out;
    ^(F)my throat is parched.
^(G)My eyes grow dim
    with ^(H)waiting for my God.

⁴^(I)More in number than the hairs of my head
    are ^(J)those who hate me ^(K)without cause;
mighty are those who would destroy me,
    ^(L)those who attack me with lies.
What I did not steal
    must I now restore?
⁵O God, you know my folly;
    the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.

⁶Let not those who hope in you ^(M)be put to shame through me,
    O Lord God of hosts;
let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me,
    O God of Israel.
⁷For it is ^(N)for your sake that I have borne reproach,
    that dishonor has covered my face.
⁸I have become ^(O)a stranger to my brothers,
    an alien to my mother's sons.

⁹For ^(P)zeal for your house has consumed me,
    and ^(Q)the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
¹⁰When I wept and humbled^[b] my soul with fasting,
    it became my reproach.
¹¹When I made ^(R)sackcloth my clothing,
    I became ^(S)a byword to them.
¹²I am the talk of those who ^(T)sit in the gate,
    and the drunkards make ^(U)songs about me.

¹³But as for me, my ^(V)prayer is to you, O Lord.
    At ^(W)an acceptable time, O God,
    in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.
¹⁴Deliver me
    from sinking in ^(X)the mire;
^(Y)let me be delivered from my enemies
    and from ^(Z)the deep waters.
¹⁵Let not the flood sweep over me,
    or the deep swallow me up,
    or ^(AA)the pit close ^(AB)its mouth over me.

¹⁶Answer me, O Lord, for your ^(AC)steadfast love is good;
    according to your abundant ^(AD)mercy, ^(AE)turn to me.
¹⁷^(AF)Hide not your face from your servant,
    ^(AG)for I am in distress; ^(AH)make haste to answer me.
¹⁸Draw near to my soul, redeem me;
    ransom me because of my enemies!

¹⁹You know my ^(AI)reproach,
    and my shame and my dishonor;
    my foes are all known to you.
²⁰^(AJ)Reproaches have broken my heart,
    so that I am in ^(AK)despair.
I ^(AL)looked for ^(AM)pity, but there was none,
    and for ^(AN)comforters, but I found none.
²¹They gave me ^(AO)poison for food,
    and for my thirst they gave me ^(AP)sour wine to drink.

²²^(AQ)Let their own ^(AR)table before them become a snare;
    ^(AS)and when they are at peace, let it become a trap.^[c]
²³^(AT)Let their eyes be darkened, so that they cannot see,
    ^(AU)and make their loins tremble continually.
²⁴Pour out your indignation upon them,
    and let your burning anger overtake them.
²⁵^(AV)May their camp be a desolation;
    let no one dwell in their tents.
²⁶For they ^(AW)persecute him whom ^(AX)you have struck down,
    and they recount the pain of ^(AY)those you have wounded.
²⁷^(AZ)Add to them punishment upon punishment;
    may they have no acquittal from you.^[d]
²⁸Let them be ^(BA)blotted out of the book of the living;
    let them not be ^(BB)enrolled among the righteous.

²⁹But I am afflicted and in pain;
let your salvation, O God, ^(BC)set me on high!

³⁰I will ^(BD)praise the name of God with a song;
    I will ^(BE)magnify him with ^(BF)thanksgiving.
³¹This will ^(BG)please the Lord more than an ox
    or a bull ^(BH)with horns and hoofs.
³²When ^(BI)the humble see it they will be glad;
    you who seek God, ^(BJ)let your hearts revive.
³³For the Lord hears the needy
    and ^(BK)does not despise his own people who are prisoners.

³⁴Let ^(BL)heaven and earth praise him,
    the seas and everything that moves in them.
³⁵For ^(BM)God will save Zion
    and build up the cities of Judah,
and people shall dwell there and possess it;
³⁶    ^(BN)the offspring of his servants shall inherit it,
    and those who love his name shall dwell in it.

Footnotes

Psalm 69:1 Or waters threaten my life
Psalm 69:10 Hebrew lacks and humbled
Psalm 69:22 Hebrew; a slight revocalization yields (compare Septuagint, Syriac, Jerome) a snare, and retribution and a trap
Psalm 69:27 Hebrew may they not come into your righteousness

Jeremiah 5:1-9

English Standard Version

Jerusalem Refused to Repent

5 ^(A)Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,
    look and take note!
Search her squares to see
    ^(B)if you can find a man,
one who does justice
    and seeks truth,
^(C)that I may pardon her.
²^(D)Though they say, “As the Lord lives,”
    ^(E)yet they swear falsely.
³O Lord, do not your eyes look for truth?
^(F)You have struck them down,
    but they felt no anguish;
you have consumed them,
    but they refused to take correction.
^(G)They have made their faces harder than rock;
    they have refused to repent.

⁴Then I said, “These are only the poor;
    they have no sense;
^(H)for they do not know the way of the Lord,
    the justice of their God.
⁵I will go to the great
    and will speak to them,
for they know the way of the Lord,
    the justice of their God.”
^(I)But they all alike had broken the yoke;
    they had burst the bonds.

⁶Therefore ^(J)a lion from the forest shall strike them down;
    a ^(K)wolf from the desert shall devastate them.
^(L)A leopard is watching their cities;
    everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces,
because their transgressions are many,
    their ^(M)apostasies are great.

⁷^(N)“How can I pardon you?
    Your children have forsaken me
    ^(O)and have sworn by those who are no gods.
^(P)When I fed them to the full,
    ^(Q)they committed adultery
    ^(R)and trooped to the houses of whores.
⁸They were well-fed, lusty stallions,
    ^(S)each neighing ^(T)for his neighbor's wife.
⁹^(U)Shall I not punish them for these things?
declares the Lord;
    and shall I not avenge myself
    on a nation such as this?

Read full chapter

Romans 2:25-3:18

English Standard Version

²⁵For circumcision indeed is of value ^(A)if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. ²⁶So, if ^(B)a man who is uncircumcised keeps ^(C)the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded^[a] as circumcision? ²⁷Then he who is physically^[b] uncircumcised but keeps the law ^(D)will condemn you who have ^(E)the written code^[c] and circumcision but break the law. ²⁸For ^(F)no one is a Jew ^(G)who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. ²⁹But a Jew is one ^(H)inwardly, and ^(I)circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. ^(J)His praise is not from man but from God.

God's Righteousness Upheld

3 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? ²Much in every way. To begin with, ^(K)the Jews were entrusted with ^(L)the oracles of God. ³^(M)What if some were unfaithful? ^(N)Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? ⁴By no means! ^(O)Let God be true though ^(P)every one were a liar, as it is written,

^(Q)“That you may be justified in your words,
and prevail when you ^(R)are judged.”

⁵But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict ^(S)wrath on us? (^(T)I speak in a human way.) ⁶By no means! For then how could ^(U)God judge the world? ⁷But if through my lie God's truth abounds to his glory, ^(V)why am I still being condemned as a sinner? ⁸And why not ^(W)do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.

No One Is Righteous

⁹What then? Are we Jews^[d] any better off?^[e] No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both ^(X)Jews and ^(Y)Greeks, are ^(Z)under sin, ¹⁰as it is written:

^(AA)“None is righteous, no, not one;
¹¹    no one understands;
    no one seeks for God.
¹²All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
    no one does good,
    not even one.”
¹³^(AB)“Their throat is ^(AC)an open grave;
    they use their tongues to deceive.”
^(AD)“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
¹⁴    ^(AE)“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
¹⁵^(AF)“Their feet are swift to shed blood;
¹⁶    in their paths are ruin and misery,
¹⁷and ^(AG)the way of peace they have not known.”
¹⁸    ^(AH)“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Footnotes

Romans 2:26 Or counted
Romans 2:27 Or is by nature
Romans 2:27 Or the letter
Romans 3:9 Greek Are we
Romans 3:9 Or at any disadvantage?

John 5:30-47

English Standard Version

Witnesses to Jesus

³⁰^(A)“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and ^(B)my judgment is just, because ^(C)I seek not my own will ^(D)but the will of him who sent me. ³¹^(E)If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true. ³²There is ^(F)another who bears witness about me, and ^(G)I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. ³³^(H)You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. ³⁴Not that ^(I)the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. ³⁵He was a burning and ^(J)shining lamp, and ^(K)you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. ³⁶But ^(L)the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For ^(M)the works that the Father has given me ^(N)to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, ^(O)bear witness about me that ^(P)the Father has sent me. ³⁷And the Father who sent me ^(Q)has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, ^(R)his form you have never seen, ³⁸and ^(S)you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. ³⁹^(T)You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and ^(U)it is they that bear witness about me, ⁴⁰yet ^(V)you refuse to come to me that you may have life. ⁴¹^(W)I do not receive glory from people. ⁴²But ^(X)I know that you do not have ^(Y)the love of God within you. ⁴³I have come ^(Z)in my Father's name, and ^(AA)you do not receive me. ^(AB)If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. ⁴⁴How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and ^(AC)do not seek the glory that comes from ^(AD)the only God? ⁴⁵Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, ^(AE)on whom you have set your hope. ⁴⁶For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for ^(AF)he wrote of me. ⁴⁷But ^(AG)if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”