Psalm 70

English Standard Version

O Lord, Do Not Delay

To the choirmaster. Of David, ^(A)for the memorial offering.

70 ^(B)Make haste, O God, to deliver me!
    O Lord, make haste to help me!
²Let them be put to shame and confusion
    who seek my life!
Let them be turned back and brought to dishonor
    who delight in my hurt!
³Let them turn back because of their shame
    who say, “Aha, Aha!”

⁴May all who seek you
    rejoice and be glad in you!
May those who love your salvation
    say evermore, “God is great!”
⁵But I am poor and needy;
    ^(C)hasten to me, O God!
You are my help and my deliverer;
    O Lord, do not delay!

Psalm 71

English Standard Version

Forsake Me Not When My Strength Is Spent

71 ^(A)In you, O Lord, do I take refuge;
    let me never be put to shame!
²In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
    incline your ear to me, and save me!
³Be to me a rock of ^(B)refuge,
    to which I may continually come;
you have ^(C)given the command to save me,
    for you are my ^(D)rock and my fortress.

⁴^(E)Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
    from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.
⁵For you, O Lord, are my ^(F)hope,
    my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
⁶Upon you I have leaned ^(G)from before my birth;
    you are he who ^(H)took me from my mother's womb.
My praise is continually of you.

⁷I have been as ^(I)a portent to many,
    but you are my strong refuge.
⁸My ^(J)mouth is filled with your praise,
    and with your glory all the day.
⁹^(K)Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
    forsake me not when my strength is spent.
¹⁰For my enemies speak concerning me;
    those who ^(L)watch for my life ^(M)consult together
¹¹and say, “God has forsaken him;
    pursue and seize him,
    for there is none to deliver him.”

¹²O God, be not ^(N)far from me;
    O my God, ^(O)make haste to help me!
¹³May my accusers be ^(P)put to shame and consumed;
    ^(Q)with scorn and disgrace may they be covered
    who ^(R)seek my hurt.
¹⁴But I will ^(S)hope continually
    and will ^(T)praise you yet more and more.
¹⁵My ^(U)mouth will tell of your righteous acts,
    of your deeds of salvation all the day,
    for ^(V)their number is past my knowledge.
¹⁶With the mighty deeds of the Lord God I will come;
    I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone.

¹⁷O God, from my youth you have taught me,
    and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
¹⁸So even to ^(W)old age and gray hairs,
    O God, ^(X)do not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to another generation,
    your power to all those to come.
¹⁹Your ^(Y)righteousness, O God,
    reaches the high heavens.
You who have done ^(Z)great things,
    O God, ^(AA)who is like you?
²⁰You who have ^(AB)made me see many troubles and calamities
    will ^(AC)revive me again;
from the depths of the earth
    you will bring me up again.
²¹You will increase my greatness
    and comfort me again.

²²I will also praise you with ^(AD)the harp
    for your faithfulness, O my God;
I will sing praises to you with the lyre,
    O ^(AE)Holy One of Israel.
²³My lips will shout for joy,
    when I sing praises to you;
    my soul also, which you have ^(AF)redeemed.
²⁴And my ^(AG)tongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long,
for they have been ^(AH)put to shame and disappointed
    who sought to do me hurt.

Genesis 42:29-38

English Standard Version

²⁹When they came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them, saying, ³⁰“The man, the lord of the land, ^(A)spoke roughly to us and took us to be spies of the land. ³¹But we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we have never been spies. ³²We are twelve brothers, sons of our father. One ^(B)is no more, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.’ ³³Then the man, the lord of the land, said to us, ^(C)‘By this I shall know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, and take ^(D)grain for the famine of your households, and go your way. ³⁴Bring your youngest brother to me. Then I shall know that you are not spies but honest men, and I will deliver your brother to you, and you shall ^(E)trade in the land.’”

³⁵^(F)As they emptied their sacks, behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack. And when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid. ³⁶And Jacob their father said to them, “You have ^(G)bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin. All this has come against me.” ³⁷Then Reuben said to his father, “Kill ^(H)my two sons if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.” ³⁸But he said, “My son shall not go down with you, for ^(I)his brother is dead, and he is the only one left. ^(J)If harm should happen to him on the journey that you are to make, ^(K)you would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.”

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1 Corinthians 6:12-20

English Standard Version

Flee Sexual Immorality

¹²^(A)“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. ¹³^(B)“Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one ^(C)and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but ^(D)for the Lord, and ^(E)the Lord for the body. ¹⁴And ^(F)God raised the Lord and ^(G)will also raise us up ^(H)by his power. ¹⁵Do you not know that ^(I)your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! ¹⁶Or do you not know that he who is joined^[a] to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, ^(J)“The two will become one flesh.” ¹⁷But he who is joined to the Lord ^(K)becomes one spirit with him. ¹⁸^(L)Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin^[b] a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person ^(M)sins against his own body. ¹⁹Or ^(N)do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? ^(O)You are not your own, ²⁰^(P)for you were bought with a price. ^(Q)So glorify God in your body.

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Footnotes

1 Corinthians 6:16 Or who holds fast (compare Genesis 2:24 and Deuteronomy 10:20); also verse 17
1 Corinthians 6:18 Or Every sin

Mark 4:21-34

English Standard Version

A Lamp Under a Basket

²¹^(A)And he said to them, ^(B)“Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand? ²²^(C)For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light. ²³^(D)If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” ²⁴And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: ^(E)with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. ²⁵^(F)For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

The Parable of the Seed Growing

²⁶And he said, ^(G)“The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. ²⁷He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; ^(H)he knows not how. ²⁸The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. ²⁹But when the grain is ripe, at once ^(I)he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

³⁰^(J)And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? ³¹It is like ^(K)a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, ³²yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

³³^(L)With many such parables he spoke ^(M)the word to them, ^(N)as they were able to hear it. ³⁴He did not speak to them ^(O)without a parable, but ^(P)privately to his own disciples he ^(Q)explained everything.