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.

Leviticus 23

English Standard Version

Feasts of the Lord

23 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, ^(A)These are the appointed feasts of the Lord that you shall ^(B)proclaim as ^(C)holy convocations; they are my appointed feasts.

The Sabbath

³^(D)“Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwelling places.

The Passover

⁴^(E)“These are the appointed feasts of the Lord, the ^(F)holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them. ⁵^(G)In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight,^[a] is the Lord's Passover. ⁶And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. ⁷^(H)On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. ⁸But you shall present a food offering to the Lord for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work.”

The Feast of Firstfruits

⁹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁰“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, ^(I)When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of ^(J)the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest, ¹¹and he shall ^(K)wave the sheaf before the Lord, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. ¹²And on the day when you ^(L)wave the sheaf, you shall offer a ^(M)male lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering to the Lord. ¹³^(N)And the grain offering with it shall be two tenths of an ephah^[b] of fine flour mixed with oil, a food offering to the Lord with a pleasing aroma, ^(O)and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, a fourth of a hin.^[c] ¹⁴And you shall eat neither bread nor grain ^(P)parched or ^(Q)fresh until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

The Feast of Weeks

¹⁵^(R)“You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the ^(S)wave offering. ¹⁶You shall count ^(T)fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a grain offering of ^(U)new grain to the Lord. ¹⁷You shall bring from your dwelling places two loaves of bread to be waved, made of two tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour, and they shall be baked with leaven, as ^(V)firstfruits to the Lord. ¹⁸And you shall present with the bread seven lambs a year old without blemish, and one bull from the herd and two rams. They shall be a burnt offering to the Lord, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. ¹⁹And you shall offer one ^(W)male goat for a sin offering, and two male lambs a year old as a sacrifice of ^(X)peace offerings. ²⁰And the priest shall ^(Y)wave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before the Lord, with the two lambs. ^(Z)They shall be holy to the Lord for the priest. ²¹And you shall make a proclamation on the same day. You shall hold a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work. It is a statute forever in all your dwelling places throughout your generations.

²²“And ^(AA)when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the Lord your God.”

The Feast of Trumpets

²³And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁴“Speak to the people of Israel, saying, In ^(AB)the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, ^(AC)a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation. ²⁵You shall not do any ordinary work, and you shall present a food offering to the Lord.”

The Day of Atonement

²⁶And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁷“Now ^(AD)on the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be for you a time of holy convocation, and you shall afflict yourselves^[d] and present a food offering to the Lord. ²⁸And you shall not do any work on that very day, for it is a Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the Lord your God. ²⁹For whoever is not afflicted^[e] on that very day ^(AE)shall be cut off from his people. ³⁰And whoever does any work on that very day, that person I will destroy from among his people. ³¹You shall not do any work. It is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. ³²It shall be to you a Sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict yourselves. On the ninth day of the month beginning at evening, from evening to evening shall you keep your Sabbath.”

The Feast of Booths

³³And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ³⁴“Speak to the people of Israel, saying, ^(AF)On the fifteenth day of this seventh month and for seven days is the Feast of Booths^[f] to the Lord. ³⁵On the first day shall be a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. ³⁶For seven days you shall present food offerings to the Lord. ^(AG)On the eighth day you shall hold a holy convocation and present a food offering to the Lord. It is a ^(AH)solemn assembly; you shall not do any ordinary work.

³⁷^(AI)“These are the appointed feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim as times of holy convocation, for presenting to the Lord food offerings, burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its proper day, ³⁸^(AJ)besides the Lord's Sabbaths and besides your gifts and besides all your vow offerings and besides all your freewill offerings, which you give to the Lord.

³⁹“On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have ^(AK)gathered in the produce of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord seven days. On the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest. ⁴⁰And ^(AL)you shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and ^(AM)you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. ⁴¹^(AN)You shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. ⁴²^(AO)You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, ⁴³that ^(AP)your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”

⁴⁴Thus Moses ^(AQ)declared to the people of Israel the appointed feasts of the Lord.

Footnotes

Leviticus 23:5 Hebrew between the two evenings
Leviticus 23:13 An ephah was about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters
Leviticus 23:13 A hin was about 4 quarts or 3.5 liters
Leviticus 23:27 Or shall fast; also verse 32
Leviticus 23:29 Or is not fasting
Leviticus 23:34 Or Tabernacles

Matthew 13:1-23

English Standard Version

The Parable of the Sower

13 That same day Jesus went out of the house ^(A)and sat beside the sea. ²And great crowds gathered about him, ^(B)so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. ³And ^(C)he told them many things in parables, saying: ^(D)“A sower went out to sow. ⁴And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. ⁵Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, ⁶but ^(E)when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, ^(F)they withered away. ⁷Other seeds fell among ^(G)thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. ⁸Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some ^(H)a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. ⁹^(I)He who has ears,^[a] let him hear.”

The Purpose of the Parables

¹⁰Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” ¹¹And he answered them, ^(J)“To you it has been given to know ^(K)the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. ¹²^(L)For to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, ^(M)even what he has will be taken away. ¹³This is why I speak to them in parables, because ^(N)seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, ^(O)nor do they understand. ¹⁴Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:

^(P)“‘“You will indeed hear but never understand,
    and you will indeed see but never perceive.”
¹⁵For this people's heart has grown dull,
    and with their ears ^(Q)they can barely hear,
    and ^(R)their eyes they have closed,
lest they should see with their eyes
    and hear with their ears
and ^(S)understand with their heart
    and ^(T)turn, and I would heal them.’

¹⁶But ^(U)blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. ¹⁷^(V)For truly, I say to you, ^(W)many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

The Parable of the Sower Explained

¹⁸^(X)“Hear then the parable of the sower: ¹⁹When anyone hears the word of ^(Y)the kingdom and ^(Z)does not understand it, ^(AA)the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. ²⁰As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately ^(AB)receives it with joy, ²¹yet he has no root in himself, but ^(AC)endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately ^(AD)he falls away.^[b] ²²As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but ^(AE)the cares of ^(AF)the world and ^(AG)the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. ²³As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and ^(AH)understands it. He indeed ^(AI)bears fruit and yields, in one case ^(AJ)a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”