Psalm 73

English Standard Version

Book Three

God Is My Strength and Portion Forever

A Psalm of ^(A)Asaph.

73 Truly God is good to ^(B)Israel,
    to those who are ^(C)pure in heart.
²But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
    my steps had nearly slipped.
³^(D)For I was ^(E)envious of the arrogant
    when I saw the ^(F)prosperity of the wicked.

⁴For they have no pangs until death;
    their bodies are fat and sleek.
⁵They are not in trouble as others are;
    they are not ^(G)stricken like the rest of mankind.
⁶Therefore pride is ^(H)their necklace;
    violence covers them as ^(I)a garment.
⁷Their ^(J)eyes swell out through fatness;
    their hearts overflow with follies.
⁸They scoff and ^(K)speak with malice;
    loftily they threaten oppression.
⁹They set their mouths against the heavens,
    and their tongue struts through the earth.
¹⁰Therefore his people turn back to them,
    and find ^(L)no fault in them.^[a]
¹¹And they say, ^(M)“How can God know?
    Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
¹²Behold, these are the wicked;
    always at ease, they ^(N)increase in riches.
¹³All in vain have I ^(O)kept my heart clean
    and ^(P)washed my hands in innocence.
¹⁴For all the day long I have been ^(Q)stricken
    and ^(R)rebuked ^(S)every morning.
¹⁵If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
    I would have betrayed ^(T)the generation of your children.

¹⁶But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me ^(U)a wearisome task,
¹⁷until I went into ^(V)the sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their ^(W)end.

¹⁸Truly you set them in ^(X)slippery places;
    you make them fall to ruin.
¹⁹How they are destroyed ^(Y)in a moment,
    swept away utterly by ^(Z)terrors!
²⁰Like ^(AA)a dream when one awakes,
    O Lord, when ^(AB)you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
²¹When my soul was embittered,
    when I was pricked in heart,
²²I was ^(AC)brutish and ignorant;
    I was like ^(AD)a beast toward you.

²³Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
    you ^(AE)hold my right hand.
²⁴You ^(AF)guide me with your counsel,
    and afterward you will ^(AG)receive me to glory.
²⁵^(AH)Whom have I in heaven but you?
    And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
²⁶^(AI)My flesh and my heart may fail,
    but God is ^(AJ)the strength^[b] of my heart and my ^(AK)portion ^(AL)forever.

²⁷For behold, those who are ^(AM)far from you shall perish;
    you put an end to everyone who is ^(AN)unfaithful to you.
²⁸But for me it is good to ^(AO)be near God;
    I have made the Lord God my ^(AP)refuge,
    that I may ^(AQ)tell of all your works.

Footnotes

Psalm 73:10 Probable reading; Hebrew the waters of a full cup are drained by them
Psalm 73:26 Hebrew rock

Leviticus 24:1-25:7

English Standard Version

The Lamps

24 ^(A)The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Command the people of Israel to bring you pure oil from beaten olives for the lamp, that a light may be kept burning regularly. ³Outside the veil of the testimony, in the tent of meeting, Aaron shall arrange it from evening to morning before the Lord regularly. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. ⁴He shall arrange the lamps on the ^(B)lampstand of pure gold^[a] before the Lord regularly.

Bread for the Tabernacle

⁵“You shall take fine flour and bake twelve ^(C)loaves from it; two tenths of an ephah^[b] shall be in each loaf. ⁶And you shall set them in two piles, six in a pile, ^(D)on the table of pure gold^[c] before the Lord. ⁷And you shall put pure frankincense on each pile, that it may go with the bread as a memorial portion as a food offering to the Lord. ⁸^(E)Every Sabbath day Aaron shall arrange it before the Lord regularly; it is from the people of Israel as a covenant forever. ⁹And ^(F)it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and ^(G)they shall eat it in a holy place, since it is for him a most holy portion out of the Lord's food offerings, a perpetual due.”

Punishment for Blasphemy

¹⁰Now an Israelite woman's son, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the people of Israel. And the Israelite woman's son and a man of Israel fought in the camp, ¹¹and the Israelite woman's son ^(H)blasphemed the ^(I)Name, and cursed. Then they ^(J)brought him to Moses. His mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan. ¹²And ^(K)they put him in custody, ^(L)till the will of the Lord should be clear to them.

¹³Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁴^(M)“Bring out of the camp the one who cursed, and let all who heard him ^(N)lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him. ¹⁵And speak to the people of Israel, saying, Whoever curses his God shall ^(O)bear his sin. ¹⁶Whoever ^(P)blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him. The sojourner as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.

An Eye for an Eye

¹⁷^(Q)“Whoever takes a human life shall surely be put to death. ¹⁸^(R)Whoever takes an animal's life shall make it good, life for life. ¹⁹If anyone injures his neighbor, ^(S)as he has done it shall be done to him, ²⁰fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; whatever injury he has given a person shall be given to him. ²¹^(T)Whoever kills an animal shall make it good, ^(U)and whoever kills a person shall be put to death. ²²You shall have the ^(V)same rule for the sojourner and for the native, for I am the Lord your God.” ²³So Moses spoke to the people of Israel, and ^(W)they brought out of the camp the one who had cursed and stoned him with stones. Thus the people of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses.

The Sabbath Year

25 ^(X)The Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, ²“Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into ^(Y)the land that I give you, the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord. ³For six years you shall sow your field, and for six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits, ⁴but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the Lord. You shall not sow your field or prune your vineyard. ⁵^(Z)You shall not reap what grows of itself in your harvest, or gather the grapes of your undressed vine. It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land. ⁶The Sabbath of the land^[d] shall provide food for you, for yourself and for your male and female slaves^[e] and for your hired worker and the sojourner who lives with you, ⁷and for your cattle and for the wild animals that are in your land: ^(AA)all its yield shall be for food.

Footnotes

Leviticus 24:4 Hebrew the pure lampstand
Leviticus 24:5 An ephah was about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters
Leviticus 24:6 Hebrew the pure table
Leviticus 25:6 That is, the Sabbath produce of the land
Leviticus 25:6 Or servants

Matthew 13:24-43

English Standard Version

The Parable of the Weeds

²⁴He put another parable before them, saying, ^(A)“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, ²⁵but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds^[a] among the wheat and went away. ²⁶So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. ²⁷And the servants^[b] of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ ²⁸He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ ²⁹But he said, ^(B)‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. ³⁰Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, ^(C)“Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

The Mustard Seed and the Leaven

³¹He put another parable before them, saying, ^(D)“The kingdom of heaven is like ^(E)a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. ³²It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”

³³He told them another parable. ^(F)“The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in ^(G)three measures of flour, till it was ^(H)all leavened.”

Prophecy and Parables

³⁴^(I)All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable. ³⁵This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet:^[c]

^(J)“I will open my mouth in parables;
^(K)I will utter what has been hidden ^(L)since the foundation of the world.”

The Parable of the Weeds Explained

³⁶Then he left the crowds and went into ^(M)the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, ^(N)“Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” ³⁷He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. ³⁸The field is the world, and the good seed is ^(O)the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are ^(P)the sons of the evil one, ³⁹and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. ^(Q)The harvest is ^(R)the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. ⁴⁰Just as the weeds ^(S)are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at ^(T)the end of the age. ⁴¹^(U)The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all ^(V)causes of sin and ^(W)all law-breakers, ⁴²^(X)and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place ^(Y)there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³Then ^(Z)the righteous will shine like the sun ^(AA)in the kingdom of their Father. ^(AB)He who has ears, let him hear.