Psalm 77

English Standard Version

In the Day of Trouble I Seek the Lord

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

77 I ^(C)cry aloud to God,
    aloud to God, and he will hear me.
²^(D)In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;
    in ^(E)the night my ^(F)hand is stretched out without wearying;
    my soul ^(G)refuses to be comforted.
³When I remember God, I ^(H)moan;
    when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah

⁴You hold my eyelids open;
    I am so ^(I)troubled that I cannot speak.
⁵I consider ^(J)the days of old,
    the years long ago.
⁶I said,^[a] “Let me remember my ^(K)song in the night;
    let me ^(L)meditate in my heart.”
    Then my spirit made a diligent search:
⁷“Will the Lord ^(M)spurn forever,
    and never again ^(N)be favorable?
⁸Has his steadfast love forever ceased?
    Are his ^(O)promises at an end for all time?
⁹^(P)Has God forgotten to be gracious?
    ^(Q)Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah

¹⁰Then I said, “I will appeal to this,
to the years of the ^(R)right hand of the Most High.”^[b]

¹¹I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
    yes, I will ^(S)remember your wonders of old.
¹²I will ponder all your ^(T)work,
    and meditate on your ^(U)mighty deeds.
¹³Your way, O God, is ^(V)holy.
    ^(W)What god is great like our God?
¹⁴You are the God who ^(X)works wonders;
    you have ^(Y)made known your might among the peoples.
¹⁵You ^(Z)with your arm redeemed your people,
    the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah

¹⁶When ^(AA)the waters saw you, O God,
    when the waters saw you, they were afraid;
    indeed, the deep trembled.
¹⁷The clouds poured out water;
    the skies ^(AB)gave forth thunder;
    your ^(AC)arrows flashed on every side.
¹⁸^(AD)The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind;
    ^(AE)your lightnings lighted up the world;
    the earth ^(AF)trembled and shook.
¹⁹Your ^(AG)way was through the sea,
    your path through the great waters;
    yet your footprints ^(AH)were unseen.^[c]
²⁰You ^(AI)led your people like a flock
    by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Footnotes

Psalm 77:6 Hebrew lacks I said
Psalm 77:10 Or This is my grief: that the right hand of the Most High has changed
Psalm 77:19 Hebrew unknown

Ezekiel 4

English Standard Version

The Siege of Jerusalem Symbolized

4 “And you, ^(A)son of man, ^(B)take a brick and lay it before you, and engrave on it a city, even Jerusalem. ²^(C)And put siegeworks against it, ^(D)and build a siege wall against it, ^(E)and cast up a mound against it. Set camps also against it, ^(F)and plant battering rams against it all around. ³And you, take an iron griddle, and place it as an iron wall between you and the city; ^(G)and set your face toward it, ^(H)and let it be in a state of siege, and press the siege against it. This is ^(I)a sign for the house of Israel.

⁴“Then lie on your left side, and place the punishment^[a] of the house of Israel upon it. For the number of the days that you lie on it, ^(J)you shall bear their punishment. ⁵For I assign to you a number of days, ^(K)390 days, ^(L)equal to the number of the years of their punishment. ^(M)So long shall you bear ^(N)the punishment of the house of Israel. ⁶And when you have completed these, you shall lie down a second time, but on your right side, and ^(O)bear ^(P)the punishment of the house of Judah. ^(Q)Forty days I assign you, a day for each year. ⁷^(R)And you shall set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, ^(S)with your arm bared, and you shall prophesy against the city. ⁸And behold, ^(T)I will place cords upon you, so that you cannot turn from one side to the other, till you have completed ^(U)the days of your siege.

⁹“And you, take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and emmer,^[b] and put them into a single vessel and make your ^(V)bread from them. ^(W)During the number of days that you lie on your side, ^(X)390 days, you shall eat it. ¹⁰And your food that you eat shall be ^(Y)by weight, ^(Z)twenty shekels^[c] a day; from day to day^[d] you shall eat it. ¹¹And water you shall drink ^(AA)by measure, the sixth part of a hin;^[e] from day to day you shall drink. ¹²And you shall eat it as a barley cake, baking it ^(AB)in their sight on human dung.” ¹³And the Lord said, “Thus shall the people of Israel eat ^(AC)their bread unclean, among the nations where I will drive them.” ¹⁴Then I said, ^(AD)“Ah, Lord God! Behold, I have never defiled myself.^[f] ^(AE)From my youth up till now I have never eaten ^(AF)what died of itself or was torn by beasts, nor has ^(AG)tainted meat come into my mouth.” ¹⁵Then he said to me, “See, I assign to you cow's dung instead of human dung, on which you may prepare your bread.” ¹⁶Moreover, he said to me, ^(AH)“Son of man, behold, ^(AI)I will break the supply^[g] of bread in Jerusalem. They shall eat bread ^(AJ)by weight and with anxiety, and they shall drink water ^(AK)by measure and in dismay. ¹⁷I will do this that they may lack bread and water, and ^(AL)look at one another in dismay, and ^(AM)rot away because of their punishment.

Footnotes

Ezekiel 4:4 Or iniquity; also verses 5, 6, 17
Ezekiel 4:9 A type of wheat
Ezekiel 4:10 A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams
Ezekiel 4:10 Or at a set time daily; also verse 11
Ezekiel 4:11 A hin was about 4 quarts or 3.5 liters
Ezekiel 4:14 Hebrew my soul (or throat) has never been made unclean
Ezekiel 4:16 Hebrew staff

Acts 7:17-34

English Standard Version

¹⁷“But ^(A)as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, ^(B)the people increased and multiplied in Egypt ¹⁸until there arose over Egypt another king ^(C)who did not know Joseph. ¹⁹^(D)He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, ^(E)so that they would not be kept alive. ²⁰^(F)At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God's sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father's house, ²¹and ^(G)when he was exposed, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. ²²And Moses ^(H)was instructed in ^(I)all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was ^(J)mighty in his words and deeds.

²³“When he was forty years old, it came into his heart ^(K)to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. ²⁴And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. ²⁵He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand. ²⁶^(L)And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other?’ ²⁷But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, ^(M)‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? ²⁸Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ ²⁹At this retort ^(N)Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, ^(O)where he became the father of two sons.

³⁰“Now when forty years had passed, ^(P)an angel appeared to him ^(Q)in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. ³¹When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: ³²^(R)‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. ³³Then the Lord said to him, ^(S)‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. ³⁴^(T)I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and ^(U)have heard their groaning, and ^(V)I have come down to deliver them. ^(W)And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’