Psalm 79
Christian Standard Bible
Psalm 79
Faith amid Confusion
A psalm of Asaph.(A)
1 God, the nations have invaded your inheritance,
desecrated your holy temple,
and turned Jerusalem into ruins.(B)
2 They gave the corpses of your servants
to the birds of the sky for food,
the flesh of your faithful ones
to the beasts of the earth.(C)
3 They poured out their blood
like water all around Jerusalem,
and there was no one to bury them.(D)
4 We have become an object of reproach
to our neighbors,
a source of mockery and ridicule
to those around us.(E)
5 How long, Lord? Will you be angry forever?
Will your jealousy keep burning like fire?(F)
6 Pour out your wrath on the nations
that don’t acknowledge you,
on the kingdoms that don’t call on your name,(G)
7 for they have devoured Jacob
and devastated his homeland.(H)
8 Do not hold past iniquities[a] against us;
let your compassion come to us quickly,
for we have become very weak.(I)
9 God of our salvation, help us,(J)
for the glory of your name.
Rescue us and atone for our sins,
for your name’s sake.(K)
10 Why should the nations ask,
“Where is their God?” (L)
Before our eyes,
let vengeance for the shed blood of your servants
be known among the nations.(M)
11 Let the groans of the prisoners reach you;
according to your great power,
preserve those condemned to die.(N)
12 Pay back sevenfold to our neighbors(O)
the reproach they have hurled at you, Lord.(P)
13 Then we, your people, the sheep of your pasture,(Q)
will thank you forever;
we will declare your praise
to generation after generation.(R)
Footnotes
- 79:8 Or hold the sins of past generations
Exodus 5:1-6:13
Christian Standard Bible
Moses Confronts Pharaoh
5 Later, Moses and Aaron went in and said to Pharaoh, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival for me in the wilderness.”(A)
2 But Pharaoh responded, “Who is the Lord that I should obey him by letting Israel go?(B) I don’t know[a] the Lord, and besides, I will not let Israel go.”(C)
3 They answered, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go on a three-day trip into the wilderness so that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God, or else he may strike us with plague or sword.”
4 The king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why are you causing the people to neglect their work? Get to your labor!” 5 Pharaoh also said, “Look, the people of the land are so numerous, and you would stop them from their labor.”(D)
Further Oppression of Israel
6 That day Pharaoh commanded the overseers(E) of the people as well as their foremen, 7 “Don’t continue to supply the people with straw for making bricks, as before. They must go and gather straw for themselves. 8 But require the same quota of bricks from them as they were making before; do not reduce it. For they are slackers—that is why they are crying out,(F) ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ 9 Impose heavier work on the men. Then they will be occupied with it and not pay attention to deceptive words.”
10 So the overseers and foremen of the people went out and said to them, “This is what Pharaoh says:(G) ‘I am not giving you straw. 11 Go get straw yourselves wherever you can find it, but there will be no reduction at all in your workload.’” 12 So the people scattered throughout the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. 13 The overseers insisted, “Finish your assigned work each day, just as you did when straw was provided.” 14 Then the Israelite foremen, whom Pharaoh’s slave drivers had set over the people, were beaten(H) and asked, “Why haven’t you finished making your prescribed number of bricks yesterday or today, as you did before?”
15 So the Israelite foremen went in and cried for help to Pharaoh: “Why are you treating your servants this way? 16 No straw has been given to your servants, yet they say to us, ‘Make bricks!’ Look, your servants are being beaten, but it is your own people who are at fault.”
17 But he said, “You are slackers. Slackers! That is why you are saying, ‘Let us go sacrifice to the Lord.’ 18 Now get to work. No straw will be given to you, but you must produce the same quantity of bricks.”
19 The Israelite foremen saw that they were in trouble when they were told, “You cannot reduce your daily quota of bricks.” 20 When they left Pharaoh, they confronted Moses and Aaron, who stood waiting to meet them.
21 “May the Lord take note of you and judge,” they said to them, “because you have made us reek to Pharaoh and his officials—putting a sword in their hand to kill us!” (I)
22 So Moses went back to the Lord and asked, “Lord, why have you caused trouble for this people? And why did you ever send me?(J) 23 Ever since I went in to Pharaoh to speak in your name he has caused trouble for this people, and you haven’t rescued your people at all.”
6 But the Lord replied to Moses, “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: because of a strong hand he will let them go, and because of a strong hand he will drive them from his land.”(K)
God Promises Freedom
2 Then God spoke to Moses, telling him, “I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, but I was not known to them by my name ‘the Lord.’[b](L) 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land they lived in as aliens.(M) 5 Furthermore, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are forcing to work as slaves, and I have remembered(N) my covenant.
6 “Therefore tell the Israelites: I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from the forced labor of the Egyptians and rescue you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm(O) and great acts of judgment. 7 I will take you as my people,(P) and I will be your God. You will know(Q) that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from the forced labor of the Egyptians. 8 I will bring you to the land that I swore[c](R) to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you as a possession. I am the Lord.” 9 Moses told this to the Israelites, but they did not listen(S) to him because of their broken spirit and hard labor.
10 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, 11 “Go and tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go from his land.”
12 But Moses said in the Lord’s presence, “If the Israelites will not listen to me, then how will Pharaoh listen to me, since I am such a poor speaker?” [d](T) 13 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them commands concerning both the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt to bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt.
Luke 13:18-21
Christian Standard Bible
The Parables of the Mustard Seed and of the Leaven
18 He said, therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like,(A) and what can I compare it to? 19 It’s like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the sky nested in its branches.”
20 Again he said, “What can I compare the kingdom of God(B) to? 21 It’s like leaven[a](C) that a woman took and mixed into fifty pounds[b] of flour until all of it was leavened.”
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