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Prayer for Israel’s Restoration

To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. A Testimony of Asaph. A Psalm.

80 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
thou who leadest Joseph like a flock!
Thou who art enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth
    before E′phraim and Benjamin and Manas′seh!
Stir up thy might,
    and come to save us!

Restore us, O God;
    let thy face shine, that we may be saved!

O Lord God of hosts,
    how long wilt thou be angry with thy people’s prayers?
Thou hast fed them with the bread of tears,
    and given them tears to drink in full measure.
Thou dost make us the scorn[a] of our neighbors;
    and our enemies laugh among themselves.

Restore us, O God of hosts;
    let thy face shine, that we may be saved!

Thou didst bring a vine out of Egypt;
    thou didst drive out the nations and plant it.
Thou didst clear the ground for it;
    it took deep root and filled the land.
10 The mountains were covered with its shade,
    the mighty cedars with its branches;
11 it sent out its branches to the sea,
    and its shoots to the River.
12 Why then hast thou broken down its walls,
    so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
13 The boar from the forest ravages it,
    and all that move in the field feed on it.

14 Turn again, O God of hosts!
    Look down from heaven, and see;
have regard for this vine,
15     the stock which thy right hand planted.[b]
16 They have burned it with fire, they have cut it down;
    may they perish at the rebuke of thy countenance!
17 But let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand,
    the son of man whom thou hast made strong for thyself!
18 Then we will never turn back from thee;
    give us life, and we will call on thy name!

19 Restore us, O Lord God of hosts!
    let thy face shine, that we may be saved!

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 80:6 Syr: Heb strife
  2. Psalm 80:15 Heb planted and upon the son whom thou hast reared for thyself

God’s Mighty Deeds Recalled

To the choirmaster: according to Jeduthun. A Psalm of Asaph.

77 I cry aloud to God,
aloud to God, that he may hear me.
In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;
    in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;
    my soul refuses to be comforted.

I think of God, and I moan;
    I meditate, and my spirit faints.Selah
Thou dost hold my eyelids from closing;
    I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
I consider the days of old,
    I remember the years long ago.
I commune[a] with my heart in the night;
    I meditate and search my spirit:[b]
“Will the Lord spurn for ever,
    and never again be favorable?
Has his steadfast love for ever ceased?
    Are his promises at an end for all time?
Has God forgotten to be gracious?
    Has he in anger shut up his compassion?”Selah
10 And I say, “It is my grief
    that the right hand of the Most High has changed.”

11 I will call to mind the deeds of the Lord;
    yea, I will remember thy wonders of old.
12 I will meditate on all thy work,
    and muse on thy mighty deeds.
13 Thy way, O God, is holy.
    What god is great like our God?
14 Thou art the God who workest wonders,
    who hast manifested thy might among the peoples.
15 Thou didst with thy arm redeem thy people,
    the sons of Jacob and Joseph.Selah

16 When the waters saw thee, O God,
    when the waters saw thee, they were afraid,
    yea, the deep trembled.
17 The clouds poured out water;
    the skies gave forth thunder;
    thy arrows flashed on every side.
18 The crash of thy thunder was in the whirlwind;
    thy lightnings lighted up the world;
    the earth trembled and shook.
19 Thy way was through the sea,
    thy path through the great waters;
    yet thy footprints were unseen.
20 Thou didst lead thy people like a flock
    by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 77:6 Gk Syr: Heb my music
  2. Psalm 77:6 Syr Jerome: Heb my spirit searches

A Warning Not to Forget God in Prosperity

“All the commandment which I command you this day you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to give to your fathers. And you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know; that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but that man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out upon you, and your foot did not swell, these forty years. Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you. So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, by walking in his ways and by fearing him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 10 And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.

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Salutation

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,

To the twelve tribes in the Dispersion:

Greeting.

Faith and Wisdom

Count it all joy, my brethren, when you meet various trials, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives to all men generously and without reproaching, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. 7, 8 For that person must not suppose that a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways, will receive anything from the Lord.

Poverty and Riches

Let the lowly brother boast in his exaltation, 10 and the rich in his humiliation, because like the flower of the grass he will pass away. 11 For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

Trial and Temptation

12 Blessed is the man who endures trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life which God has promised to those who love him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one; 14 but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin; and sin when it is full-grown brings forth death.

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Peter’s Declaration about Jesus

18 Now it happened that as he was praying alone the disciples were with him; and he asked them, “Who do the people say that I am?” 19 And they answered, “John the Baptist; but others say, Eli′jah; and others, that one of the old prophets has risen.” 20 And he said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered, “The Christ of God.” 21 But he charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, 22 saying, “The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”

23 And he said to all, “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it; and whoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27 But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God.”

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