A Prayer for Help in Despondency

A Song. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. To the Chief Musician. Set to “Mahalath Leannoth.” A ^[a]Contemplation of ^(A)Heman the Ezrahite.

Moses Makes New Tablets^(A)

34 And the Lord said to Moses, ^(B)“Cut two tablets of stone like the first ones, and ^(C)I will write on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke. ² So be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself to Me there ^(D)on the top of the mountain. ³ And no man shall ^(E)come up with you, and let no man be seen throughout all the mountain; let neither flocks nor herds feed before that mountain.”

⁴ So he cut two tablets of stone like the first ones. Then Moses rose early in the morning and went up Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him; and he took in his hand the two tablets of stone.

⁵ Now the Lord descended in the ^(F)cloud and stood with him there, and ^(G)proclaimed the name of the Lord. ⁶ And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord ^(H)God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in ^(I)goodness and ^(J)truth, ^7 (K)keeping mercy for thousands, ^(L)forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, ^(M)by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”

⁸ So Moses made haste and ^(N)bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped. ⁹ Then he said, “If now I have found grace in Your sight, O Lord, ^(O)let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though we are a ^(P)stiff-necked^[a] people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as ^(Q)Your inheritance.”

The Covenant Renewed^(R)

¹⁰ And He said: “Behold, ^(S)I make a covenant. Before all your people I will ^(T)do ^[b]marvels such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord. For it is ^(U)an awesome thing that I will do with you. ^11 (V)Observe what I command you this day. Behold, ^(W)I am driving out from before you the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. ^12 (X)Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be a snare in your midst. ¹³ But you shall ^(Y)destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and ^(Z)cut down their wooden images ¹⁴ (for you shall worship ^(AA)no other god, for the Lord, whose ^(AB)name is Jealous, is a ^(AC)jealous God), ¹⁵ lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they ^(AD)play the harlot with their gods and make sacrifice to their gods, and one of them ^(AE)invites you and you ^(AF)eat of his sacrifice, ¹⁶ and you take of ^(AG)his daughters for your sons, and his daughters ^(AH)play the harlot with their gods and make your sons play the harlot with their gods.

^17 (AI)“You shall make no molded gods for yourselves.

¹⁸ “The Feast of ^(AJ)Unleavened Bread you shall keep. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, in the appointed time of the month of Abib; for in the ^(AK)month of Abib you came out from Egypt.

^19 (AL)“All ^[c]that open the womb are Mine, and every male firstborn among your livestock, whether ox or sheep. ²⁰ But ^(AM)the firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb. And if you will not redeem him, then you shall break his neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem.

“And none shall appear before Me ^(AN)empty-handed.

^21 (AO)“Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest.

²² “And you shall observe the Feast of Weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year’s end.

^23 (AP)“Three times in the year all your men shall appear before the Lord, the Lord God of Israel. ²⁴ For I will ^(AQ)cast out the nations before you and enlarge your borders; neither will any man covet your land when you go up to appear before the Lord your God three times in the year.

²⁵ “You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leaven, ^(AR)nor shall the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover be left until morning.

^26 (AS)“The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring to the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

²⁷ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write ^(AT)these words, for according to the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” ^28 (AU)So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And ^(AV)He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ^[d]Ten Commandments.

The Shining Face of Moses

²⁹ Now it was so, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai (and the ^(AW)two tablets of the Testimony were in Moses’ hand when he came down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that ^(AX)the skin of his face shone while he talked with Him. ³⁰ So when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. ³¹ Then Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him; and Moses talked with them. ³² Afterward all the children of Israel came near, ^(AY)and he gave them as commandments all that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. ³³ And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put ^(AZ)a veil on his face. ³⁴ But ^(BA)whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with Him, he would take the veil off until he came out; and he would come out and speak to the children of Israel whatever he had been commanded. ³⁵ And whenever the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone, then Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with Him.

The King Dethrones Queen Vashti

1 Now it came to pass in the days of ^(A)Ahasuerus^[a] (this was the Ahasuerus who reigned ^(B)over one hundred and twenty-seven provinces, ^(C)from India to Ethiopia), ² in those days when King Ahasuerus ^(D)sat on the throne of his kingdom, which was in ^(E)Shushan^[b] the ^[c]citadel, ³ that in the third year of his reign he ^(F)made a feast for all his officials and servants—the powers of Persia and Media, the nobles, and the princes of the provinces being before him— ⁴ when he showed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the splendor of his excellent majesty for many days, one hundred and eighty days in all.

⁵ And when these days were completed, the king made a feast lasting seven days for all the people who were present in ^[d]Shushan the ^[e]citadel, from great to small, in the court of the garden of the king’s palace. ⁶ There were white and blue linen curtains fastened with cords of fine linen and purple on silver rods and marble pillars; and the ^(G)couches were of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of alabaster, turquoise, and white and black marble. ⁷ And they served drinks in golden vessels, each vessel being different from the other, with royal wine in abundance, ^(H)according to the ^[f]generosity of the king. ⁸ In accordance with the law, the drinking was not compulsory; for so the king had ordered all the officers of his household, that they should do according to each man’s pleasure.

⁹ Queen Vashti also made a feast for the women in the royal palace which belonged to King Ahasuerus.

¹⁰ On the seventh day, when the heart of the king was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, ^(I)Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, seven eunuchs who served in the presence of King Ahasuerus, ¹¹ to bring Queen Vashti before the king, wearing her royal crown, in order to show her beauty to the people and the officials, for she was beautiful to behold. ¹² But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king’s command brought by his eunuchs; therefore the king was furious, and his anger burned within him.

¹³ Then the king said to the ^(J)wise men ^(K)who understood the times (for this was the king’s manner toward all who knew law and justice, ¹⁴ those closest to him being Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the ^(L)seven princes of Persia and Media, ^(M)who had access to the king’s presence, and who ^[g]ranked highest in the kingdom): ¹⁵ “What shall we do to Queen Vashti, according to law, because she did not obey the command of King Ahasuerus brought to her by the eunuchs?”

¹⁶ And Memucan answered before the king and the princes: “Queen Vashti has not only wronged the king, but also all the princes, and all the people who are in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus. ¹⁷ For the queen’s behavior will become known to all women, so that they will ^(N)despise their husbands in their eyes, when they report, ‘King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought in before him, but she did not come.’ ¹⁸ This very day the noble ladies of Persia and Media will say to all the king’s officials that they have heard of the behavior of the queen. Thus there will be excessive contempt and wrath. ¹⁹ If it pleases the king, let a royal ^[h]decree go out from him, and let it be recorded in the laws of the Persians and the Medes, so that it will ^(O)not ^[i]be altered, that Vashti shall come no more before King Ahasuerus; and let the king give her royal position to another who is better than she. ²⁰ When the king’s decree which he will make is proclaimed throughout all his empire (for it is great), all wives will ^(P)honor their husbands, both great and small.”

²¹ And the reply pleased the king and the princes, and the king did according to the word of Memucan. ²² Then he sent letters to all the king’s provinces, ^(Q)to each province in its own script, and to every people in their own language, that each man should ^(R)be master in his own house, and speak in the language of his own people.

Do Not Sue the Brethren

6 Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the ^(A)saints? ² Do you not know that ^(B)the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? ³ Do you not know that we shall ^(C)judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? ⁴ If then you have ^[a]judgments concerning things pertaining to this life, do you appoint those who are least esteemed by the church to judge? ⁵ I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren? ⁶ But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers!

⁷ Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. ^(D)Why do you not rather accept wrong? Why do you not rather let yourselves be cheated? ⁸ No, you yourselves do wrong and cheat, and you do these things to your brethren! ⁹ Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. ^(E)Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor ^[b]homosexuals, nor ^[c]sodomites, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ And such were ^(F)some of you. ^(G)But you were washed, but you were ^[d]sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

Glorify God in Body and Spirit

^12 (H)All things are lawful for me, but all things are not ^[e]helpful. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of ^[f]any. ^13 (I)Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them. Now the body is not for ^(J)sexual immorality but ^(K)for the Lord, ^(L)and the Lord for the body. ¹⁴ And ^(M)God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up ^(N)by His power.

¹⁵ Do you not know that ^(O)your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! ¹⁶ Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For ^(P)“the two,” He says, “shall become one flesh.” ^17 (Q)But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.

^18 (R)Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins ^(S)against his own body. ¹⁹ Or ^(T)do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, ^(U)and you are not your own? ²⁰ For ^(V)you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body ^[g]and in your spirit, which are God’s.