The Faithful Have Vanished

To the choirmaster: according to The Sheminith.^[a] A Psalm of David.

How Long, O Lord?

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

The Fool Says, There Is No God

To the choirmaster. Of David.

Remember the Lord Your God

8 “The whole commandment that I command you today ^(A)you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers. ² And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you ^(B)these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, ^(C)testing you ^(D)to know what was in your heart, ^(E)whether you would keep his commandments or not. ³ And he humbled you and ^(F)let you hunger and ^(G)fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that ^(H)man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word^[a] that comes from the mouth of the Lord. ^4 (I)Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. ⁵ Know then in your heart that, ^(J)as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you. ⁶ So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. ⁷ For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, ^(K)a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, ⁸ a land of wheat and barley, ^(L)of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, ⁹ 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.

¹¹ “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, ^12 (M)lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, ¹³ and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, ^14 (N)then your heart be lifted up, and you ^(O)forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, ¹⁵ who ^(P)led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, ^(Q)with its fiery serpents and scorpions ^(R)and thirsty ground where there was no water, ^(S)who brought you water out of the flinty rock, ¹⁶ who fed you in the wilderness with ^(T)manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, ^(U)to do you good in the end. ¹⁷ Beware ^(V)lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ ¹⁸ You shall remember the Lord your God, for ^(W)it is he who gives you power to get wealth, ^(X)that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. ¹⁹ And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, ^(Y)I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. ²⁰ Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, ^(Z)so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.

Jesus Heals a Paralytic

¹⁷ On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and ^(A)teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And ^(B)the power of the Lord was with him to heal.^{[a] 18 (C)}And behold, some men were bringing ^(D)on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, ¹⁹ but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on ^(E)the roof and let him down with his bed ^(F)through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. ²⁰ And ^(G)when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, ^(H)your sins are forgiven you.” ²¹ And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, “Who is this who speaks ^(I)blasphemies? ^(J)Who can forgive sins but God alone?” ²² When Jesus ^(K)perceived their thoughts, he answered them, “Why do you question in your hearts? ²³ Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? ²⁴ But that you may know that ^(L)the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the man who was paralyzed—“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed and go home.” ²⁵ And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, ^(M)glorifying God. ²⁶ And amazement seized them all, and they ^(N)glorified God and were filled ^(O)with awe, saying, “We have seen extraordinary things today.”

Jesus Calls Levi

^27 (P)After this he went out and saw ^(Q)a tax collector named ^(R)Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” ²⁸ And ^(S)leaving everything, he rose and followed him.

²⁹ And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company ^(T)of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. ³⁰ And the Pharisees and ^(U)their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, ^(V)“Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” ³¹ And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ^32 (W)I have not come to call the righteous ^(X)but sinners ^(Y)to repentance.”

A Question About Fasting

³³ And they said to him, ^(Z)“The disciples of John ^(AA)fast often and ^(AB)offer prayers, ^(AC)and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.” ³⁴ And Jesus said to them, ^(AD)“Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? ^35 (AE)The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and ^(AF)then they will fast in those days.” ³⁶ He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. If he does, he will tear the new, and the piece from the new will not match the old. ³⁷ And no one puts new wine into old ^(AG)wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. ³⁸ But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. ³⁹ And no one after drinking old wine desires new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”^[b]