Psalm 31-33

English Standard Version

Into Your Hand I Commit My Spirit

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

31 ^(A)In you, O Lord, do I ^(B)take refuge;
    ^(C)let me never be put to shame;
    in your ^(D)righteousness deliver me!
²Incline your ear to me;
    rescue me speedily!
Be ^(E)a rock of ^(F)refuge for me,
    a strong fortress to save me!

³For you are my rock and my fortress;
    and for your ^(G)name's sake you lead me and guide me;
⁴you ^(H)take me out of ^(I)the net they have hidden for me,
    for you are my ^(J)refuge.
⁵^(K)Into your hand I commit my spirit;
    you have redeemed me, O Lord, ^(L)faithful God.

⁶I ^(M)hate^[a] those who pay ^(N)regard to worthless ^(O)idols,
    but I trust in the Lord.
⁷I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love,
    because you have seen my affliction;
    you have ^(P)known the distress of my soul,
⁸and you have not ^(Q)delivered me into the hand of the enemy;
    you have set my feet in ^(R)a broad place.

⁹Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am ^(S)in distress;
    ^(T)my eye is wasted from grief;
    my soul and my body also.
¹⁰For my life is spent with sorrow,
    and my years with sighing;
my strength fails because of my iniquity,
    and ^(U)my bones waste away.

¹¹Because of all my adversaries I have become ^(V)a reproach,
    especially to my ^(W)neighbors,
and an object of dread to my acquaintances;
    those who see me in the street ^(X)flee from me.
¹²I have been ^(Y)forgotten like one who is dead;
    I have become like ^(Z)a broken vessel.
¹³For I ^(AA)hear the whispering of many—
    terror on every side!—
^(AB)as they scheme together against me,
    as they plot to take my life.

¹⁴But I ^(AC)trust in you, O Lord;
    I say, “You are my God.”
¹⁵My ^(AD)times are in your hand;
    ^(AE)rescue me from the hand of my enemies and from my persecutors!
¹⁶^(AF)Make your face shine on your servant;
    save me in your steadfast love!
¹⁷O Lord, ^(AG)let me not be put to shame,
    for I call upon you;
let the wicked be put to shame;
    let them go ^(AH)silently to Sheol.
¹⁸Let the lying lips be mute,
    which ^(AI)speak ^(AJ)insolently against the righteous
    in pride and contempt.

¹⁹Oh, how abundant is your goodness,
    which you have stored up for those who fear you
and worked for those who take refuge in you,
    ^(AK)in the sight of the children of mankind!
²⁰In ^(AL)the cover of your presence you hide them
    from the plots of men;
you ^(AM)store them in your shelter
    from the strife of tongues.

²¹Blessed be the Lord,
    for he has wondrously ^(AN)shown his steadfast love to me
    when I was in ^(AO)a besieged city.
²²I had said in my ^(AP)alarm,^[b]
    “I am ^(AQ)cut off from ^(AR)your sight.”
But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy
    when I cried to you for help.

²³Love the Lord, all you his ^(AS)saints!
    The Lord preserves the faithful
    but abundantly ^(AT)repays the one who acts in pride.
²⁴^(AU)Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
    all you who wait for the Lord!

Blessed Are the Forgiven

A Maskil^[c] of David.

32 ^(AV)Blessed is the one whose ^(AW)transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
²Blessed is the man against whom the Lord ^(AX)counts no iniquity,
and in whose spirit ^(AY)there is no deceit.

³For when I kept silent, my ^(AZ)bones wasted away
through my ^(BA)groaning all day long.
⁴For day and night your ^(BB)hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up^[d] as by the heat of summer. Selah

⁵I ^(BC)acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I ^(BD)will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

⁶Therefore let everyone who is ^(BE)godly
    offer prayer to you at a time when you ^(BF)may be found;
surely in the rush of ^(BG)great waters,
    they shall not reach him.
⁷You are a ^(BH)hiding place for me;
    you preserve me from ^(BI)trouble;
    you surround me with ^(BJ)shouts of deliverance. Selah

⁸I will ^(BK)instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
    I will ^(BL)counsel you with my eye upon you.
⁹^(BM)Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding,
    which must be curbed with ^(BN)bit and bridle,
    or it will not stay near you.

¹⁰^(BO)Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
but steadfast love surrounds the one who ^(BP)trusts in the Lord.
¹¹^(BQ)Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous,
and ^(BR)shout for joy, all you ^(BS)upright in heart!

The Steadfast Love of the Lord

33 ^(BT)Shout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous!
    ^(BU)Praise befits the upright.
²Give thanks to the Lord with the ^(BV)lyre;
    make melody to him with ^(BW)the harp of ^(BX)ten strings!
³Sing to him ^(BY)a new song;
    play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.

⁴For the word of the Lord is upright,
and all his work is done in ^(BZ)faithfulness.
⁵He ^(CA)loves righteousness and justice;
^(CB)the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.

⁶By ^(CC)the word of the Lord the heavens were made,
and by ^(CD)the breath of his mouth all ^(CE)their host.
⁷He gathers the waters of the sea as ^(CF)a heap;
he ^(CG)puts the deeps in storehouses.

⁸Let all the earth fear the Lord;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!
⁹For ^(CH)he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm.

¹⁰The Lord ^(CI)brings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
    he frustrates the plans of the peoples.
¹¹^(CJ)The counsel of the Lord stands forever,
    the plans of his heart to all generations.
¹²^(CK)Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
    the people whom he has ^(CL)chosen as his heritage!

¹³The Lord ^(CM)looks down from heaven;
    he sees all the children of man;
¹⁴from ^(CN)where he sits enthroned he ^(CO)looks out
    on all the inhabitants of the earth,
¹⁵he who fashions the hearts of them all
    and observes all their deeds.
¹⁶^(CP)The king is not saved by his great army;
    a warrior is not delivered by his great strength.
¹⁷^(CQ)The war horse is a false hope for salvation,
    and by its great might it cannot rescue.

¹⁸Behold, ^(CR)the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him,
^(CS)on those who hope in his steadfast love,
¹⁹that he may ^(CT)deliver their soul from death
and keep them alive in ^(CU)famine.

²⁰Our soul ^(CV)waits for the Lord;
    he is our ^(CW)help and ^(CX)our shield.
²¹For our heart is ^(CY)glad in him,
    because we ^(CZ)trust in his holy name.
²²Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us,
    even as we hope in you.

Footnotes

Psalm 31:6 Masoretic Text; one Hebrew manuscript, Septuagint, Syriac, Jerome You hate
Psalm 31:22 Or in my haste
Psalm 32:1 Probably a musical or liturgical term
Psalm 32:4 Hebrew my vitality was changed

Matthew 23

English Standard Version

Seven Woes to the Scribes and Pharisees

23 Then Jesus ^(A)said to the crowds and to his disciples, ²^(B)“The scribes and the Pharisees ^(C)sit on Moses' seat, ³so do and observe whatever they tell you, ^(D)but not the works they do. ^(E)For they preach, but do not practice. ⁴^(F)They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear,^[a] and lay them on people's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. ⁵^(G)They do all their deeds ^(H)to be seen by others. For they make ^(I)their phylacteries broad and ^(J)their fringes long, ⁶and they ^(K)love the place of honor at feasts and ^(L)the best seats in the synagogues ⁷and ^(M)greetings in ^(N)the marketplaces and being called ^(O)rabbi^[b] by others. ⁸^(P)But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are ^(Q)all brothers.^[c] ⁹^(R)And call no man your father on earth, for ^(S)you have one Father, who is in heaven. ¹⁰Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, ^(T)the Christ. ¹¹^(U)The greatest among you shall be your servant. ¹²^(V)Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

¹³“But woe ^(W)to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you ^(X)shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you ^(Y)neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.^[d] ¹⁵Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single ^(Z)proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a ^(AA)child of ^(AB)hell^[e] as yourselves.

¹⁶“Woe to ^(AC)you, ^(AD)blind guides, who say, ^(AE)‘If anyone swears by the temple, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’ ¹⁷You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or ^(AF)the temple that has made the gold sacred? ¹⁸And you say, ‘If anyone swears by the altar, it is nothing, but if anyone swears by ^(AG)the gift that is on the altar, he is bound by his oath.’ ¹⁹You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or ^(AH)the altar that makes the gift sacred? ²⁰So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. ²¹And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by ^(AI)him who dwells in it. ²²And whoever swears by ^(AJ)heaven swears by ^(AK)the throne of God and by ^(AL)him who sits upon it.

²³^(AM)“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ^(AN)you tithe mint and dill and ^(AO)cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: ^(AP)justice and mercy and faithfulness. ^(AQ)These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. ²⁴You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing ^(AR)a camel!

²⁵^(AS)“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ^(AT)you clean the outside of ^(AU)the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of ^(AV)greed and self-indulgence. ²⁶You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of ^(AW)the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.

²⁷^(AX)“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like ^(AY)whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and ^(AZ)all uncleanness. ²⁸So you also ^(BA)outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of ^(BB)hypocrisy and lawlessness.

²⁹^(BC)“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, ³⁰saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ ³¹Thus you witness against yourselves that you are ^(BD)sons of those who murdered the prophets. ³²^(BE)Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. ³³You serpents, ^(BF)you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to ^(BG)hell? ³⁴^(BH)Therefore ^(BI)I send you ^(BJ)prophets and wise men and ^(BK)scribes, ^(BL)some of whom you will kill and crucify, and ^(BM)some you will ^(BN)flog in your synagogues and ^(BO)persecute from town to town, ³⁵so that on you may come all ^(BP)the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous ^(BQ)Abel to the blood of ^(BR)Zechariah the son of Barachiah,^[f] whom you murdered between ^(BS)the sanctuary and ^(BT)the altar. ³⁶Truly, I say to you, ^(BU)all these things will come upon this generation.

Lament over Jerusalem

³⁷^(BV)“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that ^(BW)kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have ^(BX)gathered ^(BY)your children together ^(BZ)as a hen gathers her brood ^(CA)under her wings, and ^(CB)you were not willing! ³⁸See, ^(CC)your house is left to you desolate. ³⁹For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, ^(CD)‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

Footnotes

Matthew 23:4 Some manuscripts omit hard to bear
Matthew 23:7 Rabbi means my teacher, or my master; also verse 8
Matthew 23:8 Or brothers and sisters
Matthew 23:13 Some manuscripts add here (or after verse 12) verse 14: Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive the greater condemnation
Matthew 23:15 Greek Gehenna; also verse 33
Matthew 23:35 Some manuscripts omit the son of Barachiah