Psalm 50
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Psalm 50
The Acceptable Sacrifice
A Psalm of Asaph.
1 The mighty one, God the Lord,
speaks and summons the earth
from the rising of the sun to its setting.(A)
2 Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
God shines forth.(B)
3 Our God comes and does not keep silent;
before him is a devouring fire
and a mighty tempest all around him.(C)
4 He calls to the heavens above
and to the earth, that he may judge his people:(D)
5 “Gather to me my faithful ones,
who made a covenant with me by sacrifice!”(E)
6 The heavens declare his righteousness,
for God himself is judge. Selah(F)
7 “Hear, O my people, and I will speak,
O Israel, I will testify against you.
I am God, your God.(G)
8 Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you;
your burnt offerings are continually before me.(H)
9 I will not accept a bull from your house
or goats from your folds.(I)
10 For every wild animal of the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills.(J)
11 I know all the birds of the air,[a]
and all that moves in the field is mine.
12 “If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
for the world and all that is in it is mine.(K)
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls
or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving,[b]
and pay your vows to the Most High.(L)
15 Call on me in the day of trouble;
I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”(M)
16 But to the wicked God says,
“What right have you to recite my statutes
or take my covenant on your lips?(N)
17 For you hate discipline,
and you cast my words behind you.(O)
18 You make friends with a thief when you see one,
and you keep company with adulterers.(P)
19 You give your mouth free rein for evil,
and your tongue frames deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your kin;
you slander your own mother’s child.(Q)
21 These things you have done, and I have been silent;
you thought that I was one just like yourself.
But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.(R)
Micah 6
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
God Challenges Israel
6 Hear what the Lord says:
Rise, plead your case before the mountains,
and let the hills hear your voice.(A)
2 Hear, you mountains, the case of the Lord,
and you enduring foundations of the earth,
for the Lord has a case against his people,
and he will contend with Israel.(B)
3 “O my people, what have I done to you?
In what have I wearied you? Answer me!(C)
4 For I brought you up from the land of Egypt
and redeemed you from the house of slavery,
and I sent before you Moses,
Aaron, and Miriam.(D)
5 O my people, remember now what King Balak of Moab devised,
what Balaam son of Beor answered him,
and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,
that you may know the saving acts of the Lord.”(E)
What God Requires
6 “With what shall I come before the Lord
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”(F)
8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good,
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice and to love kindness
and to walk humbly with your God?(G)
Cheating and Violence to Be Punished
9 The voice of the Lord cries to the city
(and he shall save those who fear his name[a]):
Hear, O tribe and assembly of the city![b]
10 Can I forget[c] the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked
and the despicable false measure?(H)
11 Can I tolerate wicked scales
and a bag of dishonest weights?(I)
12 Your[d] wealthy are full of violence;
your[e] inhabitants speak lies
with tongues of deceit in their mouths.
13 Therefore I have begun[f] to strike you down,
making you desolate because of your sins.(J)
14 You shall eat but not be satisfied,
and there shall be a gnawing hunger within you;
you shall put away but not save,
and what you save, I will hand over to the sword.(K)
15 You shall sow but not reap;
you shall tread olives but not anoint yourselves with oil;
you shall tread grapes but not drink wine.(L)
16 For you have kept the statutes of Omri[g]
and all the works of the house of Ahab,
and you have followed their counsels.
Therefore I will make you a desolation and your[h] inhabitants an object of hissing,
so you shall bear the scorn of my people.(M)
Matthew 9:1-17
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
9 1
Jesus Heals a Paralytic
2 And some people were carrying to him a paralyzed man lying on a stretcher. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, child; your sins are forgiven.”(B) 3 Then some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.” 4 But Jesus, perceiving their thoughts, said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts?(C) 5 For which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Stand up and walk’? 6 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Stand up, take your bed, and go to your home.” 7 And he stood up and went to his home. 8 When the crowds saw it, they were filled with awe, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to human beings.(D)
The Call of Matthew
9 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax-collection station, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him.
10 And as he sat at dinner[a] in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting[b] with Jesus and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”(E) 12 But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.”(F)
The Question about Fasting
14 Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often,[c] but your disciples do not fast?”(G) 15 And Jesus said to them, “The wedding attendants cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.(H) 16 No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak, for the patch pulls away from the cloak, and a worse tear is made. 17 Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; otherwise, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are ruined, but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”
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