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Davidic

A Song for God’s Provision

144 Blessed be the Lord, my rock,
    who trains my hands for battle
        and my fingers for warfare,
he is my gracious love and my fortress,
    my strong tower and my deliverer,
my shield and the one in whom I find refuge,
    who subdues[a] peoples[b] under me.

Lord, what are human beings,
    that you should care about them,
or mortal man,
    that you should think about him?
The human person is a mere empty breath;
    his days are like a fading shadow.

Bow your heavens, Lord, and descend;[c]
    touch the mountains, and they will smolder.
Send forth lightning and scatter the enemy,[d]
    shoot your arrows and confuse them.
Reach down your hand from your high place;
    rescue me and deliver me from mighty waters,
        from the control of foreigners.[e]
Their mouths speak lies,
    and their right hand deceives,[f]

God, I will sing a new song to you.
    On a harp of ten strings I will play to you—
10 to you who gives victory to kings,
    rescuing his servant David from cruel swords.
11 Rescue me and deliver me
    from the control of foreigners,[g]
whose mouths speak lies,
    and whose right hand deceives.[h]

12 May our sons in their youth be like full-grown plants,
    and our daughters like pillars
        destined to decorate a palace.
13 May our granaries be filled,
    storing produce in abundance;
may our sheep bring forth thousands,
    even tens of thousands in our fields.
14 May our cattle grow heavy with young,
    with no damage or loss.
May there be no cry of anguish in our streets!

15 Happy are the people to whom these things come;
    happy are the people whose God is the Lord.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 144:2 So LXX; the Heb. lacks subdues
  2. Psalm 144:2 So DSS 11QPsa Sebir Aquila Syr Targ Hieronymus; cf. Psa 18:48; 2 Sam 22:48; LXX reads subdues my people
  3. Psalm 144:5 So MT (imperfect verb); LXX, DSS 11QPsa read and descend!; i.e. a verb of command
  4. Psalm 144:6 Lit. scatter them
  5. Psalm 144:7 Lit. the hand of the sons of strangers
  6. Psalm 144:8 I.e. they swear to false oaths
  7. Psalm 144:11 Lit. the hand of the sons of strangers
  8. Psalm 144:11 I.e. they swear to false oaths

The Young Women

Who is this coming up from the desert,
    leaning on her beloved?

The Loved One

Under the apple tree[a] I awakened you.
    There your mother had gone into labor with you;
        there she went into labor and gave birth to you.
Set me like a seal[b] over your heart,
    like a seal on your arm.
For love is as strong as death,
    passion[c] as intense as Sheol.[d]
The flames of love[e] are flames of fire,
    a blaze that comes from the Lord.[f]
Mighty bodies of water cannot extinguish love,
    rivers cannot put it out.
If a man were to give all the wealth of his house for love,
    he would surely be viewed with contempt.

The Loved One’s Brothers

We[g] have a little sister,
    and she has not yet reached maturity.[h]
What will we do for our sister
    to prepare her for[i] her engagement?[j]
If she’s a wall,
    on her we will build a battlement of silver.
If she’s a door,
    we will enclose her with planks of cedar.

The Loved One

10 I was a wall and my breasts were like towers.
    Then I became like one who finds peace[k] in his eyes.
11 Solomon has a vineyard in Baal-hamon.
    He entrusted the vineyard to caretakers—
each one is to bring 1,000 pieces of silver
    in exchange for its fruit.
12 My vineyard belongs to me and is at my disposal.[l]
    The 1,000 are for you, Solomon,
        and 200 are for those who take care of its fruit.

The Lover

13 You who sit in the gardens,
    companions are listening for your voice,
        but let me hear it.

The Loved One

14 Come quickly, my beloved, and be like a gazelle
    or a young stag on the mountains of spices.

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Footnotes

  1. Song of Solomon 8:5 Or apricot tree
  2. Song of Solomon 8:6 I.e. a cylinder seal or a signet ring used to indicate ownership or authority
  3. Song of Solomon 8:6 Or jealousy
  4. Song of Solomon 8:6 I.e. the realm of the dead
  5. Song of Solomon 8:6 Lit. its flames
  6. Song of Solomon 8:6 Or an intense blaze
  7. Song of Solomon 8:8 I.e. the bride’s brothers
  8. Song of Solomon 8:8 Lit. has no breasts
  9. Song of Solomon 8:8 Lit. sister on the day when she’s spoken for
  10. Song of Solomon 8:8 Or marriage
  11. Song of Solomon 8:10 Or contentment
  12. Song of Solomon 8:12 Lit. is before me

The Jewish Council Plans to Kill Jesus(A)

45 Many of the Jews who had come with Mary and who had observed what Jesus did believed in him. 46 Some of them, however, went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 So the high priests and the Pharisees assembled the Council[a] and said, “What are we going to do? This man is performing many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our Temple[b] and our nation.”

49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, told them, “You don’t know anything! 50 You don’t realize that it is better for you[c] to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.” 51 Now he did not say this on his own initiative. As high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and not only for the nation, but that he would also gather into one the children of God who were scattered abroad. 53 So from that day on they resolved to put him to death. 54 As a result, Jesus no longer walked openly among the Jews.[d] Instead, he went from there[e] to a town called Ephraim in the region near the wilderness. There he remained with his disciples.

55 Now the Jewish Passover was approaching, and before the Passover many people from the countryside went up to Jerusalem to purify themselves. 56 They kept looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the Temple, “What do you think? Surely he won’t come to the festival, will he?” 57 Now the high priests and the Pharisees had given orders that whoever knew where he was should tell them so that they could arrest him.

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Footnotes

  1. John 11:47 Or Sanhedrin
  2. John 11:48 Lit. place
  3. John 11:50 Other mss. read for us
  4. John 11:54 I.e. Judean leaders
  5. John 11:54 I.e. from Bethany