Psalms 94 Cross References - BSB

¹ O LORD, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth. ² Rise up, O Judge of the earth; render a reward to the proud. ³ How long will the wicked, O LORD, how long will the wicked exult? ⁴ They pour out arrogant words; all workers of iniquity boast. ⁵ They crush Your people, O LORD; they oppress Your heritage. ⁶ They kill the widow and the foreigner; they murder the fatherless. ⁷ They say, “The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob pays no heed.” ⁸ Take notice, O senseless among the people! O fools, when will you be wise? ⁹ He who affixed the ear, can He not hear? He who formed the eye, can He not see? ¹⁰ He who admonishes the nations, does He not discipline? He who teaches man, does He lack knowledge? ¹¹ The LORD knows the thoughts of man, that they are futile. ¹² Blessed is the man You discipline, O LORD, and teach from Your law, ¹³ to grant him relief from days of trouble, until a pit is dug for the wicked. ¹⁴ For the LORD will not forsake His people; He will never abandon His heritage. ¹⁵ Surely judgment will again be righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it. ¹⁶ Who will rise up for me against the wicked? Who will stand for me against the workers of iniquity? ¹⁷ Unless the LORD had been my helper, I would soon have dwelt in the abode of silence. ¹⁸ If I say, “My foot is slipping,” Your loving devotion, O LORD, supports me. ¹⁹ When anxiety overwhelms me, Your consolation delights my soul. ²⁰ Can a corrupt throne be Your ally—one devising mischief by decree? ²¹ They band together against the righteous and condemn the innocent to death. ²² But the LORD has been my stronghold, and my God is my rock of refuge. ²³ He will bring upon them their own iniquity and destroy them for their wickedness. The LORD our God will destroy them.

³⁵ Vengeance is Mine; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; for their day of disaster is near, and their doom is coming quickly.”

⁴¹ when I sharpen My flashing sword, and My hand grasps it in judgment, I will take vengeance on My adversaries and repay those who hate Me. ⁴² I will make My arrows drunk with blood, while My sword devours flesh—the blood of the slain and captives, the heads of the enemy leaders.”

² From Zion, perfect in beauty, God shines forth.

¹ For the choirmaster. To the tune of “The Lilies of the Covenant.” A Psalm of Asaph. Hear us, O Shepherd of Israel, who leads Joseph like a flock; You who sit enthroned between the cherubim, shine forth

⁴ Say to those with anxious hearts: “Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance. With divine retribution He will come to save you.”

¹⁷ He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and the helmet of salvation on His head; He put on garments of vengeance and wrapped Himself in a cloak of zeal.

²⁸ Listen to the fugitives and refugees from the land of Babylon, declaring in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, the vengeance for His temple.

² The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD is avenging and full of wrath. The LORD takes vengeance on His foes and reserves wrath for His enemies.

¹⁹ Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.”

⁸ in blazing fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

³⁰ For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge His people.”

²⁵ Far be it from You to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?”

¹¹ Unleash the fury of your wrath; look on every proud man and bring him low. ¹² Look on every proud man and humble him; trample the wicked where they stand.

⁶ Arise, O LORD, in Your anger; rise up against the fury of my enemies. Awake, my God, and ordain judgment.

²³ Love the LORD, all His saints. The LORD preserves the faithful, but fully repays the arrogant.

⁶ And the heavens proclaim His righteousness, for God Himself is Judge. Selah

¹ For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A song. God arises. His enemies are scattered, and those who hate Him flee His presence.

²² Rise up, O God; defend Your cause! Remember how the fool mocks You all day long.

¹¹ The proud look of man will be humbled, and the loftiness of men brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day. ¹² For the Day of the LORD of Hosts will come against all the proud and lofty, against all that is exalted—it will be humbled—

¹⁷ So the pride of man will be brought low, and the loftiness of men will be humbled; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day,

¹² So when the Lord has completed all His work against Mount Zion and Jerusalem, He will say, “I will punish the king of Assyria for the fruit of his arrogant heart and the proud look in his eyes.

²³ Whom have you taunted and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!

²⁹ Because your rage and arrogance against Me have reached My ears, I will put My hook in your nose and My bit in your mouth; I will send you back the way you came.’

³⁶ Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies! ³⁷ So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there. ³⁸ One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer put him to the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. And his son Esar-haddon reigned in his place.

³¹ “Behold, I am against you, O arrogant one,” declares the Lord GOD of Hosts, “for your day has come, the time when I will punish you. ³² The arrogant one will stumble and fall with no one to pick him up. And I will kindle a fire in his cities to consume all those around him.”

³⁷ Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, for all His works are true and all His ways are just. And He is able to humble those who walk in pride.

²² But you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this. ²³ Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. The vessels from His house were brought to you, and as you drank wine from them with your nobles, wives, and concubines, you praised your gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you have failed to glorify the God who holds in His hand your very breath and all your ways. ²⁴ Therefore He sent the hand that wrote the inscription.

⁹ Your hand will be lifted over your foes, and all your enemies will be cut off.

²² Furthermore, the Father judges no one, but has assigned all judgment to the Son, ²³ so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

¹⁰ For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive his due for the things done in the body, whether good or bad.

⁵ Young men, in the same way, submit yourselves to your elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

⁶ Give back to her as she has done to others; pay her back double for what she has done; mix her a double portion in her own cup. ⁷ As much as she has glorified herself and lived in luxury, give her the same measure of torment and grief. In her heart she says, ‘I sit as queen; I am not a widow and will never see grief.’ ⁸ Therefore her plagues will come in one day—death and grief and famine—and she will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.”

¹¹ Haman recounted to them his glorious wealth, his many sons, and all the ways the king had honored and promoted him over the other officials and servants. ¹² “What is more,” Haman added, “Queen Esther invited no one but me to join the king at the banquet she prepared, and I am invited back tomorrow along with the king.

⁶ Haman entered, and the king asked him, “What should be done for the man whom the king is delighted to honor?” Now Haman thought to himself, “Whom would the king be delighted to honor more than me?” ⁷ And Haman told the king, “For the man whom the king is delighted to honor, ⁸ have them bring a royal robe that the king himself has worn and a horse on which the king himself has ridden—one with a royal crest placed on its head. ⁹ Let the robe and the horse be entrusted to one of the king’s most noble princes. Let them array the man the king wants to honor and parade him on the horse through the city square, proclaiming before him, ‘This is what is done for the man whom the king is delighted to honor!’” ¹⁰ “Hurry,” said the king to Haman, “and do just as you proposed. Take the robe and the horse to Mordecai the Jew, who is sitting at the king’s gate. Do not neglect anything that you have suggested.”

⁶ Esther replied, “The adversary and enemy is this wicked man—Haman!” And Haman stood in terror before the king and queen.

¹⁰ So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the fury of the king subsided.

⁵ the triumph of the wicked has been brief and the joy of the godless momentary?

² For You are the God of my refuge. Why have You rejected me? Why must I walk in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression?

⁸ They mock and speak with malice; with arrogance they threaten oppression.

⁹ There are no signs for us to see. There is no longer any prophet. And none of us knows how long this will last. ¹⁰ How long, O God, will the enemy taunt You? Will the foe revile Your name forever?

⁵ How long, O LORD? Will You be angry forever? Will Your jealousy burn like fire?

⁴ O LORD God of Hosts, how long will Your anger smolder against the prayers of Your people?

⁴⁶ How long, O LORD? Will You hide Yourself forever? Will Your wrath keep burning like fire?

¹ Righteous are You, O LORD, when I plead before You. Yet about Your judgments I wish to contend with You: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease? ² You planted them, and they have taken root. They have grown and produced fruit. You are ever on their lips, but far from their hearts.

⁶ ‘Alas, O sword of the LORD, how long until you rest? Return to your sheath; cease and be still!’

²² And they began to shout, “This is the voice of a god, not a man!” ²³ Immediately, because Herod did not give glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.

¹⁰ And they cried out in a loud voice, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You avenge our blood and judge those who dwell upon the earth?”

⁹ The enemy declared, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake. I will divide the spoils; I will gorge myself on them. I will draw my sword; my hand will destroy them.’ ¹⁰ But You blew with Your breath, and the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.

¹⁴ Yet they say to God: ‘Leave us alone! For we have no desire to know Your ways. ¹⁵ Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him, and what would we gain if we pray to Him?’

² In pride the wicked pursue the needy; let them be caught in the schemes they devise. ³ For the wicked man boasts in the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD. ⁴ In his pride the wicked man does not seek Him; in all his schemes there is no God. ⁵ He is secure in his ways at all times; Your lofty judgments are far from him; he sneers at all his foes. ⁶ He says to himself, “I will not be moved; from age to age I am free of distress.” ⁷ His mouth is full of cursing, deceit, and violence; trouble and malice are under his tongue.

¹⁸ May lying lips be silenced—lips that speak with arrogance against the righteous, full of pride and contempt.

¹ For the choirmaster. A Maskil of David. After Doeg the Edomite went to Saul and told him, “David has gone to the house of Ahimelech.” Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man? The loving devotion of God endures all day long.

⁷ See what they spew from their mouths—sharp words from their lips: “For who can hear us?”

¹² By the sins of their mouths and the words of their lips, let them be trapped in their pride, in the curses and lies they utter.

³ who sharpen their tongues like swords and aim their bitter words like arrows, ⁴ ambushing the innocent in seclusion, shooting suddenly, without fear.

⁸ They mock and speak with malice; with arrogance they threaten oppression. ⁹ They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongues strut across the earth.

³ They sharpen their tongues like snakes; the venom of vipers is on their lips. Selah

¹⁴ there is a generation whose teeth are swords and whose jaws are knives, devouring the oppressed from the earth and the needy from among men.

¹³ For he says: ‘By the strength of my hand I have done this, and by my wisdom, for I am clever. I have removed the boundaries of nations and plundered their treasures; like a mighty one I subdued their rulers. ¹⁴ My hand reached as into a nest to seize the wealth of the nations. Like one gathering abandoned eggs, I gathered all the earth. No wing fluttered, no beak opened or chirped.’” ¹⁵ Does an axe raise itself above the one who swings it? Does a saw boast over him who saws with it? It would be like a rod waving the one who lifts it, or a staff lifting him who is not wood!

²⁴ Through your servants you have taunted the Lord, and you have said: “With my many chariots I have ascended to the heights of the mountains, to the remote peaks of Lebanon. I have cut down its tallest cedars, the finest of its cypresses. I have reached its farthest heights, the densest of its forests. ²⁵ I have dug wells and drunk foreign waters. With the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.”

¹⁸ Then some said, “Come, let us make plans against Jeremiah, for the law will never be lost to the priest, nor counsel to the wise, nor an oracle to the prophet. Come, let us denounce him and pay no heed to any of his words.”

⁸ While I was contemplating the horns, suddenly another horn, a little one, came up among them, and three of the first horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like those of a man and a mouth that spoke words of arrogance.

¹¹ Then I kept watching because of the arrogant words the horn was speaking. As I continued to watch, the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and thrown into the blazing fire.

²⁵ He will speak out against the Most High and oppress the saints of the Most High, intending to change the appointed times and laws; and the saints will be given into his hand for a time, and times, and half a time.

¹¹ It magnified itself, even to the Prince of the host; it removed His daily sacrifice and overthrew the place of His sanctuary.

³⁶ Then the king will do as he pleases and will exalt and magnify himself above every god, and he will speak monstrous things against the God of gods. He will be successful until the time of wrath is completed, for what has been decreed must be accomplished. ³⁷ He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers, nor for the one desired by women, nor for any other god, because he will magnify himself above them all.

²⁴ But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “Only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, does this man drive out demons.”

³⁴ You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.

¹⁴ Enoch, the seventh from Adam, also prophesied about them: “Behold, the Lord is coming with myriads of His holy ones ¹⁵ to execute judgment on everyone, and to convict all the ungodly of every ungodly act of wickedness and every harsh word spoken against Him by ungodly sinners.”

⁵ The beast was given a mouth to speak arrogant and blasphemous words, and authority to act for 42 months. ⁶ And the beast opened its mouth to speak blasphemies against God and to slander His name and His tabernacle—those who dwell in heaven.

²³ After a long time, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned and cried out under their burden of slavery, and their cry for deliverance from bondage ascended to God. ²⁴ So God heard their groaning, and He remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

² or they will shred my soul like a lion and tear me to pieces with no one to rescue me.

⁴ Will the workers of iniquity never learn? They devour my people like bread; they refuse to call upon the LORD.

²² Yet for Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.

⁸ They said in their hearts, “We will crush them completely.” They burned down every place where God met us in the land.

¹⁹ Do not deliver the soul of Your dove to beasts; do not forget the lives of Your afflicted forever. ²⁰ Consider Your covenant, for haunts of violence fill the dark places of the land.

² They have given the corpses of Your servants as food to the birds of the air, the flesh of Your saints to the beasts of the earth. ³ They have poured out their blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury the dead.

⁷ for they have devoured Jacob and devastated his homeland.

² many a time they have persecuted me from my youth, but they have not prevailed against me. ³ The plowmen plowed over my back; they made their furrows long.

¹⁵ Why do you crush My people and grind the faces of the poor?” declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.

⁵ And now what have I here? declares the LORD. For My people have been taken without cause; those who rule them taunt, declares the LORD, and My name is blasphemed continually all day long.

¹⁷ “But your eyes and heart are set on nothing except your own dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood, on practicing extortion and oppression.”

¹¹ “Because you rejoice, because you sing in triumph—you who plunder My inheritance—because you frolic like a heifer treading grain and neigh like stallions,

²⁰ “You are My war club, My weapon for battle. With you I shatter nations; with you I bring kingdoms to ruin. ²¹ With you I shatter the horse and rider; with you I shatter the chariot and driver. ²² With you I shatter man and woman; with you I shatter the old man and the youth; with you I shatter the young man and the maiden. ²³ With you I shatter the shepherd and his flock; with you I shatter the farmer and his oxen; with you I shatter the governors and officials.

³⁴ “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me; he has crushed me. He has set me aside like an empty vessel; he has swallowed me like a monster; he filled his belly with my delicacies and vomited me out.

² You hate good and love evil. You tear the skin from my people and strip the flesh from their bones. ³ You eat the flesh of my people after stripping off their skin and breaking their bones. You chop them up like flesh for the cooking pot, like meat in a cauldron.”

³ And I will empower my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”

⁶ I could see that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and witnesses for Jesus. And I was utterly amazed at the sight of her.

² to deprive the poor of fair treatment and withhold justice from the oppressed of My people, to make widows their prey and orphans their plunder.

¹⁵ Whoever is caught will be stabbed, and whoever is captured will die by the sword. ¹⁶ Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes, their houses will be looted, and their wives will be ravished. ¹⁷ Behold, I will stir up against them the Medes, who have no regard for silver and no desire for gold. ¹⁸ Their bows will dash young men to pieces; they will have no mercy on the fruit of the womb; they will not look with pity on the children.

⁶ if you no longer oppress the foreigner and the fatherless and the widow, and if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods to your own harm,

³ This is what the LORD says: Administer justice and righteousness. Rescue the victim of robbery from the hand of his oppressor. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Do not shed innocent blood in this place.

⁷ Father and mother are treated with contempt. Within your walls the foreign resident is exploited, the fatherless and the widow are oppressed.

⁵ “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts.

¹² Is not God as high as the heavens? Look at the highest stars, how lofty they are! ¹³ Yet you say: ‘What does God know? Does He judge through thick darkness?

¹¹ He says to himself, “God has forgotten; He hides His face and never sees.” ¹² Arise, O LORD! Lift up Your hand, O God! Do not forget the helpless. ¹³ Why has the wicked man renounced God? He says to himself, “You will never call me to account.”

¹⁵ Woe to those who dig deep to hide their plans from the LORD. In darkness they do their works and say, “Who sees us, and who will know?”

¹² “Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol? For they are saying, ‘The LORD does not see us; the LORD has forsaken the land.’”

⁹ He replied, “The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceedingly great. The land is full of bloodshed, and the city is full of perversity. For they say, ‘The LORD has forsaken the land; the LORD does not see.’

¹² And at that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps and punish the men settled in complacency, who say to themselves, ‘The LORD will do nothing, either good or bad.’

³ And there was a widow in that town who kept appealing to him, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ ⁴ For a while he refused, but later he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect men,

²⁹ If only they were wise, they would understand it; they would comprehend their fate.

¹⁰ For it is clear that wise men die, and the foolish and the senseless both perish and leave their wealth to others.

²² I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before You.

⁶ A senseless man does not know, and a fool does not understand,

²² “How long, O simple ones, will you love your simple ways? How long will scoffers delight in their scorn and fools hate knowledge?

⁵ O simple ones, learn to be shrewd; O fools, gain understanding.

¹ Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates correction is stupid.

¹¹ When its limbs are dry, they are broken off. Women come and use them for kindling; for this is a people without understanding. Therefore their Maker has no compassion on them, and their Creator shows them no favor.

⁶ I have listened and heard; they do not speak what is right. No one repents of his wickedness, asking, ‘What have I done?’ Everyone has pursued his own course like a horse charging into battle. ⁷ Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons. The turtledove, the swift, and the thrush keep their time of migration, but My people do not know the requirements of the LORD. ⁸ How can you say, ‘We are wise, and the Law of the LORD is with us,’ when in fact the lying pen of the scribes has produced a deception?

⁸ But they are altogether senseless and foolish, instructed by worthless idols made of wood!

¹¹ There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.

³ For at one time we too were foolish, disobedient, misled, and enslaved to all sorts of desires and pleasures—living in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.

¹¹ And the LORD said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Or who makes the mute or the deaf, the sighted or the blind? Is it not I, the LORD?

⁴ The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD is on His heavenly throne. His eyes are watching closely; they examine the sons of men.

³ You have tried my heart; You have visited me in the night. You have tested me and found no evil; I have resolved not to sin with my mouth.

²¹ would not God have discovered, since He knows the secrets of the heart?

¹ For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. O LORD, You have searched me and known me. ² You know when I sit and when I rise; You understand my thoughts from afar. ³ You search out my path and my lying down; You are aware of all my ways. ⁴ Even before a word is on my tongue, You know all about it, O LORD. ⁵ You hem me in behind and before; You have laid Your hand upon me. ⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. ⁷ Where can I go to escape Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? ⁸ If I ascend to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there. ⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle by the farthest sea, ¹⁰ even there Your hand will guide me; Your right hand will hold me fast. ¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me, and the light become night around me”— ¹² even the darkness is not dark to You, but the night shines like the day, for darkness is as light to You.

¹ Wine is a mocker, strong drink is a brawler, and whoever is led astray by them is not wise.

¹² Ears that hear and eyes that see—the LORD has made them both.

²³ “Am I only a God nearby,” declares the LORD, “and not a God far away?” ²⁴ “Can a man hide in secret places where I cannot see him?” declares the LORD. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the LORD.

¹¹ who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the air?’

⁵ You have rebuked the nations; You have destroyed the wicked; You have erased their name forever and ever.

¹⁶ The LORD is King forever and ever; the nations perish from His land.

⁸ Good and upright is the LORD; therefore He shows sinners the way. ⁹ He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them His way.

² With Your hand You drove out the nations and planted our fathers there; You crushed the peoples and cast them out.

⁶⁶ Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in Your commandments.

⁸ He struck down the firstborn of Egypt, of both man and beast. ⁹ He sent signs and wonders into your midst, O Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants. ¹⁰ He struck down many nations and slaughtered mighty kings: ¹¹ Sihon king of the Amorites, Og king of Bashan, and all the kings of Canaan. ¹² He gave their land as an inheritance, as a heritage to His people Israel.

⁷ to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples,

⁶ For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.

³ And many peoples will come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways so that we may walk in His paths.” For the law will go forth from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

⁵ Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger; the staff in their hands is My wrath. ⁶ I will send him against a godless nation; I will dispatch him against a people destined for My rage, to take spoils and seize plunder, and to trample them down like clay in the streets.

²⁶ For his God instructs and teaches him properly.

³⁶ Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies!

¹³ Then all your sons will be taught by the LORD, and great will be their prosperity.

²⁵ Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge You, and on the families that do not call on Your name. For they have devoured Jacob; they have consumed him and finished him off; they have devastated his homeland.

²¹ I will display My glory among the nations, and all the nations will see the judgment that I execute and the hand that I lay upon them.

² “Only you have I known from all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”

¹² Are You not from everlasting, O LORD, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. O LORD, You have appointed them to execute judgment; O Rock, You have established them for correction.

¹² You marched across the earth with fury; You threshed the nations in wrath.

⁴⁵ It is written in the Prophets: ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from Him comes to Me—

¹¹ Surely He knows the deceit of men. If He sees iniquity, does He not take note? ¹² But a witless man can no more become wise than the colt of a wild donkey can be born a man!

¹⁰ For it is clear that wise men die, and the foolish and the senseless both perish and leave their wealth to others. ¹¹ Their graves are their eternal homes—their dwellings for endless generations—even though their lands were their namesakes. ¹² But a man, despite his wealth, cannot endure; he is like the beasts that perish. ¹³ This is the fate of the self-confident and their followers who endorse their sayings. Selah

²¹ For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts. ²² Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools,

¹⁹ For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

²¹ For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know Him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.

²⁵ For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.

²⁰ And again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”

⁵ So know in your heart that just as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.

¹⁷ Blessed indeed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.

¹⁶ He opens their ears and terrifies them with warnings ¹⁷ to turn a man from wrongdoing and keep him from pride, ¹⁸ to preserve his soul from the Pit and his life from perishing by the sword. ¹⁹ A man is also chastened on his bed with pain and constant distress in his bones, ²⁰ so that he detests his bread, and his soul loathes his favorite food. ²¹ His flesh wastes away from sight, and his hidden bones protrude. ²² He draws near to the Pit, and his life to the messengers of death. ²³ Yet if there is a messenger on his side, one mediator in a thousand, to tell a man what is right for him, ²⁴ to be gracious to him and say, ‘Spare him from going down to the Pit; I have found his ransom,’ ²⁵ then his flesh is refreshed like a child’s; he returns to the days of his youth.

⁶⁷ Before I was afflicted, I went astray; but now I keep Your word.

⁷¹ It was good for me to be afflicted, that I might learn Your statutes.

¹¹ My son, do not reject the discipline of the LORD, and do not loathe His rebuke; ¹² for the LORD disciplines the one He loves, as does a father the son in whom he delights.

⁹ The voice of the LORD calls out to the city (and it is sound wisdom to fear Your name): “Heed the rod and the One who ordained it.

³² But when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.

⁵ And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not take lightly the discipline of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you. ⁶ For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.” ⁷ Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? ⁸ If you do not experience discipline like everyone else, then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. ⁹ Furthermore, we have all had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not much more submit to the Father of our spirits and live? ¹⁰ Our fathers disciplined us for a short time as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good, so that we may share in His holiness. ¹¹ No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields a harvest of righteousness and peace to those who have been trained by it.

¹⁹ Those I love, I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be earnest and repent.

²⁹ But when He remains silent, who can condemn Him? When He hides His face, who can see Him? Yet He watches over both man and nation,

¹⁵ The nations have fallen into a pit of their making; their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.

⁵ Why should I fear in times of trouble, when wicked usurpers surround me?

²³ But You, O God, will bring them down to the Pit of destruction; men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days. But I will trust in You.

²⁰ Go, my people, enter your rooms and shut your doors behind you. Hide yourselves a little while until the wrath has passed. ²¹ For behold, the LORD is coming out of His dwelling to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth will reveal her bloodshed and will no longer conceal her slain.

²⁰ Should good be repaid with evil? Yet they have dug a pit for me. Remember how I stood before You to speak good on their behalf, to turn Your wrath from them.

²² Let a cry be heard from their houses when You suddenly bring raiders against them, for they have dug a pit to capture me and have hidden snares for my feet.

¹⁶ I heard and trembled within; my lips quivered at the sound. Decay entered my bones; I trembled where I stood. Yet I must wait patiently for the day of distress to come upon the people who invade us.

¹⁷ For our light and momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory that is far beyond comparison. ¹⁸ So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

⁷ and to grant relief to you who are oppressed and to us as well. This will take place when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels ⁸ in blazing fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.

⁹ There remains, then, a Sabbath rest for the people of God.

⁹ if all this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.

³ Most importantly, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. ⁴ “Where is the promise of His coming?” they will ask. “Ever since our fathers fell asleep, everything continues as it has from the beginning of creation.” ⁵ But they deliberately overlook the fact that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water, ⁶ through which the world of that time perished in the flood. ⁷ And by that same word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.

¹⁰ And they cried out in a loud voice, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You avenge our blood and judge those who dwell upon the earth?” ¹¹ Then each of them was given a white robe and told to rest a little while longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers, were killed, just as they had been killed.

¹⁸ The nations were enraged, and Your wrath has come. The time has come to judge the dead and to reward Your servants the prophets, as well as the saints and those who fear Your name, both small and great—and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”

¹³ And I heard a voice from heaven telling me to write, “Blessed are the dead—those who die in the Lord from this moment on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labors, for their deeds will follow them.”

⁹ But the LORD’s portion is His people, Jacob His allotted inheritance.

²² Indeed, for the sake of His great name, the LORD will not abandon His people, because He was pleased to make you His own.

¹² Who is the man who delights in life, who desires to see good days?

²⁸ For the LORD loves justice and will not forsake His saints. They are preserved forever, but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off.

⁵ They crush Your people, O LORD; they oppress Your heritage.

¹⁴ But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me; the Lord has forgotten me!” ¹⁵ “Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the son of her womb? Even if she could forget, I will not forget you!

¹⁶ The Portion of Jacob is not like these, for He is the Maker of all things, and Israel is the tribe of His inheritance—the LORD of Hosts is His name.

³⁹ I will give them one heart and one way, so that they will always fear Me for their own good and for the good of their children after them. ⁴⁰ I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never turn away from doing good to them, and I will put My fear in their hearts, so that they will never turn away from Me.

²⁷ My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. ²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand. ²⁹ My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and the Father are one.” ³¹ At this, the Jews again picked up stones to stone Him.

³⁰ And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified.

³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

¹ I ask then, did God reject His people? Certainly not! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. ² God did not reject His people, whom He foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says about Elijah, how he appealed to God against Israel:

¹⁸ I ask that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you may know the hope of His calling, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints,

⁵ Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said: “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”

³⁵ Vengeance is Mine; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; for their day of disaster is near, and their doom is coming quickly.” ³⁶ For the LORD will vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants when He sees that their strength is gone and no one remains, slave or free.

⁹ Yet a righteous one holds to his way, and the one with clean hands grows stronger.

¹¹ My feet have followed in His tracks; I have kept His way without turning aside. ¹² I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my daily bread.

¹⁴ How much less, then, when you say that you do not see Him, that your case is before Him and you must wait for Him,

⁸ The LORD judges the peoples; vindicate me, O LORD, according to my righteousness and integrity. ⁹ Put an end to the evil of the wicked, but establish the righteous, O righteous God who searches hearts and minds.

¹⁶ The LORD is known by the justice He brings; the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands. Higgaion Selah

⁵ Commit your way to the LORD; trust in Him, and He will do it. ⁶ He will bring forth your righteousness like the dawn, your justice like the noonday sun. ⁷ Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for Him; do not fret when men prosper in their ways, when they carry out wicked schemes.

³⁴ Wait for the LORD and keep His way, and He will raise you up to inherit the land. When the wicked are cut off, you will see it.

¹¹ Then men will say, “There is surely a reward for the righteous! There is surely a God who judges the earth!”

² Rise up, O Judge of the earth; render a reward to the proud. ³ How long will the wicked, O LORD, how long will the wicked exult?

² Clouds and darkness surround Him; righteousness and justice are His throne’s foundation.

³ For the scepter of the wicked will not rest upon the land allotted to the righteous, so that the righteous will not put forth their hands to injustice. ⁴ Do good, O LORD, to those who are good, and to the upright in heart. ⁵ But those who turn to crooked ways the LORD will banish with the evildoers. Peace be upon Israel.

³ A bruised reed He will not break and a smoldering wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice.

⁹ Because I have sinned against Him, I must endure the rage of the LORD, until He argues my case and executes justice for me. He will bring me into the light; I will see His righteousness.

¹⁸ So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.”

⁷ Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer awaits the precious fruit of the soil—how patient he is for the fall and spring rains. ⁸ You, too, be patient and strengthen your hearts, because the Lord’s coming is near. ⁹ Do not complain about one another, brothers, so that you will not be judged. Look, the Judge is standing at the door! ¹⁰ Brothers, as an example of patience in affliction, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. ¹¹ See how blessed we consider those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen the outcome from the Lord. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

⁸ Beloved, do not let this one thing escape your notice: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. ⁹ The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise as some understand slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance. ¹⁰ But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and its works will be laid bare.

¹⁹ They went out from us, but they did not belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But their departure made it clear that none of them belonged to us.

³ and they sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb: “Great and wonderful are Your works, O Lord God Almighty! Just and true are Your ways, O King of the nations! ⁴ Who will not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before You, for Your righteous acts have been revealed.”

²⁶ So Moses stood at the entrance to the camp and said, “Whoever is for the LORD, come to me.” And all the Levites gathered around him. ²⁷ He told them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Each of you men is to fasten his sword to his side, go back and forth through the camp from gate to gate, and slay his brother, his friend, and his neighbor.’” ²⁸ The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people fell dead. ²⁹ Afterward, Moses said, “Today you have been ordained for service to the LORD, since each man went against his son and his brother; so the LORD has bestowed a blessing on you this day.”

³⁵ Whenever the ark set out, Moses would say, “Rise up, O LORD! May Your enemies be scattered; may those who hate You flee before You.”

⁶ Just then an Israelite man brought to his family a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and the whole congregation of Israel while they were weeping at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. ⁷ On seeing this, Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, got up from the assembly, took a spear in his hand, ⁸ followed the Israelite into his tent, and drove the spear through both of them—through the Israelite and on through the belly of the woman. So the plague against the Israelites was halted, ⁹ but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000. ¹⁰ Then the LORD said to Moses, ¹¹ “Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned My wrath away from the Israelites; for he was zealous for My sake among them, so that I did not consume the Israelites in My zeal. ¹² Declare, therefore, that I am granting him My covenant of peace. ¹³ It will be a covenant of permanent priesthood for him and his descendants, because he was zealous for his God and made atonement for the Israelites.”

²³ ‘Curse Meroz,’ says the angel of the LORD. ‘Bitterly curse her inhabitants; for they did not come to help the LORD, to help the LORD against the mighty.’

³⁹ When all the people saw this, they fell facedown and said, “The LORD, He is God! The LORD, He is God!” ⁴⁰ Then Elijah ordered them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let a single one escape.” So they seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered them there.

³² He looked up at the window and called out, “Who is on my side? Who?” And two or three eunuchs looked down at him.

¹⁵ When he left there, he found Jehonadab son of Rechab, who was coming to meet him. Jehu greeted him and asked, “Is your heart as true to mine as my heart is to yours?” “It is!” Jehonadab replied. “If it is,” said Jehu, “give me your hand.” So he gave him his hand, and Jehu helped him into his chariot,

⁷ and after serious thought I rebuked the nobles and officials, saying, “You are exacting usury from your own brothers!” So I called a large assembly against them

¹³ Arise, O LORD, confront them! Bring them to their knees; deliver me from the wicked by Your sword,

² Deliver me from workers of iniquity, and save me from men of bloodshed.

¹⁶ He saw that there was no man; He was amazed that there was no one to intercede. So His own arm brought salvation, and His own righteousness sustained Him.

⁵ I looked, but there was no one to help; I was appalled that no one assisted. So My arm brought Me salvation, and My own wrath upheld Me.

¹ “Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem. Look now and take note; search her squares. If you can find a single person, anyone who acts justly, anyone who seeks the truth, then I will forgive the city.

¹⁶ Then the officials and all the people told the priests and prophets, “This man is not worthy of death, for he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God!” ¹⁷ Some of the elders of the land stood up and said to the whole assembly of the people, ¹⁸ “Micah the Moreshite prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah and told all the people of Judah that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, and the temple mount a wooded ridge.’ ¹⁹ Did Hezekiah king of Judah or anyone else in Judah put him to death? Did Hezekiah not fear the LORD and seek His favor, and did not the LORD relent of the disaster He had pronounced against them? But we are about to bring great harm on ourselves!”

³⁰ I searched for a man among them to repair the wall and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, so that I should not destroy it. But I found no one.

³⁰ He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.

⁵⁰ Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who himself was one of them, asked, ⁵¹ “Does our law convict a man without first hearing from him to determine what he has done?”

⁸ Therefore we ought to support such men, so that we may be fellow workers for the truth.

³ Consider me and respond, O LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, lest I sleep in death,

¹⁷ O LORD, let me not be ashamed, for I have called on You. Let the wicked be put to shame; let them lie silent in Sheol.

¹⁷ It is not the dead who praise the LORD, nor any who descend into silence.

¹³ I was pushed so hard I was falling, but the LORD helped me.

¹ A song of ascents. Of David. If the LORD had not been on our side—let Israel now declare— ² if the LORD had not been on our side when men attacked us,

¹ A song of ascents. Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion. It cannot be moved; it abides forever.

⁴ Look to my right and see; no one attends to me. There is no refuge for me; no one cares for my soul. ⁵ I cry to You, O LORD: “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”

³² “Look, an hour is coming and has already come when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and you will leave Me all alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.

⁸ We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the hardships we encountered in the province of Asia. We were under a burden far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. ⁹ Indeed, we felt we were under the sentence of death, in order that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead. ¹⁰ He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver us. In Him we have placed our hope that He will yet again deliver us,

¹⁶ At my first defense, no one stood with me, but everyone deserted me. May it not be charged against them. ¹⁷ But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message would be fully proclaimed, and all the Gentiles would hear it. So I was delivered from the mouth of the lion.

⁹ He guards the steps of His faithful ones, but the wicked perish in darkness; for by his own strength shall no man prevail.

⁵ My steps have held to Your paths; my feet have not slipped.

²³ The steps of a man are ordered by the LORD who takes delight in his journey. ²⁴ Though he falls, he will not be overwhelmed, for the LORD is holding his hand.

¹⁶ For I said, “Let them not gloat over me—those who taunt me when my foot slips.”

² But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped.

¹¹⁶ Sustain me as You promised, that I may live; let me not be ashamed of my hope. ¹¹⁷ Uphold me, and I will be saved, that I may always regard Your statutes.

³ He will not allow your foot to slip; your Protector will not slumber.

¹⁰ Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be afraid, for I am your God. I will strengthen you; I will surely help you; I will uphold you with My right hand of righteousness.

³² But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith will not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

⁵ “Why wasn’t this perfume sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?”

⁵ who through faith are shielded by God’s power for the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

² For You are the God of my refuge. Why have You rejected me? Why must I walk in sorrow because of the enemy’s oppression? ³ Send out Your light and Your truth; let them lead me. Let them bring me to Your holy mountain, and to the place where You dwell. ⁴ Then I will go to the altar of God, to God, my greatest joy. I will praise You with the harp, O God, my God. ⁵ Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why the unease within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.

² From the ends of the earth I call out to You whenever my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

⁵ My soul is satisfied as with the richest of foods; with joyful lips my mouth will praise You. ⁶ When I remember You on my bed, I think of You through the watches of the night.

¹² Behold, these are the wicked—always carefree as they increase their wealth. ¹³ Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure; in innocence I have washed my hands. ¹⁴ For I am afflicted all day long and punished every morning. ¹⁵ If I had said, “I will speak this way,” then I would have betrayed Your children. ¹⁶ When I tried to understand all this, it was troublesome in my sight

² In the day of trouble I sought the Lord; through the night my outstretched hands did not grow weary; my soul refused to be comforted. ³ I remembered You, O God, and I groaned; I mused and my spirit grew faint. Selah ⁴ You have kept my eyes from closing; I am too troubled to speak. ⁵ I considered the days of old, the years long in the past. ⁶ At night I remembered my song; in my heart I mused, and my spirit pondered: ⁷ “Will the Lord spurn us forever and never show His favor again? ⁸ Is His loving devotion gone forever? Has His promise failed for all time? ⁹ Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has His anger shut off His compassion?” Selah ¹⁰ So I said, “I am grieved that the right hand of the Most High has changed.”

⁷ You have deceived me, O LORD, and I was deceived. You have overcome me and prevailed. I am a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me. ⁸ For whenever I speak, I cry out; I proclaim violence and destruction. For the word of the LORD has become to me a reproach and derision all day long. ⁹ If I say, “I will not mention Him or speak any more in His name,” His message becomes a fire burning in my heart, shut up in my bones, and I become weary of holding it in, and I cannot prevail. ¹⁰ For I have heard the whispering of many: “Terror is on every side! Report him; let us report him!” All my trusted friends watch for my fall: “Perhaps he will be deceived so that we may prevail against him and take our vengeance upon him.” ¹¹ But the LORD is with me like a fearsome warrior. Therefore, my persecutors will stumble and will not prevail. Since they have not succeeded, they will be utterly put to shame, with an everlasting disgrace that will never be forgotten.

¹⁶ I heard and trembled within; my lips quivered at the sound. Decay entered my bones; I trembled where I stood. Yet I must wait patiently for the day of distress to come upon the people who invade us. ¹⁷ Though the fig tree does not bud and no fruit is on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though the sheep are cut off from the fold and no cattle are in the stalls, ¹⁸ yet I will exult in the LORD; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!

² through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. ³ Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.

⁴ who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. ⁵ For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so also through Christ our comfort overflows.

⁷ so that the proven character of your faith—more precious than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ⁸ Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy,

¹² “Listen now, son of Ahitub,” said Saul. “Here I am, my lord,” he replied.

³² And Jeroboam ordained a feast on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the feast that was in Judah, and he offered sacrifices on the altar; he made this offering in Bethel to sacrifice to the calves he had set up, and he installed priests in Bethel for the high places he had set up.

¹⁴ and said: “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven or on earth, keeping Your covenant of loving devotion with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts. ¹⁵ You have kept Your promise to Your servant, my father David. What You spoke with Your mouth You have fulfilled with Your hand this day. ¹⁶ Therefore now, O LORD, God of Israel, keep for Your servant, my father David, what You promised when You said: ‘You will never fail to have a man to sit before Me on the throne of Israel, if only your descendants guard their way to walk in My law as you have walked before Me.’

⁶ And when he learned the identity of Mordecai’s people, he scorned the notion of laying hands on Mordecai alone. Instead, he sought to destroy all of Mordecai’s people, the Jews, throughout the kingdom of Xerxes. ⁷ In the twelfth year of King Xerxes, in the first month, the month of Nisan, the Pur (that is, the lot) was cast before Haman to determine a day and month. And the lot fell on the twelfth month, the month of Adar. ⁸ Then Haman informed King Xerxes, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples of every province of your kingdom. Their laws are different from everyone else’s, and they do not obey the king’s laws. So it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them. ⁹ If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them, and I will deposit ten thousand talents of silver into the royal treasury to pay those who carry it out.” ¹⁰ So the king removed the signet ring from his finger and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews. ¹¹ “Keep your money,” said the king to Haman. “These people are given to you to do with them as you please.” ¹² On the thirteenth day of the first month, the royal scribes were summoned and the order was written exactly as Haman commanded the royal satraps, the governors of each province, and the officials of each people, in the script of each province and the language of every people. It was written in the name of King Xerxes and sealed with the royal signet ring.

¹⁶ To the wicked, however, God says, “What right have you to recite My statutes and to bear My covenant on your lips?

² No, in your hearts you devise injustice; with your hands you mete out violence on the earth.

¹ A Psalm of Asaph. God presides in the divine assembly; He renders judgment among the gods:

¹⁶ Furthermore, I saw under the sun that in the place of judgment there is wickedness, and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness.

⁸ If you see the oppression of the poor and the denial of justice and righteousness in the province, do not be astonished at the matter; for one official is watched by a superior, and others higher still are over them.

¹¹ “What good to Me is your multitude of sacrifices?” says the LORD. “I am full from the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed cattle; I take no delight in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. ¹² When you come to appear before Me, who has required this of you—this trampling of My courts? ¹³ Bring your worthless offerings no more; your incense is detestable to Me—your New Moons, Sabbaths, and convocations. I cannot endure iniquity in a solemn assembly. ¹⁴ I hate your New Moons and your appointed feasts. They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. ¹⁵ When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you multiply your prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood. ¹⁶ Wash and cleanse yourselves. Remove your evil deeds from My sight. Stop doing evil! ¹⁷ Learn to do right; seek justice and correct the oppressor. Defend the fatherless and plead the case of the widow.” ¹⁸ “Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are as red as crimson, they will become like wool. ¹⁹ If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best of the land. ²⁰ But if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

¹ Woe to those who enact unjust statutes and issue oppressive decrees,

⁴ Do not trust in deceptive words, chanting: ‘This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.’ ⁵ For if you really correct your ways and deeds, if you act justly toward one another, ⁶ if you no longer oppress the foreigner and the fatherless and the widow, and if you no longer shed innocent blood in this place or follow other gods to your own harm, ⁷ then I will let you live in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever. ⁸ But look, you keep trusting in deceptive words to no avail. ⁹ Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods that you have not known, ¹⁰ and then come and stand before Me in this house, which bears My Name, and say, ‘We are delivered, so we can continue with all these abominations’? ¹¹ Has this house, which bears My Name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Yes, I too have seen it, declares the LORD.

⁴ Then the herald loudly proclaimed, “O people of every nation and language, this is what you are commanded: ⁵ As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes, and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. ⁶ And whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into the blazing fiery furnace.” ⁷ Therefore, as soon as all the people heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, and all kinds of music, the people of every nation and language would fall down and worship the golden statue that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

⁷ All the royal administrators, prefects, satraps, advisers, and governors have agreed that the king should establish an ordinance and enforce a decree that for thirty days anyone who petitions any god or man except you, O king, will be thrown into the den of lions. ⁸ Therefore, O king, establish the decree and sign the document so that it cannot be changed—in accordance with the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.” ⁹ Therefore King Darius signed the written decree.

³ You dismiss the day of calamity and bring near a reign of violence.

¹⁶ You have kept the statutes of Omri and all the practices of Ahab’s house; you have followed their counsel. Therefore I will make you a desolation, and your inhabitants an object of contempt; you will bear the scorn of the nations.”

²² His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews. For the Jews had already determined that anyone who confessed Jesus as the Christ would be put out of the synagogue.

⁵⁷ But the chief priests and Pharisees had given orders that anyone who knew where He was must report it, so that they could arrest Him.

²⁸ Then they led Jesus away from Caiaphas into the Praetorium. By now it was early morning, and the Jews did not enter the Praetorium, to avoid being defiled and unable to eat the Passover.

⁵ And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you: God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. ⁶ If we say we have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

¹⁵ The second beast was permitted to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship it to be killed. ¹⁶ And the second beast required all people small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their forehead, ¹⁷ so that no one could buy or sell unless he had the mark—the name of the beast or the number of its name.

⁷ Stay far away from a false accusation. Do not kill the innocent or the just, for I will not acquit the guilty.

¹⁹ Tell him that this is what the LORD says: ‘Have you not murdered a man and seized his land?’ Then tell him that this is also what the LORD says: ‘In the place where the dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, there also the dogs will lick up your blood—yes, yours!’”

¹ Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? ² The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together, against the LORD and against His Anointed One: ³ “Let us break Their chains and cast away Their cords.”

¹⁶ For dogs surround me; a band of evil men encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet.

⁶ They conspire, they lurk, they watch my steps while they wait to take my life.

³ See how they lie in wait for me. Fierce men conspire against me for no transgression or sin of my own, O LORD.

³⁸ They shed innocent blood—the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood.

¹¹ If they say, “Come along, let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without cause,

¹⁶ For their feet run to evil, and they are swift to shed blood.

¹⁵ Acquitting the guilty and condemning the righteous—both are detestable to the LORD.

¹⁵ But know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves, upon this city, and upon its residents; for truly the LORD has sent me to speak all these words in your hearing.”

⁶ See how every prince of Israel within you has used his power to shed blood.

¹² In you they take bribes to shed blood. You engage in usury, take excess interest, and extort your neighbors. But Me you have forgotten, declares the Lord GOD.

²⁷ Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey, shedding blood, and destroying lives for dishonest gain.

³² Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your fathers. ³³ You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape the sentence of hell? ³⁴ Because of this, I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and others you will flog in your synagogues and persecute in town after town. ³⁵ And so upon you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. ³⁶ Truly I tell you, all these things will come upon this generation.

¹ When morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people conspired against Jesus to put Him to death.

⁴ “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood,” he said. “What is that to us?” they replied. “You bear the responsibility.”

⁵ The next day the rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem, ⁶ along with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and many others from the high priest’s family. ⁷ They had Peter and John brought in and began to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this?”

²⁷ In fact, this is the very city where Herod and Pontius Pilate conspired with the Gentiles and the people of Israel against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed. ²⁸ They carried out what Your hand and will had decided beforehand would happen.

⁵² Which of the prophets did your fathers fail to persecute? They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One. And now you are His betrayers and murderers—

⁵⁸ They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile the witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. ⁵⁹ While they were stoning him, Stephen appealed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” ⁶⁰ Falling on his knees, he cried out in a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

⁶ You have condemned and murdered the righteous, who did not resist you.

⁹ The LORD is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.

² The LORD is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer. My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

¹ Of David. The LORD is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life—whom shall I dread? ² When the wicked came upon me to devour my flesh, my enemies and foes stumbled and fell. ³ Though an army encamps around me, my heart will not fear; though a war breaks out against me, I will keep my trust.

⁹ I will keep watch for You, O my strength, because You, O God, are my fortress.

¹⁶ But I will sing of Your strength and proclaim Your loving devotion in the morning. For You are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble. ¹⁷ To You, O my strength, I sing praises, for You, O God, are my fortress, my God of loving devotion.

² He alone is my rock and my salvation. He is my fortress; I will never be shaken.

⁶ He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress; I will not be shaken.

¹⁰ He who admonishes the nations, does He not discipline? He who teaches man, does He lack knowledge?

¹⁶ he will dwell on the heights; the mountain fortress will be his refuge; his food will be provided and his water assured.

¹⁰ David added, “As surely as the LORD lives, the LORD Himself will strike him down; either his day will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish. ¹¹ But the LORD forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the LORD’s anointed. Instead, take the spear and water jug by his head, and let us go.”

¹⁶ His trouble recoils on himself, and his violence falls on his own head.

¹⁶ The LORD is known by the justice He brings; the wicked are ensnared by the work of their hands. Higgaion Selah ¹⁷ The wicked will return to Sheol—all the nations who forget God.

³ May the LORD cut off all flattering lips and every boastful tongue.

⁸ They will be made to stumble, their own tongues turned against them. All who see will shake their heads.

³¹ So they will eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices.

²² but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be uprooted.

²² The iniquities of a wicked man entrap him; the cords of his sin entangle him.

³² The wicked man is thrown down by his own sin, but the righteous man has a refuge even in death.

²⁴ But if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and practices iniquity, committing the same abominations as the wicked, will he live? None of the righteous acts he did will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness and sin he has committed, he will die.

²⁴ And the ten horns are ten kings who will rise from this kingdom. After them another king, different from the earlier ones, will rise and subdue three kings.

²⁶ Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and will have nothing. Then the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood, and until the end there will be war; desolations have been decreed.