Prayers

(Genesis 18:22-33) ²² Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before the Lord. ²³ Abraham came near and said, “Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? ²⁴ Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it? ²⁵ Far be it from You to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?” ²⁶ So the Lord said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place on their account.” ²⁷ And Abraham replied, “Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but dust and ashes. ²⁸ Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five, will You destroy the whole city because of five?” And He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” ²⁹ He spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose forty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it on account of the forty.” ³⁰ Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak; suppose thirty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” ³¹ And he said, “Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord; suppose twenty are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the twenty.” ³² Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak only this once; suppose ten are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the ten.” ³³ As soon as He had finished speaking to Abraham the Lord departed, and Abraham returned to his place.

(Genesis 24:12-14) ¹² He said, “O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today, and show lovingkindness to my master Abraham. ¹³ Behold, I am standing by the spring, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water; ¹⁴ now may it be that the girl to whom I say, ‘Please let down your jar so that I may drink,’ and who answers, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels also’—may she be the one whom You have appointed for Your servant Isaac; and by this I will know that You have shown lovingkindness to my master.”

(Genesis 27) ¹ Now it came about, when Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see, that he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” And he said to him, “Here I am.” ² Isaac said, “Behold now, I am old and I do not know the day of my death. ³ Now then, please take your gear, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me; ⁴ and prepare a savory dish for me such as I love, and bring it to me that I may eat, so that my soul may bless you before I die.” ⁵ Rebekah was listening while Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game to bring home, ⁶ Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “Behold, I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, saying, ⁷ ‘Bring me some game and prepare a savory dish for me, that I may eat, and bless you in the presence of the Lord before my death.’ ⁸ Now therefore, my son, listen to me as I command you. ⁹ Go now to the flock and bring me two choice young goats from there, that I may prepare them as a savory dish for your father, such as he loves. ¹⁰ Then you shall bring it to your father, that he may eat, so that he may bless you before his death.” ¹¹ Jacob answered his mother Rebekah, “Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man and I am a smooth man. ¹² Perhaps my father will feel me, then I will be as a deceiver in his sight, and I will bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing.” ¹³ But his mother said to him, “Your curse be on me, my son; only obey my voice, and go, get them for me.” ¹⁴ So he went and got them, and brought them to his mother; and his mother made savory food such as his father loved. ¹⁵ Then Rebekah took the best garments of Esau her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son. ¹⁶ And she put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck. ¹⁷ She also gave the savory food and the bread, which she had made, to her son Jacob. ¹⁸ Then he came to his father and said, “My father.” And he said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?” ¹⁹ Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn; I have done as you told me. Get up, please, sit and eat of my game, that you may bless me.” ²⁰ Isaac said to his son, “How is it that you have it so quickly, my son?” And he said, “Because the Lord your God caused it to happen to me.” ²¹ Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come close, that I may feel you, my son, whether you are really my son Esau or not.” ²² So Jacob came close to Isaac his father, and he felt him and said, “The voice is the voice of Jacob, but the hands are the hands of Esau.” ²³ He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau’s hands; so he blessed him. ²⁴ And he said, “Are you really my son Esau?” And he said, “I am.” ²⁵ So he said, “Bring it to me, and I will eat of my son’s game, that I may bless you.” And he brought it to him, and he ate; he also brought him wine and he drank. ²⁶ Then his father Isaac said to him, “Please come close and kiss me, my son.” ²⁷ So he came close and kissed him; and when he smelled the smell of his garments, he blessed him and said, “See, the smell of my son Is like the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed; ²⁸ Now may God give you of the dew of heaven, And of the fatness of the earth, And an abundance of grain and new wine; ²⁹ May peoples serve you, And nations bow down to you; Be master of your brothers, And may your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be those who curse you, And blessed be those who bless you.” ³⁰ Now it came about, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had hardly gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting. ³¹ Then he also made savory food, and brought it to his father; and he said to his father, “Let my father arise and eat of his son’s game, that you may bless me.” ³² Isaac his father said to him, “Who are you?” And he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.” ³³ Then Isaac trembled violently, and said, “Who was he then that hunted game and brought it to me, so that I ate of all of it before you came, and blessed him? Yes, and he shall be blessed.” ³⁴ When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried out with an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me, even me also, O my father!” ³⁵ And he said, “Your brother came deceitfully and has taken away your blessing.” ³⁶ Then he said, “Is he not rightly named Jacob, for he has supplanted me these two times? He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing.” And he said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?” ³⁷ But Isaac replied to Esau, “Behold, I have made him your master, and all his relatives I have given to him as servants; and with grain and new wine I have sustained him. Now as for you then, what can I do, my son?” ³⁸ Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me, even me also, O my father.” So Esau lifted his voice and wept. ³⁹ Then Isaac his father answered and said to him, “Behold, away from the fertility of the earth shall be your dwelling, And away from the dew of heaven from above. ⁴⁰ By your sword you shall live, And your brother you shall serve; But it shall come about when you become restless, That you will break his yoke from your neck.” ⁴¹ So Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said to himself, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.” ⁴² Now when the words of her elder son Esau were reported to Rebekah, she sent and called her younger son Jacob, and said to him, “Behold your brother Esau is consoling himself concerning you by planning to kill you. ⁴³ Now therefore, my son, obey my voice, and arise, flee to Haran, to my brother Laban! ⁴⁴ Stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury subsides, ⁴⁵ until your brother’s anger against you subsides and he forgets what you did to him. Then I will send and get you from there. Why should I be bereaved of you both in one day?” ⁴⁶ Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am tired of living because of the daughters of Heth; if Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth, like these, from the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?”

(Genesis 28) ¹ So Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and charged him, and said to him, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. ² Arise, go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother’s father; and from there take to yourself a wife from the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother. ³ May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may become a company of peoples. ⁴ May He also give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and to your descendants with you, that you may possess the land of your sojournings, which God gave to Abraham.” ⁵ Then Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau. ⁶ Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan-aram to take to himself a wife from there, and that when he blessed him he charged him, saying, “You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan,” ⁷ and that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Paddan-aram. ⁸ So Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan displeased his father Isaac; ⁹ and Esau went to Ishmael, and married, besides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth. ¹⁰ Then Jacob departed from Beersheba and went toward Haran. ¹¹ He came to a certain place and spent the night there, because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head, and lay down in that place. ¹² He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. ¹³ And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants. ¹⁴ Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. ¹⁵ Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” ¹⁶ Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” ¹⁷ He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” ¹⁸ So Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on its top. ¹⁹ He called the name of that place Bethel; however, previously the name of the city had been Luz. ²⁰ Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I take, and will give me food to eat and garments to wear, ²¹ and I return to my father’s house in safety, then the Lord will be my God. ²² This stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”

(Genesis 32) ¹ Now as Jacob went on his way, the angels of God met him. ² Jacob said when he saw them, “This is God’s camp.” So he named that place Mahanaim. ³ Then Jacob sent messengers before him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom. ⁴ He also commanded them saying, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: ‘Thus says your servant Jacob, “I have sojourned with Laban, and stayed until now; ⁵ I have oxen and donkeys and flocks and male and female servants; and I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your sight.” ’ ” ⁶ The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and furthermore he is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him.” ⁷ Then Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed; and he divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and the herds and the camels, into two companies; ⁸ for he said, “If Esau comes to the one company and attacks it, then the company which is left will escape.” ⁹ Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord, who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your relatives, and I will prosper you,’ ¹⁰ I am unworthy of all the lovingkindness and of all the faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant; for with my staff only I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies. ¹¹ Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, that he will come and attack me and the mothers with the children. ¹² For You said, ‘I will surely prosper you and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which is too great to be numbered.’ ” ¹³ So he spent the night there. Then he selected from what he had with him a present for his brother Esau: ¹⁴ two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams, ¹⁵ thirty milking camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys. ¹⁶ He delivered them into the hand of his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on before me, and put a space between droves.” ¹⁷ He commanded the one in front, saying, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks you, saying, ‘To whom do you belong, and where are you going, and to whom do these animals in front of you belong?’ ¹⁸ then you shall say, ‘These belong to your servant Jacob; it is a present sent to my lord Esau. And behold, he also is behind us.’ ” ¹⁹ Then he commanded also the second and the third, and all those who followed the droves, saying, “After this manner you shall speak to Esau when you find him; ²⁰ and you shall say, ‘Behold, your servant Jacob also is behind us.’ ” For he said, “I will appease him with the present that goes before me. Then afterward I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me.” ²¹ So the present passed on before him, while he himself spent that night in the camp. ²² Now he arose that same night and took his two wives and his two maids and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok. ²³ He took them and sent them across the stream. And he sent across whatever he had. ²⁴ Then Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. ²⁵ When he saw that he had not prevailed against him, he touched the socket of his thigh; so the socket of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated while he wrestled with him. ²⁶ Then he said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” But he said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” ²⁷ So he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” ²⁸ He said, “Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.” ²⁹ Then Jacob asked him and said, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And he blessed him there. ³⁰ So Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved.” ³¹ Now the sun rose upon him just as he crossed over Penuel, and he was limping on his thigh. ³² Therefore, to this day the sons of Israel do not eat the sinew of the hip which is on the socket of the thigh, because he touched the socket of Jacob’s thigh in the sinew of the hip.

(Genesis 48) ¹ Now it came about after these things that Joseph was told, “Behold, your father is sick.” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with him. ² When it was told to Jacob, “Behold, your son Joseph has come to you,” Israel collected his strength and sat up in the bed. ³ Then Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, ⁴ and He said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and numerous, and I will make you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your descendants after you for an everlasting possession.’ ⁵ Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are. ⁶ But your offspring that have been born after them shall be yours; they shall be called by the names of their brothers in their inheritance. ⁷ Now as for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died, to my sorrow, in the land of Canaan on the journey, when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).” ⁸ When Israel saw Joseph’s sons, he said, “Who are these?” ⁹ Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me here.” So he said, “Bring them to me, please, that I may bless them.” ¹⁰ Now the eyes of Israel were so dim from age that he could not see. Then Joseph brought them close to him, and he kissed them and embraced them. ¹¹ Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see your face, and behold, God has let me see your children as well.” ¹² Then Joseph took them from his knees, and bowed with his face to the ground. ¹³ Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel’s left, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel’s right, and brought them close to him. ¹⁴ But Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, crossing his hands, although Manasseh was the firstborn. ¹⁵ He blessed Joseph, and said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, The God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, ¹⁶ The angel who has redeemed me from all evil, Bless the lads; And may my name live on in them, And the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; And may they grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.” ¹⁷ When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on Ephraim’s head, it displeased him; and he grasped his father’s hand to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. ¹⁸ Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn. Place your right hand on his head.” ¹⁹ But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know; he also will become a people and he also will be great. However, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.” ²⁰ He blessed them that day, saying, “By you Israel will pronounce blessing, saying, ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh!’ ” Thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh. ²¹ Then Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am about to die, but God will be with you, and bring you back to the land of your fathers. ²² I give you one portion more than your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow.”

(Genesis 49) ¹ Then Jacob summoned his sons and said, “Assemble yourselves that I may tell you what will befall you in the days to come. ² Gather together and hear, O sons of Jacob; And listen to Israel your father. ³ “Reuben, you are my firstborn; My might and the beginning of my strength, Preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power. ⁴ Uncontrolled as water, you shall not have preeminence, Because you went up to your father’s bed; Then you defiled it—he went up to my couch. ⁵ “Simeon and Levi are brothers; Their swords are implements of violence. ⁶ Let my soul not enter into their council; Let not my glory be united with their assembly; Because in their anger they slew men, And in their self-will they lamed oxen. ⁷ Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce; And their wrath, for it is cruel. I will disperse them in Jacob, And scatter them in Israel. ⁸ “Judah, your brothers shall praise you; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father’s sons shall bow down to you. ⁹ Judah is a lion’s whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches, he lies down as a lion, And as a lion, who dares rouse him up? ¹⁰ The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes, And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. ¹¹ He ties his foal to the vine, And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine; He washes his garments in wine, And his robes in the blood of grapes. ¹² His eyes are dull from wine, And his teeth white from milk. ¹³ “Zebulun will dwell at the seashore; And he shall be a haven for ships, And his flank shall be toward Sidon. ¹⁴ “Issachar is a strong donkey, Lying down between the sheepfolds. ¹⁵ When he saw that a resting place was good And that the land was pleasant, He bowed his shoulder to bear burdens, And became a slave at forced labor. ¹⁶ “Dan shall judge his people, As one of the tribes of Israel. ¹⁷ Dan shall be a serpent in the way, A horned snake in the path, That bites the horse’s heels, So that his rider falls backward. ¹⁸ For Your salvation I wait, O Lord. ¹⁹ “As for Gad, raiders shall raid him, But he will raid at their heels. ²⁰ “As for Asher, his food shall be rich, And he will yield royal dainties. ²¹ “Naphtali is a doe let loose, He gives beautiful words. ²² “Joseph is a fruitful bough, A fruitful bough by a spring; Its branches run over a wall. ²³ The archers bitterly attacked him, And shot at him and harassed him; ²⁴ But his bow remained firm, And his arms were agile, From the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob (From there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel), ²⁵ From the God of your father who helps you, And by the Almighty who blesses you With blessings of heaven above, Blessings of the deep that lies beneath, Blessings of the breasts and of the womb. ²⁶ The blessings of your father Have surpassed the blessings of my ancestors Up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills; May they be on the head of Joseph, And on the crown of the head of the one distinguished among his brothers. ²⁷ “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; In the morning he devours the prey, And in the evening he divides the spoil.” ²⁸ All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them. He blessed them, every one with the blessing appropriate to him. 29Then he charged them and said to them, “I am about to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought along with the field from Ephron the Hittite for a burial site. 31There they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah, there they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah, and there I buried Leah— 32the field and the cave that is in it, purchased from the sons of Heth.” 33When Jacob finished charging his sons, he drew his feet into the bed and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.

(Exodus 15) ¹ Then Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song to the Lord, and said, “I will sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; The horse and its rider He has hurled into the sea. ² The Lord is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation; This is my God, and I will praise Him; My father’s God, and I will extol Him. ³ The Lord is a warrior; The Lord is His name. ⁴ Pharaoh’s chariots and his army He has cast into the sea; And the choicest of his officers are drowned in the Red Sea. ⁵ The deeps cover them; They went down into the depths like a stone. ⁶ Your right hand, O Lord, is majestic in power, Your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy. ⁷ And in the greatness of Your excellence You overthrow those who rise up against You; You send forth Your burning anger, and it consumes them as chaff. ⁸ At the blast of Your nostrils the waters were piled up, The flowing waters stood up like a heap; The deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea. ⁹ The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; My desire shall be gratified against them; I will draw out my sword, my hand will destroy them.’ ¹⁰ You blew with Your wind, the sea covered them; They sank like lead in the mighty waters. ¹¹ Who is like You among the gods, O Lord? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, Awesome in praises, working wonders? ¹² You stretched out Your right hand, The earth swallowed them. ¹³ In Your lovingkindness You have led the people whom You have redeemed; In Your strength You have guided them to Your holy habitation. ¹⁴ The peoples have heard, they tremble; Anguish has gripped the inhabitants of Philistia. ¹⁵ Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed; The leaders of Moab, trembling grips them; All the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. ¹⁶ Terror and dread fall upon them; By the greatness of Your arm they are motionless as stone; Until Your people pass over, O Lord, Until the people pass over whom You have purchased. ¹⁷ You will bring them and plant them in the mountain of Your inheritance, The place, O Lord, which You have made for Your dwelling, The sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established. ¹⁸ The Lord shall reign forever and ever.” ¹⁹ For the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, and the Lord brought back the waters of the sea on them, but the sons of Israel walked on dry land through the midst of the sea. ²⁰ Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took the timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dancing. ²¹ Miriam answered them, “Sing to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; The horse and his rider He has hurled into the sea.” ²² Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. ²³ When they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter; therefore it was named Marah. ²⁴ So the people grumbled at Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” ²⁵ Then he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree; and he threw it into the waters, and the waters became sweet. There He made for them a statute and regulation, and there He tested them. ²⁶ And He said, “If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the Lord, am your healer.” ²⁷ Then they came to Elim where there were twelve springs of water and seventy date palms, and they camped there beside the waters.

(Exodus 32) ¹ Now when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” ² Aaron said to them, “Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” ³ Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. ⁴ He took this from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a molten calf; and they said, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” ⁵ Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” ⁶ So the next day they rose early and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. ⁷ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. ⁸ They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and have sacrificed to it and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’ ” ⁹ The Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people. ¹⁰ Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation.” ¹¹ Then Moses entreated the Lord his God, and said, “O Lord, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? ¹² Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, ‘With evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your burning anger and change Your mind about doing harm to Your people. ¹³ Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ” ¹⁴ So the Lord changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people. ¹⁵ Then Moses turned and went down from the mountain with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets which were written on both sides; they were written on one side and the other. ¹⁶ The tablets were God’s work, and the writing was God’s writing engraved on the tablets. ¹⁷ Now when Joshua heard the sound of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a sound of war in the camp.” ¹⁸ But he said, “It is not the sound of the cry of triumph, Nor is it the sound of the cry of defeat; But the sound of singing I hear.” ¹⁹ It came about, as soon as Moses came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing; and Moses’ anger burned, and he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the foot of the mountain. ²⁰ He took the calf which they had made and burned it with fire, and ground it to powder, and scattered it over the surface of the water and made the sons of Israel drink it. ²¹ Then Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you, that you have brought such great sin upon them?” ²² Aaron said, “Do not let the anger of my lord burn; you know the people yourself, that they are prone to evil. ²³ For they said to me, ‘Make a god for us who will go before us; for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ ²⁴ I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them tear it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.” ²⁵ Now when Moses saw that the people were out of control—for Aaron had let them get out of control to be a derision among their enemies— ²⁶ then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, “Whoever is for the Lord, come to me!” And all the sons of Levi gathered together to him. ²⁷ He said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Every man of you put his sword upon his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate in the camp, and kill every man his brother, and every man his friend, and every man his neighbor.’ ” ²⁸ So the sons of Levi did as Moses instructed, and about three thousand men of the people fell that day. ²⁹ Then Moses said, “Dedicate yourselves today to the Lord—for every man has been against his son and against his brother—in order that He may bestow a blessing upon you today.” ³⁰ On the next day Moses said to the people, “You yourselves have committed a great sin; and now I am going up to the Lord, perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” ³¹ Then Moses returned to the Lord, and said, “Alas, this people has committed a great sin, and they have made a god of gold for themselves. ³² But now, if You will, forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me out from Your book which You have written!” ³³ The Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book. ³⁴ But go now, lead the people where I told you. Behold, My angel shall go before you; nevertheless in the day when I punish, I will punish them for their sin.” ³⁵ Then the Lord smote the people, because of what they did with the calf which Aaron had made.

(Deuteronomy 9) ¹ “Hear, O Israel! You are crossing over the Jordan today to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, great cities fortified to heaven, ² a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’ ³ Know therefore today that it is the Lord your God who is crossing over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them and He will subdue them before you, so that you may drive them out and destroy them quickly, just as the Lord has spoken to you. ⁴ “Do not say in your heart when the Lord your God has driven them out before you, ‘Because of my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to possess this land,’ but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is dispossessing them before you. ⁵ It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God is driving them out before you, in order to confirm the oath which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. ⁶ “Know, then, it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stubborn people. ⁷ Remember, do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness; from the day that you left the land of Egypt until you arrived at this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord. ⁸ Even at Horeb you provoked the Lord to wrath, and the Lord was so angry with you that He would have destroyed you. ⁹ When I went up to the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which the Lord had made with you, then I remained on the mountain forty days and nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water. ¹⁰ The Lord gave me the two tablets of stone written by the finger of God; and on them were all the words which the Lord had spoken with you at the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. ¹¹ It came about at the end of forty days and nights that the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant. ¹² Then the Lord said to me, ‘Arise, go down from here quickly, for your people whom you brought out of Egypt have acted corruptly. They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them; they have made a molten image for themselves.’ ¹³ The Lord spoke further to me, saying, ‘I have seen this people, and indeed, it is a stubborn people. ¹⁴ Let Me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’ ¹⁵ “So I turned and came down from the mountain while the mountain was burning with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. ¹⁶ And I saw that you had indeed sinned against the Lord your God. You had made for yourselves a molten calf; you had turned aside quickly from the way which the Lord had commanded you. ¹⁷ I took hold of the two tablets and threw them from my hands and smashed them before your eyes. ¹⁸ I fell down before the Lord, as at the first, forty days and nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sin which you had committed in doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke Him to anger. ¹⁹ For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which the Lord was wrathful against you in order to destroy you, but the Lord listened to me that time also. ²⁰ The Lord was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him; so I also prayed for Aaron at the same time. ²¹ I took your sinful thing, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small until it was as fine as dust; and I threw its dust into the brook that came down from the mountain. ²² “Again at Taberah and at Massah and at Kibroth-hattaavah you provoked the Lord to wrath. ²³ When the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Go up and possess the land which I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God; you neither believed Him nor listened to His voice. ²⁴ You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day I knew you. ²⁵ “So I fell down before the Lord the forty days and nights, which I did because the Lord had said He would destroy you. ²⁶ I prayed to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord God, do not destroy Your people, even Your inheritance, whom You have redeemed through Your greatness, whom You have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. ²⁷ Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not look at the stubbornness of this people or at their wickedness or their sin. ²⁸ Otherwise the land from which You brought us may say, “Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land which He had promised them and because He hated them He has brought them out to slay them in the wilderness.” ²⁹ Yet they are Your people, even Your inheritance, whom You have brought out by Your great power and Your outstretched arm.’

(Exodus 33) ¹ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Depart, go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give it.’ ² I will send an angel before you and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite. ³ Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, because you are an obstinate people, and I might destroy you on the way.” ⁴ When the people heard this sad word, they went into mourning, and none of them put on his ornaments. ⁵ For the Lord had said to Moses, “Say to the sons of Israel, ‘You are an obstinate people; should I go up in your midst for one moment, I would destroy you. Now therefore, put off your ornaments from you, that I may know what I shall do with you.’ ” ⁶ So the sons of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward. ⁷ Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, a good distance from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting which was outside the camp. ⁸ And it came about, whenever Moses went out to the tent, that all the people would arise and stand, each at the entrance of his tent, and gaze after Moses until he entered the tent. ⁹ Whenever Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent; and the Lord would speak with Moses. ¹⁰ When all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would arise and worship, each at the entrance of his tent. ¹¹ Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent. ¹² Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people!’ But You Yourself have not let me know whom You will send with me. Moreover, You have said, ‘I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.’ ¹³ Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight. Consider too, that this nation is Your people.” ¹⁴ And He said, “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.” ¹⁵ Then he said to Him, “If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. ¹⁶ For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not by Your going with us, so that we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are upon the face of the earth?” ¹⁷ The Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; for you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name.” ¹⁸ Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!” ¹⁹ And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.” ²⁰ But He said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!” ²¹ Then the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock; ²² and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen.”

(Numbers 6) ¹ Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When a man or woman makes a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to dedicate himself to the Lord, ³ he shall abstain from wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar, whether made from wine or strong drink, nor shall he drink any grape juice nor eat fresh or dried grapes. ⁴ All the days of his separation he shall not eat anything that is produced by the grape vine, from the seeds even to the skin. ⁵ ‘All the days of his vow of separation no razor shall pass over his head. He shall be holy until the days are fulfilled for which he separated himself to the Lord; he shall let the locks of hair on his head grow long. ⁶ ‘All the days of his separation to the Lord he shall not go near to a dead person. ⁷ He shall not make himself unclean for his father or for his mother, for his brother or for his sister, when they die, because his separation to God is on his head. ⁸ All the days of his separation he is holy to the Lord. ⁹ ‘But if a man dies very suddenly beside him and he defiles his dedicated head of hair, then he shall shave his head on the day when he becomes clean; he shall shave it on the seventh day. ¹⁰ Then on the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest, to the doorway of the tent of meeting. ¹¹ The priest shall offer one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering, and make atonement for him concerning his sin because of the dead person. And that same day he shall consecrate his head, ¹² and shall dedicate to the Lord his days as a Nazirite, and shall bring a male lamb a year old for a guilt offering; but the former days will be void because his separation was defiled. ¹³ ‘Now this is the law of the Nazirite when the days of his separation are fulfilled, he shall bring the offering to the doorway of the tent of meeting. ¹⁴ He shall present his offering to the Lord: one male lamb a year old without defect for a burnt offering and one ewe-lamb a year old without defect for a sin offering and one ram without defect for a peace offering, ¹⁵ and a basket of unleavened cakes of fine flour mixed with oil and unleavened wafers spread with oil, along with their grain offering and their drink offering. ¹⁶ Then the priest shall present them before the Lord and shall offer his sin offering and his burnt offering. ¹⁷ He shall also offer the ram for a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord, together with the basket of unleavened cakes; the priest shall likewise offer its grain offering and its drink offering. ¹⁸ The Nazirite shall then shave his dedicated head of hair at the doorway of the tent of meeting, and take the dedicated hair of his head and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of peace offerings. ¹⁹ The priest shall take the ram’s shoulder when it has been boiled, and one unleavened cake out of the basket and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them on the hands of the Nazirite after he has shaved his dedicated hair. ²⁰ Then the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the Lord. It is holy for the priest, together with the breast offered by waving and the thigh offered by lifting up; and afterward the Nazirite may drink wine.’ ²¹ “This is the law of the Nazirite who vows his offering to the Lord according to his separation, in addition to what else he can afford; according to his vow which he takes, so he shall do according to the law of his separation.” ²² Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²³ “Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, ‘Thus you shall bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them: ²⁴ The Lord bless you, and keep you; ²⁵ The Lord make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; ²⁶ The Lord lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace.’ ²⁷ So they shall invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and I then will bless them.”

(Numbers 14) ¹ Then all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. ² All the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness! ³ Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become plunder; would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” ⁴ So they said to one another, “Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.” ⁵ Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces in the presence of all the assembly of the congregation of the sons of Israel. ⁶ Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes; ⁷ and they spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, “The land which we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. ⁸ If the Lord is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us—a land which flows with milk and honey. ⁹ Only do not rebel against the Lord; and do not fear the people of the land, for they will be our prey. Their protection has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.” ¹⁰ But all the congregation said to stone them with stones. Then the glory of the Lord appeared in the tent of meeting to all the sons of Israel. ¹¹ The Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people spurn Me? And how long will they not believe in Me, despite all the signs which I have performed in their midst? ¹² I will smite them with pestilence and dispossess them, and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they.” ¹³ But Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your strength You brought up this people from their midst, ¹⁴ and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that You, O Lord, are in the midst of this people, for You, O Lord, are seen eye to eye, while Your cloud stands over them; and You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. ¹⁵ Now if You slay this people as one man, then the nations who have heard of Your fame will say, ¹⁶ ‘Because the Lord could not bring this people into the land which He promised them by oath, therefore He slaughtered them in the wilderness.’ ¹⁷ But now, I pray, let the power of the Lord be great, just as You have declared, ¹⁸ ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; but He will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generations.’ ¹⁹ Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your lovingkindness, just as You also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.” ²⁰ So the Lord said, “I have pardoned them according to your word; ²¹ but indeed, as I live, all the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord. ²² Surely all the men who have seen My glory and My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice, ²³ shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned Me see it. ²⁴ But My servant Caleb, because he has had a different spirit and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land which he entered, and his descendants shall take possession of it. ²⁵ Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites live in the valleys; turn tomorrow and set out to the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.” ²⁶ The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, ²⁷ “How long shall I bear with this evil congregation who are grumbling against Me? I have heard the complaints of the sons of Israel, which they are making against Me. ²⁸ Say to them, ‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will surely do to you; ²⁹ your corpses will fall in this wilderness, even all your numbered men, according to your complete number from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against Me. ³⁰ Surely you shall not come into the land in which I swore to settle you, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun. ³¹ Your children, however, whom you said would become a prey—I will bring them in, and they will know the land which you have rejected. ³² But as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness. ³³ Your sons shall be shepherds for forty years in the wilderness, and they will suffer for your unfaithfulness, until your corpses lie in the wilderness. ³⁴ According to the number of days which you spied out the land, forty days, for every day you shall bear your guilt a year, even forty years, and you will know My opposition. ³⁵ I, the Lord, have spoken, surely this I will do to all this evil congregation who are gathered together against Me. In this wilderness they shall be destroyed, and there they will die.’ ” ³⁶ As for the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land and who returned and made all the congregation grumble against him by bringing out a bad report concerning the land, ³⁷ even those men who brought out the very bad report of the land died by a plague before the Lord. ³⁸ But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh remained alive out of those men who went to spy out the land. ³⁹ When Moses spoke these words to all the sons of Israel, the people mourned greatly. ⁴⁰ In the morning, however, they rose up early and went up to the ridge of the hill country, saying, “Here we are; we have indeed sinned, but we will go up to the place which the Lord has promised.” ⁴¹ But Moses said, “Why then are you transgressing the commandment of the Lord, when it will not succeed? ⁴² Do not go up, or you will be struck down before your enemies, for the Lord is not among you. ⁴³ For the Amalekites and the Canaanites will be there in front of you, and you will fall by the sword, inasmuch as you have turned back from following the Lord. And the Lord will not be with you.” ⁴⁴ But they went up heedlessly to the ridge of the hill country; neither the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses left the camp. ⁴⁵ Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down, and struck them and beat them down as far as Hormah.

(Numbers 22) ¹ Then the sons of Israel journeyed, and camped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan opposite Jericho. ² Now Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. ³ So Moab was in great fear because of the people, for they were numerous; and Moab was in dread of the sons of Israel. ⁴ Moab said to the elders of Midian, “Now this horde will lick up all that is around us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field.” And Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time. ⁵ So he sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor, at Pethor, which is near the River, in the land of the sons of his people, to call him, saying, “Behold, a people came out of Egypt; behold, they cover the surface of the land, and they are living opposite me. ⁶ Now, therefore, please come, curse this people for me since they are too mighty for me; perhaps I may be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land. For I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.” ⁷ So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fees for divination in their hand; and they came to Balaam and repeated Balak’s words to him. ⁸ He said to them, “Spend the night here, and I will bring word back to you as the Lord may speak to me.” And the leaders of Moab stayed with Balaam. ⁹ Then God came to Balaam and said, “Who are these men with you?” ¹⁰ Balaam said to God, “Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent word to me, ¹¹ ‘Behold, there is a people who came out of Egypt and they cover the surface of the land; now come, curse them for me; perhaps I may be able to fight against them and drive them out.’ ” ¹² God said to Balaam, “Do not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.” ¹³ So Balaam arose in the morning and said to Balak’s leaders, “Go back to your land, for the Lord has refused to let me go with you.” ¹⁴ The leaders of Moab arose and went to Balak and said, “Balaam refused to come with us.” ¹⁵ Then Balak again sent leaders, more numerous and more distinguished than the former. ¹⁶ They came to Balaam and said to him, “Thus says Balak the son of Zippor, ‘Let nothing, I beg you, hinder you from coming to me; ¹⁷ for I will indeed honor you richly, and I will do whatever you say to me. Please come then, curse this people for me.’ ” ¹⁸ Balaam replied to the servants of Balak, “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything, either small or great, contrary to the command of the Lord my God. ¹⁹ Now please, you also stay here tonight, and I will find out what else the Lord will speak to me.” ²⁰ God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men have come to call you, rise up and go with them; but only the word which I speak to you shall you do.” ²¹ So Balaam arose in the morning, and saddled his donkey and went with the leaders of Moab. ²² But God was angry because he was going, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the way as an adversary against him. Now he was riding on his donkey and his two servants were with him. ²³ When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand, the donkey turned off from the way and went into the field; but Balaam struck the donkey to turn her back into the way. ²⁴ Then the angel of the Lord stood in a narrow path of the vineyards, with a wall on this side and a wall on that side. ²⁵ When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she pressed herself to the wall and pressed Balaam’s foot against the wall, so he struck her again. ²⁶ The angel of the Lord went further, and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn to the right hand or the left. ²⁷ When the donkey saw the angel of the Lord, she lay down under Balaam; so Balaam was angry and struck the donkey with his stick. ²⁸ And the Lord opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” ²⁹ Then Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have made a mockery of me! If there had been a sword in my hand, I would have killed you by now.” ³⁰ The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden all your life to this day? Have I ever been accustomed to do so to you?” And he said, “No.” ³¹ Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand; and he bowed all the way to the ground. ³² The angel of the Lord said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out as an adversary, because your way was contrary to me. ³³ But the donkey saw me and turned aside from me these three times. If she had not turned aside from me, I would surely have killed you just now, and let her live.” ³⁴ Balaam said to the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned, for I did not know that you were standing in the way against me. Now then, if it is displeasing to you, I will turn back.” ³⁵ But the angel of the Lord said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but you shall speak only the word which I tell you.” So Balaam went along with the leaders of Balak. ³⁶ When Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him at the city of Moab, which is on the Arnon border, at the extreme end of the border. ³⁷ Then Balak said to Balaam, “Did I not urgently send to you to call you? Why did you not come to me? Am I really unable to honor you?” ³⁸ So Balaam said to Balak, “Behold, I have come now to you! Am I able to speak anything at all? The word that God puts in my mouth, that I shall speak.” ³⁹ And Balaam went with Balak, and they came to Kiriath-huzoth. ⁴⁰ Balak sacrificed oxen and sheep, and sent some to Balaam and the leaders who were with him. ⁴¹ Then it came about in the morning that Balak took Balaam and brought him up to the high places of Baal, and he saw from there a portion of the people.

(Numbers 23) ¹ Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here.” ² Balak did just as Balaam had spoken, and Balak and Balaam offered up a bull and a ram on each altar. ³ Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stand beside your burnt offering, and I will go; perhaps the Lord will come to meet me, and whatever He shows me I will tell you.” So he went to a bare hill. ⁴ Now God met Balaam, and he said to Him, “I have set up the seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.” ⁵ Then the Lord put a word in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and you shall speak thus.” ⁶ So he returned to him, and behold, he was standing beside his burnt offering, he and all the leaders of Moab. ⁷ He took up his discourse and said, “From Aram Balak has brought me, Moab’s king from the mountains of the East, ‘Come curse Jacob for me, And come, denounce Israel!’ ⁸ How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? And how can I denounce whom the Lord has not denounced? ⁹ As I see him from the top of the rocks, And I look at him from the hills; Behold, a people who dwells apart, And will not be reckoned among the nations. ¹⁰ Who can count the dust of Jacob, Or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the upright, And let my end be like his!” ¹¹ Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, but behold, you have actually blessed them!” ¹² He replied, “Must I not be careful to speak what the Lord puts in my mouth?” ¹³ Then Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place from where you may see them, although you will only see the extreme end of them and will not see all of them; and curse them for me from there.” ¹⁴ So he took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar. ¹⁵ And he said to Balak, “Stand here beside your burnt offering while I myself meet the Lord over there.” ¹⁶ Then the Lord met Balaam and put a word in his mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” ¹⁷ He came to him, and behold, he was standing beside his burnt offering, and the leaders of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, “What has the Lord spoken?” ¹⁸ Then he took up his discourse and said, “Arise, O Balak, and hear; Give ear to me, O son of Zippor! ¹⁹ God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? ²⁰ Behold, I have received a command to bless; When He has blessed, then I cannot revoke it. ²¹ He has not observed misfortune in Jacob; Nor has He seen trouble in Israel; The Lord his God is with him, And the shout of a king is among them. ²² God brings them out of Egypt, He is for them like the horns of the wild ox. ²³ For there is no omen against Jacob, Nor is there any divination against Israel; At the proper time it shall be said to Jacob And to Israel, what God has done! ²⁴ Behold, a people rises like a lioness, And as a lion it lifts itself; It will not lie down until it devours the prey, And drinks the blood of the slain.” ²⁵ Then Balak said to Balaam, “Do not curse them at all nor bless them at all!” ²⁶ But Balaam replied to Balak, “Did I not tell you, ‘Whatever the Lord speaks, that I must do’?” ²⁷ Then Balak said to Balaam, “Please come, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will be agreeable with God that you curse them for me from there.” ²⁸ So Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor which overlooks the wasteland. ²⁹ Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here.” ³⁰ Balak did just as Balaam had said, and offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.

(Numbers 24) ¹ When Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord to bless Israel, he did not go as at other times to seek omens but he set his face toward the wilderness. ² SeAnd Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel camping tribe by tribe; and the Spirit of God came upon him.e ³ He took up his discourse and said, “The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor, And the oracle of the man whose eye is opened; ⁴ The oracle of him who hears the words of God, Who sees the vision of the Almighty, Falling down, yet having his eyes uncovered, ⁵ How fair are your tents, O Jacob, Your dwellings, O Israel! ⁶ Like valleys that stretch out, Like gardens beside the river, Like aloes planted by the Lord, Like cedars beside the waters. ⁷ Water will flow from his buckets, And his seed will be by many waters, And his king shall be higher than Agag, And his kingdom shall be exalted. ⁸ God brings him out of Egypt, He is for him like the horns of the wild ox. He will devour the nations who are his adversaries, And will crush their bones in pieces, And shatter them with his arrows. ⁹ He couches, he lies down as a lion, And as a lion, who dares rouse him? Blessed is everyone who blesses you, And cursed is everyone who curses you.” ¹⁰ Then Balak’s anger burned against Balaam, and he struck his hands together; and Balak said to Balaam, “I called you to curse my enemies, but behold, you have persisted in blessing them these three times! ¹¹ Therefore, flee to your place now. I said I would honor you greatly, but behold, the Lord has held you back from honor.” ¹² Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not tell your messengers whom you had sent to me, saying, ¹³ ‘Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything contrary to the command of the Lord, either good or bad, of my own accord. What the Lord speaks, that I will speak’? ¹⁴ And now, behold, I am going to my people; come, and I will advise you what this people will do to your people in the days to come.” ¹⁵ He took up his discourse and said, “The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor, And the oracle of the man whose eye is opened, ¹⁶ The oracle of him who hears the words of God, And knows the knowledge of the Most High, Who sees the vision of the Almighty, Falling down, yet having his eyes uncovered. ¹⁷ I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near; A star shall come forth from Jacob, A scepter shall rise from Israel, And shall crush through the forehead of Moab, And tear down all the sons of Sheth. ¹⁸ Edom shall be a possession, Seir, its enemies, also will be a possession, While Israel performs valiantly. ¹⁹ One from Jacob shall have dominion, And will destroy the remnant from the city.” ²⁰ And he looked at Amalek and took up his discourse and said, “Amalek was the first of the nations, But his end shall be destruction.” ²¹ And he looked at the Kenite, and took up his discourse and said, “Your dwelling place is enduring, And your nest is set in the cliff. ²² Nevertheless Kain will be consumed; How long will Asshur keep you captive?” ²³ Then he took up his discourse and said, “Alas, who can live except God has ordained it? ²⁴ But ships shall come from the coast of Kittim, And they shall afflict Asshur and will afflict Eber; So they also will come to destruction.” ²⁵ Then Balaam arose and departed and returned to his place, and Balak also went his way.

(Deuteronomy 32) ¹ “Give ear, O heavens, and let me speak; And let the earth hear the words of my mouth. ² Let my teaching drop as the rain, My speech distill as the dew, As the droplets on the fresh grass And as the showers on the herb. ³ For I proclaim the name of the Lord; Ascribe greatness to our God! ⁴ The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He. ⁵ They have acted corruptly toward Him, They are not His children, because of their defect; But are a perverse and crooked generation. ⁶ Do you thus repay the Lord, O foolish and unwise people? Is not He your Father who has bought you? He has made you and established you. ⁷ Remember the days of old, Consider the years of all generations. Ask your father, and he will inform you, Your elders, and they will tell you. ⁸ When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, When He separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the sons of Israel. ⁹ For the Lord’s portion is His people; Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance. ¹⁰ He found him in a desert land, And in the howling waste of a wilderness; He encircled him, He cared for him, He guarded him as the pupil of His eye. ¹¹ Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, That hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them, He carried them on His pinions. ¹² The Lord alone guided him, And there was no foreign god with him. ¹³ He made him ride on the high places of the earth, And he ate the produce of the field; And He made him suck honey from the rock, And oil from the flinty rock, ¹⁴ Curds of cows, and milk of the flock, With fat of lambs, And rams, the breed of Bashan, and goats, With the finest of the wheat— And of the blood of grapes you drank wine. ¹⁵ “But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked— You are grown fat, thick, and sleek— Then he forsook God who made him, And scorned the Rock of his salvation. ¹⁶ They made Him jealous with strange gods; With abominations they provoked Him to anger. ¹⁷ They sacrificed to demons who were not God, To gods whom they have not known, New gods who came lately, Whom your fathers did not dread. ¹⁸ You neglected the Rock who begot you, And forgot the God who gave you birth. ¹⁹ “The Lord saw this, and spurned them Because of the provocation of His sons and daughters. ²⁰ Then He said, ‘I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end shall be; For they are a perverse generation, Sons in whom is no faithfulness. ²¹ They have made Me jealous with what is not God; They have provoked Me to anger with their idols. So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people; I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation, ²² For a fire is kindled in My anger, And burns to the lowest part of Sheol, And consumes the earth with its yield, And sets on fire the foundations of the mountains. ²³ ‘I will heap misfortunes on them; I will use My arrows on them. ²⁴ They will be wasted by famine, and consumed by plague And bitter destruction; And the teeth of beasts I will send upon them, With the venom of crawling things of the dust. ²⁵ Outside the sword will bereave, And inside terror— Both young man and virgin, The nursling with the man of gray hair. ²⁶ I would have said, “I will cut them to pieces, I will remove the memory of them from men,” ²⁷ Had I not feared the provocation by the enemy, That their adversaries would misjudge, That they would say, “Our hand is triumphant, And the Lord has not done all this.” ’ ²⁸ “For they are a nation lacking in counsel, And there is no understanding in them. ²⁹ Would that they were wise, that they understood this, That they would discern their future! ³⁰ How could one chase a thousand, And two put ten thousand to flight, Unless their Rock had sold them, And the Lord had given them up? ³¹ Indeed their rock is not like our Rock, Even our enemies themselves judge this. ³² For their vine is from the vine of Sodom, And from the fields of Gomorrah; Their grapes are grapes of poison, Their clusters, bitter. ³³ Their wine is the venom of serpents, And the deadly poison of cobras. ³⁴ ‘Is it not laid up in store with Me, Sealed up in My treasuries? ³⁵ Vengeance is Mine, and retribution, In due time their foot will slip; For the day of their calamity is near, And the impending things are hastening upon them.’ ³⁶ For the Lord will vindicate His people, And will have compassion on His servants, When He sees that their strength is gone, And there is none remaining, bond or free. ³⁷ And He will say, ‘Where are their gods, The rock in which they sought refuge? ³⁸ Who ate the fat of their sacrifices, And drank the wine of their drink offering? Let them rise up and help you, Let them be your hiding place! ³⁹ See now that I, I am He, And there is no god besides Me; It is I who put to death and give life. I have wounded and it is I who heal, And there is no one who can deliver from My hand. ⁴⁰ Indeed, I lift up My hand to heaven, And say, as I live forever, ⁴¹ If I sharpen My flashing sword, And My hand takes hold on justice, I will render vengeance on My adversaries, And I will repay those who hate Me. ⁴² I will make My arrows drunk with blood, And My sword will devour flesh, With the blood of the slain and the captives, From the long-haired leaders of the enemy.’ ⁴³ Rejoice, O nations, with His people; For He will avenge the blood of His servants, And will render vengeance on His adversaries, And will atone for His land and His people.” ⁴⁴ Then Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he, with Joshua the son of Nun. ⁴⁵ When Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, ⁴⁶ he said to them, “Take to your heart all the words with which I am warning you today, which you shall command your sons to observe carefully, even all the words of this law. ⁴⁷ For it is not an idle word for you; indeed it is your life. And by this word you will prolong your days in the land, which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.” ⁴⁸ The Lord spoke to Moses that very same day, saying, ⁴⁹ “Go up to this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab opposite Jericho, and look at the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the sons of Israel for a possession. ⁵⁰ Then die on the mountain where you ascend, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people, ⁵¹ because you broke faith with Me in the midst of the sons of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, because you did not treat Me as holy in the midst of the sons of Israel. ⁵² For you shall see the land at a distance, but you shall not go there, into the land which I am giving the sons of Israel.”

(Deuteronomy 33) ¹ Now this is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the sons of Israel before his death. ² He said, “The Lord came from Sinai, And dawned on them from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran, And He came from the midst of ten thousand holy ones; At His right hand there was flashing lightning for them. ³ Indeed, He loves the people; All Your holy ones are in Your hand, And they followed in Your steps; Everyone receives of Your words. ⁴ Moses charged us with a law, A possession for the assembly of Jacob. ⁵ And He was king in Jeshurun, When the heads of the people were gathered, The tribes of Israel together. ⁶ “May Reuben live and not die, Nor his men be few.” ⁷ And this regarding Judah; so he said, “Hear, O Lord, the voice of Judah, And bring him to his people. With his hands he contended for them, And may You be a help against his adversaries.” ⁸ Of Levi he said, “Let Your Thummim and Your Urim belong to Your godly man, Whom You proved at Massah, With whom You contended at the waters of Meribah; ⁹ Who said of his father and his mother, ‘I did not consider them’; And he did not acknowledge his brothers, Nor did he regard his own sons, For they observed Your word, And kept Your covenant. ¹⁰ They shall teach Your ordinances to Jacob, And Your law to Israel. They shall put incense before You, And whole burnt offerings on Your altar. ¹¹ O Lord, bless his substance, And accept the work of his hands; Shatter the loins of those who rise up against him, And those who hate him, so that they will not rise again.” ¹² Of Benjamin he said, “May the beloved of the Lord dwell in security by Him, Who shields him all the day, And he dwells between His shoulders.” ¹³ Of Joseph he said, “Blessed of the Lord be his land, With the choice things of heaven, with the dew, And from the deep lying beneath, ¹⁴ And with the choice yield of the sun, And with the choice produce of the months. ¹⁵ And with the best things of the ancient mountains, And with the choice things of the everlasting hills, ¹⁶ And with the choice things of the earth and its fullness, And the favor of Him who dwelt in the bush. Let it come to the head of Joseph, And to the crown of the head of the one distinguished among his brothers. ¹⁷ As the firstborn of his ox, majesty is his, And his horns are the horns of the wild ox; With them he will push the peoples, All at once, to the ends of the earth. And those are the ten thousands of Ephraim, And those are the thousands of Manasseh.” ¹⁸ Of Zebulun he said, “Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going forth, And, Issachar, in your tents. ¹⁹ They will call peoples to the mountain; There they will offer righteous sacrifices; For they will draw out the abundance of the seas, And the hidden treasures of the sand.” ²⁰ Of Gad he said, “Blessed is the one who enlarges Gad; He lies down as a lion, And tears the arm, also the crown of the head. ²¹ Then he provided the first part for himself, For there the ruler’s portion was reserved; And he came with the leaders of the people; He executed the justice of the Lord, And His ordinances with Israel.” ²² Of Dan he said, “Dan is a lion’s whelp, That leaps forth from Bashan.” ²³ Of Naphtali he said, “O Naphtali, satisfied with favor, And full of the blessing of the Lord, Take possession of the sea and the south.” ²⁴ Of Asher he said, “More blessed than sons is Asher; May he be favored by his brothers, And may he dip his foot in oil. ²⁵ Your locks will be iron and bronze, And according to your days, so will your leisurely walk be. ²⁶ “There is none like the God of Jeshurun, Who rides the heavens to your help, And through the skies in His majesty. ²⁷ The eternal God is a dwelling place, And underneath are the everlasting arms; And He drove out the enemy from before you, And said, ‘Destroy!’ ²⁸ So Israel dwells in security, The fountain of Jacob secluded, In a land of grain and new wine; His heavens also drop down dew. ²⁹ Blessed are you, O Israel; Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord, Who is the shield of your help And the sword of your majesty! So your enemies will cringe before you, And you will tread upon their high places.”

(Joshua 7) ¹ But the sons of Israel acted unfaithfully in regard to the things under the ban, for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, took some of the things under the ban, therefore the anger of the Lord burned against the sons of Israel. ² Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel, and said to them, “Go up and spy out the land.” So the men went up and spied out Ai. ³ They returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not let all the people go up; only about two or three thousand men need go up to Ai; do not make all the people toil up there, for they are few.” ⁴ So about three thousand men from the people went up there, but they fled from the men of Ai. ⁵ The men of Ai struck down about thirty-six of their men, and pursued them from the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them down on the descent, so the hearts of the people melted and became as water. ⁶ Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, both he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads. ⁷ Joshua said, “Alas, O Lord God, why did You ever bring this people over the Jordan, only to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? If only we had been willing to dwell beyond the Jordan! ⁸ O Lord, what can I say since Israel has turned their back before their enemies? ⁹ For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and they will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. And what will You do for Your great name?” ¹⁰ So the Lord said to Joshua, “Rise up! Why is it that you have fallen on your face? ¹¹ Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. And they have even taken some of the things under the ban and have both stolen and deceived. Moreover, they have also put them among their own things. ¹² Therefore the sons of Israel cannot stand before their enemies; they turn their backs before their enemies, for they have become accursed. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy the things under the ban from your midst. ¹³ Rise up! Consecrate the people and say, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, for thus the Lord, the God of Israel, has said, “There are things under the ban in your midst, O Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you have removed the things under the ban from your midst.” ¹⁴ In the morning then you shall come near by your tribes. And it shall be that the tribe which the Lord takes by lot shall come near by families, and the family which the Lord takes shall come near by households, and the household which the Lord takes shall come near man by man. ¹⁵ It shall be that the one who is taken with the things under the ban shall be burned with fire, he and all that belongs to him, because he has transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he has committed a disgraceful thing in Israel.’ ” ¹⁶ So Joshua arose early in the morning and brought Israel near by tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken. ¹⁷ He brought the family of Judah near, and he took the family of the Zerahites; and he brought the family of the Zerahites near man by man, and Zabdi was taken. ¹⁸ He brought his household near man by man; and Achan, son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, was taken. ¹⁹ Then Joshua said to Achan, “My son, I implore you, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and give praise to Him; and tell me now what you have done. Do not hide it from me.” ²⁰ So Achan answered Joshua and said, “Truly, I have sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel, and this is what I did: ²¹ when I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar and two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold fifty shekels in weight, then I coveted them and took them; and behold, they are concealed in the earth inside my tent with the silver underneath it.” ²² So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and behold, it was concealed in his tent with the silver underneath it. ²³ They took them from inside the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the sons of Israel, and they poured them out before the Lord. ²⁴ Then Joshua and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the mantle, the bar of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent and all that belonged to him; and they brought them up to the valley of Achor. ²⁵ Joshua said, “Why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you this day.” And all Israel stoned them with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones. ²⁶ They raised over him a great heap of stones that stands to this day, and the Lord turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called the valley of Achor to this day.

(Joshua 10) ¹ Now it came about when Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had captured Ai, and had utterly destroyed it (just as he had done to Jericho and its king, so he had done to Ai and its king), and that the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were within their land, ² that he feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all its men were mighty. ³ Therefore Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem sent word to Hoham king of Hebron and to Piram king of Jarmuth and to Japhia king of Lachish and to Debir king of Eglon, saying, ⁴ “Come up to me and help me, and let us attack Gibeon, for it has made peace with Joshua and with the sons of Israel.” ⁵ So the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon, gathered together and went up, they with all their armies, and camped by Gibeon and fought against it. ⁶ Then the men of Gibeon sent word to Joshua to the camp at Gilgal, saying, “Do not abandon your servants; come up to us quickly and save us and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites that live in the hill country have assembled against us.” ⁷ So Joshua went up from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him and all the valiant warriors. ⁸ The Lord said to Joshua, “Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands; not one of them shall stand before you.” ⁹ So Joshua came upon them suddenly by marching all night from Gilgal. ¹⁰ And the Lord confounded them before Israel, and He slew them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, and pursued them by the way of the ascent of Beth-horon and struck them as far as Azekah and Makkedah. ¹¹ As they fled from before Israel, while they were at the descent of Beth-horon, the Lord threw large stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died; there were more who died from the hailstones than those whom the sons of Israel killed with the sword. ¹² Then Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, “O sun, stand still at Gibeon, And O moon in the valley of Aijalon.” ¹³ So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, Until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies. Is it not written in the book of Jashar? And the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. ¹⁴ There was no day like that before it or after it, when the Lord listened to the voice of a man; for the Lord fought for Israel. ¹⁵ Then Joshua and all Israel with him returned to the camp to Gilgal. ¹⁶ Now these five kings had fled and hidden themselves in the cave at Makkedah. ¹⁷ It was told Joshua, saying, “The five kings have been found hidden in the cave at Makkedah.” ¹⁸ Joshua said, “Roll large stones against the mouth of the cave, and assign men by it to guard them, ¹⁹ but do not stay there yourselves; pursue your enemies and attack them in the rear. Do not allow them to enter their cities, for the Lord your God has delivered them into your hand.” ²⁰ It came about when Joshua and the sons of Israel had finished slaying them with a very great slaughter, until they were destroyed, and the survivors who remained of them had entered the fortified cities, ²¹ that all the people returned to the camp to Joshua at Makkedah in peace. No one uttered a word against any of the sons of Israel. ²² Then Joshua said, “Open the mouth of the cave and bring these five kings out to me from the cave.” ²³ They did so, and brought these five kings out to him from the cave: the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon. ²⁴ When they brought these kings out to Joshua, Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said to the chiefs of the men of war who had gone with him, “Come near, put your feet on the necks of these kings.” So they came near and put their feet on their necks. ²⁵ Joshua then said to them, “Do not fear or be dismayed! Be strong and courageous, for thus the Lord will do to all your enemies with whom you fight.” ²⁶ So afterward Joshua struck them and put them to death, and he hanged them on five trees; and they hung on the trees until evening. ²⁷ It came about at sunset that Joshua gave a command, and they took them down from the trees and threw them into the cave where they had hidden themselves, and put large stones over the mouth of the cave, to this very day. ²⁸ Now Joshua captured Makkedah on that day, and struck it and its king with the edge of the sword; he utterly destroyed it and every person who was in it. He left no survivor. Thus he did to the king of Makkedah just as he had done to the king of Jericho. ²⁹ Then Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Makkedah to Libnah, and fought against Libnah. ³⁰ The Lord gave it also with its king into the hands of Israel, and he struck it and every person who was in it with the edge of the sword. He left no survivor in it. Thus he did to its king just as he had done to the king of Jericho. ³¹ And Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Libnah to Lachish, and they camped by it and fought against it. ³² The Lord gave Lachish into the hands of Israel; and he captured it on the second day, and struck it and every person who was in it with the edge of the sword, according to all that he had done to Libnah. ³³ Then Horam king of Gezer came up to help Lachish, and Joshua defeated him and his people until he had left him no survivor. ³⁴ And Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Lachish to Eglon, and they camped by it and fought against it. ³⁵ They captured it on that day and struck it with the edge of the sword; and he utterly destroyed that day every person who was in it, according to all that he had done to Lachish. ³⁶ Then Joshua and all Israel with him went up from Eglon to Hebron, and they fought against it. ³⁷ They captured it and struck it and its king and all its cities and all the persons who were in it with the edge of the sword. He left no survivor, according to all that he had done to Eglon. And he utterly destroyed it and every person who was in it. ³⁸ Then Joshua and all Israel with him returned to Debir, and they fought against it. ³⁹ He captured it and its king and all its cities, and they struck them with the edge of the sword, and utterly destroyed every person who was in it. He left no survivor. Just as he had done to Hebron, so he did to Debir and its king, as he had also done to Libnah and its king. ⁴⁰ Thus Joshua struck all the land, the hill country and the Negev and the lowland and the slopes and all their kings. He left no survivor, but he utterly destroyed all who breathed, just as the Lord, the God of Israel, had commanded. ⁴¹ Joshua struck them from Kadesh-barnea even as far as Gaza, and all the country of Goshen even as far as Gibeon. ⁴² Joshua captured all these kings and their lands at one time, because the Lord, the God of Israel, fought for Israel. ⁴³ So Joshua and all Israel with him returned to the camp at Gilgal.

(Judges 5) ¹ Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying, ² “That the leaders led in Israel, That the people volunteered, Bless the Lord! ³ Hear, O kings; give ear, O rulers! I—to the Lord, I will sing, I will sing praise to the Lord, the God of Israel. ⁴ Lord, when You went out from Seir, When You marched from the field of Edom, The earth quaked, the heavens also dripped, Even the clouds dripped water. ⁵ The mountains quaked at the presence of the Lord, This Sinai, at the presence of the Lord, the God of Israel. ⁶ “In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath, In the days of Jael, the highways were deserted, And travelers went by roundabout ways. ⁷ The peasantry ceased, they ceased in Israel, Until I, Deborah, arose, Until I arose, a mother in Israel. ⁸ New gods were chosen; Then war was in the gates. Not a shield or a spear was seen Among forty thousand in Israel. ⁹ My heart goes out to the commanders of Israel, The volunteers among the people; Bless the Lord! ¹⁰ You who ride on white donkeys, You who sit on rich carpets, And you who travel on the road—sing! ¹¹ At the sound of those who divide flocks among the watering places, There they shall recount the righteous deeds of the Lord, The righteous deeds for His peasantry in Israel. Then the people of the Lord went down to the gates. ¹² “Awake, awake, Deborah; Awake, awake, sing a song! Arise, Barak, and take away your captives, O son of Abinoam. ¹³ Then survivors came down to the nobles; The people of the Lord came down to me as warriors. ¹⁴ From Ephraim those whose root is in Amalek came down, Following you, Benjamin, with your peoples; From Machir commanders came down, And from Zebulun those who wield the staff of office. ¹⁵ And the princes of Issachar were with Deborah; As was Issachar, so was Barak; Into the valley they rushed at his heels; Among the divisions of Reuben There were great resolves of heart. ¹⁶ Why did you sit among the sheepfolds, To hear the piping for the flocks? Among the divisions of Reuben There were great searchings of heart. ¹⁷ Gilead remained across the Jordan; And why did Dan stay in ships? Asher sat at the seashore, And remained by its landings. ¹⁸ Zebulun was a people who despised their lives even to death, And Naphtali also, on the high places of the field. ¹⁹ “The kings came and fought; Then fought the kings of Canaan At Taanach near the waters of Megiddo; They took no plunder in silver. ²⁰ The stars fought from heaven, From their courses they fought against Sisera. ²¹ The torrent of Kishon swept them away, The ancient torrent, the torrent Kishon. O my soul, march on with strength. ²² Then the horses’ hoofs beat From the dashing, the dashing of his valiant steeds. ²³ ‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of the Lord, ‘Utterly curse its inhabitants; Because they did not come to the help of the Lord, To the help of the Lord against the warriors.’ ²⁴ “Most blessed of women is Jael, The wife of Heber the Kenite; Most blessed is she of women in the tent. ²⁵ He asked for water and she gave him milk; In a magnificent bowl she brought him curds. ²⁶ She reached out her hand for the tent peg, And her right hand for the workmen’s hammer. Then she struck Sisera, she smashed his head; And she shattered and pierced his temple. ²⁷ Between her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay; Between her feet he bowed, he fell; Where he bowed, there he fell dead. ²⁸ “Out of the window she looked and lamented, The mother of Sisera through the lattice, ‘Why does his chariot delay in coming? Why do the hoofbeats of his chariots tarry?’ ²⁹ Her wise princesses would answer her, Indeed she repeats her words to herself, ³⁰ ‘Are they not finding, are they not dividing the spoil? A maiden, two maidens for every warrior; To Sisera a spoil of dyed work, A spoil of dyed work embroidered, Dyed work of double embroidery on the neck of the spoiler?’ ³¹ Thus let all Your enemies perish, O Lord; But let those who love Him be like the rising of the sun in its might.” And the land was undisturbed for forty years.

(Judges 6) ¹ Then the sons of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord gave them into the hands of Midian seven years. ² The power of Midian prevailed against Israel. Because of Midian the sons of Israel made for themselves the dens which were in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds. ³ For it was when Israel had sown, that the Midianites would come up with the Amalekites and the sons of the east and go against them. ⁴ So they would camp against them and destroy the produce of the earth as far as Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel as well as no sheep, ox, or donkey. ⁵ For they would come up with their livestock and their tents, they would come in like locusts for number, both they and their camels were innumerable; and they came into the land to devastate it. ⁶ So Israel was brought very low because of Midian, and the sons of Israel cried to the Lord. ⁷ Now it came about when the sons of Israel cried to the Lord on account of Midian, ⁸ that the Lord sent a prophet to the sons of Israel, and he said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘It was I who brought you up from Egypt and brought you out from the house of slavery. ⁹ I delivered you from the hands of the Egyptians and from the hands of all your oppressors, and dispossessed them before you and gave you their land, ¹⁰ and I said to you, “I am the Lord your God; you shall not fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live. But you have not obeyed Me.” ’ ” ¹¹ Then the angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak that was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press in order to save it from the Midianites. ¹² The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O valiant warrior.” ¹³ Then Gideon said to him, “O my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.” ¹⁴ The Lord looked at him and said, “Go in this your strength and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?” ¹⁵ He said to Him, “O Lord, how shall I deliver Israel? Behold, my family is the least in Manasseh, and I am the youngest in my father’s house.” ¹⁶ But the Lord said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you shall defeat Midian as one man.” ¹⁷ So Gideon said to Him, “If now I have found favor in Your sight, then show me a sign that it is You who speak with me. ¹⁸ Please do not depart from here, until I come back to You, and bring out my offering and lay it before You.” And He said, “I will remain until you return.” ¹⁹ Then Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour; he put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, and brought them out to him under the oak and presented them. ²⁰ The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And he did so. ²¹ Then the angel of the Lord put out the end of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. ²² When Gideon saw that he was the angel of the Lord, he said, “Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” ²³ The Lord said to him, “Peace to you, do not fear; you shall not die.” ²⁴ Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and named it The Lord is Peace. To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. ²⁵ Now on the same night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s bull and a second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal which belongs to your father, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it; ²⁶ and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of this stronghold in an orderly manner, and take a second bull and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down.” ²⁷ Then Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had spoken to him; and because he was too afraid of his father’s household and the men of the city to do it by day, he did it by night. ²⁸ When the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was torn down, and the Asherah which was beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar which had been built. ²⁹ They said to one another, “Who did this thing?” And when they searched about and inquired, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash did this thing.” ³⁰ Then the men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has torn down the altar of Baal, and indeed, he has cut down the Asherah which was beside it.” ³¹ But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you contend for Baal, or will you deliver him? Whoever will plead for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because someone has torn down his altar.” ³² Therefore on that day he named him Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend against him,” because he had torn down his altar. ³³ Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the sons of the east assembled themselves; and they crossed over and camped in the valley of Jezreel. ³⁴ So the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon; and he blew a trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called together to follow him. ³⁵ He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, and they also were called together to follow him; and he sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they came up to meet them. ³⁶ Then Gideon said to God, “If You will deliver Israel through me, as You have spoken, ³⁷ behold, I will put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I will know that You will deliver Israel through me, as You have spoken.” ³⁸ And it was so. When he arose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece, he drained the dew from the fleece, a bowl full of water. ³⁹ Then Gideon said to God, “Do not let Your anger burn against me that I may speak once more; please let me make a test once more with the fleece, let it now be dry only on the fleece, and let there be dew on all the ground.” ⁴⁰ God did so that night; for it was dry only on the fleece, and dew was on all the ground.

(1 Samuel 1) ¹ Now there was a certain man from Ramathaim-zophim from the hill country of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite. ² He had two wives: the name of one was Hannah and the name of the other Peninnah; and Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. ³ Now this man would go up from his city yearly to worship and to sacrifice to the Lord of hosts in Shiloh. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests to the Lord there. ⁴ When the day came that Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and her daughters; ⁵ but to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah, but the Lord had closed her womb. ⁶ Her rival, however, would provoke her bitterly to irritate her, because the Lord had closed her womb. ⁷ It happened year after year, as often as she went up to the house of the Lord, she would provoke her; so she wept and would not eat. ⁸ Then Elkanah her husband said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep and why do you not eat and why is your heart sad? Am I not better to you than ten sons?” ⁹ Then Hannah rose after eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the temple of the Lord. ¹⁰ She, greatly distressed, prayed to the Lord and wept bitterly. ¹¹ She made a vow and said, “O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and a razor shall never come on his head.” ¹² Now it came about, as she continued praying before the Lord, that Eli was watching her mouth. ¹³ As for Hannah, she was speaking in her heart, only her lips were moving, but her voice was not heard. So Eli thought she was drunk. ¹⁴ Then Eli said to her, “How long will you make yourself drunk? Put away your wine from you.” ¹⁵ But Hannah replied, “No, my lord, I am a woman oppressed in spirit; I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have poured out my soul before the Lord. ¹⁶ Do not consider your maidservant as a worthless woman, for I have spoken until now out of my great concern and provocation.” ¹⁷ Then Eli answered and said, “Go in peace; and may the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of Him.” ¹⁸ She said, “Let your maidservant find favor in your sight.” So the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad. ¹⁹ Then they arose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord, and returned again to their house in Ramah. And Elkanah had relations with Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. ²⁰ It came about in due time, after Hannah had conceived, that she gave birth to a son; and she named him Samuel, saying, “Because I have asked him of the Lord.” ²¹ Then the man Elkanah went up with all his household to offer to the Lord the yearly sacrifice and pay his vow. ²² But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “I will not go up until the child is weaned; then I will bring him, that he may appear before the Lord and stay there forever.” ²³ Elkanah her husband said to her, “Do what seems best to you. Remain until you have weaned him; only may the Lord confirm His word.” So the woman remained and nursed her son until she weaned him. ²⁴ Now when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with a three-year-old bull and one ephah of flour and a jug of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord in Shiloh, although the child was young. ²⁵ Then they slaughtered the bull, and brought the boy to Eli. ²⁶ She said, “Oh, my lord! As your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you, praying to the Lord. ²⁷ For this boy I prayed, and the Lord has given me my petition which I asked of Him. ²⁸ So I have also dedicated him to the Lord; as long as he lives he is dedicated to the Lord.” And he worshiped the Lord there.

(1 Samuel 2) ¹ Then Hannah prayed and said, “My heart exults in the Lord; My horn is exalted in the Lord, My mouth speaks boldly against my enemies, Because I rejoice in Your salvation. ² There is no one holy like the Lord, Indeed, there is no one besides You, Nor is there any rock like our God. ³ Boast no more so very proudly, Do not let arrogance come out of your mouth; For the Lord is a God of knowledge, And with Him actions are weighed. ⁴ The bows of the mighty are shattered, But the feeble gird on strength. ⁵ Those who were full hire themselves out for bread, But those who were hungry cease to hunger. Even the barren gives birth to seven, But she who has many children languishes. ⁶ The Lord kills and makes alive; He brings down to Sheol and raises up. ⁷ The Lord makes poor and rich; He brings low, He also exalts. ⁸ He raises the poor from the dust, He lifts the needy from the ash heap To make them sit with nobles, And inherit a seat of honor; For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, And He set the world on them. ⁹ He keeps the feet of His godly ones, But the wicked ones are silenced in darkness; For not by might shall a man prevail. ¹⁰ Those who contend with the Lord will be shattered; Against them He will thunder in the heavens, The Lord will judge the ends of the earth; And He will give strength to His king, And will exalt the horn of His anointed.” ¹¹ Then Elkanah went to his home at Ramah. But the boy ministered to the Lord before Eli the priest. ¹² Now the sons of Eli were worthless men; they did not know the Lord ¹³ and the custom of the priests with the people. When any man was offering a sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand. ¹⁴ Then he would thrust it into the pan, or kettle, or caldron, or pot; all that the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. Thus they did in Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. ¹⁵ Also, before they burned the fat, the priest’s servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give the priest meat for roasting, as he will not take boiled meat from you, only raw.” ¹⁶ If the man said to him, “They must surely burn the fat first, and then take as much as you desire,” then he would say, “No, but you shall give it to me now; and if not, I will take it by force.” ¹⁷ Thus the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord, for the men despised the offering of the Lord. ¹⁸ Now Samuel was ministering before the Lord, as a boy wearing a linen ephod. ¹⁹ And his mother would make him a little robe and bring it to him from year to year when she would come up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. ²⁰ Then Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, “May the Lord give you children from this woman in place of the one she dedicated to the Lord.” And they went to their own home. ²¹ The Lord visited Hannah; and she conceived and gave birth to three sons and two daughters. And the boy Samuel grew before the Lord. ²² Now Eli was very old; and he heard all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and how they lay with the women who served at the doorway of the tent of meeting. ²³ He said to them, “Why do you do such things, the evil things that I hear from all these people? ²⁴ No, my sons; for the report is not good which I hear the Lord’s people circulating. ²⁵ If one man sins against another, God will mediate for him; but if a man sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to the voice of their father, for the Lord desired to put them to death. ²⁶ Now the boy Samuel was growing in stature and in favor both with the Lord and with men. ²⁷ Then a man of God came to Eli and said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Did I not indeed reveal Myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt in bondage to Pharaoh’s house? ²⁸ Did I not choose them from all the tribes of Israel to be My priests, to go up to My altar, to burn incense, to carry an ephod before Me; and did I not give to the house of your father all the fire offerings of the sons of Israel? ²⁹ Why do you kick at My sacrifice and at My offering which I have commanded in My dwelling, and honor your sons above Me, by making yourselves fat with the choicest of every offering of My people Israel?’ ³⁰ Therefore the Lord God of Israel declares, ‘I did indeed say that your house and the house of your father should walk before Me forever’; but now the Lord declares, ‘Far be it from Me—for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me will be lightly esteemed. ³¹ Behold, the days are coming when I will break your strength and the strength of your father’s house so that there will not be an old man in your house. ³² You will see the distress of My dwelling, in spite of all the good that I do for Israel; and an old man will not be in your house forever. ³³ Yet I will not cut off every man of yours from My altar so that your eyes will fail from weeping and your soul grieve, and all the increase of your house will die in the prime of life. ³⁴ This will be the sign to you which will come concerning your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas: on the same day both of them will die. ³⁵ But I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who will do according to what is in My heart and in My soul; and I will build him an enduring house, and he will walk before My anointed always. ³⁶ Everyone who is left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread and say, “Please assign me to one of the priest’s offices so that I may eat a piece of bread.” ’ ”

(1 Samuel 7) ¹ And the men of Kiriath-jearim came and took the ark of the Lord and brought it into the house of Abinadab on the hill, and consecrated Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the Lord. ² From the day that the ark remained at Kiriath-jearim, the time was long, for it was twenty years; and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. ³ Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, “If you return to the Lord with all your heart, remove the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your hearts to the Lord and serve Him alone; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.” ⁴ So the sons of Israel removed the Baals and the Ashtaroth and served the Lord alone. ⁵ Then Samuel said, “Gather all Israel to Mizpah and I will pray to the Lord for you.” ⁶ They gathered to Mizpah, and drew water and poured it out before the Lord, and fasted on that day and said there, “We have sinned against the Lord.” And Samuel judged the sons of Israel at Mizpah. ⁷ Now when the Philistines heard that the sons of Israel had gathered to Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the sons of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. ⁸ Then the sons of Israel said to Samuel, “Do not cease to cry to the Lord our God for us, that He may save us from the hand of the Philistines.” ⁹ Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it for a whole burnt offering to the Lord; and Samuel cried to the Lord for Israel and the Lord answered him. ¹⁰ Now Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, and the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day against the Philistines and confused them, so that they were routed before Israel. ¹¹ The men of Israel went out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, and struck them down as far as below Beth-car. ¹² Then Samuel took a stone and set it between Mizpah and Shen, and named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.” ¹³ So the Philistines were subdued and they did not come anymore within the border of Israel. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. ¹⁴ The cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron even to Gath; and Israel delivered their territory from the hand of the Philistines. So there was peace between Israel and the Amorites. ¹⁵ Now Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. ¹⁶ He used to go annually on circuit to Bethel and Gilgal and Mizpah, and he judged Israel in all these places. ¹⁷ Then his return was to Ramah, for his house was there, and there he judged Israel; and he built there an altar to the Lord.

(2 Samuel 7) ¹ Now it came about when the king lived in his house, and the Lord had given him rest on every side from all his enemies, ² that the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells within tent curtains.” ³ Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your mind, for the Lord is with you.” ⁴ But in the same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying, ⁵ “Go and say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Are you the one who should build Me a house to dwell in? ⁶ For I have not dwelt in a house since the day I brought up the sons of Israel from Egypt, even to this day; but I have been moving about in a tent, even in a tabernacle. ⁷ Wherever I have gone with all the sons of Israel, did I speak a word with one of the tribes of Israel, which I commanded to shepherd My people Israel, saying, ‘Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?’ ” ’ ⁸ Now therefore, thus you shall say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people Israel. ⁹ I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make you a great name, like the names of the great men who are on the earth. ¹⁰ I will also appoint a place for My people Israel and will plant them, that they may live in their own place and not be disturbed again, nor will the wicked afflict them any more as formerly, ¹¹ even from the day that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. The Lord also declares to you that the Lord will make a house for you. ¹² When your days are complete and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. ¹³ He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. ¹⁴ I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me; when he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men, ¹⁵ but My lovingkindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. ¹⁶ Your house and your kingdom shall endure before Me forever; your throne shall be established forever.” ’ ” ¹⁷ In accordance with all these words and all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David. ¹⁸ Then David the king went in and sat before the Lord, and he said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that You have brought me this far? ¹⁹ And yet this was insignificant in Your eyes, O Lord God, for You have spoken also of the house of Your servant concerning the distant future. And this is the custom of man, O Lord God. ²⁰ Again what more can David say to You? For You know Your servant, O Lord God! ²¹ For the sake of Your word, and according to Your own heart, You have done all this greatness to let Your servant know. ²² For this reason You are great, O Lord God; for there is none like You, and there is no God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears. ²³ And what one nation on the earth is like Your people Israel, whom God went to redeem for Himself as a people and to make a name for Himself, and to do a great thing for You and awesome things for Your land, before Your people whom You have redeemed for Yourself from Egypt, from nations and their gods? ²⁴ For You have established for Yourself Your people Israel as Your own people forever, and You, O Lord, have become their God. ²⁵ Now therefore, O Lord God, the word that You have spoken concerning Your servant and his house, confirm it forever, and do as You have spoken, ²⁶ that Your name may be magnified forever, by saying, ‘The Lord of hosts is God over Israel’; and may the house of Your servant David be established before You. ²⁷ For You, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have made a revelation to Your servant, saying, ‘I will build you a house’; therefore Your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to You. ²⁸ Now, O Lord God, You are God, and Your words are truth, and You have promised this good thing to Your servant. ²⁹ Now therefore, may it please You to bless the house of Your servant, that it may continue forever before You. For You, O Lord God, have spoken; and with Your blessing may the house of Your servant be blessed forever.”

(1 Chronicles 17) ¹ And it came about, when David dwelt in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, “Behold, I am dwelling in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the Lord is under curtains.” ² Then Nathan said to David, “Do all that is in your heart, for God is with you.” ³ It came about the same night that the word of God came to Nathan, saying, ⁴ “Go and tell David My servant, ‘Thus says the Lord, “You shall not build a house for Me to dwell in; ⁵ for I have not dwelt in a house since the day that I brought up Israel to this day, but I have gone from tent to tent and from one dwelling place to another. ⁶ In all places where I have walked with all Israel, have I spoken a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people, saying, ‘Why have you not built for Me a house of cedar?’ ” ’ ⁷ Now, therefore, thus shall you say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be leader over My people Israel. ⁸ I have been with you wherever you have gone, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make you a name like the name of the great ones who are in the earth. ⁹ I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and not be moved again; and the wicked will not waste them anymore as formerly, ¹⁰ even from the day that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel. And I will subdue all your enemies. Moreover, I tell you that the Lord will build a house for you. ¹¹ When your days are fulfilled that you must go to be with your fathers, that I will set up one of your descendants after you, who will be of your sons; and I will establish his kingdom. ¹² He shall build for Me a house, and I will establish his throne forever. ¹³ I will be his father and he shall be My son; and I will not take My lovingkindness away from him, as I took it from him who was before you. ¹⁴ But I will settle him in My house and in My kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever.” ’ ” ¹⁵ According to all these words and according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David. ¹⁶ Then David the king went in and sat before the Lord and said, “Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house that You have brought me this far? ¹⁷ This was a small thing in Your eyes, O God; but You have spoken of Your servant’s house for a great while to come, and have regarded me according to the standard of a man of high degree, O Lord God. ¹⁸ What more can David still say to You concerning the honor bestowed on Your servant? For You know Your servant. ¹⁹ O Lord, for Your servant’s sake, and according to Your own heart, You have wrought all this greatness, to make known all these great things. ²⁰ O Lord, there is none like You, nor is there any God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears. ²¹ And what one nation in the earth is like Your people Israel, whom God went to redeem for Himself as a people, to make You a name by great and terrible things, in driving out nations from before Your people, whom You redeemed out of Egypt? ²² For Your people Israel You made Your own people forever, and You, O Lord, became their God. ²³ “Now, O Lord, let the word that You have spoken concerning Your servant and concerning his house be established forever, and do as You have spoken. ²⁴ Let Your name be established and magnified forever, saying, ‘The Lord of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel; and the house of David Your servant is established before You.’ ²⁵ For You, O my God, have revealed to Your servant that You will build for him a house; therefore Your servant has found courage to pray before You. ²⁶ Now, O Lord, You are God, and have promised this good thing to Your servant. ²⁷ And now it has pleased You to bless the house of Your servant, that it may continue forever before You; for You, O Lord, have blessed, and it is blessed forever.”

(2 Samuel 22) ¹ And David spoke the words of this song to the Lord in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. ² He said, “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; ³ My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge; My savior, You save me from violence. ⁴ I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, And I am saved from my enemies. ⁵ For the waves of death encompassed me; The torrents of destruction overwhelmed me; ⁶ The cords of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me. ⁷ In my distress I called upon the Lord, Yes, I cried to my God; And from His temple He heard my voice, And my cry for help came into His ears. ⁸ Then the earth shook and quaked, The foundations of heaven were trembling And were shaken, because He was angry. ⁹ Smoke went up out of His nostrils, Fire from His mouth devoured; Coals were kindled by it. ¹⁰ He bowed the heavens also, and came down With thick darkness under His feet. ¹¹ And He rode on a cherub and flew; And He appeared on the wings of the wind. ¹² And He made darkness canopies around Him, A mass of waters, thick clouds of the sky. ¹³ From the brightness before Him Coals of fire were kindled. ¹⁴ The Lord thundered from heaven, And the Most High uttered His voice. ¹⁵ And He sent out arrows, and scattered them, Lightning, and routed them. ¹⁶ Then the channels of the sea appeared, The foundations of the world were laid bare By the rebuke of the Lord, At the blast of the breath of His nostrils. ¹⁷ He sent from on high, He took me; He drew me out of many waters. ¹⁸ He delivered me from my strong enemy, From those who hated me, for they were too strong for me. ¹⁹ They confronted me in the day of my calamity, But the Lord was my support. ²⁰ He also brought me forth into a broad place; He rescued me, because He delighted in me. ²¹ The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness; According to the cleanness of my hands He has recompensed me. ²² For I have kept the ways of the Lord, And have not acted wickedly against my God. ²³ For all His ordinances were before me, And as for His statutes, I did not depart from them. ²⁴ I was also blameless toward Him, And I kept myself from my iniquity. ²⁵ Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness, According to my cleanness before His eyes. ²⁶ With the kind You show Yourself kind, With the blameless You show Yourself blameless; ²⁷ With the pure You show Yourself pure, And with the perverted You show Yourself astute. ²⁸ And You save an afflicted people; But Your eyes are on the haughty whom You abase. ²⁹ For You are my lamp, O Lord; And the Lord illumines my darkness. ³⁰ For by You I can run upon a troop; By my God I can leap over a wall. ³¹ As for God, His way is blameless; The word of the Lord is tested; He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him. ³² For who is God, besides the Lord? And who is a rock, besides our God? ³³ God is my strong fortress; And He sets the blameless in His way. ³⁴ He makes my feet like hinds’ feet, And sets me on my high places. ³⁵ He trains my hands for battle, So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. ³⁶ You have also given me the shield of Your salvation, And Your help makes me great. ³⁷ You enlarge my steps under me, And my feet have not slipped. ³⁸ I pursued my enemies and destroyed them, And I did not turn back until they were consumed. ³⁹ And I have devoured them and shattered them, so that they did not rise; And they fell under my feet. ⁴⁰ For You have girded me with strength for battle; You have subdued under me those who rose up against me. ⁴¹ You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, And I destroyed those who hated me. ⁴² They looked, but there was none to save; Even to the Lord, but He did not answer them. ⁴³ Then I pulverized them as the dust of the earth; I crushed and stamped them as the mire of the streets. ⁴⁴ You have also delivered me from the contentions of my people; You have kept me as head of the nations; A people whom I have not known serve me. ⁴⁵ Foreigners pretend obedience to me; As soon as they hear, they obey me. ⁴⁶ Foreigners lose heart, And come trembling out of their fortresses. ⁴⁷ The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock; And exalted be God, the rock of my salvation, ⁴⁸ The God who executes vengeance for me, And brings down peoples under me, ⁴⁹ Who also brings me out from my enemies; You even lift me above those who rise up against me; You rescue me from the violent man. ⁵⁰ Therefore I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the nations, And I will sing praises to Your name. ⁵¹ He is a tower of deliverance to His king, And shows lovingkindness to His anointed, To David and his descendants forever.”

(Psalm 18) ¹ “I love You, O Lord, my strength.” ² The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. ³ I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, And I am saved from my enemies. ⁴ The cords of death encompassed me, And the torrents of ungodliness terrified me. ⁵ The cords of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me. ⁶ In my distress I called upon the Lord, And cried to my God for help; He heard my voice out of His temple, And my cry for help before Him came into His ears. ⁷ Then the earth shook and quaked; And the foundations of the mountains were trembling And were shaken, because He was angry. ⁸ Smoke went up out of His nostrils, And fire from His mouth devoured; Coals were kindled by it. ⁹ He bowed the heavens also, and came down With thick darkness under His feet. ¹⁰ He rode upon a cherub and flew; And He sped upon the wings of the wind. ¹¹ He made darkness His hiding place, His canopy around Him, Darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies. ¹² From the brightness before Him passed His thick clouds, Hailstones and coals of fire. ¹³ The Lord also thundered in the heavens, And the Most High uttered His voice, Hailstones and coals of fire. ¹⁴ He sent out His arrows, and scattered them, And lightning flashes in abundance, and routed them. ¹⁵ Then the channels of water appeared, And the foundations of the world were laid bare At Your rebuke, O Lord, At the blast of the breath of Your nostrils. ¹⁶ He sent from on high, He took me; He drew me out of many waters. ¹⁷ He delivered me from my strong enemy, And from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me. ¹⁸ They confronted me in the day of my calamity, But the Lord was my stay. ¹⁹ He brought me forth also into a broad place; He rescued me, because He delighted in me. ²⁰ The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness; According to the cleanness of my hands He has recompensed me. ²¹ For I have kept the ways of the Lord, And have not wickedly departed from my God. ²² For all His ordinances were before me, And I did not put away His statutes from me. ²³ I was also blameless with Him, And I kept myself from my iniquity. ²⁴ Therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness, According to the cleanness of my hands in His eyes. ²⁵ With the kind You show Yourself kind; With the blameless You show Yourself blameless; ²⁶ With the pure You show Yourself pure, And with the crooked You show Yourself astute. ²⁷ For You save an afflicted people, But haughty eyes You abase. ²⁸ For You light my lamp; The Lord my God illumines my darkness. ²⁹ For by You I can run upon a troop; And by my God I can leap over a wall. ³⁰ As for God, His way is blameless; The word of the Lord is tried; He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him. ³¹ For who is God, but the Lord? And who is a rock, except our God, ³² The God who girds me with strength And makes my way blameless? ³³ He makes my feet like hinds’ feet, And sets me upon my high places. ³⁴ He trains my hands for battle, So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. ³⁵ You have also given me the shield of Your salvation, And Your right hand upholds me; And Your gentleness makes me great. ³⁶ You enlarge my steps under me, And my feet have not slipped. ³⁷ I pursued my enemies and overtook them, And I did not turn back until they were consumed. ³⁸ I shattered them, so that they were not able to rise; They fell under my feet. ³⁹ For You have girded me with strength for battle; You have subdued under me those who rose up against me. ⁴⁰ You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, And I destroyed those who hated me. ⁴¹ They cried for help, but there was none to save, Even to the Lord, but He did not answer them. ⁴² Then I beat them fine as the dust before the wind; I emptied them out as the mire of the streets. ⁴³ You have delivered me from the contentions of the people; You have placed me as head of the nations; A people whom I have not known serve me. ⁴⁴ As soon as they hear, they obey me; Foreigners submit to me. ⁴⁵ Foreigners fade away, And come trembling out of their fortresses. ⁴⁶ The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock; And exalted be the God of my salvation, ⁴⁷ The God who executes vengeance for me, And subdues peoples under me. ⁴⁸ He delivers me from my enemies; Surely You lift me above those who rise up against me; You rescue me from the violent man. ⁴⁹ Therefore I will give thanks to You among the nations, O Lord, And I will sing praises to Your name. ⁵⁰ He gives great deliverance to His king, And shows lovingkindness to His anointed, To David and his descendants forever.

(1 Kings 3) ¹ Then Solomon formed a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her to the city of David until he had finished building his own house and the house of the Lord and the wall around Jerusalem. ² The people were still sacrificing on the high places, because there was no house built for the name of the Lord until those days. ³ Now Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of his father David, except he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. ⁴ The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place; Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. ⁵ In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night; and God said, “Ask what you wish Me to give you.” ⁶ Then Solomon said, “You have shown great lovingkindness to Your servant David my father, according as he walked before You in truth and righteousness and uprightness of heart toward You; and You have reserved for him this great lovingkindness, that You have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. ⁷ Now, O Lord my God, You have made Your servant king in place of my father David, yet I am but a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. ⁸ Your servant is in the midst of Your people which You have chosen, a great people who are too many to be numbered or counted. ⁹ So give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?” ¹⁰ It was pleasing in the sight of the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing. ¹¹ God said to him, “Because you have asked this thing and have not asked for yourself long life, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself discernment to understand justice, ¹² behold, I have done according to your words. Behold, I have given you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, nor shall one like you arise after you. ¹³ I have also given you what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you all your days. ¹⁴ If you walk in My ways, keeping My statutes and commandments, as your father David walked, then I will prolong your days.” ¹⁵ Then Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and made peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants. ¹⁶ Then two women who were harlots came to the king and stood before him. ¹⁷ The one woman said, “Oh, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house; and I gave birth to a child while she was in the house. ¹⁸ It happened on the third day after I gave birth, that this woman also gave birth to a child, and we were together. There was no stranger with us in the house, only the two of us in the house. ¹⁹ This woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on it. ²⁰ So she arose in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me while your maidservant slept, and laid him in her bosom, and laid her dead son in my bosom. ²¹ When I rose in the morning to nurse my son, behold, he was dead; but when I looked at him carefully in the morning, behold, he was not my son, whom I had borne.” ²² Then the other woman said, “No! For the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son.” But the first woman said, “No! For the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son.” Thus they spoke before the king. ²³ Then the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son who is living, and your son is the dead one’; and the other says, ‘No! For your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.’ ” ²⁴ The king said, “Get me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the king. ²⁵ The king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.” ²⁶ Then the woman whose child was the living one spoke to the king, for she was deeply stirred over her son and said, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means kill him.” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him!” ²⁷ Then the king said, “Give the first woman the living child, and by no means kill him. She is his mother.” ²⁸ When all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had handed down, they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice.

(2 Chronicles 1) ¹ Now Solomon the son of David established himself securely over his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him and exalted him greatly. ² Solomon spoke to all Israel, to the commanders of thousands and of hundreds and to the judges and to every leader in all Israel, the heads of the fathers’ households. ³ Then Solomon and all the assembly with him went to the high place which was at Gibeon, for God’s tent of meeting was there, which Moses the servant of the Lord had made in the wilderness. ⁴ However, David had brought up the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim to the place he had prepared for it, for he had pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem. ⁵ Now the bronze altar, which Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made, was there before the tabernacle of the Lord, and Solomon and the assembly sought it out. ⁶ Solomon went up there before the Lord to the bronze altar which was at the tent of meeting, and offered a thousand burnt offerings on it. ⁷ In that night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, “Ask what I shall give you.” ⁸ Solomon said to God, “You have dealt with my father David with great lovingkindness, and have made me king in his place. ⁹ Now, O Lord God, Your promise to my father David is fulfilled, for You have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth. ¹⁰ Give me now wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people, for who can rule this great people of Yours?” ¹¹ God said to Solomon, “Because you had this in mind, and did not ask for riches, wealth or honor, or the life of those who hate you, nor have you even asked for long life, but you have asked for yourself wisdom and knowledge that you may rule My people over whom I have made you king, ¹² wisdom and knowledge have been granted to you. And I will give you riches and wealth and honor, such as none of the kings who were before you has possessed nor those who will come after you.” ¹³ So Solomon went from the high place which was at Gibeon, from the tent of meeting, to Jerusalem, and he reigned over Israel. ¹⁴ Solomon amassed chariots and horsemen. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen, and he stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem. ¹⁵ The king made silver and gold as plentiful in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedars as plentiful as sycamores in the lowland. ¹⁶ Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and from Kue; the king’s traders procured them from Kue for a price. ¹⁷ They imported chariots from Egypt for 600 shekels of silver apiece and horses for 150 apiece, and by the same means they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram.

(1 Kings 8) ¹ Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the fathers’ households of the sons of Israel, to King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the city of David, which is Zion. ² All the men of Israel assembled themselves to King Solomon at the feast, in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. ³ Then all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark. ⁴ They brought up the ark of the Lord and the tent of meeting and all the holy utensils, which were in the tent, and the priests and the Levites brought them up. ⁵ And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who were assembled to him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen they could not be counted or numbered. ⁶ Then the priests brought the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, to the most holy place, under the wings of the cherubim. ⁷ For the cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim made a covering over the ark and its poles from above. ⁸ But the poles were so long that the ends of the poles could be seen from the holy place before the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen outside; they are there to this day. ⁹ There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets of stone which Moses put there at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the sons of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt. ¹⁰ It happened that when the priests came from the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the Lord, ¹¹ so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. ¹² Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that He would dwell in the thick cloud. ¹³ I have surely built You a lofty house, A place for Your dwelling forever.” ¹⁴ Then the king faced about and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel was standing. ¹⁵ He said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who spoke with His mouth to my father David and has fulfilled it with His hand, saying, ¹⁶ ‘Since the day that I brought My people Israel from Egypt, I did not choose a city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house that My name might be there, but I chose David to be over My people Israel.’ ¹⁷ Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. ¹⁸ But the Lord said to my father David, ‘Because it was in your heart to build a house for My name, you did well that it was in your heart. ¹⁹ Nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son who will be born to you, he will build the house for My name.’ ²⁰ Now the Lord has fulfilled His word which He spoke; for I have risen in place of my father David and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and have built the house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. ²¹ There I have set a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord, which He made with our fathers when He brought them from the land of Egypt.” ²² Then Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven. ²³ He said, “O Lord, the God of Israel, there is no God like You in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing lovingkindness to Your servants who walk before You with all their heart, ²⁴ who have kept with Your servant, my father David, that which You have promised him; indeed, You have spoken with Your mouth and have fulfilled it with Your hand as it is this day. ²⁵ Now therefore, O Lord, the God of Israel, keep with Your servant David my father that which You have promised him, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your sons take heed to their way to walk before Me as you have walked.’ ²⁶ Now therefore, O God of Israel, let Your word, I pray, be confirmed which You have spoken to Your servant, my father David. ²⁷ “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You, how much less this house which I have built! ²⁸ Yet have regard to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplication, O Lord my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which Your servant prays before You today; ²⁹ that Your eyes may be open toward this house night and day, toward the place of which You have said, ‘My name shall be there,’ to listen to the prayer which Your servant shall pray toward this place. ³⁰ Listen to the supplication of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place; hear in heaven Your dwelling place; hear and forgive. ³¹ “If a man sins against his neighbor and is made to take an oath, and he comes and takes an oath before Your altar in this house, ³² then hear in heaven and act and judge Your servants, condemning the wicked by bringing his way on his own head and justifying the righteous by giving him according to his righteousness. ³³ “When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy, because they have sinned against You, if they turn to You again and confess Your name and pray and make supplication to You in this house, ³⁴ then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You gave to their fathers. ³⁵ “When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain, because they have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name and turn from their sin when You afflict them, ³⁶ then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants and of Your people Israel, indeed, teach them the good way in which they should walk. And send rain on Your land, which You have given Your people for an inheritance. ³⁷ “If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight or mildew, locust or grasshopper, if their enemy besieges them in the land of their cities, whatever plague, whatever sickness there is, ³⁸ whatever prayer or supplication is made by any man or by all Your people Israel, each knowing the affliction of his own heart, and spreading his hands toward this house; ³⁹ then hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive and act and render to each according to all his ways, whose heart You know, for You alone know the hearts of all the sons of men, ⁴⁰ that they may fear You all the days that they live in the land which You have given to our fathers. ⁴¹ “Also concerning the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel, when he comes from a far country for Your name’s sake ⁴² (for they will hear of Your great name and Your mighty hand, and of Your outstretched arm); when he comes and prays toward this house, ⁴³ hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know Your name, to fear You, as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by Your name. ⁴⁴ “When Your people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatever way You shall send them, and they pray to the Lord toward the city which You have chosen and the house which I have built for Your name, ⁴⁵ then hear in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause. ⁴⁶ “When they sin against You (for there is no man who does not sin) and You are angry with them and deliver them to an enemy, so that they take them away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near; ⁴⁷ if they take thought in the land where they have been taken captive, and repent and make supplication to You in the land of those who have taken them captive, saying, ‘We have sinned and have committed iniquity, we have acted wickedly’; ⁴⁸ if they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies who have taken them captive, and pray to You toward their land which You have given to their fathers, the city which You have chosen, and the house which I have built for Your name; ⁴⁹ then hear their prayer and their supplication in heaven Your dwelling place, and maintain their cause, ⁵⁰ and forgive Your people who have sinned against You and all their transgressions which they have transgressed against You, and make them objects of compassion before those who have taken them captive, that they may have compassion on them ⁵¹ (for they are Your people and Your inheritance which You have brought forth from Egypt, from the midst of the iron furnace), ⁵² that Your eyes may be open to the supplication of Your servant and to the supplication of Your people Israel, to listen to them whenever they call to You. ⁵³ For You have separated them from all the peoples of the earth as Your inheritance, as You spoke through Moses Your servant, when You brought our fathers forth from Egypt, O Lord God.” ⁵⁴ When Solomon had finished praying this entire prayer and supplication to the Lord, he arose from before the altar of the Lord, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread toward heaven. ⁵⁵ And he stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying: ⁵⁶ “Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised; not one word has failed of all His good promise, which He promised through Moses His servant. ⁵⁷ May the Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers; may He not leave us or forsake us, ⁵⁸ that He may incline our hearts to Himself, to walk in all His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His ordinances, which He commanded our fathers. ⁵⁹ And may these words of mine, with which I have made supplication before the Lord, be near to the Lord our God day and night, that He may maintain the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Israel, as each day requires, ⁶⁰ so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God; there is no one else. ⁶¹ Let your heart therefore be wholly devoted to the Lord our God, to walk in His statutes and to keep His commandments, as at this day.” ⁶² Now the king and all Israel with him offered sacrifice before the Lord. ⁶³ Solomon offered for the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he offered to the Lord, 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the sons of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord. ⁶⁴ On the same day the king consecrated the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord, because there he offered the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat of the peace offerings; for the bronze altar that was before the Lord was too small to hold the burnt offering and the grain offering and the fat of the peace offerings. ⁶⁵ So Solomon observed the feast at that time, and all Israel with him, a great assembly from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of Egypt, before the Lord our God, for seven days and seven more days, even fourteen days. ⁶⁶ On the eighth day he sent the people away and they blessed the king. Then they went to their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the Lord had shown to David His servant and to Israel His people.

(2 Chronicles 6) ¹ Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that He would dwell in the thick cloud. ² I have built You a lofty house, And a place for Your dwelling forever.” ³ Then the king faced about and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel was standing. ⁴ He said, “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who spoke with His mouth to my father David and has fulfilled it with His hands, saying, ⁵ ‘Since the day that I brought My people from the land of Egypt, I did not choose a city out of all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house that My name might be there, nor did I choose any man for a leader over My people Israel; ⁶ but I have chosen Jerusalem that My name might be there, and I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.’ ⁷ Now it was in the heart of my father David to build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. ⁸ But the Lord said to my father David, ‘Because it was in your heart to build a house for My name, you did well that it was in your heart. ⁹ Nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son who will be born to you, he shall build the house for My name.’ ¹⁰ Now the Lord has fulfilled His word which He spoke; for I have risen in the place of my father David and sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and have built the house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel. ¹¹ There I have set the ark in which is the covenant of the Lord, which He made with the sons of Israel.” ¹² Then he stood before the altar of the Lord in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands. ¹³ Now Solomon had made a bronze platform, five cubits long, five cubits wide and three cubits high, and had set it in the midst of the court; and he stood on it, knelt on his knees in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven. ¹⁴ He said, “O Lord, the God of Israel, there is no god like You in heaven or on earth, keeping covenant and showing lovingkindness to Your servants who walk before You with all their heart; ¹⁵ who has kept with Your servant David, my father, that which You have promised him; indeed You have spoken with Your mouth and have fulfilled it with Your hand, as it is this day. ¹⁶ Now therefore, O Lord, the God of Israel, keep with Your servant David, my father, that which You have promised him, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your sons take heed to their way, to walk in My law as you have walked before Me.’ ¹⁷ Now therefore, O Lord, the God of Israel, let Your word be confirmed which You have spoken to Your servant David. ¹⁸ “But will God indeed dwell with mankind on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain You; how much less this house which I have built. ¹⁹ Yet have regard to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplication, O Lord my God, to listen to the cry and to the prayer which Your servant prays before You; ²⁰ that Your eye may be open toward this house day and night, toward the place of which You have said that You would put Your name there, to listen to the prayer which Your servant shall pray toward this place. ²¹ Listen to the supplications of Your servant and of Your people Israel when they pray toward this place; hear from Your dwelling place, from heaven; hear and forgive. ²² “If a man sins against his neighbor and is made to take an oath, and he comes and takes an oath before Your altar in this house, ²³ then hear from heaven and act and judge Your servants, punishing the wicked by bringing his way on his own head and justifying the righteous by giving him according to his righteousness. ²⁴ “If Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and they return to You and confess Your name, and pray and make supplication before You in this house, ²⁵ then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You have given to them and to their fathers. ²⁶ “When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, and they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin when You afflict them; ²⁷ then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of Your servants and Your people Israel, indeed, teach them the good way in which they should walk. And send rain on Your land which You have given to Your people for an inheritance. ²⁸ “If there is famine in the land, if there is pestilence, if there is blight or mildew, if there is locust or grasshopper, if their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities, whatever plague or whatever sickness there is, ²⁹ whatever prayer or supplication is made by any man or by all Your people Israel, each knowing his own affliction and his own pain, and spreading his hands toward this house, ³⁰ then hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, and render to each according to all his ways, whose heart You know for You alone know the hearts of the sons of men, ³¹ that they may fear You, to walk in Your ways as long as they live in the land which You have given to our fathers. ³² “Also concerning the foreigner who is not from Your people Israel, when he comes from a far country for Your great name’s sake and Your mighty hand and Your outstretched arm, when they come and pray toward this house, ³³ then hear from heaven, from Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know Your name, and fear You as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by Your name. ³⁴ “When Your people go out to battle against their enemies, by whatever way You shall send them, and they pray to You toward this city which You have chosen and the house which I have built for Your name, ³⁵ then hear from heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause. ³⁶ “When they sin against You (for there is no man who does not sin) and You are angry with them and deliver them to an enemy, so that they take them away captive to a land far off or near, ³⁷ if they take thought in the land where they are taken captive, and repent and make supplication to You in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have committed iniquity and have acted wickedly’; ³⁸ if they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they have been taken captive, and pray toward their land which You have given to their fathers and the city which You have chosen, and toward the house which I have built for Your name, ³⁹ then hear from heaven, from Your dwelling place, their prayer and supplications, and maintain their cause and forgive Your people who have sinned against You. ⁴⁰ “Now, O my God, I pray, let Your eyes be open and Your ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place. ⁴¹ “Now therefore arise, O Lord God, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your might; let Your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation and let Your godly ones rejoice in what is good. ⁴² “O Lord God, do not turn away the face of Your anointed; remember Your lovingkindness to Your servant David.”

(1 Kings 18) ¹ Now it happened after many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the face of the earth.” ² So Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria. ³ Ahab called Obadiah who was over the household. (Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly; ⁴ for when Jezebel destroyed the prophets of the Lord, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave, and provided them with bread and water.) ⁵ Then Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the springs of water and to all the valleys; perhaps we will find grass and keep the horses and mules alive, and not have to kill some of the cattle.” ⁶ So they divided the land between them to survey it; Ahab went one way by himself and Obadiah went another way by himself. ⁷ Now as Obadiah was on the way, behold, Elijah met him, and he recognized him and fell on his face and said, “Is this you, Elijah my master?” ⁸ He said to him, “It is I. Go, say to your master, ‘Behold, Elijah is here.’ ” ⁹ He said, “What sin have I committed, that you are giving your servant into the hand of Ahab to put me to death? ¹⁰ As the Lord your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my master has not sent to search for you; and when they said, ‘He is not here,’ he made the kingdom or nation swear that they could not find you. ¹¹ And now you are saying, ‘Go, say to your master, “Behold, Elijah is here.” ’ ¹² It will come about when I leave you that the Spirit of the Lord will carry you where I do not know; so when I come and tell Ahab and he cannot find you, he will kill me, although I your servant have feared the Lord from my youth. ¹³ Has it not been told to my master what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the Lord, that I hid a hundred prophets of the Lord by fifties in a cave, and provided them with bread and water? ¹⁴ And now you are saying, ‘Go, say to your master, “Behold, Elijah is here” ’; he will then kill me.” ¹⁵ Elijah said, “As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.” ¹⁶ So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him; and Ahab went to meet Elijah. ¹⁷ When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is this you, you troubler of Israel?” ¹⁸ He said, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, because you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and you have followed the Baals. ¹⁹ Now then send and gather to me all Israel at Mount Carmel, together with 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of the Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.” ²⁰ So Ahab sent a message among all the sons of Israel and brought the prophets together at Mount Carmel. ²¹ Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people did not answer him a word. ²² Then Elijah said to the people, “I alone am left a prophet of the Lord, but Baal’s prophets are 450 men. ²³ Now let them give us two oxen; and let them choose one ox for themselves and cut it up, and place it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other ox and lay it on the wood, and I will not put a fire under it. ²⁴ Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord, and the God who answers by fire, He is God.” And all the people said, “That is a good idea.” ²⁵ So Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one ox for yourselves and prepare it first for you are many, and call on the name of your god, but put no fire under it.” ²⁶ Then they took the ox which was given them and they prepared it and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon saying, “O Baal, answer us.” But there was no voice and no one answered. And they leaped about the altar which they made. ²⁷ It came about at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, “Call out with a loud voice, for he is a god; either he is occupied or gone aside, or is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and needs to be awakened.” ²⁸ So they cried with a loud voice and cut themselves according to their custom with swords and lances until the blood gushed out on them. ²⁹ When midday was past, they raved until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice; but there was no voice, no one answered, and no one paid attention. ³⁰ Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” So all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord which had been torn down. ³¹ Elijah took twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Israel shall be your name.” ³² So with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he made a trench around the altar, large enough to hold two measures of seed. ³³ Then he arranged the wood and cut the ox in pieces and laid it on the wood. ³⁴ And he said, “Fill four pitchers with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.” And he said, “Do it a second time,” and they did it a second time. And he said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time. ³⁵ The water flowed around the altar and he also filled the trench with water. ³⁶ At the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, today let it be known that You are God in Israel and that I am Your servant and I have done all these things at Your word. ³⁷ Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that You, O Lord, are God, and that You have turned their heart back again.” ³⁸ Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. ³⁹ When all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God.” ⁴⁰ Then Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal; do not let one of them escape.” So they seized them; and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there. ⁴¹ Now Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of the roar of a heavy shower.” ⁴² So Ahab went up to eat and drink. But Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he crouched down on the earth and put his face between his knees. ⁴³ He said to his servant, “Go up now, look toward the sea.” So he went up and looked and said, “There is nothing.” And he said, “Go back” seven times. ⁴⁴ It came about at the seventh time, that he said, “Behold, a cloud as small as a man’s hand is coming up from the sea.” And he said, “Go up, say to Ahab, ‘Prepare your chariot and go down, so that the heavy shower does not stop you.’ ” ⁴⁵ In a little while the sky grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy shower. And Ahab rode and went to Jezreel. ⁴⁶ Then the hand of the Lord was on Elijah, and he girded up his loins and outran Ahab to Jezreel.

(1 Kings 19) ¹ Now Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. ² Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and even more, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time.” ³ And he was afraid and arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there. ⁴ But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree; and he requested for himself that he might die, and said, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take my life, for I am not better than my fathers.” ⁵ He lay down and slept under a juniper tree; and behold, there was an angel touching him, and he said to him, “Arise, eat.” ⁶ Then he looked and behold, there was at his head a bread cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again. ⁷ The angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise, eat, because the journey is too great for you.” ⁸ So he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God. ⁹ Then he came there to a cave and lodged there; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” ¹⁰ He said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” ¹¹ So He said, “Go forth and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord was passing by! And a great and strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. ¹² After the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of a gentle blowing. ¹³ When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” ¹⁴ Then he said, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the sons of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars and killed Your prophets with the sword. And I alone am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.” ¹⁵ The Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus, and when you have arrived, you shall anoint Hazael king over Aram; ¹⁶ and Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint king over Israel; and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place. ¹⁷ It shall come about, the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall put to death. ¹⁸ Yet I will leave 7,000 in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him.” ¹⁹ So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, while he was plowing with twelve pairs of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth. And Elijah passed over to him and threw his mantle on him. ²⁰ He left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, “Please let me kiss my father and my mother, then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?” ²¹ So he returned from following him, and took the pair of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the implements of the oxen, and gave it to the people and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah and ministered to him.

(2 Kings 19) ¹ And when King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth and entered the house of the Lord. ² Then he sent Eliakim who was over the household with Shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz. ³ They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a day of distress, rebuke, and rejection; for children have come to birth and there is no strength to deliver. ⁴ Perhaps the Lord your God will hear all the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for the remnant that is left.’ ” ⁵ So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. ⁶ Isaiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. ⁷ Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land. And I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.” ’ ” ⁸ Then Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish. ⁹ When he heard them say concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, “Behold, he has come out to fight against you,” he sent messengers again to Hezekiah saying, ¹⁰ “Thus you shall say to Hezekiah king of Judah, ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you saying, “Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ¹¹ Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, destroying them completely. So will you be spared? ¹² Did the gods of those nations which my fathers destroyed deliver them, even Gozan and Haran and Rezeph and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar? ¹³ Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, and of Hena and Ivvah?’ ” ¹⁴ Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. ¹⁵ Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, “O Lord, the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. ¹⁶ Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and listen to the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. ¹⁷ Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have devastated the nations and their lands ¹⁸ and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. ¹⁹ Now, O Lord our God, I pray, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O Lord, are God.” ²⁰ Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria, I have heard you.’ ²¹ This is the word that the Lord has spoken against him: ‘She has despised you and mocked you, The virgin daughter of Zion; She has shaken her head behind you, The daughter of Jerusalem! ²² Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? And against whom have you raised your voice, And haughtily lifted up your eyes? Against the Holy One of Israel! ²³ Through your messengers you have reproached the Lord, And you have said, “With my many chariots I came up to the heights of the mountains, To the remotest parts of Lebanon; And I cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypresses. And I entered its farthest lodging place, its thickest forest. ²⁴ I dug wells and drank foreign waters, And with the sole of my feet I dried up All the rivers of Egypt.” ²⁵ ‘Have you not heard? Long ago I did it; From ancient times I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass, That you should turn fortified cities into ruinous heaps. ²⁶ Therefore their inhabitants were short of strength, They were dismayed and put to shame; They were as the vegetation of the field and as the green herb, As grass on the housetops is scorched before it is grown up. ²⁷ But I know your sitting down, And your going out and your coming in, And your raging against Me. ²⁸ Because of your raging against Me, And because your arrogance has come up to My ears, Therefore I will put My hook in your nose, And My bridle in your lips, And I will turn you back by the way which you came. ²⁹ ‘Then this shall be the sign for you: you will eat this year what grows of itself, in the second year what springs from the same, and in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. ³⁰ The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward. ³¹ For out of Jerusalem will go forth a remnant, and out of Mount Zion survivors. The zeal of the Lord will perform this. ³² ‘Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, “He will not come to this city or shoot an arrow there; and he will not come before it with a shield or throw up a siege ramp against it. ³³ By the way that he came, by the same he will return, and he shall not come to this city,” ’ declares the Lord. ³⁴ ‘For I will defend this city to save it for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’ ” ³⁵ Then it happened that night that the angel of the Lord went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men rose early in the morning, behold, all of them were dead. ³⁶ So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home, and lived at Nineveh. ³⁷ It came about as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son became king in his place.

(Isaiah 37) ¹ And when King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth and entered the house of the Lord. ² Then he sent Eliakim who was over the household with Shebna the scribe and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz. ³ They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah, ‘This day is a day of distress, rebuke and rejection; for children have come to birth, and there is no strength to deliver. ⁴ Perhaps the Lord your God will hear the words of Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore, offer a prayer for the remnant that is left.’ ” ⁵ So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. ⁶ Isaiah said to them, “Thus you shall say to your master, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. ⁷ Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land. And I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.” ’ ” ⁸ Then Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish. ⁹ When he heard them say concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, “He has come out to fight against you,” and when he heard it he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying, ¹⁰ “Thus you shall say to Hezekiah king of Judah, ‘Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, “Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ¹¹ Behold, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, destroying them completely. So will you be spared? ¹² Did the gods of those nations which my fathers have destroyed deliver them, even Gozan and Haran and Rezeph and the sons of Eden who were in Telassar? ¹³ Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, and of Hena and Ivvah?’ ” ¹⁴ Then Hezekiah took the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it, and he went up to the house of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord. ¹⁵ Hezekiah prayed to the Lord saying, ¹⁶ “O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. ¹⁷ Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear; open Your eyes, O Lord, and see; and listen to all the words of Sennacherib, who sent them to reproach the living God. ¹⁸ Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have devastated all the countries and their lands, ¹⁹ and have cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods but the work of men’s hands, wood and stone. So they have destroyed them. ²⁰ Now, O Lord our God, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, Lord, are God.” ²¹ Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have prayed to Me about Sennacherib king of Assyria, ²² this is the word that the Lord has spoken against him: “She has despised you and mocked you, The virgin daughter of Zion; She has shaken her head behind you, The daughter of Jerusalem! ²³ Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? And against whom have you raised your voice And haughtily lifted up your eyes? Against the Holy One of Israel! ²⁴ Through your servants you have reproached the Lord, And you have said, ‘With my many chariots I came up to the heights of the mountains, To the remotest parts of Lebanon; And I cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypresses. And I will go to its highest peak, its thickest forest. ²⁵ I dug wells and drank waters, And with the sole of my feet I dried up All the rivers of Egypt.’ ²⁶ Have you not heard? Long ago I did it, From ancient times I planned it. Now I have brought it to pass, That you should turn fortified cities into ruinous heaps. ²⁷ Therefore their inhabitants were short of strength, They were dismayed and put to shame; They were as the vegetation of the field and as the green herb, As grass on the housetops is scorched before it is grown up. ²⁸ But I know your sitting down And your going out and your coming in And your raging against Me. ²⁹ Because of your raging against Me And because your arrogance has come up to My ears, Therefore I will put My hook in your nose And My bridle in your lips, And I will turn you back by the way which you came. ³⁰ “Then this shall be the sign for you: you will eat this year what grows of itself, in the second year what springs from the same, and in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. ³¹ The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root downward and bear fruit upward. ³² For out of Jerusalem will go forth a remnant and out of Mount Zion survivors. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” ’ ³³ “Therefore, thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, ‘He will not come to this city or shoot an arrow there; and he will not come before it with a shield, or throw up a siege ramp against it. ³⁴ By the way that he came, by the same he will return, and he will not come to this city,’ declares the Lord. ³⁵ ‘For I will defend this city to save it for My own sake and for My servant David’s sake.’ ” ³⁶ Then the angel of the Lord went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men arose early in the morning, behold, all of these were dead. ³⁷ So Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at Nineveh. ³⁸ It came about as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, that Adrammelech and Sharezer his sons killed him with the sword; and they escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son became king in his place.

(1 Chronicles 16) ¹ And they brought in the ark of God and placed it inside the tent which David had pitched for it, and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God. ² When David had finished offering the burnt offering and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord. ³ He distributed to everyone of Israel, both man and woman, to everyone a loaf of bread and a portion of meat and a raisin cake. ⁴ He appointed some of the Levites as ministers before the ark of the Lord, even to celebrate and to thank and praise the Lord God of Israel: ⁵ Asaph the chief, and second to him Zechariah, then Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom and Jeiel, with musical instruments, harps, lyres; also Asaph played loud-sounding cymbals, ⁶ and Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests blew trumpets continually before the ark of the covenant of God. ⁷ Then on that day David first assigned Asaph and his relatives to give thanks to the Lord. ⁸ Oh give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples. ⁹ Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; Speak of all His wonders. ¹⁰ Glory in His holy name; Let the heart of those who seek the Lord be glad. ¹¹ Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face continually. ¹² Remember His wonderful deeds which He has done, His marvels and the judgments from His mouth, ¹³ O seed of Israel His servant, Sons of Jacob, His chosen ones! ¹⁴ He is the Lord our God; His judgments are in all the earth. ¹⁵ Remember His covenant forever, The word which He commanded to a thousand generations, ¹⁶ The covenant which He made with Abraham, And His oath to Isaac. ¹⁷ He also confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, To Israel as an everlasting covenant, ¹⁸ Saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan, As the portion of your inheritance.” ¹⁹ When they were only a few in number, Very few, and strangers in it, ²⁰ And they wandered about from nation to nation, And from one kingdom to another people, ²¹ He permitted no man to oppress them, And He reproved kings for their sakes, saying, ²² “Do not touch My anointed ones, And do My prophets no harm.” ²³ Sing to the Lord, all the earth; Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day. ²⁴ Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples. ²⁵ For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; He also is to be feared above all gods. ²⁶ For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the Lord made the heavens. ²⁷ Splendor and majesty are before Him, Strength and joy are in His place. ²⁸ Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. ²⁹ Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come before Him; Worship the Lord in holy array. ³⁰ Tremble before Him, all the earth; Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved. ³¹ Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; And let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns.” ³² Let the sea roar, and all it contains; Let the field exult, and all that is in it. ³³ Then the trees of the forest will sing for joy before the Lord; For He is coming to judge the earth. ³⁴ O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; For His lovingkindness is everlasting. ³⁵ Then say, “Save us, O God of our salvation, And gather us and deliver us from the nations, To give thanks to Your holy name, And glory in Your praise.” ³⁶ Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, From everlasting even to everlasting. Then all the people said, “Amen,” and praised the Lord. ³⁷ So he left Asaph and his relatives there before the ark of the covenant of the Lord to minister before the ark continually, as every day’s work required; ³⁸ and Obed-edom with his 68 relatives; Obed-edom, also the son of Jeduthun, and Hosah as gatekeepers. ³⁹ He left Zadok the priest and his relatives the priests before the tabernacle of the Lord in the high place which was at Gibeon, ⁴⁰ to offer burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar of burnt offering continually morning and evening, even according to all that is written in the law of the Lord, which He commanded Israel. ⁴¹ With them were Heman and Jeduthun, and the rest who were chosen, who were designated by name, to give thanks to the Lord, because His lovingkindness is everlasting. ⁴² And with them were Heman and Jeduthun with trumpets and cymbals for those who should sound aloud, and with instruments for the songs of God, and the sons of Jeduthun for the gate. ⁴³ Then all the people departed each to his house, and David returned to bless his household.

(1 Chronicles 29) ¹ Then King David said to the entire assembly, “My son Solomon, whom alone God has chosen, is still young and inexperienced and the work is great; for the temple is not for man, but for the Lord God. ² Now with all my ability I have provided for the house of my God the gold for the things of gold, and the silver for the things of silver, and the bronze for the things of bronze, the iron for the things of iron, and wood for the things of wood, onyx stones and inlaid stones, stones of antimony and stones of various colors, and all kinds of precious stones and alabaster in abundance. ³ Moreover, in my delight in the house of my God, the treasure I have of gold and silver, I give to the house of my God, over and above all that I have already provided for the holy temple, ⁴ namely, 3,000 talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and 7,000 talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls of the buildings; ⁵ of gold for the things of gold and of silver for the things of silver, that is, for all the work done by the craftsmen. Who then is willing to consecrate himself this day to the Lord?” ⁶ Then the rulers of the fathers’ households, and the princes of the tribes of Israel, and the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, with the overseers over the king’s work, offered willingly; ⁷ and for the service for the house of God they gave 5,000 talents and 10,000 darics of gold, and 10,000 talents of silver, and 18,000 talents of brass, and 100,000 talents of iron. ⁸ Whoever possessed precious stones gave them to the treasury of the house of the Lord, in care of Jehiel the Gershonite. ⁹ Then the people rejoiced because they had offered so willingly, for they made their offering to the Lord with a whole heart, and King David also rejoiced greatly. ¹⁰ So David blessed the Lord in the sight of all the assembly; and David said, “Blessed are You, O Lord God of Israel our father, forever and ever. ¹¹ Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O Lord, and You exalt Yourself as head over all. ¹² Both riches and honor come from You, and You rule over all, and in Your hand is power and might; and it lies in Your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone. ¹³ Now therefore, our God, we thank You, and praise Your glorious name. ¹⁴ “But who am I and who are my people that we should be able to offer as generously as this? For all things come from You, and from Your hand we have given You. ¹⁵ For we are sojourners before You, and tenants, as all our fathers were; our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope. ¹⁶ O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided to build You a house for Your holy name, it is from Your hand, and all is Yours. ¹⁷ Since I know, O my God, that You try the heart and delight in uprightness, I, in the integrity of my heart, have willingly offered all these things; so now with joy I have seen Your people, who are present here, make their offerings willingly to You. ¹⁸ O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, our fathers, preserve this forever in the intentions of the heart of Your people, and direct their heart to You; ¹⁹ and give to my son Solomon a perfect heart to keep Your commandments, Your testimonies and Your statutes, and to do them all, and to build the temple, for which I have made provision.” ²⁰ Then David said to all the assembly, “Now bless the Lord your God.” And all the assembly blessed the Lord, the God of their fathers, and bowed low and did homage to the Lord and to the king. ²¹ On the next day they made sacrifices to the Lord and offered burnt offerings to the Lord, 1,000 bulls, 1,000 rams and 1,000 lambs, with their drink offerings and sacrifices in abundance for all Israel. ²² So they ate and drank that day before the Lord with great gladness. And they made Solomon the son of David king a second time, and they anointed him as ruler for the Lord and Zadok as priest. ²³ Then Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king instead of David his father; and he prospered, and all Israel obeyed him. ²⁴ All the officials, the mighty men, and also all the sons of King David pledged allegiance to King Solomon. ²⁵ The Lord highly exalted Solomon in the sight of all Israel, and bestowed on him royal majesty which had not been on any king before him in Israel. ²⁶ Now David the son of Jesse reigned over all Israel. ²⁷ The period which he reigned over Israel was forty years; he reigned in Hebron seven years and in Jerusalem thirty-three years. ²⁸ Then he died in a ripe old age, full of days, riches and honor; and his son Solomon reigned in his place. ²⁹ Now the acts of King David, from first to last, are written in the chronicles of Samuel the seer, in the chronicles of Nathan the prophet and in the chronicles of Gad the seer, ³⁰ with all his reign, his power, and the circumstances which came on him, on Israel, and on all the kingdoms of the lands.

(Ezra 9) ¹ Now when these things had been completed, the princes approached me, saying, “The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, according to their abominations, those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians and the Amorites. ² For they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race has intermingled with the peoples of the lands; indeed, the hands of the princes and the rulers have been foremost in this unfaithfulness.” ³ When I heard about this matter, I tore my garment and my robe, and pulled some of the hair from my head and my beard, and sat down appalled. ⁴ Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel on account of the unfaithfulness of the exiles gathered to me, and I sat appalled until the evening offering. ⁵ But at the evening offering I arose from my humiliation, even with my garment and my robe torn, and I fell on my knees and stretched out my hands to the Lord my God; ⁶ and I said, “O my God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift up my face to You, my God, for our iniquities have risen above our heads and our guilt has grown even to the heavens. ⁷ Since the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt, and on account of our iniquities we, our kings and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity and to plunder and to open shame, as it is this day. ⁸ But now for a brief moment grace has been shown from the Lord our God, to leave us an escaped remnant and to give us a peg in His holy place, that our God may enlighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our bondage. ⁹ For we are slaves; yet in our bondage our God has not forsaken us, but has extended lovingkindness to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us reviving to raise up the house of our God, to restore its ruins and to give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem. ¹⁰ “Now, our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken Your commandments, ¹¹ which You have commanded by Your servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land which you are entering to possess is an unclean land with the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations which have filled it from end to end and with their impurity. ¹² So now do not give your daughters to their sons nor take their daughters to your sons, and never seek their peace or their prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good things of the land and leave it as an inheritance to your sons forever.’ ¹³ After all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and our great guilt, since You our God have requited us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us an escaped remnant as this, ¹⁴ shall we again break Your commandments and intermarry with the peoples who commit these abominations? Would You not be angry with us to the point of destruction, until there is no remnant nor any who escape? ¹⁵ O Lord God of Israel, You are righteous, for we have been left an escaped remnant, as it is this day; behold, we are before You in our guilt, for no one can stand before You because of this.”

(Nehemiah 1) ¹ The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. Now it happened in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, while I was in Susa the capitol, ² that Hanani, one of my brothers, and some men from Judah came; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped and had survived the captivity, and about Jerusalem. ³ They said to me, “The remnant there in the province who survived the captivity are in great distress and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are burned with fire.” ⁴ When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. ⁵ I said, “I beseech You, O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, ⁶ let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; I and my father’s house have sinned. ⁷ We have acted very corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses. ⁸ Remember the word which You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful I will scatter you among the peoples; ⁹ but if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though those of you who have been scattered were in the most remote part of the heavens, I will gather them from there and will bring them to the place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.’ ¹⁰ They are Your servants and Your people whom You redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand. ¹¹ O Lord, I beseech You, may Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to revere Your name, and make Your servant successful today and grant him compassion before this man.” Now I was the cupbearer to the king.

(Nehemiah 9) ¹ Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the sons of Israel assembled with fasting, in sackcloth and with dirt upon them. ² The descendants of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. ³ While they stood in their place, they read from the book of the law of the Lord their God for a fourth of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God. ⁴ Now on the Levites’ platform stood Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani and Chenani, and they cried with a loud voice to the Lord their God. ⁵ Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah and Pethahiah, said, “Arise, bless the Lord your God forever and ever! O may Your glorious name be blessed And exalted above all blessing and praise! ⁶ You alone are the Lord. You have made the heavens, The heaven of heavens with all their host, The earth and all that is on it, The seas and all that is in them. You give life to all of them And the heavenly host bows down before You. ⁷ You are the Lord God, Who chose Abram And brought him out from Ur of the Chaldees, And gave him the name Abraham. ⁸ You found his heart faithful before You, And made a covenant with him To give him the land of the Canaanite, Of the Hittite and the Amorite, Of the Perizzite, the Jebusite and the Girgashite— To give it to his descendants. And You have fulfilled Your promise, For You are righteous. ⁹ “You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, And heard their cry by the Red Sea. ¹⁰ Then You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, Against all his servants and all the people of his land; For You knew that they acted arrogantly toward them, And made a name for Yourself as it is this day. ¹¹ You divided the sea before them, So they passed through the midst of the sea on dry ground; And their pursuers You hurled into the depths, Like a stone into raging waters. ¹² And with a pillar of cloud You led them by day, And with a pillar of fire by night To light for them the way In which they were to go. ¹³ Then You came down on Mount Sinai, And spoke with them from heaven; You gave them just ordinances and true laws, Good statutes and commandments. ¹⁴ So You made known to them Your holy sabbath, And laid down for them commandments, statutes and law, Through Your servant Moses. ¹⁵ You provided bread from heaven for them for their hunger, You brought forth water from a rock for them for their thirst, And You told them to enter in order to possess The land which You swore to give them. ¹⁶ “But they, our fathers, acted arrogantly; They became stubborn and would not listen to Your commandments. ¹⁷ They refused to listen, And did not remember Your wondrous deeds which You had performed among them; So they became stubborn and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But You are a God of forgiveness, Gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness; And You did not forsake them. ¹⁸ Even when they made for themselves A calf of molten metal And said, ‘This is your God Who brought you up from Egypt,’ And committed great blasphemies, ¹⁹ You, in Your great compassion, Did not forsake them in the wilderness; The pillar of cloud did not leave them by day, To guide them on their way, Nor the pillar of fire by night, to light for them the way in which they were to go. ²⁰ You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them, Your manna You did not withhold from their mouth, And You gave them water for their thirst. ²¹ Indeed, forty years You provided for them in the wilderness and they were not in want; Their clothes did not wear out, nor did their feet swell. ²² You also gave them kingdoms and peoples, And allotted them to them as a boundary. They took possession of the land of Sihon the king of Heshbon And the land of Og the king of Bashan. ²³ You made their sons numerous as the stars of heaven, And You brought them into the land Which You had told their fathers to enter and possess. ²⁴ So their sons entered and possessed the land. And You subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, And You gave them into their hand, with their kings and the peoples of the land, To do with them as they desired. ²⁵ They captured fortified cities and a fertile land. They took possession of houses full of every good thing, Hewn cisterns, vineyards, olive groves, Fruit trees in abundance. So they ate, were filled and grew fat, And reveled in Your great goodness. ²⁶ “But they became disobedient and rebelled against You, And cast Your law behind their backs And killed Your prophets who had admonished them So that they might return to You, And they committed great blasphemies. ²⁷ Therefore You delivered them into the hand of their oppressors who oppressed them, But when they cried to You in the time of their distress, You heard from heaven, and according to Your great compassion You gave them deliverers who delivered them from the hand of their oppressors. ²⁸ But as soon as they had rest, they did evil again before You; Therefore You abandoned them to the hand of their enemies, so that they ruled over them. When they cried again to You, You heard from heaven, And many times You rescued them according to Your compassion, ²⁹ And admonished them in order to turn them back to Your law. Yet they acted arrogantly and did not listen to Your commandments but sinned against Your ordinances, By which if a man observes them he shall live. And they turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck, and would not listen. ³⁰ However, You bore with them for many years, And admonished them by Your Spirit through Your prophets, Yet they would not give ear. Therefore You gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. ³¹ Nevertheless, in Your great compassion You did not make an end of them or forsake them, For You are a gracious and compassionate God. ³² “Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and lovingkindness, Do not let all the hardship seem insignificant before You, Which has come upon us, our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers and on all Your people, From the days of the kings of Assyria to this day. ³³ However, You are just in all that has come upon us; For You have dealt faithfully, but we have acted wickedly. ³⁴ For our kings, our leaders, our priests and our fathers have not kept Your law Or paid attention to Your commandments and Your admonitions with which You have admonished them. ³⁵ But they, in their own kingdom, With Your great goodness which You gave them, With the broad and rich land which You set before them, Did not serve You or turn from their evil deeds. ³⁶ Behold, we are slaves today, And as to the land which You gave to our fathers to eat of its fruit and its bounty, Behold, we are slaves in it. ³⁷ Its abundant produce is for the kings Whom You have set over us because of our sins; They also rule over our bodies And over our cattle as they please, So we are in great distress. ³⁸ “Now because of all this We are making an agreement in writing; And on the sealed document are the names of our leaders, our Levites and our priests.”

(Job 10) ¹ “I loathe my own life; I will give full vent to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. ² I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me; Let me know why You contend with me. ³ Is it right for You indeed to oppress, To reject the labor of Your hands, And to look favorably on the schemes of the wicked? ⁴ Have You eyes of flesh? Or do You see as a man sees? ⁵ Are Your days as the days of a mortal, Or Your years as man’s years, ⁶ That You should seek for my guilt And search after my sin? ⁷ According to Your knowledge I am indeed not guilty, Yet there is no deliverance from Your hand. ⁸ ‘Your hands fashioned and made me altogether, And would You destroy me? ⁹ Remember now, that You have made me as clay; And would You turn me into dust again? ¹⁰ Did You not pour me out like milk And curdle me like cheese; ¹¹ Clothe me with skin and flesh, And knit me together with bones and sinews? ¹² You have granted me life and lovingkindness; And Your care has preserved my spirit. ¹³ Yet these things You have concealed in Your heart; I know that this is within You: ¹⁴ If I sin, then You would take note of me, And would not acquit me of my guilt. ¹⁵ If I am wicked, woe to me! And if I am righteous, I dare not lift up my head. I am sated with disgrace and conscious of my misery. ¹⁶ Should my head be lifted up, You would hunt me like a lion; And again You would show Your power against me. ¹⁷ You renew Your witnesses against me And increase Your anger toward me; Hardship after hardship is with me. ¹⁸ ‘Why then have You brought me out of the womb? Would that I had died and no eye had seen me! ¹⁹ I should have been as though I had not been, Carried from womb to tomb.’ ²⁰ Would He not let my few days alone? Withdraw from me that I may have a little cheer ²¹ Before I go—and I shall not return— To the land of darkness and deep shadow, ²² The land of utter gloom as darkness itself, Of deep shadow without order, And which shines as the darkness.”

(Job 13) ¹ “Behold, my eye has seen all this, My ear has heard and understood it. ² What you know I also know; I am not inferior to you. ³ “But I would speak to the Almighty, And I desire to argue with God. ⁴ But you smear with lies; You are all worthless physicians. ⁵ O that you would be completely silent, And that it would become your wisdom! ⁶ Please hear my argument And listen to the contentions of my lips. ⁷ Will you speak what is unjust for God, And speak what is deceitful for Him? ⁸ Will you show partiality for Him? Will you contend for God? ⁹ Will it be well when He examines you? Or will you deceive Him as one deceives a man? ¹⁰ He will surely reprove you If you secretly show partiality. ¹¹ Will not His majesty terrify you, And the dread of Him fall on you? ¹² Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes, Your defenses are defenses of clay. ¹³ “Be silent before me so that I may speak; Then let come on me what may. ¹⁴ Why should I take my flesh in my teeth And put my life in my hands? ¹⁵ Though He slay me, I will hope in Him. Nevertheless I will argue my ways before Him. ¹⁶ This also will be my salvation, For a godless man may not come before His presence. ¹⁷ Listen carefully to my speech, And let my declaration fill your ears. ¹⁸ Behold now, I have prepared my case; I know that I will be vindicated. ¹⁹ Who will contend with me? For then I would be silent and die. ²⁰ “Only two things do not do to me, Then I will not hide from Your face: ²¹ Remove Your hand from me, And let not the dread of You terrify me. ²² Then call, and I will answer; Or let me speak, then reply to me. ²³ How many are my iniquities and sins? Make known to me my rebellion and my sin. ²⁴ Why do You hide Your face And consider me Your enemy? ²⁵ Will You cause a driven leaf to tremble? Or will You pursue the dry chaff? ²⁶ For You write bitter things against me And make me to inherit the iniquities of my youth. ²⁷ You put my feet in the stocks And watch all my paths; You set a limit for the soles of my feet, ²⁸ While I am decaying like a rotten thing, Like a garment that is moth-eaten.

(Job 14) ¹ “Man, who is born of woman, Is short-lived and full of turmoil. ² Like a flower he comes forth and withers. He also flees like a shadow and does not remain. ³ You also open Your eyes on him And bring him into judgment with Yourself. ⁴ Who can make the clean out of the unclean? No one! ⁵ Since his days are determined, The number of his months is with You; And his limits You have set so that he cannot pass. ⁶ Turn Your gaze from him that he may rest, Until he fulfills his day like a hired man. ⁷ “For there is hope for a tree, When it is cut down, that it will sprout again, And its shoots will not fail. ⁸ Though its roots grow old in the ground And its stump dies in the dry soil, ⁹ At the scent of water it will flourish And put forth sprigs like a plant. ¹⁰ But man dies and lies prostrate. Man expires, and where is he? ¹¹ As water evaporates from the sea, And a river becomes parched and dried up, ¹² So man lies down and does not rise. Until the heavens are no longer, He will not awake nor be aroused out of his sleep. ¹³ “Oh that You would hide me in Sheol, That You would conceal me until Your wrath returns to You, That You would set a limit for me and remember me! ¹⁴ If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my struggle I will wait Until my change comes. ¹⁵ You will call, and I will answer You; You will long for the work of Your hands. ¹⁶ For now You number my steps, You do not observe my sin. ¹⁷ My transgression is sealed up in a bag, And You wrap up my iniquity. ¹⁸ “But the falling mountain crumbles away, And the rock moves from its place; ¹⁹ Water wears away stones, Its torrents wash away the dust of the earth; So You destroy man’s hope. ²⁰ You forever overpower him and he departs; You change his appearance and send him away. ²¹ His sons achieve honor, but he does not know it; Or they become insignificant, but he does not perceive it. ²² But his body pains him, And he mourns only for himself.”

(Job 42) ¹ Then Job answered the Lord and said, ² “I know that You can do all things, And that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted. ³ ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. ⁴ ‘Hear, now, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You instruct me.’ ⁵ I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; But now my eye sees You; ⁶ Therefore I retract, And I repent in dust and ashes.” ⁷ It came about after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, that the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, because you have not spoken of Me what is right as My servant Job has. ⁸ Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to My servant Job, and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves, and My servant Job will pray for you. For I will accept him so that I may not do with you according to your folly, because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.” ⁹ So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the Lord told them; and the Lord accepted Job. ¹⁰ The Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the Lord increased all that Job had twofold. ¹¹ Then all his brothers and all his sisters and all who had known him before came to him, and they ate bread with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversities that the Lord had brought on him. And each one gave him one piece of money, and each a ring of gold. ¹² The Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had 14,000 sheep and 6,000 camels and 1,000 yoke of oxen and 1,000 female donkeys. ¹³ He had seven sons and three daughters. ¹⁴ He named the first Jemimah, and the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. ¹⁵ In all the land no women were found so fair as Job’s daughters; and their father gave them inheritance among their brothers. ¹⁶ After this, Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons and his grandsons, four generations. ¹⁷ And Job died, an old man and full of days.

(Psalm 4) ¹ Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have relieved me in my distress; Be gracious to me and hear my prayer. ² O sons of men, how long will my honor become a reproach? How long will you love what is worthless and aim at deception? Selah. ³ But know that the Lord has set apart the godly man for Himself; The Lord hears when I call to Him. ⁴ Tremble, and do not sin; Meditate in your heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah. ⁵ Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, And trust in the Lord. ⁶ Many are saying, “Who will show us any good?” Lift up the light of Your countenance upon us, O Lord! ⁷ You have put gladness in my heart, More than when their grain and new wine abound. ⁸ In peace I will both lie down and sleep, For You alone, O Lord, make me to dwell in safety.

(Psalm 5) ¹ Give ear to my words, O Lord, Consider my groaning. ² Heed the sound of my cry for help, my King and my God, For to You I pray. ³ In the morning, O Lord, You will hear my voice; In the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch. ⁴ For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; No evil dwells with You. ⁵ The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; You hate all who do iniquity. ⁶ You destroy those who speak falsehood; The Lord abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit. ⁷ But as for me, by Your abundant lovingkindness I will enter Your house, At Your holy temple I will bow in reverence for You. ⁸ O Lord, lead me in Your righteousness because of my foes; Make Your way straight before me. ⁹ There is nothing reliable in what they say; Their inward part is destruction itself. Their throat is an open grave; They flatter with their tongue. ¹⁰ Hold them guilty, O God; By their own devices let them fall! In the multitude of their transgressions thrust them out, For they are rebellious against You. ¹¹ But let all who take refuge in You be glad, Let them ever sing for joy; And may You shelter them, That those who love Your name may exult in You. ¹² For it is You who blesses the righteous man, O Lord, You surround him with favor as with a shield.

(Psalm 23) ¹ The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. ² He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. ³ He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. ⁴ Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. ⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You have anointed my head with oil; My cup overflows. ⁶ Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

(Psalm 24) ¹ The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains, The world, and those who dwell in it. ² For He has founded it upon the seas And established it upon the rivers. ³ Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? And who may stand in His holy place? ⁴ He who has clean hands and a pure heart, Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood And has not sworn deceitfully. ⁵ He shall receive a blessing from the Lord And righteousness from the God of his salvation. ⁶ This is the generation of those who seek Him, Who seek Your face—even Jacob. Selah. ⁷ Lift up your heads, O gates, And be lifted up, O ancient doors, That the King of glory may come in! ⁸ Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, The Lord mighty in battle. ⁹ Lift up your heads, O gates, And lift them up, O ancient doors, That the King of glory may come in! ¹⁰ Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory. Selah.

(Psalm 67) ¹ God be gracious to us and bless us, And cause His face to shine upon us— Selah. ² That Your way may be known on the earth, Your salvation among all nations. ³ Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You. ⁴ Let the nations be glad and sing for joy; For You will judge the peoples with uprightness And guide the nations on the earth. Selah. ⁵ Let the peoples praise You, O God; Let all the peoples praise You. ⁶ The earth has yielded its produce; God, our God, blesses us. ⁷ God blesses us, That all the ends of the earth may fear Him.

(Psalm 92) ¹ It is good to give thanks to the Lord And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; ² To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning And Your faithfulness by night, ³ With the ten-stringed lute and with the harp, With resounding music upon the lyre. ⁴ For You, O Lord, have made me glad by what You have done, I will sing for joy at the works of Your hands. ⁵ How great are Your works, O Lord! Your thoughts are very deep. ⁶ A senseless man has no knowledge, Nor does a stupid man understand this: ⁷ That when the wicked sprouted up like grass And all who did iniquity flourished, It was only that they might be destroyed forevermore. ⁸ But You, O Lord, are on high forever. ⁹ For, behold, Your enemies, O Lord, For, behold, Your enemies will perish; All who do iniquity will be scattered. ¹⁰ But You have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox; I have been anointed with fresh oil. ¹¹ And my eye has looked exultantly upon my foes, My ears hear of the evildoers who rise up against me. ¹² The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree, He will grow like a cedar in Lebanon. ¹³ Planted in the house of the Lord, They will flourish in the courts of our God. ¹⁴ They will still yield fruit in old age; They shall be full of sap and very green, ¹⁵ To declare that the Lord is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.

(Psalm 95) ¹ O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord, Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. ² Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. ³ For the Lord is a great God And a great King above all gods, ⁴ In whose hand are the depths of the earth, The peaks of the mountains are His also. ⁵ The sea is His, for it was He who made it, And His hands formed the dry land. ⁶ Come, let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. ⁷ For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you would hear His voice, ⁸ Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, As in the day of Massah in the wilderness, ⁹ “When your fathers tested Me, They tried Me, though they had seen My work. ¹⁰ For forty years I loathed that generation, And said they are a people who err in their heart, And they do not know My ways. ¹¹ Therefore I swore in My anger, Truly they shall not enter into My rest.”

(Psalm 96) ¹ Sing to the Lord a new song; Sing to the Lord, all the earth. ² Sing to the Lord, bless His name; Proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day. ³ Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples. ⁴ For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods. ⁵ For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the Lord made the heavens. ⁶ Splendor and majesty are before Him, Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary. ⁷ Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. ⁸ Ascribe to the Lord the glory of His name; Bring an offering and come into His courts. ⁹ Worship the Lord in holy attire; Tremble before Him, all the earth. ¹⁰ Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns; Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved; He will judge the peoples with equity.” ¹¹ Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; Let the sea roar, and all it contains; ¹² Let the field exult, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy ¹³ Before the Lord, for He is coming, For He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness And the peoples in His faithfulness.

(Psalm 97) ¹ The Lord reigns, let the earth rejoice; Let the many islands be glad. ² Clouds and thick darkness surround Him; Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne. ³ Fire goes before Him And burns up His adversaries round about. ⁴ His lightnings lit up the world; The earth saw and trembled. ⁵ The mountains melted like wax at the presence of the Lord, At the presence of the Lord of the whole earth. ⁶ The heavens declare His righteousness, And all the peoples have seen His glory. ⁷ Let all those be ashamed who serve graven images, Who boast themselves of idols; Worship Him, all you gods. ⁸ Zion heard this and was glad, And the daughters of Judah have rejoiced Because of Your judgments, O Lord. ⁹ For You are the Lord Most High over all the earth; You are exalted far above all gods. ¹⁰ Hate evil, you who love the Lord, Who preserves the souls of His godly ones; He delivers them from the hand of the wicked. ¹¹ Light is sown like seed for the righteous And gladness for the upright in heart. ¹² Be glad in the Lord, you righteous ones, And give thanks to His holy name.

(Psalm 98) ¹ O sing to the Lord a new song, For He has done wonderful things, His right hand and His holy arm have gained the victory for Him. ² The Lord has made known His salvation; He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations. ³ He has remembered His lovingkindness and His faithfulness to the house of Israel; All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. ⁴ Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth; Break forth and sing for joy and sing praises. ⁵ Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre, With the lyre and the sound of melody. ⁶ With trumpets and the sound of the horn Shout joyfully before the King, the Lord. ⁷ Let the sea roar and all it contains, The world and those who dwell in it. ⁸ Let the rivers clap their hands, Let the mountains sing together for joy ⁹ Before the Lord, for He is coming to judge the earth; He will judge the world with righteousness And the peoples with equity.

(Psalm 100) ¹ Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. ² Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing. ³ Know that the Lord Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. ⁴ Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. ⁵ For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations.

(Psalm 113) ¹ Praise the Lord! Praise, O servants of the Lord, Praise the name of the Lord. ² Blessed be the name of the Lord From this time forth and forever. ³ From the rising of the sun to its setting The name of the Lord is to be praised. ⁴ The Lord is high above all nations; His glory is above the heavens. ⁵ Who is like the Lord our God, Who is enthroned on high, ⁶ Who humbles Himself to behold The things that are in heaven and in the earth? ⁷ He raises the poor from the dust And lifts the needy from the ash heap, ⁸ To make them sit with princes, With the princes of His people. ⁹ He makes the barren woman abide in the house As a joyful mother of children. Praise the Lord!

(Psalm 145) ¹ I will extol You, my God, O King, And I will bless Your name forever and ever. ² Every day I will bless You, And I will praise Your name forever and ever. ³ Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised, And His greatness is unsearchable. ⁴ One generation shall praise Your works to another, And shall declare Your mighty acts. ⁵ On the glorious splendor of Your majesty And on Your wonderful works, I will meditate. ⁶ Men shall speak of the power of Your awesome acts, And I will tell of Your greatness. ⁷ They shall eagerly utter the memory of Your abundant goodness And will shout joyfully of Your righteousness. ⁸ The Lord is gracious and merciful; Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness. ⁹ The Lord is good to all, And His mercies are over all His works. ¹⁰ All Your works shall give thanks to You, O Lord, And Your godly ones shall bless You. ¹¹ They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom And talk of Your power; ¹² To make known to the sons of men Your mighty acts And the glory of the majesty of Your kingdom. ¹³ Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And Your dominion endures throughout all generations. ¹⁴ The Lord sustains all who fall And raises up all who are bowed down. ¹⁵ The eyes of all look to You, And You give them their food in due time. ¹⁶ You open Your hand And satisfy the desire of every living thing. ¹⁷ The Lord is righteous in all His ways And kind in all His deeds. ¹⁸ The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth. ¹⁹ He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He will also hear their cry and will save them. ²⁰ The Lord keeps all who love Him, But all the wicked He will destroy. ²¹ My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, And all flesh will bless His holy name forever and ever.

(Psalm 148) ¹ Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; Praise Him in the heights! ² Praise Him, all His angels; Praise Him, all His hosts! ³ Praise Him, sun and moon; Praise Him, all stars of light! ⁴ Praise Him, highest heavens, And the waters that are above the heavens! ⁵ Let them praise the name of the Lord, For He commanded and they were created. ⁶ He has also established them forever and ever; He has made a decree which will not pass away. ⁷ Praise the Lord from the earth, Sea monsters and all deeps; ⁸ Fire and hail, snow and clouds; Stormy wind, fulfilling His word; ⁹ Mountains and all hills; Fruit trees and all cedars; ¹⁰ Beasts and all cattle; Creeping things and winged fowl; ¹¹ Kings of the earth and all peoples; Princes and all judges of the earth; ¹² Both young men and virgins; Old men and children. ¹³ Let them praise the name of the Lord, For His name alone is exalted; His glory is above earth and heaven. ¹⁴ And He has lifted up a horn for His people, Praise for all His godly ones; Even for the sons of Israel, a people near to Him. Praise the Lord!

(Psalm 150) ¹ Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty expanse. ² Praise Him for His mighty deeds; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness. ³ Praise Him with trumpet sound; Praise Him with harp and lyre. ⁴ Praise Him with timbrel and dancing; Praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe. ⁵ Praise Him with loud cymbals; Praise Him with resounding cymbals. ⁶ Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!

(Psalm 25) ¹ To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul. ² O my God, in You I trust, Do not let me be ashamed; Do not let my enemies exult over me. ³ Indeed, none of those who wait for You will be ashamed; Those who deal treacherously without cause will be ashamed. ⁴ Make me know Your ways, O Lord; Teach me Your paths. ⁵ Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; For You I wait all the day. ⁶ Remember, O Lord, Your compassion and Your lovingkindnesses, For they have been from of old. ⁷ Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; According to Your lovingkindness remember me, For Your goodness’ sake, O Lord. ⁸ Good and upright is the Lord; Therefore He instructs sinners in the way. ⁹ He leads the humble in justice, And He teaches the humble His way. ¹⁰ All the paths of the Lord are lovingkindness and truth To those who keep His covenant and His testimonies. ¹¹ For Your name’s sake, O Lord, Pardon my iniquity, for it is great. ¹² Who is the man who fears the Lord? He will instruct him in the way he should choose. ¹³ His soul will abide in prosperity, And his descendants will inherit the land. ¹⁴ The secret of the Lord is for those who fear Him, And He will make them know His covenant. ¹⁵ My eyes are continually toward the Lord, For He will pluck my feet out of the net. ¹⁶ Turn to me and be gracious to me, For I am lonely and afflicted. ¹⁷ The troubles of my heart are enlarged; Bring me out of my distresses. ¹⁸ Look upon my affliction and my trouble, And forgive all my sins. ¹⁹ Look upon my enemies, for they are many, And they hate me with violent hatred. ²⁰ Guard my soul and deliver me; Do not let me be ashamed, for I take refuge in You. ²¹ Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, For I wait for You. ²² Redeem Israel, O God, Out of all his troubles.

(Psalm 37) ¹ Do not fret because of evildoers, Be not envious toward wrongdoers. ² For they will wither quickly like the grass And fade like the green herb. ³ Trust in the Lord and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. ⁴ Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart. ⁵ Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, and He will do it. ⁶ He will bring forth your righteousness as the light And your judgment as the noonday. ⁷ Rest in the Lord and wait patiently for Him; Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, Because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. ⁸ Cease from anger and forsake wrath; Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing. ⁹ For evildoers will be cut off, But those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land. ¹⁰ Yet a little while and the wicked man will be no more; And you will look carefully for his place and he will not be there. ¹¹ But the humble will inherit the land And will delight themselves in abundant prosperity. ¹² The wicked plots against the righteous And gnashes at him with his teeth. ¹³ The Lord laughs at him, For He sees his day is coming. ¹⁴ The wicked have drawn the sword and bent their bow To cast down the afflicted and the needy, To slay those who are upright in conduct. ¹⁵ Their sword will enter their own heart, And their bows will be broken. ¹⁶ Better is the little of the righteous Than the abundance of many wicked. ¹⁷ For the arms of the wicked will be broken, But the Lord sustains the righteous. ¹⁸ The Lord knows the days of the blameless, And their inheritance will be forever. ¹⁹ They will not be ashamed in the time of evil, And in the days of famine they will have abundance. ²⁰ But the wicked will perish; And the enemies of the Lord will be like the glory of the pastures, They vanish—like smoke they vanish away. ²¹ The wicked borrows and does not pay back, But the righteous is gracious and gives. ²² For those blessed by Him will inherit the land, But those cursed by Him will be cut off. ²³ The steps of a man are established by the Lord, And He delights in his way. ²⁴ When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, Because the Lord is the One who holds his hand. ²⁵ I have been young and now I am old, Yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken Or his descendants begging bread. ²⁶ All day long he is gracious and lends, And his descendants are a blessing. ²⁷ Depart from evil and do good, So you will abide forever. ²⁸ For the Lord loves justice And does not forsake His godly ones; They are preserved forever, But the descendants of the wicked will be cut off. ²⁹ The righteous will inherit the land And dwell in it forever. ³⁰ The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, And his tongue speaks justice. ³¹ The law of his God is in his heart; His steps do not slip. ³² The wicked spies upon the righteous And seeks to kill him. ³³ The Lord will not leave him in his hand Or let him be condemned when he is judged. ³⁴ Wait for the Lord and keep His way, And He will exalt you to inherit the land; When the wicked are cut off, you will see it. ³⁵ I have seen a wicked, violent man Spreading himself like a luxuriant tree in its native soil. ³⁶ Then he passed away, and lo, he was no more; I sought for him, but he could not be found. ³⁷ Mark the blameless man, and behold the upright; For the man of peace will have a posterity. ³⁸ But transgressors will be altogether destroyed; The posterity of the wicked will be cut off. ³⁹ But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; He is their strength in time of trouble. ⁴⁰ The Lord helps them and delivers them; He delivers them from the wicked and saves them, Because they take refuge in Him.

(Psalm 62) ¹ My soul waits in silence for God only; From Him is my salvation. ² He only is my rock and my salvation, My stronghold; I shall not be greatly shaken. ³ How long will you assail a man, That you may murder him, all of you, Like a leaning wall, like a tottering fence? ⁴ They have counseled only to thrust him down from his high position; They delight in falsehood; They bless with their mouth, But inwardly they curse. Selah. ⁵ My soul, wait in silence for God only, For my hope is from Him. ⁶ He only is my rock and my salvation, My stronghold; I shall not be shaken. ⁷ On God my salvation and my glory rest; The rock of my strength, my refuge is in God. ⁸ Trust in Him at all times, O people; Pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us. Selah. ⁹ Men of low degree are only vanity and men of rank are a lie; In the balances they go up; They are together lighter than breath. ¹⁰ Do not trust in oppression And do not vainly hope in robbery; If riches increase, do not set your heart upon them. ¹¹ Once God has spoken; Twice I have heard this: That power belongs to God; ¹² And lovingkindness is Yours, O Lord, For You recompense a man according to his work.

(Psalm 40) ¹ I waited patiently for the Lord; And He inclined to me and heard my cry. ² He brought me up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, And He set my feet upon a rock making my footsteps firm. ³ He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God; Many will see and fear And will trust in the Lord. ⁴ How blessed is the man who has made the Lord his trust, And has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood. ⁵ Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders which You have done, And Your thoughts toward us; There is none to compare with You. If I would declare and speak of them, They would be too numerous to count. ⁶ Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired; My ears You have opened; Burnt offering and sin offering You have not required. ⁷ Then I said, “Behold, I come; In the scroll of the book it is written of me. ⁸ I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart.” ⁹ I have proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great congregation; Behold, I will not restrain my lips, O Lord, You know. ¹⁰ I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart; I have spoken of Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great congregation. ¹¹ You, O Lord, will not withhold Your compassion from me; Your lovingkindness and Your truth will continually preserve me. ¹² For evils beyond number have surrounded me; My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to see; They are more numerous than the hairs of my head, And my heart has failed me. ¹³ Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; Make haste, O Lord, to help me. ¹⁴ Let those be ashamed and humiliated together Who seek my life to destroy it; Let those be turned back and dishonored Who delight in my hurt. ¹⁵ Let those be appalled because of their shame Who say to me, “Aha, aha!” ¹⁶ Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; Let those who love Your salvation say continually, “The Lord be magnified!” ¹⁷ Since I am afflicted and needy, Let the Lord be mindful of me. You are my help and my deliverer; Do not delay, O my God.

(Psalm 116) ¹ I love the Lord, because He hears My voice and my supplications. ² Because He has inclined His ear to me, Therefore I shall call upon Him as long as I live. ³ The cords of death encompassed me And the terrors of Sheol came upon me; I found distress and sorrow. ⁴ Then I called upon the name of the Lord: “O Lord, I beseech You, save my life!” ⁵ Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; Yes, our God is compassionate. ⁶ The Lord preserves the simple; I was brought low, and He saved me. ⁷ Return to your rest, O my soul, For the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. ⁸ For You have rescued my soul from death, My eyes from tears, My feet from stumbling. ⁹ I shall walk before the Lord In the land of the living. ¹⁰ I believed when I said, “I am greatly afflicted.” ¹¹ I said in my alarm, “All men are liars.” ¹² What shall I render to the Lord For all His benefits toward me? ¹³ I shall lift up the cup of salvation And call upon the name of the Lord. ¹⁴ I shall pay my vows to the Lord, Oh may it be in the presence of all His people. ¹⁵ Precious in the sight of the Lord Is the death of His godly ones. ¹⁶ O Lord, surely I am Your servant, I am Your servant, the son of Your handmaid, You have loosed my bonds. ¹⁷ To You I shall offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving, And call upon the name of the Lord. ¹⁸ I shall pay my vows to the Lord, Oh may it be in the presence of all His people, ¹⁹ In the courts of the Lord’s house, In the midst of you, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord!

(Psalm 27) ¹ The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life; Whom shall I dread? ² When evildoers came upon me to devour my flesh, My adversaries and my enemies, they stumbled and fell. ³ Though a host encamp against me, My heart will not fear; Though war arise against me, In spite of this I shall be confident. ⁴ One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord And to meditate in His temple. ⁵ For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle; In the secret place of His tent He will hide me; He will lift me up on a rock. ⁶ And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me, And I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord. ⁷ Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice, And be gracious to me and answer me. ⁸ When You said, “Seek My face,” my heart said to You, “Your face, O Lord, I shall seek.” ⁹ Do not hide Your face from me, Do not turn Your servant away in anger; You have been my help; Do not abandon me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation! ¹⁰ For my father and my mother have forsaken me, But the Lord will take me up. ¹¹ Teach me Your way, O Lord, And lead me in a level path Because of my foes. ¹² Do not deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries, For false witnesses have risen against me, And such as breathe out violence. ¹³ I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living. ¹⁴ Wait for the Lord; Be strong and let your heart take courage; Yes, wait for the Lord.

(Psalm 42) ¹ As the deer pants for the water brooks, So my soul pants for You, O God. ² My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; When shall I come and appear before God? ³ My tears have been my food day and night, While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” ⁴ These things I remember and I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go along with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God, With the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival. ⁵ Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him For the help of His presence. ⁶ O my God, my soul is in despair within me; Therefore I remember You from the land of the Jordan And the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. ⁷ Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls; All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me. ⁸ The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime; And His song will be with me in the night, A prayer to the God of my life. ⁹ I will say to God my rock, “Why have You forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” ¹⁰ As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me, While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” ¹¹ Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God.

(Psalm 63) ¹ O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water. ² Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory. ³ Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, My lips will praise You. ⁴ So I will bless You as long as I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name. ⁵ My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness, And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips. ⁶ When I remember You on my bed, I meditate on You in the night watches, ⁷ For You have been my help, And in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy. ⁸ My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me. ⁹ But those who seek my life to destroy it, Will go into the depths of the earth. ¹⁰ They will be delivered over to the power of the sword; They will be a prey for foxes. ¹¹ But the king will rejoice in God; Everyone who swears by Him will glory, For the mouths of those who speak lies will be stopped.

(Psalm 84) ¹ How lovely are Your dwelling places, O Lord of hosts! ² My soul longed and even yearned for the courts of the Lord; My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God. ³ The bird also has found a house, And the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, Even Your altars, O Lord of hosts, My King and my God. ⁴ How blessed are those who dwell in Your house! They are ever praising You. Selah. ⁵ How blessed is the man whose strength is in You, In whose heart are the highways to Zion! ⁶ Passing through the valley of Baca they make it a spring; The early rain also covers it with blessings. ⁷ They go from strength to strength, Every one of them appears before God in Zion. ⁸ O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer; Give ear, O God of Jacob! Selah. ⁹ Behold our shield, O God, And look upon the face of Your anointed. ¹⁰ For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand outside. I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God Than dwell in the tents of wickedness. ¹¹ For the Lord God is a sun and shield; The Lord gives grace and glory; No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly. ¹² O Lord of hosts, How blessed is the man who trusts in You!

(Psalm 51) ¹ Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. ² Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity And cleanse me from my sin. ³ For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me. ⁴ Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge. ⁵ Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. ⁶ Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom. ⁷ Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. ⁸ Make me to hear joy and gladness, Let the bones which You have broken rejoice. ⁹ Hide Your face from my sins And blot out all my iniquities. ¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. ¹¹ Do not cast me away from Your presence And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. ¹² Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit. ¹³ Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners will be converted to You. ¹⁴ Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, the God of my salvation; Then my tongue will joyfully sing of Your righteousness. ¹⁵ O Lord, open my lips, That my mouth may declare Your praise. ¹⁶ For You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offering. ¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. ¹⁸ By Your favor do good to Zion; Build the walls of Jerusalem. ¹⁹ Then You will delight in righteous sacrifices, In burnt offering and whole burnt offering; Then young bulls will be offered on Your altar.

(Psalm 130) ¹ Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord. ² Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears be attentive To the voice of my supplications. ³ If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? ⁴ But there is forgiveness with You, That You may be feared. ⁵ I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait, And in His word do I hope. ⁶ My soul waits for the Lord More than the watchmen for the morning; Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning. ⁷ O Israel, hope in the Lord; For with the Lord there is lovingkindness, And with Him is abundant redemption. ⁸ And He will redeem Israel From all his iniquities.

(Psalm 65) ¹ There will be silence before You, and praise in Zion, O God, And to You the vow will be performed. ² O You who hear prayer, To You all men come. ³ Iniquities prevail against me; As for our transgressions, You forgive them. ⁴ How blessed is the one whom You choose and bring near to You To dwell in Your courts. We will be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, Your holy temple. ⁵ By awesome deeds You answer us in righteousness, O God of our salvation, You who are the trust of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest sea; ⁶ Who establishes the mountains by His strength, Being girded with might; ⁷ Who stills the roaring of the seas, The roaring of their waves, And the tumult of the peoples. ⁸ They who dwell in the ends of the earth stand in awe of Your signs; You make the dawn and the sunset shout for joy. ⁹ You visit the earth and cause it to overflow; You greatly enrich it; The stream of God is full of water; You prepare their grain, for thus You prepare the earth. ¹⁰ You water its furrows abundantly, You settle its ridges, You soften it with showers, You bless its growth. ¹¹ You have crowned the year with Your bounty, And Your paths drip with fatness. ¹² The pastures of the wilderness drip, And the hills gird themselves with rejoicing. ¹³ The meadows are clothed with flocks And the valleys are covered with grain; They shout for joy, yes, they sing.

(Psalm 111) ¹ Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart, In the company of the upright and in the assembly. ² Great are the works of the Lord; They are studied by all who delight in them. ³ Splendid and majestic is His work, And His righteousness endures forever. ⁴ He has made His wonders to be remembered; The Lord is gracious and compassionate. ⁵ He has given food to those who fear Him; He will remember His covenant forever. ⁶ He has made known to His people the power of His works, In giving them the heritage of the nations. ⁷ The works of His hands are truth and justice; All His precepts are sure. ⁸ They are upheld forever and ever; They are performed in truth and uprightness. ⁹ He has sent redemption to His people; He has ordained His covenant forever; Holy and awesome is His name. ¹⁰ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments; His praise endures forever.

(Psalm 136) ¹ Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, For His lovingkindness is everlasting. ² Give thanks to the God of gods, For His lovingkindness is everlasting. ³ Give thanks to the Lord of lords, For His lovingkindness is everlasting. ⁴ To Him who alone does great wonders, For His lovingkindness is everlasting; ⁵ To Him who made the heavens with skill, For His lovingkindness is everlasting; ⁶ To Him who spread out the earth above the waters, For His lovingkindness is everlasting; ⁷ To Him who made the great lights, For His lovingkindness is everlasting: ⁸ The sun to rule by day, For His lovingkindness is everlasting, ⁹ The moon and stars to rule by night, For His lovingkindness is everlasting. ¹⁰ To Him who smote the Egyptians in their firstborn, For His lovingkindness is everlasting, ¹¹ And brought Israel out from their midst, For His lovingkindness is everlasting, ¹² With a strong hand and an outstretched arm, For His lovingkindness is everlasting. ¹³ To Him who divided the Red Sea asunder, For His lovingkindness is everlasting, ¹⁴ And made Israel pass through the midst of it, For His lovingkindness is everlasting; ¹⁵ But He overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea, For His lovingkindness is everlasting. ¹⁶ To Him who led His people through the wilderness, For His lovingkindness is everlasting; ¹⁷ To Him who smote great kings, For His lovingkindness is everlasting, ¹⁸ And slew mighty kings, For His lovingkindness is everlasting: ¹⁹ Sihon, king of the Amorites, For His lovingkindness is everlasting, ²⁰ And Og, king of Bashan, For His lovingkindness is everlasting, ²¹ And gave their land as a heritage, For His lovingkindness is everlasting, ²² Even a heritage to Israel His servant, For His lovingkindness is everlasting. ²³ Who remembered us in our low estate, For His lovingkindness is everlasting, ²⁴ And has rescued us from our adversaries, For His lovingkindness is everlasting; ²⁵ Who gives food to all flesh, For His lovingkindness is everlasting. ²⁶ Give thanks to the God of heaven, For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

(Psalm 66) ¹ Shout joyfully to God, all the earth; ² Sing the glory of His name; Make His praise glorious. ³ Say to God, “How awesome are Your works! Because of the greatness of Your power Your enemies will give feigned obedience to You. ⁴ All the earth will worship You, And will sing praises to You; They will sing praises to Your name.” Selah. ⁵ Come and see the works of God, Who is awesome in His deeds toward the sons of men. ⁶ He turned the sea into dry land; They passed through the river on foot; There let us rejoice in Him! ⁷ He rules by His might forever; His eyes keep watch on the nations; Let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Selah. ⁸ Bless our God, O peoples, And sound His praise abroad, ⁹ Who keeps us in life And does not allow our feet to slip. ¹⁰ For You have tried us, O God; You have refined us as silver is refined. ¹¹ You brought us into the net; You laid an oppressive burden upon our loins. ¹² You made men ride over our heads; We went through fire and through water, Yet You brought us out into a place of abundance. ¹³ I shall come into Your house with burnt offerings; I shall pay You my vows, ¹⁴ Which my lips uttered And my mouth spoke when I was in distress. ¹⁵ I shall offer to You burnt offerings of fat beasts, With the smoke of rams; I shall make an offering of bulls with male goats. Selah. ¹⁶ Come and hear, all who fear God, And I will tell of what He has done for my soul. ¹⁷ I cried to Him with my mouth, And He was extolled with my tongue. ¹⁸ If I regard wickedness in my heart, The Lord will not hear; ¹⁹ But certainly God has heard; He has given heed to the voice of my prayer. ²⁰ Blessed be God, Who has not turned away my prayer Nor His lovingkindness from me.

(Psalm 69) ¹ Save me, O God, For the waters have threatened my life. ² I have sunk in deep mire, and there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and a flood overflows me. ³ I am weary with my crying; my throat is parched; My eyes fail while I wait for my God. ⁴ Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head; Those who would destroy me are powerful, being wrongfully my enemies; What I did not steal, I then have to restore. ⁵ O God, it is You who knows my folly, And my wrongs are not hidden from You. ⁶ May those who wait for You not be ashamed through me, O Lord God of hosts; May those who seek You not be dishonored through me, O God of Israel, ⁷ Because for Your sake I have borne reproach; Dishonor has covered my face. ⁸ I have become estranged from my brothers And an alien to my mother’s sons. ⁹ For zeal for Your house has consumed me, And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me. ¹⁰ When I wept in my soul with fasting, It became my reproach. ¹¹ When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them. ¹² Those who sit in the gate talk about me, And I am the song of the drunkards. ¹³ But as for me, my prayer is to You, O Lord, at an acceptable time; O God, in the greatness of Your lovingkindness, Answer me with Your saving truth. ¹⁴ Deliver me from the mire and do not let me sink; May I be delivered from my foes and from the deep waters. ¹⁵ May the flood of water not overflow me Nor the deep swallow me up, Nor the pit shut its mouth on me. ¹⁶ Answer me, O Lord, for Your lovingkindness is good; According to the greatness of Your compassion, turn to me, ¹⁷ And do not hide Your face from Your servant, For I am in distress; answer me quickly. ¹⁸ Oh draw near to my soul and redeem it; Ransom me because of my enemies! ¹⁹ You know my reproach and my shame and my dishonor; All my adversaries are before You. ²⁰ Reproach has broken my heart and I am so sick. And I looked for sympathy, but there was none, And for comforters, but I found none. ²¹ They also gave me gall for my food And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. ²² May their table before them become a snare; And when they are in peace, may it become a trap. ²³ May their eyes grow dim so that they cannot see, And make their loins shake continually. ²⁴ Pour out Your indignation on them, And may Your burning anger overtake them.Pour out Your indignation on them, And may Your burning anger overtake them. ²⁵ May their camp be desolate; May none dwell in their tents. ²⁶ For they have persecuted him whom You Yourself have smitten, And they tell of the pain of those whom You have wounded. ²⁷ Add iniquity to their iniquity, And may they not come into Your righteousness. ²⁸ May they be blotted out of the book of life And may they not be recorded with the righteous. ²⁹ But I am afflicted and in pain; May Your salvation, O God, set me securely on high. ³⁰ I will praise the name of God with song And magnify Him with thanksgiving. ³¹ And it will please the Lord better than an ox Or a young bull with horns and hoofs. ³² The humble have seen it and are glad; You who seek God, let your heart revive. ³³ For the Lord hears the needy And does not despise His who are prisoners. ³⁴ Let heaven and earth praise Him, The seas and everything that moves in them. ³⁵ For God will save Zion and build the cities of Judah, That they may dwell there and possess it. ³⁶ The descendants of His servants will inherit it, And those who love His name will dwell in it.

(Psalm 86) ¹ Incline Your ear, O Lord, and answer me; For I am afflicted and needy. ² Preserve my soul, for I am a godly man; O You my God, save Your servant who trusts in You. ³ Be gracious to me, O Lord, For to You I cry all day long. ⁴ Make glad the soul of Your servant, For to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul. ⁵ For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon You. ⁶ Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer; And give heed to the voice of my supplications! ⁷ In the day of my trouble I shall call upon You, For You will answer me. ⁸ There is no one like You among the gods, O Lord, Nor are there any works like Yours. ⁹ All nations whom You have made shall come and worship before You, O Lord, And they shall glorify Your name. ¹⁰ For You are great and do wondrous deeds; You alone are God. ¹¹ Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name. ¹² I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, And will glorify Your name forever. ¹³ For Your lovingkindness toward me is great, And You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol. ¹⁴ O God, arrogant men have risen up against me, And a band of violent men have sought my life, And they have not set You before them. ¹⁵ But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, Slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth. ¹⁶ Turn to me, and be gracious to me; Oh grant Your strength to Your servant, And save the son of Your handmaid. ¹⁷ Show me a sign for good, That those who hate me may see it and be ashamed, Because You, O Lord, have helped me and comforted me.

(Psalm 88) ¹ O Lord, the God of my salvation, I have cried out by day and in the night before You. ² Let my prayer come before You; Incline Your ear to my cry! ³ For my soul has had enough troubles, And my life has drawn near to Sheol. ⁴ I am reckoned among those who go down to the pit; I have become like a man without strength, ⁵ Forsaken among the dead, Like the slain who lie in the grave, Whom You remember no more, And they are cut off from Your hand. ⁶ You have put me in the lowest pit, In dark places, in the depths. ⁷ Your wrath has rested upon me, And You have afflicted me with all Your waves. Selah. ⁸ You have removed my acquaintances far from me; You have made me an object of loathing to them; I am shut up and cannot go out. ⁹ My eye has wasted away because of affliction; I have called upon You every day, O Lord; I have spread out my hands to You. ¹⁰ Will You perform wonders for the dead? Will the departed spirits rise and praise You? Selah. ¹¹ Will Your lovingkindness be declared in the grave, Your faithfulness in Abaddon? ¹² Will Your wonders be made known in the darkness? And Your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? ¹³ But I, O Lord, have cried out to You for help, And in the morning my prayer comes before You. ¹⁴ O Lord, why do You reject my soul? Why do You hide Your face from me? ¹⁵ I was afflicted and about to die from my youth on; I suffer Your terrors; I am overcome. ¹⁶ Your burning anger has passed over me; Your terrors have destroyed me. ¹⁷ They have surrounded me like water all day long; They have encompassed me altogether. ¹⁸ You have removed lover and friend far from me; My acquaintances are in darkness.

(Psalm 102) ¹ Hear my prayer, O Lord! And let my cry for help come to You. ² Do not hide Your face from me in the day of my distress; Incline Your ear to me; In the day when I call answer me quickly. ³ For my days have been consumed in smoke, And my bones have been scorched like a hearth. ⁴ My heart has been smitten like grass and has withered away, Indeed, I forget to eat my bread. ⁵ Because of the loudness of my groaning My bones cling to my flesh. ⁶ I resemble a pelican of the wilderness; I have become like an owl of the waste places. ⁷ I lie awake, I have become like a lonely bird on a housetop. ⁸ My enemies have reproached me all day long; Those who deride me have used my name as a curse. ⁹ For I have eaten ashes like bread And mingled my drink with weeping ¹⁰ Because of Your indignation and Your wrath, For You have lifted me up and cast me away. ¹¹ My days are like a lengthened shadow, And I wither away like grass. ¹² But You, O Lord, abide forever, And Your name to all generations. ¹³ You will arise and have compassion on Zion; For it is time to be gracious to her, For the appointed time has come. ¹⁴ Surely Your servants find pleasure in her stones And feel pity for her dust. ¹⁵ So the nations will fear the name of the Lord And all the kings of the earth Your glory. ¹⁶ For the Lord has built up Zion; He has appeared in His glory. ¹⁷ He has regarded the prayer of the destitute And has not despised their prayer. ¹⁸ This will be written for the generation to come, That a people yet to be created may praise the Lord. ¹⁹ For He looked down from His holy height; From heaven the Lord gazed upon the earth, ²⁰ To hear the groaning of the prisoner, To set free those who were doomed to death, ²¹ That men may tell of the name of the Lord in Zion And His praise in Jerusalem, ²² When the peoples are gathered together, And the kingdoms, to serve the Lord. ²³ He has weakened my strength in the way; He has shortened my days. ²⁴ I say, “O my God, do not take me away in the midst of my days, Your years are throughout all generations. ²⁵ Of old You founded the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. ²⁶ Even they will perish, but You endure; And all of them will wear out like a garment; Like clothing You will change them and they will be changed. ²⁷ But You are the same, And Your years will not come to an end. ²⁸ The children of Your servants will continue, And their descendants will be established before You.”

(Psalm 140) ¹ Rescue me, O Lord, from evil men; Preserve me from violent men ² Who devise evil things in their hearts; They continually stir up wars. ³ They sharpen their tongues as a serpent; Poison of a viper is under their lips. Selah. ⁴ Keep me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked; Preserve me from violent men Who have purposed to trip up my feet. ⁵ The proud have hidden a trap for me, and cords; They have spread a net by the wayside; They have set snares for me. Selah. ⁶ I said to the Lord, “You are my God; Give ear, O Lord, to the voice of my supplications. ⁷ O God the Lord, the strength of my salvation, You have covered my head in the day of battle. ⁸ Do not grant, O Lord, the desires of the wicked; Do not promote his evil device, that they not be exalted. Selah. ⁹ “As for the head of those who surround me, May the mischief of their lips cover them. ¹⁰ May burning coals fall upon them; May they be cast into the fire, Into deep pits from which they cannot rise. ¹¹ May a slanderer not be established in the earth; May evil hunt the violent man speedily.” ¹² I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted And justice for the poor. ¹³ Surely the righteous will give thanks to Your name; The upright will dwell in Your presence.

(Psalm 143) ¹ Hear my prayer, O Lord, Give ear to my supplications! Answer me in Your faithfulness, in Your righteousness! ² And do not enter into judgment with Your servant, For in Your sight no man living is righteous. ³ For the enemy has persecuted my soul; He has crushed my life to the ground; He has made me dwell in dark places, like those who have long been dead. ⁴ Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me; My heart is appalled within me. ⁵ I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Your doings; I muse on the work of Your hands. ⁶ I stretch out my hands to You; My soul longs for You, as a parched land. Selah. ⁷ Answer me quickly, O Lord, my spirit fails; Do not hide Your face from me, Or I will become like those who go down to the pit. ⁸ Let me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning; For I trust in You; Teach me the way in which I should walk; For to You I lift up my soul. ⁹ Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies; I take refuge in You. ¹⁰ Teach me to do Your will, For You are my God; Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground. ¹¹ For the sake of Your name, O Lord, revive me. In Your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble. ¹² And in Your lovingkindness, cut off my enemies And destroy all those who afflict my soul, For I am Your servant.

(Psalm 89) ¹ I will sing of the lovingkindness of the Lord forever; To all generations I will make known Your faithfulness with my mouth. ² For I have said, “Lovingkindness will be built up forever; In the heavens You will establish Your faithfulness.” ³ “I have made a covenant with My chosen; I have sworn to David My servant, ⁴ I will establish your seed forever And build up your throne to all generations.” Selah. ⁵ The heavens will praise Your wonders, O Lord; Your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones. ⁶ For who in the skies is comparable to the Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty is like the Lord, ⁷ A God greatly feared in the council of the holy ones, And awesome above all those who are around Him? ⁸ O Lord God of hosts, who is like You, O mighty Lord? Your faithfulness also surrounds You. ⁹ You rule the swelling of the sea; When its waves rise, You still them. ¹⁰ You Yourself crushed Rahab like one who is slain; You scattered Your enemies with Your mighty arm. ¹¹ The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours; The world and all it contains, You have founded them. ¹² The north and the south, You have created them; Tabor and Hermon shout for joy at Your name. ¹³ You have a strong arm; Your hand is mighty, Your right hand is exalted. ¹⁴ Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Lovingkindness and truth go before You. ¹⁵ How blessed are the people who know the joyful sound! O Lord, they walk in the light of Your countenance. ¹⁶ In Your name they rejoice all the day, And by Your righteousness they are exalted. ¹⁷ For You are the glory of their strength, And by Your favor our horn is exalted. ¹⁸ For our shield belongs to the Lord, And our king to the Holy One of Israel. ¹⁹ Once You spoke in vision to Your godly ones, And said, “I have given help to one who is mighty; I have exalted one chosen from the people. ²⁰ I have found David My servant; With My holy oil I have anointed him, ²¹ With whom My hand will be established; My arm also will strengthen him. ²² The enemy will not deceive him, Nor the son of wickedness afflict him. ²³ But I shall crush his adversaries before him, And strike those who hate him. ²⁴ My faithfulness and My lovingkindness will be with him, And in My name his horn will be exalted. ²⁵ I shall also set his hand on the sea And his right hand on the rivers. ²⁶ He will cry to Me, ‘You are my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation.’ ²⁷ I also shall make him My firstborn, The highest of the kings of the earth. ²⁸ My lovingkindness I will keep for him forever, And My covenant shall be confirmed to him. ²⁹ So I will establish his descendants forever And his throne as the days of heaven. ³⁰ “If his sons forsake My law And do not walk in My judgments, ³¹ If they violate My statutes And do not keep My commandments, ³² Then I will punish their transgression with the rod And their iniquity with stripes. ³³ But I will not break off My lovingkindness from him, Nor deal falsely in My faithfulness. ³⁴ My covenant I will not violate, Nor will I alter the utterance of My lips. ³⁵ Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David. ³⁶ His descendants shall endure forever And his throne as the sun before Me. ³⁷ It shall be established forever like the moon, And the witness in the sky is faithful.” Selah. ³⁸ But You have cast off and rejected, You have been full of wrath against Your anointed. ³⁹ You have spurned the covenant of Your servant; You have profaned his crown in the dust. ⁴⁰ You have broken down all his walls; You have brought his strongholds to ruin. ⁴¹ All who pass along the way plunder him; He has become a reproach to his neighbors. ⁴² You have exalted the right hand of his adversaries; You have made all his enemies rejoice. ⁴³ You also turn back the edge of his sword And have not made him stand in battle. ⁴⁴ You have made his splendor to cease And cast his throne to the ground. ⁴⁵ You have shortened the days of his youth; You have covered him with shame. Selah. ⁴⁶ How long, O Lord? Will You hide Yourself forever? Will Your wrath burn like fire? ⁴⁷ Remember what my span of life is; For what vanity You have created all the sons of men! ⁴⁸ What man can live and not see death? Can he deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah. ⁴⁹ Where are Your former lovingkindnesses, O Lord, Which You swore to David in Your faithfulness? ⁵⁰ Remember, O Lord, the reproach of Your servants; How I bear in my bosom the reproach of all the many peoples, ⁵¹ With which Your enemies have reproached, O Lord, With which they have reproached the footsteps of Your anointed. ⁵² Blessed be the Lord forever! Amen and Amen.

(Psalm 103) ¹ Bless the Lord, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name. ² Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits; ³ Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases; ⁴ Who redeems your life from the pit, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion; ⁵ Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle. ⁶ The Lord performs righteous deeds And judgments for all who are oppressed. ⁷ He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel. ⁸ The Lord is compassionate and gracious, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. ⁹ He will not always strive with us, Nor will He keep His anger forever. ¹⁰ He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. ¹¹ For as high as the heavens are above the earth, So great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. ¹² As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us. ¹³ Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. ¹⁴ For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust. ¹⁵ As for man, his days are like grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. ¹⁶ When the wind has passed over it, it is no more, And its place acknowledges it no longer. ¹⁷ But the lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children’s children, ¹⁸ To those who keep His covenant And remember His precepts to do them. ¹⁹ The Lord has established His throne in the heavens, And His sovereignty rules over all. ²⁰ Bless the Lord, you His angels, Mighty in strength, who perform His word, Obeying the voice of His word! ²¹ Bless the Lord, all you His hosts, You who serve Him, doing His will. ²² Bless the Lord, all you works of His, In all places of His dominion; Bless the Lord, O my soul!

(Psalm 107) ¹ Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, For His lovingkindness is everlasting. ² Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the adversary ³ And gathered from the lands, From the east and from the west, From the north and from the south. ⁴ They wandered in the wilderness in a desert region; They did not find a way to an inhabited city. ⁵ They were hungry and thirsty; Their soul fainted within them. ⁶ Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble; He delivered them out of their distresses. ⁷ He led them also by a straight way, To go to an inhabited city. ⁸ Let them give thanks to the Lord for His lovingkindness, And for His wonders to the sons of men! ⁹ For He has satisfied the thirsty soul, And the hungry soul He has filled with what is good. ¹⁰ There were those who dwelt in darkness and in the shadow of death, Prisoners in misery and chains, ¹¹ Because they had rebelled against the words of God And spurned the counsel of the Most High. ¹² Therefore He humbled their heart with labor; They stumbled and there was none to help. ¹³ Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble; He saved them out of their distresses. ¹⁴ He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death And broke their bands apart. ¹⁵ Let them give thanks to the Lord for His lovingkindness, And for His wonders to the sons of men! ¹⁶ For He has shattered gates of bronze And cut bars of iron asunder. ¹⁷ Fools, because of their rebellious way, And because of their iniquities, were afflicted. ¹⁸ Their soul abhorred all kinds of food, And they drew near to the gates of death. ¹⁹ Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble; He saved them out of their distresses. ²⁰ He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions. ²¹ Let them give thanks to the Lord for His lovingkindness, And for His wonders to the sons of men! ²² Let them also offer sacrifices of thanksgiving, And tell of His works with joyful singing. ²³ Those who go down to the sea in ships, Who do business on great waters; ²⁴ They have seen the works of the Lord, And His wonders in the deep. ²⁵ For He spoke and raised up a stormy wind, Which lifted up the waves of the sea. ²⁶ They rose up to the heavens, they went down to the depths; Their soul melted away in their misery. ²⁷ They reeled and staggered like a drunken man, And were at their wits’ end. ²⁸ Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, And He brought them out of their distresses. ²⁹ He caused the storm to be still, So that the waves of the sea were hushed. ³⁰ Then they were glad because they were quiet, So He guided them to their desired haven. ³¹ Let them give thanks to the Lord for His lovingkindness,And for His wonders to the sons of men! ³² Let them extol Him also in the congregation of the people, And praise Him at the seat of the elders. ³³ He changes rivers into a wilderness And springs of water into a thirsty ground; ³⁴ A fruitful land into a salt waste, Because of the wickedness of those who dwell in it. ³⁵ He changes a wilderness into a pool of water And a dry land into springs of water; ³⁶ And there He makes the hungry to dwell, So that they may establish an inhabited city, ³⁷ And sow fields and plant vineyards, And gather a fruitful harvest. ³⁸ Also He blesses them and they multiply greatly, And He does not let their cattle decrease. ³⁹ When they are diminished and bowed down Through oppression, misery and sorrow, ⁴⁰ He pours contempt upon princes And makes them wander in a pathless waste. ⁴¹ But He sets the needy securely on high away from affliction, And makes his families like a flock. ⁴² The upright see it and are glad; But all unrighteousness shuts its mouth. ⁴³ Who is wise? Let him give heed to these things, And consider the lovingkindnesses of the Lord.

(Psalm 146) ¹ Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord, O my soul! ² I will praise the Lord while I live; I will sing praises to my God while I have my being. ³ Do not trust in princes, In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation. ⁴ His spirit departs, he returns to the earth; In that very day his thoughts perish. ⁵ How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, Whose hope is in the Lord his God, ⁶ Who made heaven and earth, The sea and all that is in them; Who keeps faith forever; ⁷ Who executes justice for the oppressed; Who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets the prisoners free. ⁸ The Lord opens the eyes of the blind; The Lord raises up those who are bowed down; The Lord loves the righteous; ⁹ The Lord protects the strangers; He supports the fatherless and the widow, But He thwarts the way of the wicked. ¹⁰ The Lord will reign forever, Your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the Lord!

(Psalm 8) ¹ O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth, Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens! ² From the mouth of infants and nursing babes You have established strength Because of Your adversaries, To make the enemy and the revengeful cease. ³ When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; ⁴ What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him? ⁵ Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty! ⁶ You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, ⁷ All sheep and oxen, And also the beasts of the field, ⁸ The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, Whatever passes through the paths of the seas. ⁹ O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth!

(Psalm 29) ¹ Ascribe to the Lord, O sons of the mighty, Ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. ² Ascribe to the Lord the glory due to His name; Worship the Lord in holy array. ³ The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; The God of glory thunders, The Lord is over many waters. ⁴ The voice of the Lord is powerful, The voice of the Lord is majestic. ⁵ The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; Yes, the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. ⁶ He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, And Sirion like a young wild ox. ⁷ The voice of the Lord hews out flames of fire. ⁸ The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; The Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. ⁹ The voice of the Lord makes the deer to calve And strips the forests bare; And in His temple everything says, “Glory!” ¹⁰ The Lord sat as King at the flood; Yes, the Lord sits as King forever. ¹¹ The Lord will give strength to His people; The Lord will bless His people with peace.

(Psalm 93) ¹ The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty; The Lord has clothed and girded Himself with strength; Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved. ² Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting. ³ The floods have lifted up, O Lord, The floods have lifted up their voice, The floods lift up their pounding waves. ⁴ More than the sounds of many waters, Than the mighty breakers of the sea, The Lord on high is mighty. ⁵ Your testimonies are fully confirmed; Holiness befits Your house, O Lord, forevermore.

(Psalm 104) ¹ Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, You are very great; You are clothed with splendor and majesty, ² Covering Yourself with light as with a cloak, Stretching out heaven like a tent curtain. ³ He lays the beams of His upper chambers in the waters; He makes the clouds His chariot; He walks upon the wings of the wind; ⁴ He makes the winds His messengers, Flaming fire His ministers. ⁵ He established the earth upon its foundations, So that it will not totter forever and ever. ⁶ You covered it with the deep as with a garment; The waters were standing above the mountains. ⁷ At Your rebuke they fled, At the sound of Your thunder they hurried away. ⁸ The mountains rose; the valleys sank down To the place which You established for them. ⁹ You set a boundary that they may not pass over, So that they will not return to cover the earth. ¹⁰ He sends forth springs in the valleys; They flow between the mountains; ¹¹ They give drink to every beast of the field; The wild donkeys quench their thirst. ¹² Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell; They lift up their voices among the branches. ¹³ He waters the mountains from His upper chambers; The earth is satisfied with the fruit of His works. ¹⁴ He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, And vegetation for the labor of man, So that he may bring forth food from the earth, ¹⁵ And wine which makes man’s heart glad, So that he may make his face glisten with oil, And food which sustains man’s heart. ¹⁶ The trees of the Lord drink their fill, The cedars of Lebanon which He planted, ¹⁷ Where the birds build their nests, And the stork, whose home is the fir trees. ¹⁸ The high mountains are for the wild goats; The cliffs are a refuge for the shephanim. ¹⁹ He made the moon for the seasons; The sun knows the place of its setting. ²⁰ You appoint darkness and it becomes night, In which all the beasts of the forest prowl about. ²¹ The young lions roar after their prey And seek their food from God. ²² When the sun rises they withdraw And lie down in their dens. ²³ Man goes forth to his work And to his labor until evening. ²⁴ O Lord, how many are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all; The earth is full of Your possessions. ²⁵ There is the sea, great and broad, In which are swarms without number, Animals both small and great. ²⁶ There the ships move along, And Leviathan, which You have formed to sport in it. ²⁷ They all wait for You To give them their food in due season. ²⁸ You give to them, they gather it up; You open Your hand, they are satisfied with good. ²⁹ You hide Your face, they are dismayed; You take away their spirit, they expire And return to their dust. ³⁰ You send forth Your Spirit, they are created; And You renew the face of the ground. ³¹ Let the glory of the Lord endure forever; Let the Lord be glad in His works; ³² He looks at the earth, and it trembles; He touches the mountains, and they smoke. ³³ I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. ³⁴ Let my meditation be pleasing to Him; As for me, I shall be glad in the Lord. ³⁵ Let sinners be consumed from the earth And let the wicked be no more. Bless the Lord, O my soul. Praise the Lord!

(Psalm 139) ¹ O Lord, You have searched me and known me. ² You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. ³ You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. ⁴ Even before there is a word on my tongue, Behold, O Lord, You know it all. ⁵ You have enclosed me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. ⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is too high, I cannot attain to it. ⁷ Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? ⁸ If I ascend to heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there. ⁹ If I take the wings of the dawn, If I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, ¹⁰ Even there Your hand will lead me, And Your right hand will lay hold of me. ¹¹ If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, And the light around me will be night,” ¹² Even the darkness is not dark to You, And the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You. ¹³ For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. ¹⁴ I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well. ¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth; ¹⁶ Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written The days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was not one of them. ¹⁷ How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! ¹⁸ If I should count them, they would outnumber the sand. When I awake, I am still with You. ¹⁹ O that You would slay the wicked, O God; Depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed. ²⁰ For they speak against You wickedly, And Your enemies take Your name in vain. ²¹ Do I not hate those who hate You, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? ²² I hate them with the utmost hatred; They have become my enemies. ²³ Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; ²⁴ And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.

(Psalm 19) ¹ The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands. ² Day to day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge. ³ There is no speech, nor are there words; Their voice is not heard. ⁴ Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their utterances to the end of the world. In them He has placed a tent for the sun, ⁵ Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber; It rejoices as a strong man to run his course. ⁶ Its rising is from one end of the heavens, And its circuit to the other end of them; And there is nothing hidden from its heat. ⁷ The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. ⁸ The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. ⁹ The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous altogether. ¹⁰ They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. ¹¹ Moreover, by them Your servant is warned; In keeping them there is great reward. ¹² Who can discern his errors? Acquit me of hidden faults. ¹³ Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins; Let them not rule over me; Then I will be blameless, And I shall be acquitted of great transgression. ¹⁴ Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.

(Psalm 119) Aleph. ¹ How blessed are those whose way is blameless, Who walk in the law of the Lord. ² How blessed are those who observe His testimonies, Who seek Him with all their heart. ³ They also do no unrighteousness; They walk in His ways. ⁴ You have ordained Your precepts, That we should keep them diligently. ⁵ Oh that my ways may be established To keep Your statutes! ⁶ Then I shall not be ashamed When I look upon all Your commandments. ⁷ I shall give thanks to You with uprightness of heart, When I learn Your righteous judgments. ⁸ I shall keep Your statutes; Do not forsake me utterly! Beth. ⁹ How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word. ¹⁰ With all my heart I have sought You; Do not let me wander from Your commandments. ¹¹ Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You. ¹² Blessed are You, O Lord; Teach me Your statutes. ¹³ With my lips I have told of All the ordinances of Your mouth. ¹⁴ I have rejoiced in the way of Your testimonies, As much as in all riches. ¹⁵ I will meditate on Your precepts And regard Your ways. ¹⁶ I shall delight in Your statutes; I shall not forget Your word. Gimel. ¹⁷ Deal bountifully with Your servant, That I may live and keep Your word. ¹⁸ Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law. ¹⁹ I am a stranger in the earth; Do not hide Your commandments from me. ²⁰ My soul is crushed with longing After Your ordinances at all times. ²¹ You rebuke the arrogant, the cursed, Who wander from Your commandments. ²² Take away reproach and contempt from me, For I observe Your testimonies. ²³ Even though princes sit and talk against me, Your servant meditates on Your statutes. ²⁴ Your testimonies also are my delight; They are my counselors. Daleth. ²⁵ My soul cleaves to the dust; Revive me according to Your word. ²⁶ I have told of my ways, and You have answered me; Teach me Your statutes. ²⁷ Make me understand the way of Your precepts, So I will meditate on Your wonders. ²⁸ My soul weeps because of grief; Strengthen me according to Your word. ²⁹ Remove the false way from me, And graciously grant me Your law. ³⁰ I have chosen the faithful way; I have placed Your ordinances before me. ³¹ I cling to Your testimonies; O Lord, do not put me to shame! ³² I shall run the way of Your commandments, For You will enlarge my heart. He. ³³ Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statutes, And I shall observe it to the end. ³⁴ Give me understanding, that I may observe Your law And keep it with all my heart. ³⁵ Make me walk in the path of Your commandments, For I delight in it. ³⁶ Incline my heart to Your testimonies And not to dishonest gain. ³⁷ Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity, And revive me in Your ways. ³⁸ Establish Your word to Your servant, As that which produces reverence for You. ³⁹ Turn away my reproach which I dread, For Your ordinances are good. ⁴⁰ Behold, I long for Your precepts; Revive me through Your righteousness. Vav. ⁴¹ May Your lovingkindnesses also come to me, O Lord,Your salvation according to Your word; ⁴² So I will have an answer for him who reproaches me, For I trust in Your word. ⁴³ And do not take the word of truth utterly out of my mouth, For I wait for Your ordinances. ⁴⁴ So I will keep Your law continually, Forever and ever. ⁴⁵ And I will walk at liberty, For I seek Your precepts. ⁴⁶ I will also speak of Your testimonies before kings And shall not be ashamed. ⁴⁷ I shall delight in Your commandments, Which I love. ⁴⁸ And I shall lift up my hands to Your commandments, Which I love; And I will meditate on Your statutes. Zayin. ⁴⁹ Remember the word to Your servant, In which You have made me hope. ⁵⁰ This is my comfort in my affliction, That Your word has revived me. ⁵¹ The arrogant utterly deride me, Yet I do not turn aside from Your law. ⁵² I have remembered Your ordinances from of old, O Lord, And comfort myself. ⁵³ Burning indignation has seized me because of the wicked, Who forsake Your law. ⁵⁴ Your statutes are my songs In the house of my pilgrimage. ⁵⁵ O Lord, I remember Your name in the night, And keep Your law. ⁵⁶ This has become mine, That I observe Your precepts. Heth. ⁵⁷ The Lord is my portion; I have promised to keep Your words. ⁵⁸ I sought Your favor with all my heart; Be gracious to me according to Your word. ⁵⁹ I considered my ways And turned my feet to Your testimonies. ⁶⁰ I hastened and did not delay To keep Your commandments. ⁶¹ The cords of the wicked have encircled me, But I have not forgotten Your law. ⁶² At midnight I shall rise to give thanks to You Because of Your righteous ordinances. ⁶³ I am a companion of all those who fear You, And of those who keep Your precepts. ⁶⁴ The earth is full of Your lovingkindness, O Lord; Teach me Your statutes. Teth. ⁶⁵ You have dealt well with Your servant, O Lord, according to Your word. ⁶⁶ Teach me good discernment and knowledge, For I believe in Your commandments. ⁶⁷ Before I was afflicted I went astray, But now I keep Your word. ⁶⁸ You are good and do good; Teach me Your statutes. ⁶⁹ The arrogant have forged a lie against me; With all my heart I will observe Your precepts. ⁷⁰ Their heart is covered with fat, But I delight in Your law. ⁷¹ It is good for me that I was afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes. ⁷² The law of Your mouth is better to me Than thousands of gold and silver pieces. Yodh. ⁷³ Your hands made me and fashioned me; Give me understanding, that I may learn Your commandments. ⁷⁴ May those who fear You see me and be glad, Because I wait for Your word. ⁷⁵ I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are righteous, And that in faithfulness You have afflicted me. ⁷⁶ O may Your lovingkindness comfort me, According to Your word to Your servant. ⁷⁷ May Your compassion come to me that I may live, For Your law is my delight. ⁷⁸ May the arrogant be ashamed, for they subvert me with a lie; But I shall meditate on Your precepts. ⁷⁹ May those who fear You turn to me, Even those who know Your testimonies. ⁸⁰ May my heart be blameless in Your statutes, So that I will not be ashamed. Kaph. ⁸¹ My soul languishes for Your salvation; I wait for Your word. ⁸² My eyes fail with longing for Your word, While I say, “When will You comfort me?” ⁸³ Though I have become like a wineskin in the smoke, I do not forget Your statutes. ⁸⁴ How many are the days of Your servant? When will You execute judgment on those who persecute me? ⁸⁵ The arrogant have dug pits for me, Men who are not in accord with Your law. ⁸⁶ All Your commandments are faithful; They have persecuted me with a lie; help me! ⁸⁷ They almost destroyed me on earth, But as for me, I did not forsake Your precepts. ⁸⁸ Revive me according to Your lovingkindness, So that I may keep the testimony of Your mouth. Lamedh. ⁸⁹ Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven. ⁹⁰ Your faithfulness continues throughout all generations; You established the earth, and it stands. ⁹¹ They stand this day according to Your ordinances, For all things are Your servants. ⁹² If Your law had not been my delight, Then I would have perished in my affliction. ⁹³ I will never forget Your precepts, For by them You have revived me. ⁹⁴ I am Yours, save me; For I have sought Your precepts. ⁹⁵ The wicked wait for me to destroy me; I shall diligently consider Your testimonies. ⁹⁶ I have seen a limit to all perfection; Your commandment is exceedingly broad. Mem. ⁹⁷ O how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day. ⁹⁸ Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, For they are ever mine. ⁹⁹ I have more insight than all my teachers, For Your testimonies are my meditation. ¹⁰⁰ I understand more than the aged, Because I have observed Your precepts. ¹⁰¹ I have restrained my feet from every evil way, That I may keep Your word. ¹⁰² I have not turned aside from Your ordinances, For You Yourself have taught me. ¹⁰³ How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth! ¹⁰⁴ From Your precepts I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false way. Nun. ¹⁰⁵ Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path. ¹⁰⁶ I have sworn and I will confirm it, That I will keep Your righteous ordinances. ¹⁰⁷ I am exceedingly afflicted; Revive me, O Lord, according to Your word. ¹⁰⁸ O accept the freewill offerings of my mouth, O Lord, And teach me Your ordinances. ¹⁰⁹ My life is continually in my hand, Yet I do not forget Your law. ¹¹⁰ The wicked have laid a snare for me, Yet I have not gone astray from Your precepts. ¹¹¹ I have inherited Your testimonies forever, For they are the joy of my heart. ¹¹² I have inclined my heart to perform Your statutes Forever, even to the end. Samekh. ¹¹³ I hate those who are double-minded, But I love Your law. ¹¹⁴ You are my hiding place and my shield; I wait for Your word. ¹¹⁵ Depart from me, evildoers, That I may observe the commandments of my God. ¹¹⁶ Sustain me according to Your word, that I may live; And do not let me be ashamed of my hope. ¹¹⁷ Uphold me that I may be safe, That I may have regard for Your statutes continually. ¹¹⁸ You have rejected all those who wander from Your statutes, For their deceitfulness is useless. ¹¹⁹ You have removed all the wicked of the earth like dross; Therefore I love Your testimonies. ¹²⁰ My flesh trembles for fear of You, And I am afraid of Your judgments. Ayin. ¹²¹ I have done justice and righteousness; Do not leave me to my oppressors. ¹²² Be surety for Your servant for good; Do not let the arrogant oppress me. ¹²³ My eyes fail with longing for Your salvation And for Your righteous word. ¹²⁴ Deal with Your servant according to Your lovingkindness And teach me Your statutes. ¹²⁵ I am Your servant; give me understanding, That I may know Your testimonies. ¹²⁶ It is time for the Lord to act, For they have broken Your law. ¹²⁷ Therefore I love Your commandments Above gold, yes, above fine gold. ¹²⁸ Therefore I esteem right all Your precepts concerning everything, I hate every false way. Pe. ¹²⁹ Your testimonies are wonderful; Therefore my soul observes them. ¹³⁰ The unfolding of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple. ¹³¹ I opened my mouth wide and panted, For I longed for Your commandments. ¹³² Turn to me and be gracious to me, After Your manner with those who love Your name. ¹³³ Establish my footsteps in Your word, And do not let any iniquity have dominion over me. ¹³⁴ Redeem me from the oppression of man, That I may keep Your precepts. ¹³⁵ Make Your face shine upon Your servant, And teach me Your statutes. ¹³⁶ My eyes shed streams of water, Because they do not keep Your law. Tsadhe. ¹³⁷ Righteous are You, O Lord, And upright are Your judgments. ¹³⁸ You have commanded Your testimonies in righteousness And exceeding faithfulness. ¹³⁹ My zeal has consumed me, Because my adversaries have forgotten Your words. ¹⁴⁰ Your word is very pure, Therefore Your servant loves it. ¹⁴¹ I am small and despised, Yet I do not forget Your precepts. ¹⁴² Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, And Your law is truth. ¹⁴³ Trouble and anguish have come upon me, Yet Your commandments are my delight. ¹⁴⁴ Your testimonies are righteous forever; Give me understanding that I may live. Qoph. ¹⁴⁵ I cried with all my heart; answer me, O Lord! I will observe Your statutes. ¹⁴⁶ I cried to You; save me And I shall keep Your testimonies. ¹⁴⁷ I rise before dawn and cry for help; I wait for Your words. ¹⁴⁸ My eyes anticipate the night watches, That I may meditate on Your word. ¹⁴⁹ Hear my voice according to Your lovingkindness; Revive me, O Lord, according to Your ordinances. ¹⁵⁰ Those who follow after wickedness draw near; They are far from Your law. ¹⁵¹ You are near, O Lord, And all Your commandments are truth. ¹⁵² Of old I have known from Your testimonies That You have founded them forever. Resh. ¹⁵³ Look upon my affliction and rescue me, For I do not forget Your law. ¹⁵⁴ Plead my cause and redeem me; Revive me according to Your word. ¹⁵⁵ Salvation is far from the wicked, For they do not seek Your statutes. ¹⁵⁶ Great are Your mercies, O Lord; Revive me according to Your ordinances. ¹⁵⁷ Many are my persecutors and my adversaries, Yet I do not turn aside from Your testimonies. ¹⁵⁸ I behold the treacherous and loathe them, Because they do not keep Your word. ¹⁵⁹ Consider how I love Your precepts; Revive me, O Lord, according to Your lovingkindness. ¹⁶⁰ The sum of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting. Shin. ¹⁶¹ Princes persecute me without cause, But my heart stands in awe of Your words. ¹⁶² I rejoice at Your word, As one who finds great spoil. ¹⁶³ I hate and despise falsehood, But I love Your law. ¹⁶⁴ Seven times a day I praise You, Because of Your righteous ordinances. ¹⁶⁵ Those who love Your law have great peace, And nothing causes them to stumble. ¹⁶⁶ I hope for Your salvation, O Lord, And do Your commandments. ¹⁶⁷ My soul keeps Your testimonies, And I love them exceedingly. ¹⁶⁸ I keep Your precepts and Your testimonies, For all my ways are before You. Tav. ¹⁶⁹ Let my cry come before You, O Lord; Give me understanding according to Your word. ¹⁷⁰ Let my supplication come before You; Deliver me according to Your word. ¹⁷¹ Let my lips utter praise, For You teach me Your statutes. ¹⁷² Let my tongue sing of Your word, For all Your commandments are righteousness. ¹⁷³ Let Your hand be ready to help me, For I have chosen Your precepts. ¹⁷⁴ I long for Your salvation, O Lord, And Your law is my delight. ¹⁷⁵ Let my soul live that it may praise You, And let Your ordinances help me. ¹⁷⁶ I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek Your servant, For I do not forget Your commandments.