14 About the middle of the feast Jesus went up into the temple xand began teaching. 15 The Jews therefore ymarveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning,1 zwhen he has never studied?” 16 So Jesus answered them, a“My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me. 17 If anyone’s will is to do God’s2 will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own authority. 18 The one who speaks on his own authority bseeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. 19 Has not cMoses given you the law? dYet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?” 20 The crowd answered, “You ehave a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?” 21 Jesus answered them, “I did fone work, and you all marvel at it. 22 gMoses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but hfrom the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the iSabbath. 23 jIf on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, are you angry with me kbecause on the Sabbath I made a man’s whole body well? 24 Do not judge lby mappearances, but njudge with right judgment.”
Shepherd the Flock of God
1 So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a ywitness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: 2 shepherd the zflock of God that is among you, exercising oversight,1 anot under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you;2 not for shameful gain, but eagerly; 3 bnot domineering over those in your charge, but being cexamples to the flock. 4 And dwhen the chief eShepherd appears, you will receive the unfading fcrown of glory. 5 Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. gClothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for h“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 icasting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
Longing for Her Beloved
1 Oh that you were like a brother to me
who nursed at my mother’s breasts!
If I found you outside, I would kiss you,
and none would despise me.
2 I would lead you and bbring you
into the house of my mother—
she who used to teach me.
I would give you spiced wine to drink,
the juice of my pomegranate.
3 cHis left hand is under my head,
and his right hand embraces me!
4 dI adjure you, O edaughters of Jerusalem,
that you not stir up or awaken love
until it pleases.
5 fWho is that coming up from the wilderness,
leaning on gher beloved?
Under the apple tree I awakened you.
There your mother was in labor with you;
there she who bore you was in labor.
6 Set me has a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm,
for love is strong as death,
jealousy1 is fierce as the grave.2
Its flashes are flashes of fire,
the very flame of the Lord.
7 Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can floods drown it.
If a man offered for love
all the wealth of his house,
he3 would be utterly despised.
Great Is Your Faithfulness
1 I am the man who has seen affliction
under the rod of his wrath;
2 he has driven and brought me
into udarkness without any light;
3 surely against me he turns his hand
again and again the whole day long.
4 He has made my flesh and my vskin waste away;
he has wbroken my bones;
5 he has besieged and enveloped me
with bitterness and tribulation;
6 xhe has made me dwell in darkness
like the dead of long ago.
7 He has walled me about so that I cannot escape;
he has made my chains heavy;
8 though I call and ycry for help,
he shuts out my prayer;
9 he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones;
he has made my paths crooked.
10 He is a zbear lying in wait for me,
a lion in hiding;
11 he turned aside my steps and tore me to pieces;
he has made me desolate;
12 he abent his bow and set me
as a target for his arrow.
13 He drove into my kidneys
the barrows of his quiver;
14 I have become the claughingstock of all my people,1
the object of their taunts all day long.
15 He has filled me with bitterness;
he has sated me with dwormwood.
16 He has made my teeth grind on gravel,
and made me cower in ashes;
17 my soul is bereft of peace;
I have forgotten what happiness2 is;
18 so I say, “My endurance has perished;
so has my hope from the Lord.”
19 Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
the wormwood and the gall!
20 My soul continually remembers it
and is ebowed down within me.
21 But this I call to mind,
and therefore I have hope:
22 The fsteadfast love of the Lord never ceases;3
his gmercies never come to an end;
23 they are new hevery morning;
great is your ifaithfulness.
24 “The Lord is jmy portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will khope in him.”
25 The Lord is good to those who lwait for him,
to the soul who mseeks him.
26 It is good that one should wait nquietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
27 It is good for a man that he bear
the yoke in his youth.
28 Let him sit alone in silence
when it is laid on him;
29 let him put his mouth in the dust—
there may yet be hope;
30 let him give his ocheek to the one who strikes,
and let him be filled with insults.
31 For the Lord will not
cast off forever,
32 for, though he cause grief, he will have compassion
according to the pabundance of his steadfast love;
33 for qhe does not afflict from his heart
or grieve the children of men.
34 To crush underfoot
all the prisoners of the earth,
35 to rdeny a man justice
in the presence of the Most High,
36 to subvert a man in his lawsuit,
the Lord does not approve.
37 Who has spoken and it came to pass,
unless the Lord has commanded it?
38 Is it not from the mouth of the Most High
that good sand bad come?
39 tWhy should a living man complain,
a man, about the punishment of his sins?
40 Let us test and examine our ways,
and ureturn to the Lord!
41 Let us lift up our vhearts and whands
to God in heaven:
42 “We have transgressed and rebelled,
and you have not forgiven.
43 “You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us,
killing without pity;
44 you have wrapped yourself with a xcloud
so that no prayer can pass through.
45 You have made us yscum and garbage
among the peoples.
46 z“All our enemies
open their mouths against us;
47 apanic and pitfall have come upon us,
bdevastation and destruction;
48 my eyes flow with rivers of tears
cbecause of the destruction of the daughter of my people.
49 “My eyes will flow without ceasing,
without respite,
50 until the Lord from heaven
dlooks down and sees;
51 my eyes cause me grief
at the fate of all the daughters of my city.
52 “I have been hunted like a bird
by those who were my enemies ewithout cause;
53 they flung me alive finto the pit4
and cast stones on me;
54 gwater closed over my head;
I said, ‘I am lost.’
55 “I called on your name, O Lord,
hfrom the depths of the pit;
56 you heard my plea, ‘Do not close
your ear to my cry for help!’
57 You icame near when I called on you;
you said, ‘Do not fear!’
58 “You have jtaken up my cause, O Lord;
you have redeemed my life.
59 You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord;
judge my cause.
60 You have seen all their vengeance,
all their kplots against me.
61 “You have heard their taunts, O Lord,
all their plots against me.
62 The lips and thoughts of my assailants
are against me all the day long.
63 Behold their sitting and their rising;
I am the object of their ltaunts.
64 “You will repay them,5 O Lord,
according to the work of their hands.
65 You will give them6 dullness of heart;
your curse will be7 on them.
66 You will pursue them8 in anger and destroy them
from under your heavens, O Lord.”9
