Opposition to the Work
1 1 Now when nSanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry and greatly enraged, and he jeered at the Jews. 2 And he said in the presence of his brothers and of the army of Samaria, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves?2 Will they sacrifice? Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, and burned ones at that?” 3 oTobiah the Ammonite was beside him, and he said, “Yes, what they are building—if a pfox goes up on it he will break down their stone wall!” 4 Hear, O our God, for we are despised. Turn back their taunt on their own heads and give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives. 5 qDo not cover their guilt, and let not their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have provoked you to anger in the presence of the builders.
6 So we built the wall. And all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.
7 3 But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the rArabs and the sAmmonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry. 8 And they all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it. 9 And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night.
Search Me, O God, and Know My Heart
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
1 O Lord, you have dsearched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 eYou search out my path and my lying down
and are facquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
6 gSuch knowledge is htoo wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
7 iWhere shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I jflee from your presence?
8 kIf I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I lmake my bed in Sheol, myou are there!
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, n“Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
12 oeven the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
13 For pyou formed my inward parts;
you qknitted me together in my mother’s womb.
Jesus Begins His Ministry
12 mNow when he heard that John had been narrested, he withdrew into Galilee. 13 And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in oCapernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be pfulfilled:
15 q“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
16 the people dwelling in darkness
have seen a great light,
and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death,
on them a light has rdawned.”
17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, s“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is tat hand.”1
