How Long, O Lord?
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
1 vHow long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you whide your face from me?
2 How long must I take counsel in my soul
and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?
3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God;
xlight up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,
4 lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,”
lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.
5 But I have ytrusted in your steadfast love;
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.
6 I will sing to the Lord,
because he has dealt bountifully with me.
The Fool Says, There Is No God
To the choirmaster. Of David.
1 zThe fool says in his heart, a“There is no God.”
They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds;
bthere is none who does good.
2 The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man,
to see if there are any who understand,1
who seek after God.
3 They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt;
cthere is none who does good,
not even one.
4 dHave they no knowledge, all the evildoers
who eat up my people as they eat bread
and do not call upon the Lord?
5 There they are in great terror,
for God is with the generation of the righteous.
6 You would shame the plans of the poor,
but2 the Lord is his refuge.
7 Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
When the Lord erestores the fortunes of his people,
let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad.
A King Will Reign in Righteousness
1 Behold, a king will reign in prighteousness,
and princes will rule in justice.
2 Each will be like a hiding place from the wind,
a shelter from the storm,
like streams of water in a dry place,
like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.
3 Then the qeyes of those who see will not be closed,
and the ears of those who hear will give attention.
4 The heart of the hasty will understand and know,
and the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak distinctly.
5 The fool will no more be called noble,
nor the scoundrel said to be honorable.
6 For the fool speaks folly,
and his heart is busy with iniquity,
to practice ungodliness,
to utter error concerning the Lord,
to leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied,
and to deprive the thirsty of drink.
7 As for the scoundrel—his devices are evil;
he plans wicked schemes
to ruin the poor with lying words,
even when the plea of the needy is right.
8 But he who is noble plans noble things,
and on noble things he stands.
Complacent Women Warned of Disaster
9 Rise up, you women who are rat ease, hear my voice;
you complacent daughters, give ear to my speech.
10 In little more than a year
you will shudder, you complacent women;
for the grape harvest fails,
the fruit harvest will not come.
11 Tremble, you women who are at ease,
shudder, you complacent ones;
strip, and make yourselves bare,
and tie sackcloth around your waist.
12 Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields,
for the fruitful vine,
13 for the soil of my people
growing up in thorns and briers,
yes, for all the joyous houses
in the exultant city.
14 For the palace is forsaken,
the populous city deserted;
the hill and the watchtower
will become dens forever,
a joy of wild donkeys,
a pasture of flocks;
15 until sthe Spirit is poured upon us from on high,
and the wilderness tbecomes a fruitful field,
and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.
16 Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,
and righteousness abide in the fruitful field.
17 And the effect of righteousness will be peace,
and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust1 forever.
18 My people will abide in a peaceful habitation,
in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.
John the Baptist Prepares the Way
1 aIn those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, 2 b“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is cat hand.”1 3 For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,
d“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare2 the way of the Lord;
make his paths straight.’”
4 Now John wore a garment of ecamel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, 6 and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You fbrood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the gwrath to come? 8 Bear fruit hin keeping with repentance. 9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have iAbraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 10 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. jEvery tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
11 “I baptize you kwith water for repentance, but lhe who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you mwith the Holy Spirit and nfire. 12 His owinnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and pgather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with qunquenchable fire.”
The Baptism of Jesus
13 rThen Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all srighteousness.” Then he consented. 16 And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, tthe heavens were opened to him,3 and he saw the uSpirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, v“This is my wbeloved Son,4 xwith whom I am well pleased.”
