Great Is the Lord
Of David.
1 uContend, O Lord, with those who contend with me;
fight against those who fight against me!
2 Take hold of shield and buckler
and rise for my help!
3 Draw the spear and javelin1
against my pursuers!
Say to my soul,
“I am your salvation!”
4 vLet them be put to shame and dishonor
who seek after my life!
Let them be turned back and disappointed
who devise evil against me!
5 Let them be like chaff before the wind,
with the angel of the Lord driving them away!
6 Let their way be dark and slippery,
with the angel of the Lord pursuing them!
7 For without cause they hid their net for me;
without cause they wdug a pit for my life.2
8 Let destruction come upon him when he does not know it!
And let the xnet that he hid ensnare him;
let him fall into it—to his destruction!
9 Then my soul will rejoice in the Lord,
exulting in his salvation.
10 All my ybones shall say,
“O Lord, zwho is like you,
adelivering the poor
from him who is too strong for him,
the poor and needy from him who robs him?”
11 bMalicious3 witnesses rise up;
they ask me of things that I do not know.
12 They crepay me evil for good;
my soul is bereft.4
13 But I, dwhen they were sick—
I wore sackcloth;
I afflicted myself with efasting;
I prayed with head bowed5 on my chest.
14 I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother;
as one who laments his mother,
I bowed down in mourning.
15 But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered;
they gathered together against me;
wretches whom I did not know
tore at me without ceasing;
16 like profane mockers at a feast,6
they gnash at me with their teeth.
17 How long, O Lord, will you look on?
Rescue me from their destruction,
my precious life from the flions!
18 I will thank you in the great congregation;
in the mighty throng I will praise you.
19 Let not those rejoice over me
who are wrongfully my foes,
and let not those gwink the eye
20 For they do not speak peace,
but against those who are quiet in the land
they devise words of deceit.
21 They jopen wide their mouths against me;
they say, k“Aha, Aha!
Our eyes have seen it!”
22 You have seen, O Lord; be not lsilent!
O Lord, mbe not far from me!
23 nAwake and rouse yourself for my vindication,
for my cause, my God and my Lord!
24 oVindicate me, O Lord, my God,
according to your righteousness,
and let them not rejoice over me!
25 Let them not say in their hearts,
“Aha, our heart’s desire!”
Let them not say, “We have swallowed him up.”
26 Let them be put to shame and disappointed altogether
who rejoice at my calamity!
Let them be pclothed with shame and dishonor
who magnify themselves against me!
27 Let those who delight in my righteousness
shout for joy and be glad
and say evermore,
“Great is the Lord,
who delights in the welfare of his servant!”
28 Then my tongue shall tell of your righteousness
and of your praise all the day long.
Solomon’s Officials
1 King Solomon was king over all Israel, 2 and these were his high officials: Azariah the son of uZadok was the priest; 3 Elihoreph and Ahijah the sons of vShisha were secretaries; wJehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder; 4 xBenaiah the son of Jehoiada was in command of the army; Zadok and yAbiathar were priests; 5 Azariah the son of Nathan was over the officers; Zabud the son of Nathan was priest and zking’s friend; 6 Ahishar was in charge of the palace; and aAdoniram the son of Abda was in charge of the bforced labor.
Solomon’s Wealth and Wisdom
20 Judah and Israel were das many as the sand by the sea. They ate and drank and were happy. 1 21 Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms efrom the Euphrates2 to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.
22 Solomon’s provision for one day was thirty cors3 of fine flour and sixty cors of meal, 23 ten fat oxen, and twenty pasture-fed cattle, a hundred sheep, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened fowl. 24 For he had dominion over all the region west of the Euphrates4 from Tiphsah to Gaza, over all the kings west of the Euphrates. And he had peace on all sides around him. 25 And Judah and Israel lived fin safety, from Dan even to Beersheba, every man under ghis vine and under his fig tree, all the days of Solomon. 26 Solomon also had 40,0005 stalls of hhorses for his chariots, and 12,000 horsemen. 27 And those officers supplied provisions for King Solomon, and for all who came to King Solomon’s table, each one in his month. They let nothing be lacking. 28 Barley also and straw for the horses and swift steeds they brought to the place where it was required, each according to his duty.
29 And God igave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore, 30 so that Solomon’s wisdom jsurpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east and all the kwisdom of Egypt. 31 For he was wiser than all other men, wiser than lEthan the Ezrahite, and Heman, mCalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol, and his fame was in all the surrounding nations. 32 He also spoke 3,000 nproverbs, and his osongs were 1,005. 33 He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the wall. He spoke also of beasts, and of birds, and of reptiles, and of fish. 34 And people of all nations pcame to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and from all the kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.
Jesus Greater Than Moses
1 Therefore, holy brothers,1 you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and ahigh priest of our bconfession, 2 who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as cMoses also was faithful in all God’s2 house. 3 For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. 4 (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) 5 Now dMoses was faithful in all God’s house as a eservant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, 6 but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a fson. And gwe are his house, hif indeed we ihold fast our jconfidence and our kboasting in our lhope.3
A Rest for the People of God
7 Therefore, mas the Holy Spirit says,
n“Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts as in othe prebellion,
on the day of qtesting in the wilderness,
9 where your fathers put me to the test
and saw my works for forty years.
10 Therefore I was provoked with that generation,
and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart;
they have not known my ways.’
11 As I swore in my wrath,
‘They shall not enter my rest.’”
12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But rexhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. 15 As it is said,
s“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
16 For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, twhose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he uswear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were vdisobedient? 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of wunbelief.
