Forsake Me Not When My Strength Is Spent
1 iIn you, O Lord, do I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame!
2 In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
incline your ear to me, and save me!
3 Be to me a rock of jrefuge,
to which I may continually come;
you have kgiven the command to save me,
for you are my lrock and my fortress.
4 mRescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.
5 For you, O Lord, are my nhope,
my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
6 Upon you I have leaned ofrom before my birth;
you are he who ptook me from my mother’s womb.
My praise is continually of you.
7 I have been as qa portent to many,
but you are my strong refuge.
8 My rmouth is filled with your praise,
and with your glory all the day.
9 sDo not cast me off in the time of old age;
forsake me not when my strength is spent.
10 For my enemies speak concerning me;
those who twatch for my life uconsult together
11 and say, “God has forsaken him;
pursue and seize him,
for there is none to deliver him.”
12 O God, be not vfar from me;
O my God, wmake haste to help me!
13 May my accusers be xput to shame and consumed;
ywith scorn and disgrace may they be covered
who zseek my hurt.
14 But I will ahope continually
and will bpraise you yet more and more.
The Servant of the Lord
1 Listen to me, kO coastlands,
and give attention, you peoples lfrom afar.
mThe Lord called me from the womb,
from the body of my mother he named my name.
2 nHe made my mouth like a sharp sword;
oin the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow;
in his quiver he hid me away.
3 And he said to me, “You are my servant,
Israel, pin whom I will be glorified.”1
4 qBut I said, “I have labored in vain;
I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
yet surely my right is with the Lord,
and my recompense with my God.”
5 rAnd now the Lord says,
he mwho formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him;
and that Israel might be gathered to him—
for sI am honored in the eyes of the Lord,
and my God has become my strength—
6 he says:
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob
and to bring back the preserved of Israel;
tI will make you uas a light for the nations,
that vmy salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”
7 Thus says the Lord,
wthe Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
xto one deeply despised, abhorred by the nation,
the servant of rulers:
y“Kings shall see and arise;
princes, and they shall prostrate themselves;
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
Some Greeks Seek Jesus
20 Now eamong those who went up to worship at the feast were some fGreeks. 21 So these came to gPhilip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went and told hAndrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23 And Jesus answered them, i“The hour has come jfor the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, kunless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 lWhoever loves his life loses it, and mwhoever nhates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 If anyone serves me, he must ofollow me; and pwhere I am, there will my servant be also. qIf anyone serves me, rthe Father will honor him.
The Son of Man Must Be Lifted Up
27 s“Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, tsave me from uthis hour’? But vfor this purpose I have come to uthis hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.” Then wa voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, x“An angel has spoken to him.” 30 Jesus answered, y“This voice has come for your sake, not mine. 31 zNow is the judgment of this world; now will athe ruler of this world bbe cast out. 32 And I, cwhen I am lifted up from the earth, dwill draw eall people to myself.” 33 He said this fto show by what kind of death he was going to die. 34 So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Law that gthe Christ remains forever. How can you say that hthe Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” 35 So Jesus said to them, i“The light is among you jfor a little while longer. kWalk while you have the light, lest darkness lovertake you. mThe one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going. 36 While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become nsons of light.”
The Unbelief of the People
When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them.
Christ the Wisdom and Power of God
18 For the word of the cross is bfolly to cthose who are perishing, but to us dwho are being saved it is ethe power of God. 19 For it is written,
f“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
20 gWhere is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? hHas not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach1 to save those who believe. 22 For iJews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ jcrucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ kthe power of God and lthe wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26 For consider your calling, brothers: mnot many of you were wise according to worldly standards,2 not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But nGod chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; oGod chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even pthings that are not, to qbring to nothing things that are, 29 so rthat no human being3 might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him4 you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us swisdom from God, trighteousness and usanctification and vredemption, 31 so that, as it is written, w“Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
