Arise, O God, Defend Your Cause
A oMaskil1 of Asaph.
1 O God, why do you pcast us off forever?
Why does your anger smoke against the qsheep of your pasture?
2 Remember your congregation, which you have rpurchased of old,
which you have redeemed to be the stribe of your heritage!
Remember Mount Zion, where you have dwelt.
3 Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins;
the enemy has destroyed everything in the sanctuary!
4 Your foes have roared in the midst of your meeting place;
they set up their own signs for signs.
5 They were like those who swing axes
in a forest of trees.2
6 And all its tcarved wood
they broke down with hatchets and hammers.
7 They uset your sanctuary on fire;
they profaned the dwelling place of your name,
bringing it down to the ground.
8 They said to themselves, v“We will utterly subdue them”;
they burned all the meeting places of God in the land.
9 wWe do not see our signs;
there is no longer any prophet,
and there is none among us who knows how long.
10 xHow long, O God, is the foe to scoff?
Is the enemy to revile your name forever?
11 Why do you yhold back your hand, your right hand?
Take it from the fold of your garment3 and destroy them!
12 Yet God my King is from of old,
working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13 zYou divided the sea by your might;
you broke the heads of the sea monsters4 on the waters.
14 You crushed the heads of aLeviathan;
you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness.
15 bYou split open springs and brooks;
cyou dried up ever-flowing streams.
16 dYours is the day, yours also the night;
eyou have established the heavenly lights and the sun.
17 fYou have fixed all the boundaries of the earth;
you have made summer and winter.
18 Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,
and a foolish people reviles your name.
19 Do not deliver the soul of your dove to the wild beasts;
gdo not forget the life of your poor forever.
20 hHave regard for ithe covenant,
for the dark places of the land are full of the habitations of violence.
21 Let not the downtrodden turn back in shame;
let the poor and needy praise your name.
22 Arise, O God, defend your cause;
jremember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!
23 Do not forget the clamor of your foes,
the uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually!
5 Thus says the Lord:
“Cursed is the man who atrusts in man
and makes flesh his strength,1
whose heart turns away from the Lord.
6 He is like a shrub in the desert,
and shall not see any good come.
He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,
in an uninhabited salt land.
7 “Blessed is the man who btrusts in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.
8 cHe is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit.”
9 The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
10 “I the Lord search the heart
eto give every man according to his ways,
according to the fruit of his deeds.”
11 Like the partridge that gathers a brood that she did not hatch,
so is he who gets riches but not by justice;
in the midst of his days they will leave him,
and at his end he will be a fool.
12 A glorious throne set on high from the beginning
is the place of our sanctuary.
13 O Lord, the fhope of Israel,
all who gforsake you shall be put to shame;
those who turn away from you3 shall be written in the earth,
for they have forsaken the Lord, the hfountain of living water.
Jeremiah Prays for Deliverance
14 Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed;
save me, and I shall be saved,
for iyou are my praise.
Giving to the Needy
1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be bseen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
2 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be cpraised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
The Lord’s Prayer
5 “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 6 But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
7 d“And when you pray, do not eheap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their fmany words. 8 Do not be like them, gfor your Father knows what you need before you ask him. 9 Pray then like this:
“Our Father in heaven,
10 Your ikingdom come,
on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our kdaily bread,3
12 and lforgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And mlead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.4
14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 nbut if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Fasting
16 “And owhen you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their pfasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
