In the Day of Trouble I Seek the Lord
To the choirmaster: according to yJeduthun. A Psalm of zAsaph.
1 I acry aloud to God,
aloud to God, and he will hear me.
2 bIn the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;
in cthe night my dhand is stretched out without wearying;
my soul erefuses to be comforted.
3 When I remember God, I fmoan;
when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah
4 You hold my eyelids open;
I am so gtroubled that I cannot speak.
5 I consider hthe days of old,
the years long ago.
6 I said,1 “Let me remember my isong in the night;
let me jmeditate in my heart.”
Then my spirit made a diligent search:
7 “Will the Lord kspurn forever,
and never again lbe favorable?
8 Has his steadfast love forever ceased?
Are his mpromises at an end for all time?
9 nHas God forgotten to be gracious?
oHas he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah
10 Then I said, “I will appeal to this,
11 I will remember the deeds of the Lord;
yes, I will qremember your wonders of old.
12 I will ponder all your rwork,
and meditate on your smighty deeds.
13 Your way, O God, is tholy.
uWhat god is great like our God?
14 You are the God who vworks wonders;
you have wmade known your might among the peoples.
15 You xwith your arm redeemed your people,
the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah
16 When ythe waters saw you, O God,
when the waters saw you, they were afraid;
indeed, the deep trembled.
17 The clouds poured out water;
the skies zgave forth thunder;
your aarrows flashed on every side.
18 bThe crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind;
cyour lightnings lighted up the world;
the earth dtrembled and shook.
19 Your eway was through the sea,
your path through the great waters;
yet your footprints fwere unseen.3
20 You gled your people like a flock
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
Saul Chosen to Be King
1 There was a man of Benjamin whose name was fKish, the son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of Becorath, son of Aphiah, a Benjaminite, a man of wealth. 2 And he had a son whose name was Saul, ga handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he. hFrom his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people.
3 Now the donkeys of Kish, Saul’s father, were lost. So Kish said to Saul his son, “Take one of the young men with you, and arise, go and look for the donkeys.” 4 And he passed through ithe hill country of Ephraim and passed through the land of jShalishah, but they did not find them. And they passed through the land of Shaalim, but they were not there. Then they passed through the land of Benjamin, but did not find them.
5 When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant1 who was with him, “Come, let us go back, klest my father cease to care about the donkeys and become anxious about us.” 6 But he said to him, “Behold, there is la man of God in this city, and he is a man who is held in honor; mall that he says comes true. So now let us go there. Perhaps he can tell us the way we should go.” 7 Then Saul said to his servant, “But if we go, nwhat can we bring the man? For the bread in our sacks is gone, and there is no present to bring to the man of God. What do we have?” 8 The servant answered Saul again, “Here, I have with me a quarter of a shekel2 of silver, and I will give it to the man of God to tell us our way.” 9 (Formerly in Israel, when a man owent to inquire of God, he said, “Come, let us go to the seer,” for today’s “prophet” was formerly called a seer.) 10 And Saul said to his servant, “Well said; come, let us go.” So they went to the city where the man of God was.
A Woman with a Disabling Spirit
10 Now vhe was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 And behold, there was a woman who had had wa disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” 13 And he xlaid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she yglorified God. 14 But zthe ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus ahad healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, b“There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” 15 Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! cDoes not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? 16 And ought not this woman, da daughter of Abraham whom eSatan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” 17 As he said these things, fall his adversaries were put to shame, and gall the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.
The Mustard Seed and the Leaven
18 hHe said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? 19 It is like ia grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.”
20 And again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? 21 jIt is like leaven that a woman took and hid in kthree measures of flour, until it was lall leavened.”
