Restore Us, O God
To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. A Testimony. Of Asaph, a Psalm.
1 Give ear, O xShepherd of Israel,
you who ylead Joseph like a flock.
You who are zenthroned upon the cherubim, ashine forth.
2 Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh,
stir up your might
and come to save us!
3 Restore us,1 O God;
blet your face shine, that we may be saved!
4 O Lord God of hosts,
how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?
5 cYou have fed them with the bread of tears
and given them dtears to drink in full measure.
6 You make us an object of contention for our neighbors,
and our enemies laugh among themselves.
7 Restore us, O God of hosts;
let your face shine, that we may be saved!
8 You brought a evine out of Egypt;
you drove out the nations and planted it.
9 You cleared the ground for it;
it took deep root and filled the land.
10 The mountains were covered with its shade,
the mighty cedars with its branches.
11 It sent out its branches fto the sea
and its shoots to the River.2
12 Why then have you gbroken down its walls,
so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
13 The boar from the forest ravages it,
and all that move in the field feed on it.
14 Turn again, O God of hosts!
Look down from heaven, and see;
hhave regard for this vine,
15 the stock that your right hand planted,
and for the son whom you made strong for yourself.
16 They have burned it with fire; they have cut it down;
may they perish at the rebuke of your face!
17 But let your hand be on the man of your right hand,
the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself!
18 Then we shall not turn back from you;
give us life, and we will call upon your name!
19 Restore us, O Lord God of hosts!
iLet your face shine, that we may be saved!
Cast Your Bread upon the Waters
1 Cast your bread upon the waters,
for you will find it after many days.
2 Give a portion to seven, or even to eight,
for you pknow not what disaster may happen on earth.
3 If the clouds are full of rain,
they empty themselves on the earth,
and if a tree falls to the south or to the north,
in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie.
4 He who observes the wind will not sow,
and he who regards the clouds will not reap.
5 As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb1 of a woman with child, so you do not know the qwork of God who makes everything.
6 In the morning sow your seed, and at evening withhold not your hand, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.
7 Light is sweet, and it is pleasant for the eyes rto see the sun.
8 So if a person lives many years, let him rejoice in them all; but let him remember that the sdays of darkness will be many. All that comes is vanity.2
9 Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth. Walk in the ways of your heart and the tsight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into ujudgment.
10 Remove vexation from your heart, and put away pain3 from your body, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity.
Remember Your Creator in Your Youth
1 Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near vof which you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”; 2 before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain, 3 in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed, 4 and the doors on the street are shut—when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low— 5 they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along,4 and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets— 6 before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, 7 and the wdust returns to the earth as it was, and the xspirit returns to God who gave it. 8 yVanity5 of vanities, says the zPreacher; all is vanity.
Fear God and Keep His Commandments
9 Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge, weighing and studying and arranging many aproverbs with great care. 10 The Preacher sought to find words of delight, and uprightly he wrote words of truth.
11 bThe words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one cShepherd. 12 My son, beware of anything beyond these. Of making many books there is no end, and dmuch study is a weariness of the flesh.
13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. eFear God and keep his commandments, for fthis is the whole duty of man.6 14 For gGod will bring every deed into judgment, with7 every secret thing, hwhether good or evil.
By Faith
1 Now faith is the assurance of things ohoped for, the conviction of things pnot seen. 2 For by it the people of old received their commendation. 3 By faith we understand that qthe universe was created rby the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
4 By faith sAbel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. 5 By faith tEnoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. 6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. 7 By faith uNoah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear vconstructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the wrighteousness that comes by faith.
8 By faith xAbraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith yhe went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the zcity that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. 11 By faith aSarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful bwho had promised. 12 Therefore from one man, and him cas good as dead, were born descendants das many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.
13 These all died in faith, enot having received the things promised, but having fseen them and greeted them from afar, and ghaving acknowledged that they were strangers and hexiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not iashamed to be called jtheir God, for he has prepared for them a city.
