Oh, That My People Would Listen to Me
To the choirmaster: according to The jGittith.1 Of Asaph.
1 Sing aloud to God our strength;
kshout for joy to the God of Jacob!
2 Raise a song; sound the tambourine,
the sweet lyre with the harp.
3 lBlow the trumpet at the mnew moon,
at the full moon, on our feast day.
4 For it is a statute for Israel,
a rule2 of the God of Jacob.
5 He made it a decree in Joseph
when he went out over3 the land of Egypt.
I hear a language I had not known:
6 “I relieved your4 shoulder of the nburden;
your hands were freed from the basket.
7 oIn distress you pcalled, and I delivered you;
I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
I tested you qat the waters of Meribah. Selah
8 Hear, O my people, while I admonish you!
O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
9 rThere shall be no strange god among you;
you shall not bow down to a foreign god.
10 I am the Lord your God,
swho brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
11 t“But my people did not listen to my voice;
Israel would not submit to me.
12 So I ugave them over to their vstubborn hearts,
to follow wtheir own counsels.
13 xOh, that my people would listen to me,
that Israel would ywalk in my ways!
14 I would soon subdue their enemies
and turn my hand against their foes.
15 Those who hate the Lord would cringe toward him,
and their fate would last forever.
16 But he would feed you5 with the zfinest of the wheat,
and with ahoney from the rock I would satisfy you.”
Rescue the Weak and Needy
A Psalm of Asaph.
1 God has btaken his place in the divine council;
in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:
2 “How long will you judge unjustly
and cshow partiality to the dwicked? Selah
3 Give ejustice to the weak and the fatherless;
fmaintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
4 Rescue the weak and the needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
5 gThey have neither knowledge nor understanding,
they hwalk about in darkness;
all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
6 iI said, “You are gods,
sons of the Most High, all of you;
7 nevertheless, like men you shall die,
and fall like any prince.”6
8 jArise, O God, judge the earth;
for you shall inherit all the nations!
13 b“Your words have been hard against me, says the Lord. But you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?’ 14 You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts? 15 And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.’”
The Book of Remembrance
16 Then those who feared the Lord spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and a cbook of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name. 17 “They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up my dtreasured possession, and I will spare them eas a man spares his son who serves him. 18 Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.
1The Great Day of the Lord
1 “For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them fneither root nor branch. 2 But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall grise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. 3 And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts.
4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules2 that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.
5 “Behold, hI will send you Elijah the prophet before the igreat and awesome day of the Lord comes. 6 jAnd he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and kstrike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”3
17 kBy faith Abraham, lwhen he was tested, moffered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, 18 of whom it was said, n“Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” 19 oHe considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. 20 By faith pIsaac invoked future blessings on Jacob qand Esau. 21 By faith rJacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, sbowing in worship over the head of his staff. 22 By faith tJoseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning uhis bones.
23 By faith vMoses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was wbeautiful, and they were not afraid of xthe king’s edict. 24 By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the yson of Pharaoh’s daughter, 25 choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He considered the zreproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the areward. 27 By faith bhe left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is cinvisible. 28 By faith dhe kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the eDestroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.
29 By faith fthe people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. 30 By faith gthe walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. 31 hBy faith iRahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.
32 And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of jGideon, kBarak, lSamson, mJephthah, of nDavid and oSamuel and the prophets— 33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, pstopped the mouths of lions, 34 qquenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. 35 rWomen received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. 36 sOthers suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were tstoned, they were sawn in two,1 they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— 38 of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and uin dens and caves of the earth.
39 And all these, though vcommended through their faith, wdid not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not xbe made perfect.
Jesus, Founder and Perfecter of Our Faith
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also ylay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us zrun with aendurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the bfounder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him cendured the cross, despising the shame, and is dseated at the right hand of the throne of God.
