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17  O do good to your servant that I may live, ♦︎
   and so shall I keep your word.
18  Open my eyes, that I may see ♦︎
   the wonders of your law.
19  I am a stranger upon earth; ♦︎
   hide not your commandments from me.
20  My soul is consumed at all times ♦︎
   with fervent longing for your judgements.
21  You have rebuked the arrogant; ♦︎
   cursed are those who stray from your commandments.
22  Turn from me shame and rebuke, ♦︎
   for I have kept your testimonies.
23  Rulers also sit and speak against me, ♦︎
   but your servant meditates on your statutes.
24  For your testimonies are my delight; ♦︎
   they are my faithful counsellors.
25  My soul cleaves to the dust; ♦︎
   O give me life according to your word.
26  I have acknowledged my ways and you have answered me; ♦︎
   O teach me your statutes.
27  Make me understand the way of your commandments, ♦︎
   and so shall I meditate on your wondrous works.
28  My soul melts away in tears of sorrow; ♦︎
   raise me up according to your word.
29  Take from me the way of falsehood; ♦︎
   be gracious to me through your law.
30  I have chosen the way of truth ♦︎
   and your judgements have I laid before me.
31  I hold fast to your testimonies; ♦︎
   O Lord, let me not be put to shame.
32  I will run the way of your commandments, ♦︎
   when you have set my heart at liberty.

¹³ In that day the beautiful young women and the young men
   shall faint for thirst.
¹⁴ Those who swear by Ashimah of Samaria,
   and say, ‘As your god lives, O Dan’,
and, ‘As the way of Beer-sheba lives’—
   they shall fall, and never rise again.

The Destruction of Israel

9I saw the Lord standing beside^* the altar, and he said:
Strike the capitals until the thresholds shake,
   and shatter them on the heads of all the people;^*
and those who are left I will kill with the sword;
   not one of them shall flee away,
   not one of them shall escape.

² Though they dig into Sheol,
   from there shall my hand take them;
though they climb up to heaven,
   from there I will bring them down.
³ Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel,
   from there I will search out and take them;
and though they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea,
   there I will command the sea-serpent, and it shall bite them.
⁴ And though they go into captivity in front of their enemies,
   there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them;
and I will fix my eyes on them
   for harm and not for good.

Christ Our Advocate

2My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; ²and he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

3 Now by this we may be sure that we know him, if we obey his commandments. ⁴Whoever says, ‘I have come to know him’, but does not obey his commandments, is a liar, and in such a person the truth does not exist; ⁵but whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has reached perfection. By this we may be sure that we are in him: ⁶whoever says, ‘I abide in him’, ought to walk just as he walked.