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Psalm 20

Prayer for Victory

To the leader. A Psalm of David.
¹ The Lord answer you in the day of trouble!
   The name of the God of Jacob protect you!
² May he send you help from the sanctuary,
   and give you support from Zion.
³ May he remember all your offerings,
   and regard with favour your burnt sacrifices.
          Selah

⁴ May he grant you your heart’s desire,
   and fulfil all your plans.
⁵ May we shout for joy over your victory,
   and in the name of our God set up our banners.
May the Lord fulfil all your petitions.

⁶ Now I know that the Lord will help his anointed;
   he will answer him from his holy heaven
   with mighty victories by his right hand.
⁷ Some take pride in chariots, and some in horses,
   but our pride is in the name of the Lord our God.
⁸ They will collapse and fall,
   but we shall rise and stand upright.

⁹ Give victory to the king, O Lord;
   answer us when we call.^*

Psalm 21

Thanksgiving for Victory

To the leader. A Psalm of David.
¹ In your strength the king rejoices, O Lord,
   and in your help how greatly he exults!
² You have given him his heart’s desire,
   and have not withheld the request of his lips.
          Selah
³ For you meet him with rich blessings;
   you set a crown of fine gold on his head.
⁴ He asked you for life; you gave it to him—
   length of days for ever and ever.
⁵ His glory is great through your help;
   splendour and majesty you bestow on him.
⁶ You bestow on him blessings for ever;
   you make him glad with the joy of your presence.
⁷ For the king trusts in the Lord,
   and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved.

⁸ Your hand will find out all your enemies;
   your right hand will find out those who hate you.
⁹ You will make them like a fiery furnace
   when you appear.
The Lord will swallow them up in his wrath,
   and fire will consume them.
¹⁰ You will destroy their offspring from the earth,
   and their children from among humankind.
¹¹ If they plan evil against you,
   if they devise mischief, they will not succeed.
¹² For you will put them to flight;
   you will aim at their faces with your bows.

¹³ Be exalted, O Lord, in your strength!
   We will sing and praise your power.

Job Replies: There Is No Mediator

9Then Job answered:

Job: I Loathe My Life

10‘I loathe my life;
   I will give free utterance to my complaint;
   I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
² I will say to God, Do not condemn me;
   let me know why you contend against me.
³ Does it seem good to you to oppress,
   to despise the work of your hands
   and favour the schemes of the wicked?
⁴ Do you have eyes of flesh?
   Do you see as humans see?
⁵ Are your days like the days of mortals,
   or your years like human years,
⁶ that you seek out my iniquity
   and search for my sin,
⁷ although you know that I am not guilty,
   and there is no one to deliver out of your hand?
⁸ Your hands fashioned and made me;
   and now you turn and destroy me.^*
9 Remember that you fashioned me like clay;
   and will you turn me to dust again?
¹⁰ Did you not pour me out like milk
   and curdle me like cheese?
¹¹ You clothed me with skin and flesh,
   and knit me together with bones and sinews.
¹² You have granted me life and steadfast love,
   and your care has preserved my spirit.
¹³ Yet these things you hid in your heart;
   I know that this was your purpose.
¹⁴ If I sin, you watch me,
   and do not acquit me of my iniquity.
¹⁵ If I am wicked, woe to me!
   If I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head,
for I am filled with disgrace
   and look upon my affliction.
¹⁶ Bold as a lion you hunt me;
   you repeat your exploits against me.
¹⁷ You renew your witnesses against me,
   and increase your vexation towards me;
   you bring fresh troops against me.^*

¹⁸ ‘Why did you bring me forth from the womb?
   Would that I had died before any eye had seen me,
¹⁹ and were as though I had not been,
   carried from the womb to the grave.
²⁰ Are not the days of my life few?^*
   Let me alone, that I may find a little comfort^*
21 before I go, never to return,
   to the land of gloom and deep darkness,
²² the land of gloom^* and chaos,
   where light is like darkness.’

Peter’s Report to the Church at Jerusalem

11Now the apostles and the believers^* who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles had also accepted the word of God. ²So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers^* criticized him, ³saying, ‘Why did you go to uncircumcised men and eat with them?’ ⁴Then Peter began to explain it to them, step by step, saying, ⁵‘I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. There was something like a large sheet coming down from heaven, being lowered by its four corners; and it came close to me. ⁶As I looked at it closely I saw four-footed animals, beasts of prey, reptiles, and birds of the air. ⁷I also heard a voice saying to me, “Get up, Peter; kill and eat.” ⁸But I replied, “By no means, Lord; for nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth.” ⁹But a second time the voice answered from heaven, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.” ¹⁰This happened three times; then everything was pulled up again to heaven. ¹¹At that very moment three men, sent to me from Caesarea, arrived at the house where we were. ¹²The Spirit told me to go with them and not to make a distinction between them and us.^* These six brothers also accompanied me, and we entered the man’s house. ¹³He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, “Send to Joppa and bring Simon, who is called Peter; ¹⁴he will give you a message by which you and your entire household will be saved.” ¹⁵And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as it had upon us at the beginning. ¹⁶And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said, “John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.” ¹⁷If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?’ ¹⁸When they heard this, they were silenced. And they praised God, saying, ‘Then God has given even to the Gentiles the repentance that leads to life.’

Jesus the Light of the World

12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.’ ¹³Then the Pharisees said to him, ‘You are testifying on your own behalf; your testimony is not valid.’ ¹⁴Jesus answered, ‘Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid because I know where I have come from and where I am going, but you do not know where I come from or where I am going. ¹⁵You judge by human standards;^* I judge no one. ¹⁶Yet even if I do judge, my judgement is valid; for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father^* who sent me. ¹⁷In your law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is valid. ¹⁸I testify on my own behalf, and the Father who sent me testifies on my behalf.’ ¹⁹Then they said to him, ‘Where is your Father?’ Jesus answered, ‘You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.’ ²⁰He spoke these words while he was teaching in the treasury of the temple, but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.