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Psalm 30

Thanksgiving for Recovery from Grave Illness

A Psalm. A Song at the dedication of the temple. Of David.
¹ I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up,
   and did not let my foes rejoice over me.
² O Lord my God, I cried to you for help,
   and you have healed me.
³ O Lord, you brought up my soul from Sheol,
   restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit.^*

⁴ Sing praises to the Lord, O you his faithful ones,
   and give thanks to his holy name.
⁵ For his anger is but for a moment;
   his favour is for a lifetime.
Weeping may linger for the night,
   but joy comes with the morning.

⁶ As for me, I said in my prosperity,
   ‘I shall never be moved.’
⁷ By your favour, O Lord,
   you had established me as a strong mountain;
you hid your face;
   I was dismayed.

⁸ To you, O Lord, I cried,
   and to the Lord I made supplication:
⁹ ‘What profit is there in my death,
   if I go down to the Pit?
Will the dust praise you?
   Will it tell of your faithfulness?
¹⁰ Hear, O Lord, and be gracious to me!
   O Lord, be my helper!’

¹¹ You have turned my mourning into dancing;
   you have taken off my sackcloth
   and clothed me with joy,
¹² so that my soul^* may praise you and not be silent.
   O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you for ever.

Eliphaz Speaks: Job’s Wickedness Is Great

22Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
² ‘Can a mortal be of use to God?
   Can even the wisest be of service to him?
³ Is it any pleasure to the Almighty^* if you are righteous,
   or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?
⁴ Is it for your piety that he reproves you,
   and enters into judgement with you?
⁵ Is not your wickedness great?
   There is no end to your iniquities.
⁶ For you have exacted pledges from your family for no reason,
   and stripped the naked of their clothing.
⁷ You have given no water to the weary to drink,
   and you have withheld bread from the hungry.
⁸ The powerful possess the land,
   and the favoured live in it.
⁹ You have sent widows away empty-handed,
   and the arms of the orphans you have crushed.^*
10 Therefore snares are around you,
   and sudden terror overwhelms you,
¹¹ or darkness so that you cannot see;
   a flood of water covers you.

¹² ‘Is not God high in the heavens?
   See the highest stars, how lofty they are!
¹³ Therefore you say, “What does God know?
   Can he judge through the deep darkness?
¹⁴ Thick clouds enwrap him, so that he does not see,
   and he walks on the dome of heaven.”
¹⁵ Will you keep to the old way
   that the wicked have trod?
¹⁶ They were snatched away before their time;
   their foundation was washed away by a flood.
¹⁷ They said to God, “Leave us alone”,
   and “What can the Almighty^* do to us?”^*
18 Yet he filled their houses with good things—
   but the plans of the wicked are repugnant to me.
¹⁹ The righteous see it and are glad;
   the innocent laugh them to scorn,
²⁰ saying, “Surely our adversaries are cut off,
   and what they left, the fire has consumed.”

²¹ ‘Agree with God,^* and be at peace;
   in this way good will come to you.
²² Receive instruction from his mouth,
   and lay up his words in your heart.
²³ If you return to the Almighty,^* you will be restored,
   if you remove unrighteousness from your tents,

26 ‘My brothers, you descendants of Abraham’s family, and others who fear God, to us^* the message of this salvation has been sent. ²⁷Because the residents of Jerusalem and their leaders did not recognize him or understand the words of the prophets that are read every sabbath, they fulfilled those words by condemning him. ²⁸Even though they found no cause for a sentence of death, they asked Pilate to have him killed. ²⁹When they had carried out everything that was written about him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. ³⁰But God raised him from the dead; ³¹and for many days he appeared to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, and they are now his witnesses to the people. ³²And we bring you the good news that what God promised to our ancestors ³³he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising Jesus; as also it is written in the second psalm,
“You are my Son;
   today I have begotten you.”
³⁴As to his raising him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way,
“I will give you the holy promises made to David.”
³⁵Therefore he has also said in another psalm,
“You will not let your Holy One experience corruption.”
³⁶For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, died,^* was laid beside his ancestors, and experienced corruption; ³⁷but he whom God raised up experienced no corruption. ³⁸Let it be known to you therefore, my brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you; ³⁹by this Jesus^* everyone who believes is set free from all those sins^* from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. ⁴⁰Beware, therefore, that what the prophets said does not happen to you:
⁴¹ “Look, you scoffers!
   Be amazed and perish,
for in your days I am doing a work,
   a work that you will never believe, even if someone tells you.” ’

42 As Paul and Barnabas^* were going out, the people urged them to speak about these things again the next sabbath. ⁴³When the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who spoke to them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.

Jesus the Good Shepherd

10‘Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit. ²The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. ³The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ⁴When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. ⁵They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.’ ⁶Jesus used this figure of speech with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.

7 So again Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. ⁸All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. ⁹I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. ¹⁰The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.

11 ‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. ¹²The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. ¹³The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. ¹⁴I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, ¹⁵just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. ¹⁶I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. ¹⁷For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. ¹⁸No one takes^* it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father.’