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Psalm 55

Complaint about a Friend’s Treachery

To the leader: with stringed instruments. A Maskil of David.
¹ Give ear to my prayer, O God;
   do not hide yourself from my supplication.
² Attend to me, and answer me;
   I am troubled in my complaint.
I am distraught ³by the noise of the enemy,
   because of the clamour of the wicked.
For they bring^* trouble upon me,
   and in anger they cherish enmity against me.

⁴ My heart is in anguish within me,
   the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
⁵ Fear and trembling come upon me,
   and horror overwhelms me.
⁶ And I say, ‘O that I had wings like a dove!
   I would fly away and be at rest;
⁷ truly, I would flee far away;
   I would lodge in the wilderness;
          Selah
⁸ I would hurry to find a shelter for myself
   from the raging wind and tempest.’

⁹ Confuse, O Lord, confound their speech;
   for I see violence and strife in the city.
¹⁰ Day and night they go around it
   on its walls,
and iniquity and trouble are within it;
¹¹   ruin is in its midst;
oppression and fraud
   do not depart from its market-place.

¹² It is not enemies who taunt me—
   I could bear that;
it is not adversaries who deal insolently with me—
   I could hide from them.
¹³ But it is you, my equal,
   my companion, my familiar friend,
¹⁴ with whom I kept pleasant company;
   we walked in the house of God with the throng.
¹⁵ Let death come upon them;
   let them go down alive to Sheol;
   for evil is in their homes and in their hearts.

¹⁶ But I call upon God,
   and the Lord will save me.
¹⁷ Evening and morning and at noon
   I utter my complaint and moan,
   and he will hear my voice.
¹⁸ He will redeem me unharmed
   from the battle that I wage,
   for many are arrayed against me.
¹⁹ God, who is enthroned from of old,
          Selah
   will hear, and will humble them—
because they do not change,
   and do not fear God.

²⁰ My companion laid hands on a friend
   and violated a covenant with me^*
21 with speech smoother than butter,
   but with a heart set on war;
with words that were softer than oil,
   but in fact were drawn swords.

²² Cast your burden^* on the Lord,
   and he will sustain you;
he will never permit
   the righteous to be moved.

²³ But you, O God, will cast them down
   into the lowest pit;
the bloodthirsty and treacherous
   shall not live out half their days.
But I will trust in you.

Joseph Interprets Pharaoh’s Dream

41After two whole years, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile, ²and there came up out of the Nile seven sleek and fat cows, and they grazed in the reed grass. ³Then seven other cows, ugly and thin, came up out of the Nile after them, and stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile. ⁴The ugly and thin cows ate up the seven sleek and fat cows. And Pharaoh awoke. ⁵Then he fell asleep and dreamed a second time; seven ears of grain, plump and good, were growing on one stalk. ⁶Then seven ears, thin and blighted by the east wind, sprouted after them. ⁷The thin ears swallowed up the seven plump and full ears. Pharaoh awoke, and it was a dream. ⁸In the morning his spirit was troubled; so he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them to Pharaoh.

9 Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, ‘I remember my faults today. ¹⁰Once Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and put me and the chief baker in custody in the house of the captain of the guard. ¹¹We dreamed on the same night, he and I, each having a dream with its own meaning. ¹²A young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. When we told him, he interpreted our dreams to us, giving an interpretation to each according to his dream. ¹³As he interpreted to us, so it turned out; I was restored to my office, and the baker was hanged.’

The Ministry of the Apostles

4Think of us in this way, as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. ²Moreover, it is required of stewards that they should be found trustworthy. ³But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. I do not even judge myself. ⁴I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. ⁵Therefore do not pronounce judgement before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive commendation from God.

6 I have applied all this to Apollos and myself for your benefit, brothers and sisters,^* so that you may learn through us the meaning of the saying, ‘Nothing beyond what is written’, so that none of you will be puffed up in favour of one against another. ⁷For who sees anything different in you?^* What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift?

Pronouncement about the Sabbath

23 One sabbath he was going through the cornfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. ²⁴The Pharisees said to him, ‘Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?’ ²⁵And he said to them, ‘Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food? ²⁶He entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions.’ ²⁷Then he said to them, ‘The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; ²⁸so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.’

The Man with a Withered Hand

3Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. ²They watched him to see whether he would cure him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him. ³And he said to the man who had the withered hand, ‘Come forward.’ ⁴Then he said to them, ‘Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?’ But they were silent. ⁵He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. ⁶The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.