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Psalm 97

The Glory of God’s Reign

¹ The Lord is king! Let the earth rejoice;
   let the many coastlands be glad!
² Clouds and thick darkness are all around him;
   righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
³ Fire goes before him,
   and consumes his adversaries on every side.
⁴ His lightnings light up the world;
   the earth sees and trembles.
⁵ The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
   before the Lord of all the earth.

⁶ The heavens proclaim his righteousness;
   and all the peoples behold his glory.
⁷ All worshippers of images are put to shame,
   those who make their boast in worthless idols;
   all gods bow down before him.
⁸ Zion hears and is glad,
   and the towns^* of Judah rejoice,
   because of your judgements, O God.
⁹ For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth;
   you are exalted far above all gods.

¹⁰ The Lord loves those who hate^* evil;
   he guards the lives of his faithful;
   he rescues them from the hand of the wicked.
¹¹ Light dawns^* for the righteous,
   and joy for the upright in heart.
¹² Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous,
   and give thanks to his holy name!

Psalm 99

Praise to God for His Holiness

¹ The Lord is king; let the peoples tremble!
   He sits enthroned upon the cherubim; let the earth quake!
² The Lord is great in Zion;
   he is exalted over all the peoples.
³ Let them praise your great and awesome name.
   Holy is he!
⁴ Mighty King,^* lover of justice,
   you have established equity;
you have executed justice
   and righteousness in Jacob.
⁵ Extol the Lord our God;
   worship at his footstool.
   Holy is he!

⁶ Moses and Aaron were among his priests,
   Samuel also was among those who called on his name.
   They cried to the Lord, and he answered them.
⁷ He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud;
   they kept his decrees,
   and the statutes that he gave them.

⁸ O Lord our God, you answered them;
   you were a forgiving God to them,
   but an avenger of their wrongdoings.
⁹ Extol the Lord our God,
   and worship at his holy mountain;
   for the Lord our God is holy.

Psalm 100

All Lands Summoned to Praise God

A Psalm of thanksgiving.
¹ Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.
²   Worship the Lord with gladness;
   come into his presence with singing.

³ Know that the Lord is God.
   It is he that made us, and we are his;^*
   we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

⁴ Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
   and his courts with praise.
   Give thanks to him, bless his name.

⁵ For the Lord is good;
   his steadfast love endures for ever,
   and his faithfulness to all generations.

Jacob Flees with Family and Flocks

31Now Jacob heard that the sons of Laban were saying, ‘Jacob has taken all that was our father’s; he has gained all this wealth from what belonged to our father.’ ²And Jacob saw that Laban did not regard him as favourably as he did before. ³Then the Lord said to Jacob, ‘Return to the land of your ancestors and to your kindred, and I will be with you.’ ⁴So Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah into the field where his flock was, ⁵and said to them, ‘I see that your father does not regard me as favourably as he did before. But the God of my father has been with me. ⁶You know that I have served your father with all my strength; ⁷yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times, but God did not permit him to harm me. ⁸If he said, “The speckled shall be your wages”, then all the flock bore speckled; and if he said, “The striped shall be your wages”, then all the flock bore striped. ⁹Thus God has taken away the livestock of your father, and given them to me.

10 During the mating of the flock I once had a dream in which I looked up and saw that the male goats that leaped upon the flock were striped, speckled, and mottled. ¹¹Then the angel of God said to me in the dream, “Jacob,” and I said, “Here I am!” ¹²And he said, “Look up and see that all the goats that leap on the flock are striped, speckled, and mottled; for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. ¹³I am the God of Bethel,^* where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now leave this land at once and return to the land of your birth.” ’ ¹⁴Then Rachel and Leah answered him, ‘Is there any portion or inheritance left to us in our father’s house? ¹⁵Are we not regarded by him as foreigners? For he has sold us, and he has been using up the money given for us. ¹⁶All the property that God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children; now then, do whatever God has said to you.’

17 So Jacob arose, and set his children and his wives on camels; ¹⁸and he drove away all his livestock, all the property that he had gained, the livestock in his possession that he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.

19 Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father’s household gods. ²⁰And Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean, in that he did not tell him that he intended to flee. ²¹So he fled with all that he had; starting out he crossed the Euphrates,^* and set his face towards the hill country of Gilead.

Laban Overtakes Jacob

22 On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled. ²³So he took his kinsfolk with him and pursued him for seven days until he caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead. ²⁴But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night, and said to him, ‘Take heed that you say not a word to Jacob, either good or bad.’

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.

A New Commandment

7 Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning; the old commandment is the word that you have heard. ⁸Yet I am writing you a new commandment that is true in him and in you, because^* the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. ⁹Whoever says, ‘I am in the light’, while hating a brother or sister,^* is still in the darkness. ¹⁰Whoever loves a brother or sister^* lives in the light, and in such a person^* there is no cause for stumbling. ¹¹But whoever hates another believer^* is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and does not know the way to go, because the darkness has brought on blindness.

18 The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight ¹⁹and asked them, ‘Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?’ ²⁰His parents answered, ‘We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; ²¹but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.’ ²²His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus^* to be the Messiah^* would be put out of the synagogue. ²³Therefore his parents said, ‘He is of age; ask him.’

24 So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, ‘Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.’ ²⁵He answered, ‘I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.’ ²⁶They said to him, ‘What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?’ ²⁷He answered them, ‘I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?’ ²⁸Then they reviled him, saying, ‘You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. ²⁹We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.’ ³⁰The man answered, ‘Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. ³¹We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. ³²Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. ³³If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.’ ³⁴They answered him, ‘You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?’ And they drove him out.

Spiritual Blindness

35 Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, ‘Do you believe in the Son of Man?’^{* 36}He answered, ‘And who is he, sir?^* Tell me, so that I may believe in him.’ ³⁷Jesus said to him, ‘You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.’ ³⁸He said, ‘Lord,^* I believe.’ And he worshipped him. ³⁹Jesus said, ‘I came into this world for judgement so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.’ ⁴⁰Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, ‘Surely we are not blind, are we?’ ⁴¹Jesus said to them, ‘If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, “We see”, your sin remains.