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129  Your testimonies are wonderful; ♦︎
   therefore my soul keeps them.
130  The opening of your word gives light; ♦︎
   it gives understanding to the simple.
131  I open my mouth and draw in my breath, ♦︎
   as I long for your commandments.
132  Turn to me and be gracious to me, ♦︎
   as is your way with those who love your name.
133  Order my steps by your word, ♦︎
   and let no wickedness have dominion over me.
134  Redeem me from earthly oppressors ♦︎
   so that I may keep your commandments.
135  Show the light of your countenance upon your servant ♦︎
   and teach me your statutes.
136  My eyes run down with streams of water, ♦︎
   because the wicked do not keep your law.
137  Righteous are you, O Lord, ♦︎
   and true are your judgements.
138  You have ordered your decrees in righteousness ♦︎
   and in great faithfulness.
139  My indignation destroys me, ♦︎
   because my adversaries forget your word.
140  Your word has been tried to the uttermost ♦︎
   and so your servant loves it.
141  I am small and of no reputation, ♦︎
   yet do I not forget your commandments.
142  Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness ♦︎
   and your law is the truth.
143  Trouble and heaviness have taken hold upon me, ♦︎
   yet my delight is in your commandments.
144  The righteousness of your testimonies is everlasting; ♦︎
   O grant me understanding and I shall live.
145  I call with my whole heart; ♦︎
   answer me, O Lord, that I may keep your statutes.
146  To you I call, O save me! ♦︎
   And I shall keep your testimonies.
147  Early in the morning I cry to you, ♦︎
   for in your word is my trust.
148  My eyes are open before the night watches, ♦︎
   that I may meditate on your word.
149  Hear my voice, O Lord, according to your faithful love; ♦︎
   according to your judgement, give me life.
150  They draw near that in malice persecute me, ♦︎
   who are far from your law.
151  You, O Lord, are near at hand, ♦︎
   and all your commandments are true.
152  Long have I known of your testimonies, ♦︎
   that you have founded them for ever.

Sabbath Reforms Begun

15 In those days I saw in Judah people treading wine presses on the sabbath, and bringing in heaps of grain and loading them on donkeys; and also wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath day; and I warned them at that time against selling food. ¹⁶Tyrians also, who lived in the city, brought in fish and all kinds of merchandise and sold them on the sabbath to the people of Judah, and in Jerusalem. ¹⁷Then I remonstrated with the nobles of Judah and said to them, ‘What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the sabbath day? ¹⁸Did not your ancestors act in this way, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Yet you bring more wrath on Israel by profaning the sabbath.’

19 When it began to be dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and gave orders that they should not be opened until after the sabbath. And I set some of my servants over the gates, to prevent any burden from being brought in on the sabbath day. ²⁰Then the merchants and sellers of all kinds of merchandise spent the night outside Jerusalem once or twice. ²¹But I warned them and said to them, ‘Why do you spend the night in front of the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you.’ From that time on they did not come on the sabbath. ²²And I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves and come and guard the gates, to keep the sabbath day holy. Remember this also in my favour, O my God, and spare me according to the greatness of your steadfast love.

Mixed Marriages Condemned

23 In those days also I saw Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab; ²⁴and half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and they could not speak the language of Judah, but spoke the language of various peoples. ²⁵And I contended with them and cursed them and beat some of them and pulled out their hair; and I made them take an oath in the name of God, saying, ‘You shall not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. ²⁶Did not King Solomon of Israel sin on account of such women? Among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was beloved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel; nevertheless, foreign women made even him to sin. ²⁷Shall we then listen to you and do all this great evil and act treacherously against our God by marrying foreign women?’

28 And one of the sons of Jehoiada, son of the high priest Eliashib, was the son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite; I chased him away from me. ²⁹Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, the covenant of the priests and the Levites.

30 Thus I cleansed them from everything foreign, and I established the duties of the priests and Levites, each in his work; ³¹and I provided for the wood-offering, at appointed times, and for the first fruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.

Forgiveness for the Offender

5 But if anyone has caused pain, he has caused it not to me, but to some extent—not to exaggerate it—to all of you. ⁶This punishment by the majority is enough for such a person; ⁷so now instead you should forgive and console him, so that he may not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. ⁸So I urge you to reaffirm your love for him. ⁹I wrote for this reason: to test you and to know whether you are obedient in everything. ¹⁰Anyone whom you forgive, I also forgive. What I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ. ¹¹And we do this so that we may not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.

Paul’s Anxiety in Troas

12 When I came to Troas to proclaim the good news of Christ, a door was opened for me in the Lord; ¹³but my mind could not rest because I did not find my brother Titus there. So I said farewell to them and went on to Macedonia.

14 But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads in every place the fragrance that comes from knowing him. ¹⁵For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; ¹⁶to the one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? ¹⁷For we are not peddlers of God’s word like so many;^* but in Christ we speak as persons of sincerity, as persons sent from God and standing in his presence.