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Psalm 125

1  Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, ♦︎
   which cannot be moved, but stands fast for ever.
2  As the hills stand about Jerusalem, ♦︎
   so the Lord stands round about his people,
      from this time forth for evermore.
3  The sceptre of wickedness shall not hold sway
      over the land allotted to the righteous, ♦︎
   lest the righteous turn their hands to evil.
4  Do good, O Lord, to those who are good, ♦︎
   and to those who are true of heart.
5  Those who turn aside to crooked ways
      the Lord shall take away with the evildoers; ♦︎
   but let there be peace upon Israel.

Oracles concerning Babylon, Edom, and Arabia

21The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea.

As whirlwinds in the Negeb sweep on,
   it comes from the desert,
   from a terrible land.
² A stern vision is told to me;
   the betrayer betrays,
   and the destroyer destroys.
Go up, O Elam,
   lay siege, O Media;
all the sighing she has caused
   I bring to an end.
³ Therefore my loins are filled with anguish;
   pangs have seized me,
   like the pangs of a woman in labour;
I am bowed down so that I cannot hear,
   I am dismayed so that I cannot see.
⁴ My mind reels, horror has appalled me;
   the twilight I longed for
   has been turned for me into trembling.
⁵ They prepare the table,
   they spread the rugs,
   they eat, they drink.
Rise up, commanders,
   oil the shield!
⁶ For thus the Lord said to me:
‘Go, post a lookout,
   let him announce what he sees.
⁷ When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs,
   riders on donkeys, riders on camels,
let him listen diligently,
   very diligently.’
⁸ Then the watcher^* called out:
‘Upon a watch-tower I stand, O Lord,
   continually by day,
and at my post I am stationed
   throughout the night.
⁹ Look, there they come, riders,
   horsemen in pairs!’
Then he responded,
   ‘Fallen, fallen is Babylon;
and all the images of her gods
   lie shattered on the ground.’
¹⁰ O my threshed and winnowed one,
   what I have heard from the Lord of hosts,
   the God of Israel, I announce to you.

¹¹ The oracle concerning Dumah.

One is calling to me from Seir,
   ‘Sentinel, what of the night?
   Sentinel, what of the night?’
¹² The sentinel says:
‘Morning comes, and also the night.
   If you will inquire, inquire;
   come back again.’

Not Peace, but a Sword

34 ‘Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
³⁵ For I have come to set a man against his father,
and a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
³⁶ and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.
³⁷Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; ³⁸and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.

Rewards

40 ‘Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. ⁴¹Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; ⁴²and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple—truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.’

11Now when Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and proclaim his message in their cities.