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Psalm 136

1  Give thanks to the Lord, for he is gracious, ♦︎
   for his mercy endures for ever.
2  Give thanks to the God of gods, ♦︎
   for his mercy endures for ever.
3  Give thanks to the Lord of lords, ♦︎
   for his mercy endures for ever;
4  Who alone does great wonders, ♦︎
   for his mercy endures for ever;
5  Who by wisdom made the heavens, ♦︎
   for his mercy endures for ever;
6  Who laid out the earth upon the waters, ♦︎
   for his mercy endures for ever;
7  Who made the great lights, ♦︎
   for his mercy endures for ever;
8  The sun to rule the day, ♦︎
   for his mercy endures for ever;
9  The moon and the stars to govern the night, ♦︎
   for his mercy endures for ever;
10  Who smote the firstborn of Egypt, ♦︎
   for his mercy endures for ever;
11  And brought out Israel from among them, ♦︎
   for his mercy endures for ever;
12  With a mighty hand and outstretched arm, ♦︎
   for his mercy endures for ever;
13  Who divided the Red Sea in two, ♦︎
   for his mercy endures for ever;
14  And made Israel to pass through the midst of it, ♦︎
   for his mercy endures for ever;
15  But Pharaoh and his host he overthrew in the Red Sea, ♦︎
   for his mercy endures for ever;
16  Who led his people through the wilderness, ♦︎
   for his mercy endures for ever;
17  Who smote great kings, ♦︎
   for his mercy endures for ever;
18  And slew mighty kings, ♦︎
   for his mercy endures for ever;
19  Sihon, king of the Amorites, ♦︎
   for his mercy endures for ever;
20  And Og, the king of Bashan, ♦︎
   for his mercy endures for ever;
21  And gave away their land for a heritage, ♦︎
   for his mercy endures for ever;
22  A heritage for Israel his servant, ♦︎
   for his mercy endures for ever;
23  Who remembered us when we were in trouble, ♦︎
   for his mercy endures for ever;
24  And delivered us from our enemies, ♦︎
   for his mercy endures for ever;
25  Who gives food to all creatures, ♦︎
   for his mercy endures for ever.
26  Give thanks to the God of heaven, ♦︎
   for his mercy endures for ever.

The Midianite Oppression

6The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian for seven years. ²The hand of Midian prevailed over Israel; and because of Midian the Israelites provided for themselves hiding-places in the mountains, caves and strongholds. ³For whenever the Israelites put in seed, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the east would come up against them. ⁴They would encamp against them and destroy the produce of the land, as far as the neighbourhood of Gaza, and leave no sustenance in Israel, and no sheep or ox or donkey. ⁵For they and their livestock would come up, and they would even bring their tents, as thick as locusts; neither they nor their camels could be counted; so they wasted the land as they came in. ⁶Thus Israel was greatly impoverished because of Midian; and the Israelites cried out to the Lord for help.

7 When the Israelites cried to the Lord on account of the Midianites, ⁸the Lord sent a prophet to the Israelites; and he said to them, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt, and brought you out of the house of slavery; ⁹and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians, and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you, and gave you their land; ¹⁰and I said to you, “I am the Lord your God; you shall not pay reverence to the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.” But you have not given heed to my voice.’

The Calling of Gideon

11 Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press, to hide it from the Midianites. ¹²The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, ‘The Lord is with you, you mighty warrior.’ ¹³Gideon answered him, ‘But sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our ancestors recounted to us, saying, “Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?” But now the Lord has cast us off, and given us into the hand of Midian.’ ¹⁴Then the Lord turned to him and said, ‘Go in this might of yours and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian; I hereby commission you.’ ¹⁵He responded, ‘But sir, how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.’ ¹⁶The Lord said to him, ‘But I will be with you, and you shall strike down the Midianites, every one of them.’ ¹⁷Then he said to him, ‘If now I have found favour with you, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. ¹⁸Do not depart from here until I come to you, and bring out my present, and set it before you.’ And he said, ‘I will stay until you return.’

19 So Gideon went into his house and prepared a kid, and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour; the meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the oak and presented them. ²⁰The angel of God said to him, ‘Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour out the broth.’ And he did so. ²¹Then the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand, and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes; and fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes; and the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. ²²Then Gideon perceived that it was the angel of the Lord; and Gideon said, ‘Help me, Lord God! For I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.’ ²³But the Lord said to him, ‘Peace be to you; do not fear, you shall not die.’ ²⁴Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord, and called it, The Lord is peace. To this day it still stands at Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites.

22 ‘You that are Israelites,^* listen to what I have to say: Jesus of Nazareth,^* a man attested to you by God with deeds of power, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know— ²³this man, handed over to you according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of those outside the law. ²⁴But God raised him up, having freed him from death,^* because it was impossible for him to be held in its power. ²⁵For David says concerning him,
“I saw the Lord always before me,
   for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken;
²⁶ therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;
   moreover, my flesh will live in hope.
²⁷ For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,
   or let your Holy One experience corruption.
²⁸ You have made known to me the ways of life;
   you will make me full of gladness with your presence.”

29 ‘Fellow Israelites,^* I may say to you confidently of our ancestor David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. ³⁰Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would put one of his descendants on his throne. ³¹Foreseeing this, David^* spoke of the resurrection of the Messiah,^* saying,
“He was not abandoned to Hades,
   nor did his flesh experience corruption.”
³²This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses. ³³Being therefore exalted at^* the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you both see and hear. ³⁴For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,
“The Lord said to my Lord,
‘Sit at my right hand,
³⁵   until I make your enemies your footstool.’ ”
³⁶Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah,^* this Jesus whom you crucified.’

22 Once again the Philistines came up, and were spread out in the valley of Rephaim. ²³When David inquired of the Lord, he said, ‘You shall not go up; go round to their rear, and come upon them opposite the balsam trees. ²⁴When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then be on the alert; for then the Lord has gone out before you to strike down the army of the Philistines.’ ²⁵David did just as the Lord had commanded him; and he struck down the Philistines from Geba all the way to Gezer.

David Brings the Ark to Jerusalem

6David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. ²David and all the people with him set out and went from Baale-judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of hosts who is enthroned on the cherubim. ³They carried the ark of God on a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio,^* the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart ⁴with the ark of God;^* and Ahio^* went in front of the ark. ⁵David and all the house of Israel were dancing before the Lord with all their might, with songs^* and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals.

6 When they came to the threshing-floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen shook it. ⁷The anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; and God struck him there because he reached out his hand to the ark;^* and he died there beside the ark of God. ⁸David was angry because the Lord had burst forth with an outburst upon Uzzah; so that place is called Perez-uzzah^* to this day. ⁹David was afraid of the Lord that day; he said, ‘How can the ark of the Lord come into my care?’ ¹⁰So David was unwilling to take the ark of the Lord into his care in the city of David; instead David took it to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. ¹¹The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite for three months; and the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his household.

12 It was told King David, ‘The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.’ So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with rejoicing; ¹³and when those who bore the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fatling. ¹⁴David danced before the Lord with all his might; David was girded with a linen ephod. ¹⁵So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet.

16 As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal daughter of Saul looked out of the window, and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart.

17 They brought in the ark of the Lord, and set it in its place, inside the tent that David had pitched for it; and David offered burnt-offerings and offerings of well-being before the Lord. ¹⁸When David had finished offering the burnt-offerings and the offerings of well-being, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts, ¹⁹and distributed food among all the people, the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, to each a cake of bread, a portion of meat,^* and a cake of raisins. Then all the people went back to their homes.

20 David returned to bless his household. But Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, ‘How the king of Israel honoured himself today, uncovering himself today before the eyes of his servants’ maids, as any vulgar fellow might shamelessly uncover himself!’ ²¹David said to Michal, ‘It was before the Lord, who chose me in place of your father and all his household, to appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the Lord, that I have danced before the Lord. ²²I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be abased in my own eyes; but by the maids of whom you have spoken, by them I shall be held in honour.’ ²³And Michal the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death.

Feeding the Four Thousand

8In those days when there was again a great crowd without anything to eat, he called his disciples and said to them, ²‘I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. ³If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way—and some of them have come from a great distance.’ ⁴His disciples replied, ‘How can one feed these people with bread here in the desert?’ ⁵He asked them, ‘How many loaves do you have?’ They said, ‘Seven.’ ⁶Then he ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground; and he took the seven loaves, and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute; and they distributed them to the crowd. ⁷They had also a few small fish; and after blessing them, he ordered that these too should be distributed. ⁸They ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. ⁹Now there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. ¹⁰And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.^*