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Psalm 139

1  O Lord, you have searched me out and known me; ♦︎
   you know my sitting down and my rising up;
      you discern my thoughts from afar.
2  You mark out my journeys and my resting place ♦︎
   and are acquainted with all my ways.
3  For there is not a word on my tongue, ♦︎
   but you, O Lord, know it altogether.
4  You encompass me behind and before ♦︎
   and lay your hand upon me.
5  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, ♦︎
   so high that I cannot attain it.
6  Where can I go then from your spirit? ♦︎
   Or where can I flee from your presence?
7  If I climb up to heaven, you are there; ♦︎
   if I make the grave my bed, you are there also.
8  If I take the wings of the morning ♦︎
   and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
9  Even there your hand shall lead me, ♦︎
   your right hand hold me fast.
10  If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will cover me ♦︎
   and the light around me turn to night,’
11  Even darkness is no darkness with you;
      the night is as clear as the day; ♦︎
   darkness and light to you are both alike.
12  For you yourself created my inmost parts; ♦︎
   you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
13  I thank you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; ♦︎
   marvellous are your works, my soul knows well.
14  My frame was not hidden from you, ♦︎
   when I was made in secret
      and woven in the depths of the earth.
15  Your eyes beheld my form, as yet unfinished; ♦︎
   already in your book were all my members written,
16  As day by day they were fashioned ♦︎
   when as yet there was none of them.
17  How deep are your counsels to me, O God! ♦︎
   How great is the sum of them!
18  If I count them, they are more in number than the sand, ♦︎
   and at the end, I am still in your presence.
19  O that you would slay the wicked, O God, ♦︎
   that the bloodthirsty might depart from me!
20  They speak against you with wicked intent; ♦︎
   your enemies take up your name for evil.
21  Do I not oppose those, O Lord, who oppose you? ♦︎
   Do I not abhor those who rise up against you?
22  I hate them with a perfect hatred; ♦︎
   they have become my own enemies also.
23  Search me out, O God, and know my heart; ♦︎
   try me and examine my thoughts.
24  See if there is any way of wickedness in me ♦︎
   and lead me in the way everlasting.

22A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches,
   and favour is better than silver or gold.
² The rich and the poor have this in common:
   the Lord is the maker of them all.
³ The clever see danger and hide;
   but the simple go on, and suffer for it.
⁴ The reward for humility and fear of the Lord
   is riches and honour and life.
⁵ Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse;
   the cautious will keep far from them.
⁶ Train children in the right way,
   and when old, they will not stray.
⁷ The rich rules over the poor,
   and the borrower is the slave of the lender.
⁸ Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity,
   and the rod of anger will fail.
⁹ Those who are generous are blessed,
   for they share their bread with the poor.
¹⁰ Drive out a scoffer, and strife goes out;
   quarrelling and abuse will cease.
¹¹ Those who love a pure heart and are gracious in speech
   will have the king as a friend.
¹² The eyes of the Lord keep watch over knowledge,
   but he overthrows the words of the faithless.
¹³ The lazy person says, ‘There is a lion outside!
   I shall be killed in the streets!’
¹⁴ The mouth of a loose^* woman is a deep pit;
   he with whom the Lord is angry falls into it.
¹⁵ Folly is bound up in the heart of a boy,
   but the rod of discipline drives it far away.
¹⁶ Oppressing the poor in order to enrich oneself,
   and giving to the rich, will lead only to loss.

Jesus Cures a Deaf Man

31 Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. ³²They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. ³³He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. ³⁴Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, ‘Ephphatha’, that is, ‘Be opened.’ ³⁵And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. ³⁶Then Jesus^* ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. ³⁷They were astounded beyond measure, saying, ‘He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.’