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Psalm 145

1  I will exalt you, O God my King, ♦︎
   and bless your name for ever and ever.
2  Every day will I bless you ♦︎
   and praise your name for ever and ever.
3  Great is the Lord and highly to be praised; ♦︎
   his greatness is beyond all searching out.
4  One generation shall praise your works to another ♦︎
   and declare your mighty acts.
5  They shall speak of the majesty of your glory, ♦︎
   and I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
6  They shall speak of the might of your marvellous acts, ♦︎
   and I will also tell of your greatness.
7  They shall pour forth the story of your abundant kindness ♦︎
   and joyfully sing of your righteousness.
8  The Lord is gracious and merciful, ♦︎
   long-suffering and of great goodness.
9  The Lord is loving to everyone ♦︎
   and his mercy is over all his creatures.
10  All your works praise you, O Lord, ♦︎
   and your faithful servants bless you.
11  They tell of the glory of your kingdom ♦︎
   and speak of your mighty power,
12  To make known to all peoples your mighty acts ♦︎
   and the glorious splendour of your kingdom.
13  Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom; ♦︎
   your dominion endures throughout all ages.
14  The Lord is sure in all his words ♦︎
   and faithful in all his deeds.
15  The Lord upholds all those who fall ♦︎
   and lifts up all those who are bowed down.
16  The eyes of all wait upon you, O Lord, ♦︎
   and you give them their food in due season.
17  You open wide your hand ♦︎
   and fill all things living with plenty.
18  The Lord is righteous in all his ways ♦︎
   and loving in all his works.
19  The Lord is near to those who call upon him, ♦︎
   to all who call upon him faithfully.
20  He fulfils the desire of those who fear him; ♦︎
   he hears their cry and saves them.
21  The Lord watches over those who love him, ♦︎
   but all the wicked shall he destroy.
22  My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord, ♦︎
   and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.

Athaliah Seizes the Throne

10 Now when Athaliah, Ahaziah’s mother, saw that her son was dead, she set about to destroy all the royal family of the house of Judah. ¹¹But Jehoshabeath, the king’s daughter, took Joash son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the king’s children who were about to be killed; she put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Thus Jehoshabeath, daughter of King Jehoram and wife of the priest Jehoiada—because she was a sister of Ahaziah—hid him from Athaliah, so that she did not kill him; ¹²he remained with them for six years, hidden in the house of God, while Athaliah reigned over the land.

23But in the seventh year Jehoiada took courage, and entered into a compact with the commanders of the hundreds, Azariah son of Jeroham, Ishmael son of Jehohanan, Azariah son of Obed, Maaseiah son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat son of Zichri. ²They went about through Judah and gathered the Levites from all the towns of Judah, and the heads of families of Israel, and they came to Jerusalem. ³Then the whole assembly made a covenant with the king in the house of God. Jehoiada^* said to them, ‘Here is the king’s son! Let him reign, as the Lord promised concerning the sons of David. ⁴This is what you are to do: one-third of you, priests and Levites, who come on duty on the sabbath, shall be gatekeepers, ⁵one-third shall be at the king’s house, and one-third at the Gate of the Foundation; and all the people shall be in the courts of the house of the Lord. ⁶Do not let anyone enter the house of the Lord except the priests and ministering Levites; they may enter, for they are holy, but all the other^* people shall observe the instructions of the Lord. ⁷The Levites shall surround the king, each with his weapons in his hand; and whoever enters the house shall be killed. Stay with the king in his comings and goings.’

Joash Crowned King

8 The Levites and all Judah did according to all that the priest Jehoiada commanded; each brought his men, who were to come on duty on the sabbath, with those who were to go off duty on the sabbath; for the priest Jehoiada did not dismiss the divisions. ⁹The priest Jehoiada delivered to the captains the spears and the large and small shields that had been King David’s, which were in the house of God; ¹⁰and he set all the people as a guard for the king, everyone with weapon in hand, from the south side of the house to the north side of the house, around the altar and the house. ¹¹Then he brought out the king’s son, put the crown on him, and gave him the covenant;^* they proclaimed him king, and Jehoiada and his sons anointed him; and they shouted, ‘Long live the king!’

Athaliah Deposed

12 When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she went into the house of the Lord to the people; ¹³and when she looked, there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance, and the captains and the trumpeters beside the king, and all the people of the land rejoicing and blowing trumpets, and the singers with their musical instruments leading in the celebration. Athaliah tore her clothes, and cried, ‘Treason! Treason!’ ¹⁴Then the priest Jehoiada brought out the captains who were set over the army, saying to them, ‘Bring her out between the ranks; anyone who follows her is to be put to the sword.’ For the priest said, ‘Do not put her to death in the house of the Lord.’ ¹⁵So they laid hands on her; she went into the entrance of the Horse Gate of the king’s house, and there they put her to death.

16 Jehoiada made a covenant between himself and all the people and the king that they should be the Lord’s people. ¹⁷Then all the people went to the house of Baal, and tore it down; his altars and his images they broke in pieces, and they killed Mattan, the priest of Baal, in front of the altars. ¹⁸Jehoiada assigned the care of the house of the Lord to the levitical priests whom David had organized to be in charge of the house of the Lord, to offer burnt-offerings to the Lord, as it is written in the law of Moses, with rejoicing and with singing, according to the order of David. ¹⁹He stationed the gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the Lord so that no one should enter who was in any way unclean. ²⁰And he took the captains, the nobles, the governors of the people, and all the people of the land, and they brought the king down from the house of the Lord, marching through the upper gate to the king’s house. They set the king on the royal throne. ²¹So all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet after Athaliah had been killed with the sword.

3Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? ²Much, in every way. For in the first place the Jews^* were entrusted with the oracles of God. ³What if some were unfaithful? Will their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? ⁴By no means! Although everyone is a liar, let God be proved true, as it is written,
‘So that you may be justified in your words,
   and prevail in your judging.’^*
5But if our injustice serves to confirm the justice of God, what should we say? That God is unjust to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) ⁶By no means! For then how could God judge the world? ⁷But if through my falsehood God’s truthfulness abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? ⁸And why not say (as some people slander us by saying that we say), ‘Let us do evil so that good may come’? Their condemnation is deserved!

None Is Righteous

9 What then? Are we any better off?^* No, not at all; for we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin, ¹⁰as it is written:
‘There is no one who is righteous, not even one;
¹¹   there is no one who has understanding,
     there is no one who seeks God.
¹² All have turned aside, together they have become worthless;
   there is no one who shows kindness,
     there is not even one.’
¹³ ‘Their throats are opened graves;
   they use their tongues to deceive.’
‘The venom of vipers is under their lips.’
¹⁴   ‘Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.’
¹⁵ ‘Their feet are swift to shed blood;
¹⁶   ruin and misery are in their paths,
¹⁷ and the way of peace they have not known.’
¹⁸   ‘There is no fear of God before their eyes.’

19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. ²⁰For ‘no human being will be justified in his sight’ by deeds prescribed by the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.