Bible Browser

Psalm 17

1  Hear my just cause, O Lord; consider my complaint; ♦︎
   listen to my prayer, which comes not from lying lips.
2  Let my vindication come forth from your presence; ♦︎
   let your eyes behold what is right.
3  Weigh my heart, examine me by night, ♦︎
   refine me, and you will find no impurity in me.
4  My mouth does not trespass for earthly rewards; ♦︎
   I have heeded the words of your lips.
5  My footsteps hold fast in the ways of your commandments; ♦︎
   my feet have not stumbled in your paths.
6  I call upon you, O God, for you will answer me; ♦︎
   incline your ear to me, and listen to my words.
7  Show me your marvellous loving-kindness, ♦︎
   O Saviour of those who take refuge at your right hand
      from those who rise up against them.
8  Keep me as the apple of your eye; ♦︎
   hide me under the shadow of your wings,
9  From the wicked who assault me, ♦︎
   from my enemies who surround me to take away my life.
10  They have closed their heart to pity ♦︎
   and their mouth speaks proud things.
11  They press me hard, they surround me on every side, ♦︎
   watching how they may cast me to the ground,
12  Like a lion that is greedy for its prey, ♦︎
   like a young lion lurking in secret places.
13  Arise, Lord; confront them and cast them down; ♦︎
   deliver me from the wicked by your sword.
14  Deliver me, O Lord, by your hand ♦︎
   from those whose portion in life is unending,
15  Whose bellies you fill with your treasure, ♦︎
   who are well supplied with children
      and leave their wealth to their little ones.
16  As for me, I shall see your face in righteousness; ♦︎
   when I awake and behold your likeness, I shall be satisfied.

The Siege of Jerusalem

29Ah, Ariel, Ariel,
   the city where David encamped!
Add year to year;
   let the festivals run their round.
² Yet I will distress Ariel,
   and there shall be moaning and lamentation,
   and Jerusalem^* shall be to me like an Ariel.^*
3 And like David^* I will encamp against you;
   I will besiege you with towers
   and raise siege-works against you.
⁴ Then deep from the earth you shall speak,
   from low in the dust your words shall come;
your voice shall come from the ground like the voice of a ghost,
   and your speech shall whisper out of the dust.

⁵ But the multitude of your foes^* shall be like fine dust,
   and the multitude of tyrants like flying chaff.
And in an instant, suddenly,
⁶   you will be visited by the Lord of hosts
with thunder and earthquake and great noise,
   with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.
⁷ And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel,
   all that fight against her and her stronghold, and who distress her,
   shall be like a dream, a vision of the night.
⁸ Just as when a hungry person dreams of eating
   and wakes up still hungry,
or a thirsty person dreams of drinking
   and wakes up faint, still thirsty,
so shall the multitude of all the nations be
   that fight against Mount Zion.

⁹ Stupefy yourselves and be in a stupor,
   blind yourselves and be blind!
Be drunk, but not from wine;
   stagger, but not from strong drink!
¹⁰ For the Lord has poured out upon you
   a spirit of deep sleep;
he has closed your eyes, you prophets,
   and covered your heads, you seers.

11 The vision of all this has become for you like the words of a sealed document. If it is given to those who can read, with the command, ‘Read this’, they say, ‘We cannot, for it is sealed.’ ¹²And if it is given to those who cannot read, saying, ‘Read this’, they say, ‘We cannot read.’

¹³ The Lord said:
Because these people draw near with their mouths
   and honour me with their lips,
   while their hearts are far from me,
and their worship of me is a human commandment learned by rote;
¹⁴ so I will again do
   amazing things with this people,
   shocking and amazing.
The wisdom of their wise shall perish,
   and the discernment of the discerning shall be hidden.

22 I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. ²³And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. ²⁴The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. ²⁵Its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. ²⁶People will bring into it the glory and the honour of the nations. ²⁷But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone who practises abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

The River of Life

22Then the angel^* showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb ²through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life^* with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. ³Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants^* will worship him; ⁴they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. ⁵And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign for ever and ever.