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Psalm 35

1  Contend, O Lord, with those that contend with me; ♦︎
   fight against those that fight against me.
2  Take up shield and buckler ♦︎
   and rise up to help me.
3  Draw the spear and bar the way
      against those who pursue me; ♦︎
   say to my soul, ‘I am your salvation.’
4  Let those who seek after my life be shamed and disgraced; ♦︎
   let those who plot my ruin fall back and be put to confusion.
5  Let them be as chaff before the wind, ♦︎
   with the angel of the Lord thrusting them down.
6  Let their way be dark and slippery, ♦︎
   with the angel of the Lord pursuing them.
7  For they have secretly spread a net for me without a cause; ♦︎
   without any cause they have dug a pit for my soul.
8  Let ruin come upon them unawares; ♦︎
   let them be caught in the net they laid;
      let them fall in it to their destruction.
9  Then will my soul be joyful in the Lord ♦︎
   and glory in his salvation.
10  My very bones will say, ‘Lord, who is like you? ♦︎
   You deliver the poor from those that are too strong for them,
      the poor and needy from those who would despoil them.’
11  False witnesses rose up against me; ♦︎
   they charged me with things I knew not.
12  They rewarded me evil for good, ♦︎
   to the desolation of my soul.
13  But as for me, when they were sick I put on sackcloth ♦︎
   and humbled myself with fasting;
14  When my prayer returned empty to my bosom, ♦︎
   it was as though I grieved for my friend or brother;
15  I behaved as one who mourns for his mother, ♦︎
   bowed down and brought very low.
16  But when I stumbled, they gathered in delight;
      they gathered together against me; ♦︎
   as if they were strangers I did not know
      they tore at me without ceasing.
17  When I fell they mocked me; ♦︎
   they gnashed at me with their teeth.
18  O Lord, how long will you look on? ♦︎
   Rescue my soul from their ravages,
      and my poor life from the young lions.
19  I will give you thanks in the great congregation; ♦︎
   I will praise you in the mighty throng.
20  Do not let my treacherous foes rejoice over me, ♦︎
   or those who hate me without a cause
      mock me with their glances.
21  For they do not speak of peace, ♦︎
   but invent deceitful schemes against those that are quiet in the land.
22  They opened wide their mouths and derided me, saying ♦︎
   ‘We have seen it with our very eyes.’
23  This you have seen, O Lord; do not keep silent; ♦︎
   go not far from me, O Lord.
24  Awake, arise, to my cause, ♦︎
   to my defence, my God and my Lord!
25  Give me justice, O Lord my God,
      according to your righteousness; ♦︎
   let them not triumph over me.
26  Let them not say to themselves,
      ‘Our heart’s desire!’ ♦︎
   Let them not say, ‘We have swallowed him up.’
27  Let all who rejoice at my trouble be put to shame and confusion; ♦︎
   let those who boast against me
      be clothed with shame and dishonour.
28  Let those who favour my cause rejoice and be glad; ♦︎
   let them say always,
      ‘Great is the Lord, who delights in his servant’s well-being.’
29  So shall my tongue be talking of your righteousness ♦︎
   and of your praise all the day long.

^2*Asa did what was good and right in the sight of the Lord his God. ³He took away the foreign altars and the high places, broke down the pillars, hewed down the sacred poles,^{* 4}and commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and to keep the law and the commandment. ⁵He also removed from all the cities of Judah the high places and the incense altars. And the kingdom had rest under him. ⁶He built fortified cities in Judah while the land had rest. He had no war in those years, for the Lord gave him peace. ⁷He said to Judah, ‘Let us build these cities, and surround them with walls and towers, gates and bars; the land is still ours because we have sought the Lord our God; we have sought him, and he has given us peace on every side.’ So they built and prospered. ⁸Asa had an army of three hundred thousand from Judah, armed with large shields and spears, and two hundred and eighty thousand troops from Benjamin who carried shields and drew bows; all these were mighty warriors.

Ethiopian Invasion Repulsed

9 Zerah the Ethiopian^* came out against them with an army of a million men and three hundred chariots, and came as far as Mareshah. ¹⁰Asa went out to meet him, and they drew up their lines of battle in the valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. ¹¹Asa cried to the Lord his God, ‘O Lord, there is no difference for you between helping the mighty and the weak. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. O Lord, you are our God; let no mortal prevail against you.’ ¹²So the Lord defeated the Ethiopians^* before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians^* fled. ¹³Asa and the army with him pursued them as far as Gerar, and the Ethiopians^* fell until no one remained alive; for they were broken before the Lord and his army. The people of Judah^* carried away a great quantity of booty. ¹⁴They defeated all the cities around Gerar, for the fear of the Lord was on them. They plundered all the cities; for there was much plunder in them. ¹⁵They also attacked the tents of those who had livestock,^* and carried away sheep and goats in abundance, and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

11 But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb. As she wept, she bent over to look^* into the tomb; ¹²and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. ¹³They said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping?’ She said to them, ‘They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.’ ¹⁴When she had said this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus. ¹⁵Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, why are you weeping? For whom are you looking?’ Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.’ ¹⁶Jesus said to her, ‘Mary!’ She turned and said to him in Hebrew,^* ‘Rabbouni!’ (which means Teacher). ¹⁷Jesus said to her, ‘Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” ’ ¹⁸Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, ‘I have seen the Lord’; and she told them that he had said these things to her.