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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.

Future Warfare and Final Victory

14See, a day is coming for the Lord, when the plunder taken from you will be divided in your midst. ²For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses looted and the women raped; half the city shall go into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. ³Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. ⁴On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives, which lies before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley; so that half of the Mount shall withdraw northwards, and the other half southwards. ⁵And you shall flee by the valley of the Lord’s mountain,^* for the valley between the mountains shall reach to Azal;^* and you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.

6 On that day there shall not be^* either cold or frost.^{* 7}And there shall be continuous day (it is known to the Lord), not day and not night, for at evening time there shall be light.

8 On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea; it shall continue in summer as in winter.

9 And the Lord will become king over all the earth; on that day the Lord will be one and his name one.

10 The whole land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. But Jerusalem shall remain aloft on its site from the Gate of Benjamin to the place of the former gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s wine presses. ¹¹And it shall be inhabited, for never again shall it be doomed to destruction; Jerusalem shall abide in security.

The Question about Paying Taxes

13 Then they sent to him some Pharisees and some Herodians to trap him in what he said. ¹⁴And they came and said to him, ‘Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality, but teach the way of God in accordance with truth. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not? ¹⁵Should we pay them, or should we not?’ But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, ‘Why are you putting me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me see it.’ ¹⁶And they brought one. Then he said to them, ‘Whose head is this, and whose title?’ They answered, ‘The emperor’s.’ ¹⁷Jesus said to them, ‘Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’ And they were utterly amazed at him.