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Psalm 69

1  Save me, O God, ♦︎
   for the waters have come up, even to my neck.
2  I sink in deep mire where there is no foothold; ♦︎
   I have come into deep waters and the flood sweeps over me.
3  I have grown weary with crying; my throat is raw; ♦︎
   my eyes have failed from looking so long for my God.
4  Those who hate me without any cause ♦︎
   are more than the hairs of my head;
5  Those who would destroy me are mighty; ♦︎
   my enemies accuse me falsely:
      must I now give back what I never stole?
6  O God, you know my foolishness, ♦︎
   and my faults are not hidden from you.
7  Let not those who hope in you
      be put to shame through me, Lord God of hosts; ♦︎
   let not those who seek you be disgraced because of me,
      O God of Israel.
8  For your sake have I suffered reproach; ♦︎
   shame has covered my face.
9  I have become a stranger to my kindred, ♦︎
   an alien to my mother’s children.
10  Zeal for your house has eaten me up; ♦︎
   the scorn of those who scorn you has fallen upon me.
11  I humbled myself with fasting, ♦︎
   but that was turned to my reproach.
12  I put on sackcloth also ♦︎
   and became a byword among them.
13  Those who sit at the gate murmur against me, ♦︎
   and the drunkards make songs about me.
14  But as for me, I make my prayer to you, O Lord; ♦︎
   at an acceptable time, O God.
15  Answer me, O God, in the abundance of your mercy ♦︎
   and with your sure salvation.
16  Draw me out of the mire, that I sink not; ♦︎
   let me be rescued from those who hate me
      and out of the deep waters.
17  Let not the water flood drown me,
      neither the deep swallow me up; ♦︎
   let not the Pit shut its mouth upon me.
18  Answer me, Lord, for your loving-kindness is good; ♦︎
   turn to me in the multitude of your mercies.
19  Hide not your face from your servant; ♦︎
   be swift to answer me, for I am in trouble.
20  Draw near to my soul and redeem me; ♦︎
   deliver me because of my enemies.
21  You know my reproach, my shame and my dishonour; ♦︎
   my adversaries are all in your sight.
22  Reproach has broken my heart; I am full of heaviness. ♦︎
   I looked for some to have pity, but there was no one,
      neither found I any to comfort me.
23  They gave me gall to eat, ♦︎
   and when I was thirsty, they gave me vinegar to drink.
24  Let the table before them be a trap ♦︎
   and their sacred feasts a snare.
25  Let their eyes be darkened, that they cannot see, ♦︎
   and give them continual trembling in their loins.
26  Pour out your indignation upon them, ♦︎
   and let the heat of your anger overtake them.
27  Let their camp be desolate, ♦︎
   and let there be no one to dwell in their tents.
28  For they persecute the one whom you have stricken, ♦︎
   and increase the sorrows of him whom you have pierced.
29  Lay to their charge guilt upon guilt, ♦︎
   and let them not receive your vindication.
30  Let them be wiped out of the book of the living ♦︎
   and not be written among the righteous.
31  As for me, I am poor and in misery; ♦︎
   your saving help, O God, will lift me up.
32  I will praise the name of God with a song; ♦︎
   I will proclaim his greatness with thanksgiving.
33  This will please the Lord more than an offering of oxen, ♦︎
   more than bulls with horns and hooves.
34  The humble shall see and be glad; ♦︎
   you who seek God, your heart shall live.
35  For the Lord listens to the needy, ♦︎
   and his own who are imprisoned he does not despise.
36  Let the heavens and the earth praise him, ♦︎
   the seas and all that moves in them;
37  For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah; ♦︎
   they shall live there and have it in possession.
38  The children of his servants shall inherit it, ♦︎
   and they that love his name shall dwell therein.

Job Replies: I Am a Laughing-stock

12Then Job answered:

13‘Look, my eye has seen all this,
   my ear has heard and understood it.
² What you know, I also know;
   I am not inferior to you.
³ But I would speak to the Almighty,^*
   and I desire to argue my case with God.
⁴ As for you, you whitewash with lies;
   all of you are worthless physicians.
⁵ If you would only keep silent,
   that would be your wisdom!
⁶ Hear now my reasoning,
   and listen to the pleadings of my lips.
⁷ Will you speak falsely for God,
   and speak deceitfully for him?
⁸ Will you show partiality towards him,
   will you plead the case for God?
⁹ Will it be well with you when he searches you out?
   Or can you deceive him, as one person deceives another?
¹⁰ He will surely rebuke you
   if in secret you show partiality.
¹¹ Will not his majesty terrify you,
   and the dread of him fall upon you?
¹² Your maxims are proverbs of ashes,
   your defences are defences of clay.

¹³ ‘Let me have silence, and I will speak,
   and let come on me what may.
¹⁴ I will take my flesh in my teeth,
   and put my life in my hand.^*
15 See, he will kill me; I have no hope;^*
   but I will defend my ways to his face.
¹⁶ This will be my salvation,
   that the godless shall not come before him.
¹⁷ Listen carefully to my words,
   and let my declaration be in your ears.
¹⁸ I have indeed prepared my case;
   I know that I shall be vindicated.
¹⁹ Who is there that will contend with me?
   For then I would be silent and die.

Job’s Despondent Prayer

²⁰ Only grant two things to me,
   then I will not hide myself from your face:
²¹ withdraw your hand far from me,
   and do not let dread of you terrify me.
²² Then call, and I will answer;
   or let me speak, and you reply to me.
²³ How many are my iniquities and my sins?
   Make me know my transgression and my sin.
²⁴ Why do you hide your face,
   and count me as your enemy?
²⁵ Will you frighten a windblown leaf
   and pursue dry chaff?
²⁶ For you write bitter things against me,
   and make me reap^* the iniquities of my youth.
²⁷ You put my feet in the stocks,
   and watch all my paths;
   you set a bound to the soles of my feet.
²⁸ One wastes away like a rotten thing,
   like a garment that is moth-eaten.

18 When morning came, there was no small commotion among the soldiers over what had become of Peter. ¹⁹When Herod had searched for him and could not find him, he examined the guards and ordered them to be put to death. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there.

The Death of Herod

20 Now Herod^* was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. So they came to him in a body; and after winning over Blastus, the king’s chamberlain, they asked for a reconciliation, because their country depended on the king’s country for food. ²¹On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat on the platform, and delivered a public address to them. ²²The people kept shouting, ‘The voice of a god, and not of a mortal!’ ²³And immediately, because he had not given the glory to God, an angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.

24 But the word of God continued to advance and gain adherents. ²⁵Then after completing their mission Barnabas and Saul returned to^* Jerusalem and brought with them John, whose other name was Mark.