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40  How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness ♦︎
   and grieved him in the desert!
41  Again and again they tempted God ♦︎
   and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
42  They did not remember his power ♦︎
   in the day when he redeemed them from the enemy;
43  How he had wrought his signs in Egypt ♦︎
   and his wonders in the field of Zoan.
44  He turned their rivers into blood, ♦︎
   so that they could not drink of their streams.
45  He sent swarms of flies among them, which devoured them, ♦︎
   and frogs which brought them ruin.
46  He gave their produce to the caterpillar, ♦︎
   the fruit of their toil to the locust.
47  He destroyed their vines with hailstones ♦︎
   and their sycamore trees with the frost.
48  He delivered their cattle to hailstones ♦︎
   and their flocks to thunderbolts.
49  He set loose on them his blazing anger: ♦︎
   fury, displeasure and trouble,
      a troop of destroying angels.
50  He made a way for his anger
      and spared not their souls from death, ♦︎
   but gave their life over to the pestilence.
51  He smote the firstborn of Egypt, ♦︎
   the first fruits of their strength in the tents of Ham.
52  But he led out his people like sheep ♦︎
   and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
53  He led them to safety and they were not afraid, ♦︎
   but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54  He brought them to his holy place, ♦︎
   the mountain which his right hand took in possession.
55  He drove out the nations before them
      and shared out to them their inheritance; ♦︎
   he settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
56  Yet still they tested God Most High
      and rebelled against him, ♦︎
   and would not keep his commandments.
57  They turned back and fell away like their forebears, ♦︎
   starting aside like an unstrung bow.
58  They grieved him with their hill altars ♦︎
   and provoked him to displeasure with their idols.
59  God heard and was greatly angered, ♦︎
   and utterly rejected Israel.
60  He forsook the tabernacle at Shiloh, ♦︎
   the tent of his presence on earth.
61  He gave the ark of his strength into captivity, ♦︎
   his splendour into the adversary’s hand.
62  He delivered his people to the sword ♦︎
   and raged against his inheritance.
63  The fire consumed their young men; ♦︎
   there was no one to lament their maidens.
64  Their priests fell by the sword, ♦︎
   and their widows made no lamentation.
65  Then the Lord woke as out of sleep, ♦︎
   like a warrior who had been overcome with wine.
66  He struck his enemies from behind ♦︎
   and put them to perpetual shame.
67  He rejected the tent of Joseph ♦︎
   and chose not the tribe of Ephraim,
68  But he chose the tribe of Judah ♦︎
   and the hill of Zion, which he loved.
69  And there he built his sanctuary like the heights of heaven, ♦︎
   like the earth which he founded for ever.
70  He chose David also, his servant, ♦︎
   and took him away from the sheepfolds.
71  From following the ewes with their lambs he took him, ♦︎
   that he might shepherd Jacob his people
      and Israel his inheritance.
72  So he shepherded them with a devoted heart ♦︎
   and with skilful hands he guided them.

Proclamation against Babylon

13The oracle concerning Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw.

² On a bare hill raise a signal,
   cry aloud to them;
wave the hand for them to enter
   the gates of the nobles.
³ I myself have commanded my consecrated ones,
   have summoned my warriors, my proudly exulting ones,
   to execute my anger.

⁴ Listen, a tumult on the mountains
   as of a great multitude!
Listen, an uproar of kingdoms,
   of nations gathering together!
The Lord of hosts is mustering
   an army for battle.
⁵ They come from a distant land,
   from the end of the heavens,
the Lord and the weapons of his indignation,
   to destroy the whole earth.

⁶ Wail, for the day of the Lord is near;
   it will come like destruction from the Almighty!^*
7 Therefore all hands will be feeble,
   and every human heart will fail,
⁸   and they will be dismayed.
Pangs and agony will seize them;
   they will be in anguish like a woman in labour.
They will look aghast at one another;
   their faces will be aflame.
⁹ See, the day of the Lord comes,
   cruel, with wrath and fierce anger,
to make the earth a desolation,
   and to destroy its sinners from it.
¹⁰ For the stars of the heavens and their constellations
   will not give their light;
the sun will be dark at its rising,
   and the moon will not shed its light.
¹¹ I will punish the world for its evil,
   and the wicked for their iniquity;
I will put an end to the pride of the arrogant,
   and lay low the insolence of tyrants.
¹² I will make mortals more rare than fine gold,
   and humans than the gold of Ophir.
¹³ Therefore I will make the heavens tremble,
   and the earth will be shaken out of its place,
at the wrath of the Lord of hosts
   on the day of his fierce anger.

9¹And after getting into a boat he crossed the water and came to his own town.

Jesus Heals a Paralytic

2 And just then some people were carrying a paralysed man lying on a bed. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, ‘Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.’ ³Then some of the scribes said to themselves, ‘This man is blaspheming.’ ⁴But Jesus, perceiving their thoughts, said, ‘Why do you think evil in your hearts? ⁵For which is easier, to say, “Your sins are forgiven”, or to say, “Stand up and walk”? ⁶But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins’—he then said to the paralytic—‘Stand up, take your bed and go to your home.’ ⁷And he stood up and went to his home. ⁸When the crowds saw it, they were filled with awe, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to human beings.

The Calling of Matthew

9 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.

10 And as he sat at dinner^* in the house, many tax-collectors and sinners came and were sitting^* with him and his disciples. ¹¹When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax-collectors and sinners?’ ¹²But when he heard this, he said, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ¹³Go and learn what this means, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.’

The Question about Fasting

14 Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, ‘Why do we and the Pharisees fast often,^* but your disciples do not fast?’ ¹⁵And Jesus said to them, ‘The wedding-guests cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. ¹⁶No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak, for the patch pulls away from the cloak, and a worse tear is made. ¹⁷Neither is new wine put into old wineskins; otherwise, the skins burst, and the wine is spilled, and the skins are destroyed; but new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.’