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19  You spoke once in a vision and said to your faithful people: ♦︎
   ‘I have set a youth above the mighty;
      I have raised a young man over the people.
20  ‘I have found David my servant; ♦︎
   with my holy oil have I anointed him.
21  ‘My hand shall hold him fast ♦︎
   and my arm shall strengthen him.
22  ‘No enemy shall deceive him, ♦︎
   nor any wicked person afflict him.
23  ‘I will strike down his foes before his face ♦︎
   and beat down those that hate him.
24  ‘My truth also and my steadfast love shall be with him, ♦︎
   and in my name shall his head be exalted.
25  ‘I will set his dominion upon the sea ♦︎
   and his right hand upon the rivers.
26  ‘He shall call to me, “You are my Father, ♦︎
   my God, and the rock of my salvation;”
27  ‘And I will make him my firstborn, ♦︎
   the most high above the kings of the earth.
28  ‘The love I have pledged to him will I keep for ever, ♦︎
   and my covenant will stand fast with him.
29  ‘His seed also will I make to endure for ever ♦︎
   and his throne as the days of heaven.
30  ‘But if his children forsake my law ♦︎
   and cease to walk in my judgements,
31  ‘If they break my statutes ♦︎
   and do not keep my commandments,
32  ‘I will punish their offences with a rod ♦︎
   and their sin with scourges.
33  ‘But I will not take from him my steadfast love ♦︎
   nor suffer my truth to fail.
34  ‘My covenant will I not break ♦︎
   nor alter what has gone out of my lips.
35  ‘Once for all have I sworn by my holiness ♦︎
   that I will not prove false to David.
36  ‘His seed shall endure for ever ♦︎
   and his throne as the sun before me;
37  ‘It shall stand fast for ever as the moon, ♦︎
   the enduring witness in the heavens.’
38  But you have cast off and rejected your anointed; ♦︎
   you have shown fierce anger against him.
39  You have broken the covenant with your servant, ♦︎
   and have cast his crown to the dust.
40  You have broken down all his walls ♦︎
   and laid his strongholds in ruins.
41  All who pass by despoil him, ♦︎
   and he has become the scorn of his neighbours.
42  You have exalted the right hand of his foes ♦︎
   and made all his enemies rejoice.
43  You have turned back the edge of his sword ♦︎
   and have not upheld him in battle.
44  You have made an end of his radiance ♦︎
   and cast his throne to the ground.
45  You have cut short the days of his youth ♦︎
   and have covered him with shame.
46  How long will you hide yourself so utterly, O Lord? ♦︎
   How long shall your anger burn like fire?
47  Remember how short my time is, ♦︎
   how frail you have made all mortal flesh.
48  Which of the living shall not see death, ♦︎
   and shall deliver their soul from the power of darkness?
49  Where, O Lord, is your steadfast love of old, ♦︎
   which you swore to David in your faithfulness?
50  Remember, O Lord, how your servant is scorned, ♦︎
   how I bear in my bosom the taunts of many peoples,
51  While your enemies mock, O Lord, ♦︎
   while they mock the footsteps of your anointed.
52  Blessed be the Lord for evermore. ♦︎
   Amen and Amen.

Nehemiah Deals with Oppression

5Now there was a great outcry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish kin. ²For there were those who said, ‘With our sons and our daughters, we are many; we must get grain, so that we may eat and stay alive.’ ³There were also those who said, ‘We are having to pledge our fields, our vineyards, and our houses in order to get grain during the famine.’ ⁴And there were those who said, ‘We are having to borrow money on our fields and vineyards to pay the king’s tax. ⁵Now our flesh is the same as that of our kindred; our children are the same as their children; and yet we are forcing our sons and daughters to be slaves, and some of our daughters have been ravished; we are powerless, and our fields and vineyards now belong to others.’

6 I was very angry when I heard their outcry and these complaints. ⁷After thinking it over, I brought charges against the nobles and the officials; I said to them, ‘You are all taking interest from your own people.’ And I called a great assembly to deal with them, ⁸and said to them, ‘As far as we were able, we have bought back our Jewish kindred who had been sold to other nations; but now you are selling your own kin, who must then be bought back by us!’ They were silent, and could not find a word to say. ⁹So I said, ‘The thing that you are doing is not good. Should you not walk in the fear of our God, to prevent the taunts of the nations our enemies? ¹⁰Moreover, I and my brothers and my servants are lending them money and grain. Let us stop this taking of interest. ¹¹Restore to them, this very day, their fields, their vineyards, their olive orchards, and their houses, and the interest on money, grain, wine, and oil that you have been exacting from them.’ ¹²Then they said, ‘We will restore everything and demand nothing more from them. We will do as you say.’ And I called the priests, and made them take an oath to do as they had promised. ¹³I also shook out the fold of my garment and said, ‘So may God shake out everyone from house and from property who does not perform this promise. Thus may they be shaken out and emptied.’ And all the assembly said, ‘Amen’, and praised the Lord. And the people did as they had promised.

The Generosity of Nehemiah

14 Moreover, from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year to the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, twelve years, neither I nor my brothers ate the food allowance of the governor. ¹⁵The former governors who were before me laid heavy burdens on the people, and took food and wine from them, besides forty shekels of silver. Even their servants lorded it over the people. But I did not do so, because of the fear of God. ¹⁶Indeed, I devoted myself to the work on this wall, and acquired no land; and all my servants were gathered there for the work. ¹⁷Moreover, there were at my table one hundred and fifty people, Jews and officials, besides those who came to us from the nations around us. ¹⁸Now that which was prepared for one day was one ox and six choice sheep; also fowls were prepared for me, and every ten days skins of wine in abundance; yet with all this I did not demand the food allowance of the governor, because of the heavy burden of labour on the people. ¹⁹Remember for my good, O my God, all that I have done for this people.

Please Others, Not Yourselves

15We who are strong ought to put up with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. ²Each of us must please our neighbour for the good purpose of building up the neighbour. ³For Christ did not please himself; but, as it is written, ‘The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.’ ⁴For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. ⁵May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, ⁶so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Gospel for Jews and Gentiles Alike

7 Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. ⁸For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, ⁹and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,
‘Therefore I will confess^* you among the Gentiles,
   and sing praises to your name’;
¹⁰and again he says,
‘Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people’;
¹¹and again,
‘Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,
   and let all the peoples praise him’;
¹²and again Isaiah says,
‘The root of Jesse shall come,
   the one who rises to rule the Gentiles;
in him the Gentiles shall hope.’
¹³May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.