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Psalm 9

1  I will give thanks to you, Lord, with my whole heart; ♦︎
   I will tell of all your marvellous works.
2  I will be glad and rejoice in you; ♦︎
   I will make music to your name, O Most High.
3  When my enemies are driven back, ♦︎
   they stumble and perish at your presence.
4  For you have maintained my right and my cause; ♦︎
   you sat on your throne giving righteous judgement.
5  You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked; ♦︎
   you have blotted out their name for ever and ever.
6  The enemy was utterly laid waste. ♦︎
   You uprooted their cities;
      their very memory has perished.
7  But the Lord shall endure for ever; ♦︎
   he has made fast his throne for judgement.
8  For he shall rule the world with righteousness ♦︎
   and govern the peoples with equity.
9  Then will the Lord be a refuge for the oppressed, ♦︎
   a refuge in the time of trouble.
10  And those who know your name will put their trust in you, ♦︎
   for you, Lord, have never failed those who seek you.
11  Sing praises to the Lord who dwells in Zion; ♦︎
   declare among the peoples the things he has done.
12  The avenger of blood has remembered them; ♦︎
   he did not forget the cry of the oppressed.
13  Have mercy upon me, O Lord; ♦︎
   consider the trouble I suffer from those who hate me,
      you that lift me up from the gates of death;
14  That I may tell all your praises in the gates of the city of Zion ♦︎
   and rejoice in your salvation.
15  The nations shall sink into the pit of their making ♦︎
   and in the snare which they set will their own foot be taken.
16  The Lord makes himself known by his acts of justice; ♦︎
   the wicked are snared in the works of their own hands.
17  They shall return to the land of darkness, ♦︎
   all the nations that forget God.
18  For the needy shall not always be forgotten ♦︎
   and the hope of the poor shall not perish for ever.
19  Arise, O Lord, and let not mortals have the upper hand; ♦︎
   let the nations be judged before your face.
20  Put them in fear, O Lord, ♦︎
   that the nations may know themselves to be but mortal.

Hananiah Opposes Jeremiah and Dies

28In that same year, at the beginning of the reign of King Zedekiah of Judah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, the prophet Hananiah son of Azzur, from Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of the Lord, in the presence of the priests and all the people, saying, ²‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. ³Within two years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of the Lord’s house, which King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon. ⁴I will also bring back to this place King Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim of Judah, and all the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon, says the Lord, for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.’

5 Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the Lord; ⁶and the prophet Jeremiah said, ‘Amen! May the Lord do so; may the Lord fulfil the words that you have prophesied, and bring back to this place from Babylon the vessels of the house of the Lord, and all the exiles. ⁷But listen now to this word that I speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people. ⁸The prophets who preceded you and me from ancient times prophesied war, famine, and pestilence against many countries and great kingdoms. ⁹As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of that prophet comes true, then it will be known that the Lord has truly sent the prophet.’

10 Then the prophet Hananiah took the yoke from the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, and broke it. ¹¹And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: This is how I will break the yoke of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon from the neck of all the nations within two years.’ At this, the prophet Jeremiah went his way.

12 Some time after the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke from the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ¹³Go, tell Hananiah, Thus says the Lord: You have broken wooden bars only to forge iron bars in place of them! ¹⁴For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I have put an iron yoke on the neck of all these nations so that they may serve King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and they shall indeed serve him; I have even given him the wild animals. ¹⁵And the prophet Jeremiah said to the prophet Hananiah, ‘Listen, Hananiah, the Lord has not sent you, and you made this people trust in a lie. ¹⁶Therefore thus says the Lord: I am going to send you off the face of the earth. Within this year you will be dead, because you have spoken rebellion against the Lord.’

17 In that same year, in the seventh month, the prophet Hananiah died.

Paul’s Sufferings as an Apostle

16 I repeat, let no one think that I am a fool; but if you do, then accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little. ¹⁷What I am saying in regard to this boastful confidence, I am saying not with the Lord’s authority, but as a fool; ¹⁸since many boast according to human standards,^* I will also boast. ¹⁹For you gladly put up with fools, being wise yourselves! ²⁰For you put up with it when someone makes slaves of you, or preys upon you, or takes advantage of you, or puts on airs, or gives you a slap in the face. ²¹To my shame, I must say, we were too weak for that!

But whatever anyone dares to boast of—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast of that. ²²Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. ²³Are they ministers of Christ? I am talking like a madman—I am a better one: with far greater labours, far more imprisonments, with countless floggings, and often near death. ²⁴Five times I have received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. ²⁵Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea; ²⁶on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers and sisters;^{* 27}in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked. ²⁸And, besides other things, I am under daily pressure because of my anxiety for all the churches. ²⁹Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I am not indignant?

30 If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. ³¹The God and Father of the Lord Jesus (blessed be he for ever!) knows that I do not lie. ³²In Damascus, the governor^* under King Aretas set a guard on the city of Damascus in order to^* seize me, ³³but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall,^* and escaped from his hands.