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Psalm 94

1  Lord God to whom vengeance belongs, ♦︎
   O God to whom vengeance belongs, shine out in majesty.
2  Rise up, O Judge of the earth; ♦︎
   give the arrogant their just deserts.
3  Lord, how long shall the wicked, ♦︎
   how long shall the wicked triumph?
4  How long shall the evildoers boast ♦︎
   and pour out such impudent words?
5  They crush your people, O Lord, ♦︎
   and afflict your heritage.
6  They murder the widow and the stranger; ♦︎
   the orphans they put to death.
7  And yet they say, ‘The Lord will not see, ♦︎
   neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.’
8  Consider, most stupid of people; ♦︎
   you fools, when will you understand?
9  He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? ♦︎
   He that formed the eye, shall he not see?
10  He who corrects the nations, shall he not punish? ♦︎
   He who teaches the peoples, does he lack knowledge?
11  The Lord knows every human thought, ♦︎
   that they are but a breath.
12  Blessed are those whom you chasten, O Lord, ♦︎
   whom you instruct from your law;
13  That you may give them rest in days of adversity, ♦︎
   until a pit is dug for the wicked.
14  For the Lord will not fail his people, ♦︎
   neither will he forsake his inheritance.
15  For justice shall return to the righteous, ♦︎
   and all that are true of heart shall follow it.
16  Who will rise up for me against the wicked? ♦︎
   Who will take my part against the evildoers?
17  If the Lord had not helped me, ♦︎
   my soul would soon have been put to silence.
18  And when I said, ‘My foot has slipped’, ♦︎
   your loving mercy, O Lord, upheld me.
19  In the multitude of cares that troubled my heart, ♦︎
   your comforts have refreshed my soul.
20  Will you have anything to do with the throne of wickedness, ♦︎
   which fashions evil through its law?
21  They gather together against the life of the righteous ♦︎
   and condemn the innocent to death.
22  But the Lord has become my stronghold ♦︎
   and my God the rock of my trust.
23  He will turn against them their own wickedness
      and silence them through their own malice; ♦︎
   the Lord our God will put them to silence.

73 So the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple servants, and all Israel settled in their towns.

Ezra Summons the People to Obey the Law

When the seventh month came—the people of Israel being settled in their towns— 8¹all the people gathered together into the square before the Water Gate. They told the scribe Ezra to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had given to Israel. ²Accordingly, the priest Ezra brought the law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could hear with understanding. This was on the first day of the seventh month. ³He read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law. ⁴The scribe Ezra stood on a wooden platform that had been made for the purpose; and beside him stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah on his right hand; and Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hash-baddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam on his left hand. ⁵And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all the people; and when he opened it, all the people stood up. ⁶Then Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, ‘Amen, Amen’, lifting up their hands. Then they bowed their heads and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground. ⁷Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites,^* helped the people to understand the law, while the people remained in their places. ⁸So they read from the book, from the law of God, with interpretation. They gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.

9 And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, ‘This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.’ For all the people wept when they heard the words of the law. ¹⁰Then he said to them, ‘Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord; and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.’ ¹¹So the Levites stilled all the people, saying, ‘Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved.’ ¹²And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them.

The Festival of Booths Celebrated

13 On the second day the heads of ancestral houses of all the people, with the priests and the Levites, came together to the scribe Ezra in order to study the words of the law. ¹⁴And they found it written in the law, which the Lord had commanded by Moses, that the people of Israel should live in booths^* during the festival of the seventh month, ¹⁵and that they should publish and proclaim in all their towns and in Jerusalem as follows, ‘Go out to the hills and bring branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and other leafy trees to make booths,^* as it is written.’ ¹⁶So the people went out and brought them, and made booths^* for themselves, each on the roofs of their houses, and in their courts and in the courts of the house of God, and in the square at the Water Gate and in the square at the Gate of Ephraim. ¹⁷And all the assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths^* and lived in them; for from the days of Jeshua son of Nun to that day the people of Israel had not done so. And there was very great rejoicing. ¹⁸And day by day, from the first day to the last day, he read from the book of the law of God. They kept the festival for seven days; and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly, according to the ordinance.

Paul’s Plan to Visit Rome

22 This is the reason that I have so often been hindered from coming to you. ²³But now, with no further place for me in these regions, I desire, as I have for many years, to come to you ²⁴when I go to Spain. For I do hope to see you on my journey and to be sent on by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a little while. ²⁵At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem in a ministry to the saints; ²⁶for Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to share their resources with the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. ²⁷They were pleased to do this, and indeed they owe it to them; for if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material things. ²⁸So, when I have completed this, and have delivered to them what has been collected,^* I will set out by way of you to Spain; ²⁹and I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing^* of Christ.

30 I appeal to you, brothers and sisters,^* by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in earnest prayer to God on my behalf, ³¹that I may be rescued from the unbelievers in Judea, and that my ministry^* to Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, ³²so that by God’s will I may come to you with joy and be refreshed in your company. ³³The God of peace be with all of you.^* Amen.