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32 For ask now about former ages, long before your own, ever since the day that God created human beings on the earth; ask from one end of heaven to the other: has anything so great as this ever happened or has its like ever been heard of? ³³Has any people ever heard the voice of a god speaking out of a fire, as you have heard, and lived? ³⁴Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by terrifying displays of power, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes? ³⁵To you it was shown so that you would acknowledge that the Lord is God; there is no other besides him. ³⁶From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire, while you heard his words coming out of the fire. ³⁷And because he loved your ancestors, he chose their descendants after them. He brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power, ³⁸driving out before you nations greater and mightier than yourselves, to bring you in, giving you their land for a possession, as it is still today. ³⁹So acknowledge today and take to heart that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. ⁴⁰Keep his statutes and his commandments, which I am commanding you today for your own well-being and that of your descendants after you, so that you may long remain in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for all time.

Psalm 77

God’s Mighty Deeds Recalled

To the leader: according to Jeduthun. Of Asaph. A Psalm.
¹ I cry aloud to God,
   aloud to God, that he may hear me.
² In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;
   in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;
   my soul refuses to be comforted.
³ I think of God, and I moan;
   I meditate, and my spirit faints.
          Selah

⁴ You keep my eyelids from closing;
   I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
⁵ I consider the days of old,
   and remember the years of long ago.
⁶ I commune^* with my heart in the night;
   I meditate and search my spirit:^*
7 ‘Will the Lord spurn for ever,
   and never again be favourable?
⁸ Has his steadfast love ceased for ever?
   Are his promises at an end for all time?
⁹ Has God forgotten to be gracious?
   Has he in anger shut up his compassion?’
          Selah
¹⁰ And I say, ‘It is my grief
   that the right hand of the Most High has changed.’

¹¹ I will call to mind the deeds of the Lord;
   I will remember your wonders of old.
¹² I will meditate on all your work,
   and muse on your mighty deeds.
¹³ Your way, O God, is holy.
   What god is so great as our God?
¹⁴ You are the God who works wonders;
   you have displayed your might among the peoples.
¹⁵ With your strong arm you redeemed your people,
   the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.
          Selah

¹⁶ When the waters saw you, O God,
   when the waters saw you, they were afraid;
   the very deep trembled.
¹⁷ The clouds poured out water;
   the skies thundered;
   your arrows flashed on every side.
¹⁸ The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind;
   your lightnings lit up the world;
   the earth trembled and shook.
¹⁹ Your way was through the sea,
   your path, through the mighty waters;
   yet your footprints were unseen.
²⁰ You led your people like a flock
   by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

The Cross and Self-Denial

24 Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ²⁵For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. ²⁶For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?

27 ‘For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. ²⁸Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.’