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32 And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— ³³who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, ³⁴quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. ³⁵Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept release, in order to obtain a better resurrection. ³⁶Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. ³⁷They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two,^* they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented— ³⁸of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

39 Yet all these, though they were commended for their faith, did not receive what was promised, ⁴⁰since God had provided something better so that they would not, without us, be made perfect.

Psalm 31

Prayer and Praise for Deliverance from Enemies

To the leader. A Psalm of David.
¹ In you, O Lord, I seek refuge;
   do not let me ever be put to shame;
   in your righteousness deliver me.
² Incline your ear to me;
   rescue me speedily.
Be a rock of refuge for me,
   a strong fortress to save me.

³ You are indeed my rock and my fortress;
   for your name’s sake lead me and guide me,
⁴ take me out of the net that is hidden for me,
   for you are my refuge.
⁵ Into your hand I commit my spirit;
   you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.

⁶ You hate^* those who pay regard to worthless idols,
   but I trust in the Lord.
⁷ I will exult and rejoice in your steadfast love,
   because you have seen my affliction;
   you have taken heed of my adversities,
⁸ and have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy;
   you have set my feet in a broad place.

⁹ Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress;
   my eye wastes away from grief,
   my soul and body also.
¹⁰ For my life is spent with sorrow,
   and my years with sighing;
my strength fails because of my misery,^*
   and my bones waste away.

¹¹ I am the scorn of all my adversaries,
   a horror^* to my neighbours,
an object of dread to my acquaintances;
   those who see me in the street flee from me.
¹² I have passed out of mind like one who is dead;
   I have become like a broken vessel.
¹³ For I hear the whispering of many—
   terror all around!—
as they scheme together against me,
   as they plot to take my life.

¹⁴ But I trust in you, O Lord;
   I say, ‘You are my God.’
¹⁵ My times are in your hand;
   deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors.
¹⁶ Let your face shine upon your servant;
   save me in your steadfast love.
¹⁷ Do not let me be put to shame, O Lord,
   for I call on you;
let the wicked be put to shame;
   let them go dumbfounded to Sheol.
¹⁸ Let the lying lips be stilled
   that speak insolently against the righteous
   with pride and contempt.

¹⁹ O how abundant is your goodness
   that you have laid up for those who fear you,
and accomplished for those who take refuge in you,
   in the sight of everyone!
²⁰ In the shelter of your presence you hide them
   from human plots;
you hold them safe under your shelter
   from contentious tongues.

²¹ Blessed be the Lord,
   for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me
   when I was beset as a city under siege.
²² I had said in my alarm,
   ‘I am driven far^* from your sight.’
But you heard my supplications
   when I cried out to you for help.

²³ Love the Lord, all you his saints.
   The Lord preserves the faithful,
   but abundantly repays the one who acts haughtily.
²⁴ Be strong, and let your heart take courage,
   all you who wait for the Lord.

Jesus Heals the Gerasene Demoniac

5They came to the other side of the lake, to the country of the Gerasenes.^{* 2}And when he had stepped out of the boat, immediately a man out of the tombs with an unclean spirit met him. ³He lived among the tombs; and no one could restrain him any more, even with a chain; ⁴for he had often been restrained with shackles and chains, but the chains he wrenched apart, and the shackles he broke in pieces; and no one had the strength to subdue him. ⁵Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always howling and bruising himself with stones. ⁶When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed down before him; ⁷and he shouted at the top of his voice, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.’ ⁸For he had said to him, ‘Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!’ ⁹Then Jesus^* asked him, ‘What is your name?’ He replied, ‘My name is Legion; for we are many.’ ¹⁰He begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. ¹¹Now there on the hillside a great herd of swine was feeding; ¹²and the unclean spirits^* begged him, ‘Send us into the swine; let us enter them.’ ¹³So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the swine; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the lake, and were drowned in the lake.

14 The swineherds ran off and told it in the city and in the country. Then people came to see what it was that had happened. ¹⁵They came to Jesus and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the legion; and they were afraid. ¹⁶Those who had seen what had happened to the demoniac and to the swine reported it. ¹⁷Then they began to beg Jesus^* to leave their neighbourhood. ¹⁸As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed by demons begged him that he might be with him. ¹⁹But Jesus^* refused, and said to him, ‘Go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and what mercy he has shown you.’ ²⁰And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.