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Jeremiah’s Life Threatened

¹⁸ It was the Lord who made it known to me, and I knew;
   then you showed me their evil deeds.
¹⁹ But I was like a gentle lamb
   led to the slaughter.
And I did not know it was against me
   that they devised schemes, saying,
‘Let us destroy the tree with its fruit,
   let us cut him off from the land of the living,
   so that his name will no longer be remembered!’
²⁰ But you, O Lord of hosts, who judge righteously,
   who try the heart and the mind,
let me see your retribution upon them,
   for to you I have committed my cause.

Psalm 7

Plea for Help against Persecutors

A Shiggaion of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning Cush, a Benjaminite.
¹ O Lord my God, in you I take refuge;
   save me from all my pursuers, and deliver me,
² or like a lion they will tear me apart;
   they will drag me away, with no one to rescue.

³ O Lord my God, if I have done this,
   if there is wrong in my hands,
⁴ if I have repaid my ally with harm
   or plundered my foe without cause,
⁵ then let the enemy pursue and overtake me,
   trample my life to the ground,
   and lay my soul in the dust.
          Selah

⁶ Rise up, O Lord, in your anger;
   lift yourself up against the fury of my enemies;
   awake, O my God;^* you have appointed a judgement.
⁷ Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered around you,
   and over it take your seat^* on high.
⁸ The Lord judges the peoples;
   judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness
   and according to the integrity that is in me.

⁹ O let the evil of the wicked come to an end,
   but establish the righteous,
you who test the minds and hearts,
   O righteous God.
¹⁰ God is my shield,
   who saves the upright in heart.
¹¹ God is a righteous judge,
   and a God who has indignation every day.

¹² If one does not repent, God^* will whet his sword;
   he has bent and strung his bow;
¹³ he has prepared his deadly weapons,
   making his arrows fiery shafts.
¹⁴ See how they conceive evil,
   and are pregnant with mischief,
   and bring forth lies.
¹⁵ They make a pit, digging it out,
   and fall into the hole that they have made.
¹⁶ Their mischief returns upon their own heads,
   and on their own heads their violence descends.

¹⁷ I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness,
   and sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High.

Division among the People

40 When they heard these words, some in the crowd said, ‘This is really the prophet.’ ⁴¹Others said, ‘This is the Messiah.’^* But some asked, ‘Surely the Messiah^* does not come from Galilee, does he? ⁴²Has not the scripture said that the Messiah^* is descended from David and comes from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?’ ⁴³So there was a division in the crowd because of him. ⁴⁴Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

The Unbelief of Those in Authority

45 Then the temple police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, ‘Why did you not arrest him?’ ⁴⁶The police answered, ‘Never has anyone spoken like this!’ ⁴⁷Then the Pharisees replied, ‘Surely you have not been deceived too, have you? ⁴⁸Has any one of the authorities or of the Pharisees believed in him? ⁴⁹But this crowd, which does not know the law—they are accursed.’ ⁵⁰Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus^* before, and who was one of them, asked, ⁵¹‘Our law does not judge people without first giving them a hearing to find out what they are doing, does it?’ ⁵²They replied, ‘Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you? Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee.’

The Woman Caught in Adultery

[[⁵³Then each of them went home,