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Psalm 93

The Majesty of God’s Rule

¹ The Lord is king, he is robed in majesty;
   the Lord is robed, he is girded with strength.
He has established the world; it shall never be moved;
²   your throne is established from of old;
   you are from everlasting.

³ The floods have lifted up, O Lord,
   the floods have lifted up their voice;
   the floods lift up their roaring.
⁴ More majestic than the thunders of mighty waters,
   more majestic than the waves^* of the sea,
   majestic on high is the Lord!

⁵ Your decrees are very sure;
   holiness befits your house,
   O Lord, for evermore.

Psalm 96

Praise to God Who Comes in Judgement

¹ O sing to the Lord a new song;
   sing to the Lord, all the earth.
² Sing to the Lord, bless his name;
   tell of his salvation from day to day.
³ Declare his glory among the nations,
   his marvellous works among all the peoples.
⁴ For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
   he is to be revered above all gods.
⁵ For all the gods of the peoples are idols,
   but the Lord made the heavens.
⁶ Honour and majesty are before him;
   strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

⁷ Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples,
   ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.
⁸ Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;
   bring an offering, and come into his courts.
⁹ Worship the Lord in holy splendour;
   tremble before him, all the earth.

¹⁰ Say among the nations, ‘The Lord is king!
   The world is firmly established; it shall never be moved.
   He will judge the peoples with equity.’
¹¹ Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
   let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
¹²   let the field exult, and everything in it.
Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy
¹³   before the Lord; for he is coming,
   for he is coming to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness,
   and the peoples with his truth.

The People’s Response

10While Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and throwing himself down before the house of God, a very great assembly of men, women, and children gathered to him out of Israel; the people also wept bitterly. ²Shecaniah son of Jehiel, of the descendants of Elam, addressed Ezra, saying, ‘We have broken faith with our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land, but even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this. ³So now let us make a covenant with our God to send away all these wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law. ⁴Take action, for it is your duty, and we are with you; be strong, and do it.’ ⁵Then Ezra stood up and made the leading priests, the Levites, and all Israel swear that they would do as had been said. So they swore.

Foreign Wives and Their Children Rejected

6 Then Ezra withdrew from before the house of God, and went to the chamber of Jehohanan son of Eliashib, where he spent the night.^* He did not eat bread or drink water, for he was mourning over the faithlessness of the exiles. ⁷They made a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the returned exiles that they should assemble at Jerusalem, ⁸and that if any did not come within three days, by order of the officials and the elders all their property should be forfeited, and they themselves banned from the congregation of the exiles.

9 Then all the people of Judah and Benjamin assembled at Jerusalem within the three days; it was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month. All the people sat in the open square before the house of God, trembling because of this matter and because of the heavy rain. ¹⁰Then Ezra the priest stood up and said to them, ‘You have trespassed and married foreign women, and so increased the guilt of Israel. ¹¹Now make confession to the Lord the God of your ancestors, and do his will; separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives.’ ¹²Then all the assembly answered with a loud voice, ‘It is so; we must do as you have said. ¹³But the people are many, and it is a time of heavy rain; we cannot stand in the open. Nor is this a task for one day or for two, for many of us have transgressed in this matter. ¹⁴Let our officials represent the whole assembly, and let all in our towns who have taken foreign wives come at appointed times, and with them the elders and judges of every town, until the fierce wrath of our God on this account is averted from us.’ ¹⁵Only Jonathan son of Asahel and Jahzeiah son of Tikvah opposed this, and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levites supported them.

16 Then the returned exiles did so. Ezra the priest selected men,^* heads of families, according to their families, each of them designated by name. On the first day of the tenth month they sat down to examine the matter. ¹⁷By the first day of the first month they had come to the end of all the men who had married foreign women.

Paul’s Defence before Felix

10 When the governor motioned to him to speak, Paul replied:

‘I cheerfully make my defence, knowing that for many years you have been a judge over this nation. ¹¹As you can find out, it is not more than twelve days since I went up to worship in Jerusalem. ¹²They did not find me disputing with anyone in the temple or stirring up a crowd either in the synagogues or throughout the city. ¹³Neither can they prove to you the charge that they now bring against me. ¹⁴But this I admit to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our ancestors, believing everything laid down according to the law or written in the prophets. ¹⁵I have a hope in God—a hope that they themselves also accept—that there will be a resurrection of both^* the righteous and the unrighteous. ¹⁶Therefore I do my best always to have a clear conscience towards God and all people. ¹⁷Now after some years I came to bring alms to my nation and to offer sacrifices. ¹⁸While I was doing this, they found me in the temple, completing the rite of purification, without any crowd or disturbance. ¹⁹But there were some Jews from Asia—they ought to be here before you to make an accusation, if they have anything against me. ²⁰Or let these men here tell what crime they had found when I stood before the council, ²¹unless it was this one sentence that I called out while standing before them, “It is about the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you today.” ’