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Psalm 22

Plea for Deliverance from Suffering and Hostility

To the leader: according to The Deer of the Dawn. A Psalm of David.
¹ My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
   Why are you so far from helping me, from the words of my groaning?
² O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer;
   and by night, but find no rest.

³ Yet you are holy,
   enthroned on the praises of Israel.
⁴ In you our ancestors trusted;
   they trusted, and you delivered them.
⁵ To you they cried, and were saved;
   in you they trusted, and were not put to shame.

⁶ But I am a worm, and not human;
   scorned by others, and despised by the people.
⁷ All who see me mock at me;
   they make mouths at me, they shake their heads;
⁸ ‘Commit your cause to the Lord; let him deliver—
   let him rescue the one in whom he delights!’

⁹ Yet it was you who took me from the womb;
   you kept me safe on my mother’s breast.
¹⁰ On you I was cast from my birth,
   and since my mother bore me you have been my God.
¹¹ Do not be far from me,
   for trouble is near
   and there is no one to help.

¹² Many bulls encircle me,
   strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
¹³ they open wide their mouths at me,
   like a ravening and roaring lion.

¹⁴ I am poured out like water,
   and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;
   it is melted within my breast;
¹⁵ my mouth^* is dried up like a potsherd,
   and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
   you lay me in the dust of death.

¹⁶ For dogs are all around me;
   a company of evildoers encircles me.
My hands and feet have shrivelled;^*
17 I can count all my bones.
They stare and gloat over me;
¹⁸ they divide my clothes among themselves,
   and for my clothing they cast lots.

¹⁹ But you, O Lord, do not be far away!
   O my help, come quickly to my aid!
²⁰ Deliver my soul from the sword,
   my life^* from the power of the dog!
²¹   Save me from the mouth of the lion!

From the horns of the wild oxen you have rescued^* me.
²² I will tell of your name to my brothers and sisters;^*
   in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
²³ You who fear the Lord, praise him!
   All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him;
   stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
²⁴ For he did not despise or abhor
   the affliction of the afflicted;
he did not hide his face from me,^*
   but heard when I^* cried to him.

²⁵ From you comes my praise in the great congregation;
   my vows I will pay before those who fear him.
²⁶ The poor^* shall eat and be satisfied;
   those who seek him shall praise the Lord.
   May your hearts live for ever!

²⁷ All the ends of the earth shall remember
   and turn to the Lord;
and all the families of the nations
   shall worship before him.^*
28 For dominion belongs to the Lord,
   and he rules over the nations.

²⁹ To him,^* indeed, shall all who sleep in^* the earth bow down;
   before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
   and I shall live for him.^*
30 Posterity will serve him;
   future generations will be told about the Lord,
³¹ and^* proclaim his deliverance to a people yet unborn,
   saying that he has done it.

Psalm 148

Praise for God’s Universal Glory

¹ Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the heavens;
   praise him in the heights!
² Praise him, all his angels;
   praise him, all his host!

³ Praise him, sun and moon;
   praise him, all you shining stars!
⁴ Praise him, you highest heavens,
   and you waters above the heavens!

⁵ Let them praise the name of the Lord,
   for he commanded and they were created.
⁶ He established them for ever and ever;
   he fixed their bounds, which cannot be passed.^*

⁷ Praise the Lord from the earth,
   you sea monsters and all deeps,
⁸ fire and hail, snow and frost,
   stormy wind fulfilling his command!

⁹ Mountains and all hills,
   fruit trees and all cedars!
¹⁰ Wild animals and all cattle,
   creeping things and flying birds!

¹¹ Kings of the earth and all peoples,
   princes and all rulers of the earth!
¹² Young men and women alike,
   old and young together!

¹³ Let them praise the name of the Lord,
   for his name alone is exalted;
   his glory is above earth and heaven.
¹⁴ He has raised up a horn for his people,
   praise for all his faithful,
   for the people of Israel who are close to him.
Praise the Lord!

47So Joseph went and told Pharaoh, ‘My father and my brothers, with their flocks and herds and all that they possess, have come from the land of Canaan; they are now in the land of Goshen.’ ²From among his brothers he took five men and presented them to Pharaoh. ³Pharaoh said to his brothers, ‘What is your occupation?’ And they said to Pharaoh, ‘Your servants are shepherds, as our ancestors were.’ ⁴They said to Pharaoh, ‘We have come to reside as aliens in the land; for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks because the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now, we ask you, let your servants settle in the land of Goshen.’ ⁵Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘Your father and your brothers have come to you. ⁶The land of Egypt is before you; settle your father and your brothers in the best part of the land; let them live in the land of Goshen; and if you know that there are capable men among them, put them in charge of my livestock.’

7 Then Joseph brought in his father Jacob, and presented him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. ⁸Pharaoh said to Jacob, ‘How many are the years of your life?’ ⁹Jacob said to Pharaoh, ‘The years of my earthly sojourn are one hundred and thirty; few and hard have been the years of my life. They do not compare with the years of the life of my ancestors during their long sojourn.’ ¹⁰Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from the presence of Pharaoh. ¹¹Joseph settled his father and his brothers, and granted them a holding in the land of Egypt, in the best part of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had instructed. ¹²And Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all his father’s household with food, according to the number of their dependants.

The Famine in Egypt

13 Now there was no food in all the land, for the famine was very severe. The land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine. ¹⁴Joseph collected all the money to be found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, in exchange for the grain that they bought; and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house. ¹⁵When the money from the land of Egypt and from the land of Canaan was spent, all the Egyptians came to Joseph, and said, ‘Give us food! Why should we die before your eyes? For our money is gone.’ ¹⁶And Joseph answered, ‘Give me your livestock, and I will give you food in exchange for your livestock, if your money is gone.’ ¹⁷So they brought their livestock to Joseph; and Joseph gave them food in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the herds, and the donkeys. That year he supplied them with food in exchange for all their livestock. ¹⁸When that year was ended, they came to him the following year, and said to him, ‘We cannot hide from my lord that our money is all spent; and the herds of cattle are my lord’s. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our lands. ¹⁹Shall we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land in exchange for food. We with our land will become slaves to Pharaoh; just give us seed, so that we may live and not die, and that the land may not become desolate.’

20 So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh. All the Egyptians sold their fields, because the famine was severe upon them; and the land became Pharaoh’s. ²¹As for the people, he made slaves of them^* from one end of Egypt to the other. ²²Only the land of the priests he did not buy; for the priests had a fixed allowance from Pharaoh, and lived on the allowance that Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their land. ²³Then Joseph said to the people, ‘Now that I have this day bought you and your land for Pharaoh, here is seed for you; sow the land. ²⁴And at the harvests you shall give one-fifth to Pharaoh, and four-fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field and as food for yourselves and your households, and as food for your little ones.’ ²⁵They said, ‘You have saved our lives; may it please my lord, we will be slaves to Pharaoh.’ ²⁶So Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt, and it stands to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth. The land of the priests alone did not become Pharaoh’s.

¹⁶If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe betide me if I do not proclaim the gospel! ¹⁷For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission. ¹⁸What then is my reward? Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel.

19 For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. ²⁰To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. ²¹To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law) so that I might win those outside the law. ²²To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I might by any means save some. ²³I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.

24 Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win it. ²⁵Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable garland, but we an imperishable one. ²⁶So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; ²⁷but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified.