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Psalm 27

Triumphant Song of Confidence

Of David.
¹ The Lord is my light and my salvation;
   whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold^* of my life;
   of whom shall I be afraid?

² When evildoers assail me
   to devour my flesh—
my adversaries and foes—
   they shall stumble and fall.

³ Though an army encamp against me,
   my heart shall not fear;
though war rise up against me,
   yet I will be confident.

⁴ One thing I asked of the Lord,
   that will I seek after:
to live in the house of the Lord
   all the days of my life,
to behold the beauty of the Lord,
   and to inquire in his temple.

⁵ For he will hide me in his shelter
   in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
   he will set me high on a rock.

⁶ Now my head is lifted up
   above my enemies all around me,
and I will offer in his tent
   sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the Lord.

⁷ Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud,
   be gracious to me and answer me!
⁸ ‘Come,’ my heart says, ‘seek his face!’
   Your face, Lord, do I seek.
⁹   Do not hide your face from me.

Do not turn your servant away in anger,
   you who have been my help.
Do not cast me off, do not forsake me,
   O God of my salvation!
¹⁰ If my father and mother forsake me,
   the Lord will take me up.

¹¹ Teach me your way, O Lord,
   and lead me on a level path
   because of my enemies.
¹² Do not give me up to the will of my adversaries,
   for false witnesses have risen against me,
   and they are breathing out violence.

¹³ I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord
   in the land of the living.
¹⁴ Wait for the Lord;
   be strong, and let your heart take courage;
   wait for the Lord!

¹³ For he strengthens the bars of your gates;
   he blesses your children within you.
¹⁴ He grants peace^* within your borders;
   he fills you with the finest of wheat.
¹⁵ He sends out his command to the earth;
   his word runs swiftly.
¹⁶ He gives snow like wool;
   he scatters frost like ashes.
¹⁷ He hurls down hail like crumbs—
   who can stand before his cold?
¹⁸ He sends out his word, and melts them;
   he makes his wind blow, and the waters flow.
¹⁹ He declares his word to Jacob,
   his statutes and ordinances to Israel.
²⁰ He has not dealt thus with any other nation;
   they do not know his ordinances.
Praise the Lord!

25 Seven days passed after the Lord had struck the Nile.

The Second Plague: Frogs

8^*Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Go to Pharaoh and say to him, “Thus says the Lord: Let my people go, so that they may worship me. ²If you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs. ³The river shall swarm with frogs; they shall come up into your palace, into your bedchamber and your bed, and into the houses of your officials and of your people,^* and into your ovens and your kneading bowls. ⁴The frogs shall come up on you and on your people and on all your officials.” ’ ^5*And the Lord said to Moses, ‘Say to Aaron, “Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, the canals, and the pools, and make frogs come up on the land of Egypt.” ’ ⁶So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. ⁷But the magicians did the same by their secret arts, and brought frogs up on the land of Egypt.

8 Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron, and said, ‘Pray to the Lord to take away the frogs from me and my people, and I will let the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.’ ⁹Moses said to Pharaoh, ‘Kindly tell me when I am to pray for you and for your officials and for your people, that the frogs may be removed from you and your houses and be left only in the Nile.’ ¹⁰And he said, ‘Tomorrow.’ Moses said, ‘As you say! So that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God, ¹¹the frogs shall leave you and your houses and your officials and your people; they shall be left only in the Nile.’ ¹²Then Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh; and Moses cried out to the Lord concerning the frogs that he had brought upon Pharaoh.^{* 13}And the Lord did as Moses requested: the frogs died in the houses, the courtyards, and the fields. ¹⁴And they gathered them together in heaps, and the land stank. ¹⁵But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart, and would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.

The Third Plague: Gnats

16 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Say to Aaron, “Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, so that it may become gnats throughout the whole land of Egypt.” ’ ¹⁷And they did so; Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth, and gnats came on humans and animals alike; all the dust of the earth turned into gnats throughout the whole land of Egypt. ¹⁸The magicians tried to produce gnats by their secret arts, but they could not. There were gnats on both humans and animals. ¹⁹And the magicians said to Pharaoh, ‘This is the finger of God!’ But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.

7 Now if the ministry of death, chiselled in letters on stone tablets,^* came in glory so that the people of Israel could not gaze at Moses’ face because of the glory of his face, a glory now set aside, ⁸how much more will the ministry of the Spirit come in glory? ⁹For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, much more does the ministry of justification abound in glory! ¹⁰Indeed, what once had glory has lost its glory because of the greater glory; ¹¹for if what was set aside came through glory, much more has the permanent come in glory!

12 Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness, ¹³not like Moses, who put a veil over his face to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of the glory that^* was being set aside. ¹⁴But their minds were hardened. Indeed, to this very day, when they hear the reading of the old covenant, that same veil is still there, since only in Christ is it set aside. ¹⁵Indeed, to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds; ¹⁶but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. ¹⁷Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. ¹⁸And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.