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Psalm 119

The Glories of God’s Law

¹ Happy are those whose way is blameless,
   who walk in the law of the Lord.
² Happy are those who keep his decrees,
   who seek him with their whole heart,
³ who also do no wrong,
   but walk in his ways.
⁴ You have commanded your precepts
   to be kept diligently.
⁵ O that my ways may be steadfast
   in keeping your statutes!
⁶ Then I shall not be put to shame,
   having my eyes fixed on all your commandments.
⁷ I will praise you with an upright heart,
   when I learn your righteous ordinances.
⁸ I will observe your statutes;
   do not utterly forsake me.

⁹ How can young people keep their way pure?
   By guarding it according to your word.
¹⁰ With my whole heart I seek you;
   do not let me stray from your commandments.
¹¹ I treasure your word in my heart,
   so that I may not sin against you.
¹² Blessed are you, O Lord;
   teach me your statutes.
¹³ With my lips I declare
   all the ordinances of your mouth.
¹⁴ I delight in the way of your decrees
   as much as in all riches.
¹⁵ I will meditate on your precepts,
   and fix my eyes on your ways.
¹⁶ I will delight in your statutes;
   I will not forget your word.

¹⁷ Deal bountifully with your servant,
   so that I may live and observe your word.
¹⁸ Open my eyes, so that I may behold
   wondrous things out of your law.
¹⁹ I live as an alien in the land;
   do not hide your commandments from me.
²⁰ My soul is consumed with longing
   for your ordinances at all times.
²¹ You rebuke the insolent, accursed ones,
   who wander from your commandments;
²² take away from me their scorn and contempt,
   for I have kept your decrees.
²³ Even though princes sit plotting against me,
   your servant will meditate on your statutes.
²⁴ Your decrees are my delight,
   they are my counsellors.

¹² Blessed are you, O Lord;
   teach me your statutes.
¹³ With my lips I declare
   all the ordinances of your mouth.
¹⁴ I delight in the way of your decrees
   as much as in all riches.

17 ^*But the Lord provided a large fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights.

A Psalm of Thanksgiving

2Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, ²saying,
‘I called to the Lord out of my distress,
   and he answered me;
out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
   and you heard my voice.
³ You cast me into the deep,
   into the heart of the seas,
   and the flood surrounded me;
all your waves and your billows
   passed over me.
⁴ Then I said, “I am driven away
   from your sight;
how^* shall I look again
   upon your holy temple?”
⁵ The waters closed in over me;
   the deep surrounded me;
weeds were wrapped around my head
⁶   at the roots of the mountains.
I went down to the land
   whose bars closed upon me for ever;
yet you brought up my life from the Pit,
   O Lord my God.
⁷ As my life was ebbing away,
   I remembered the Lord;
and my prayer came to you,
   into your holy temple.
⁸ Those who worship vain idols
   forsake their true loyalty.
⁹ But I with the voice of thanksgiving
   will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.
   Deliverance belongs to the Lord!’
¹⁰Then the Lord spoke to the fish, and it spewed Jonah out upon the dry land.

9 Since much time had been lost and sailing was now dangerous, because even the Fast had already gone by, Paul advised them, ¹⁰saying, ‘Sirs, I can see that the voyage will be with danger and much heavy loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.’ ¹¹But the centurion paid more attention to the pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said. ¹²Since the harbour was not suitable for spending the winter, the majority was in favour of putting to sea from there, on the chance that somehow they could reach Phoenix, where they could spend the winter. It was a harbour of Crete, facing south-west and north-west.

The Storm at Sea

13 When a moderate south wind began to blow, they thought they could achieve their purpose; so they weighed anchor and began to sail past Crete, close to the shore. ¹⁴But soon a violent wind, called the northeaster, rushed down from Crete.^{* 15}Since the ship was caught and could not be turned with its head to the wind, we gave way to it and were driven. ¹⁶By running under the lee of a small island called Cauda^* we were scarcely able to get the ship’s boat under control. ¹⁷After hoisting it up they took measures^* to undergird the ship; then, fearing that they would run on the Syrtis, they lowered the sea-anchor and so were driven. ¹⁸We were being pounded by the storm so violently that on the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard, ¹⁹and on the third day with their own hands they threw the ship’s tackle overboard. ²⁰When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest raged, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.

21 Since they had been without food for a long time, Paul then stood up among them and said, ‘Men, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and thereby avoided this damage and loss. ²²I urge you now to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. ²³For last night there stood by me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, ²⁴and he said, “Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before the emperor; and indeed, God has granted safety to all those who are sailing with you.” ²⁵So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told. ²⁶But we will have to run aground on some island.’

The Mission of the Twelve

9Then Jesus^* called the twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases, ²and he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal. ³He said to them, ‘Take nothing for your journey, no staff, nor bag, nor bread, nor money—not even an extra tunic. ⁴Whatever house you enter, stay there, and leave from there. ⁵Wherever they do not welcome you, as you are leaving that town shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.’ ⁶They departed and went through the villages, bringing the good news and curing diseases everywhere.

Herod’s Perplexity

7 Now Herod the ruler^* heard about all that had taken place, and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had been raised from the dead, ⁸by some that Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the ancient prophets had arisen. ⁹Herod said, ‘John I beheaded; but who is this about whom I hear such things?’ And he tried to see him.

Feeding the Five Thousand

10 On their return the apostles told Jesus^* all they had done. He took them with him and withdrew privately to a city called Bethsaida. ¹¹When the crowds found out about it, they followed him; and he welcomed them, and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed to be cured.

12 The day was drawing to a close, and the twelve came to him and said, ‘Send the crowd away, so that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside, to lodge and get provisions; for we are here in a deserted place.’ ¹³But he said to them, ‘You give them something to eat.’ They said, ‘We have no more than five loaves and two fish—unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.’ ¹⁴For there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, ‘Make them sit down in groups of about fifty each.’ ¹⁵They did so and made them all sit down. ¹⁶And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. ¹⁷And all ate and were filled. What was left over was gathered up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.