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Psalm 118

A Song of Victory

¹ O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
   his steadfast love endures for ever!

² Let Israel say,
   ‘His steadfast love endures for ever.’
³ Let the house of Aaron say,
   ‘His steadfast love endures for ever.’
⁴ Let those who fear the Lord say,
   ‘His steadfast love endures for ever.’

⁵ Out of my distress I called on the Lord;
   the Lord answered me and set me in a broad place.
⁶ With the Lord on my side I do not fear.
   What can mortals do to me?
⁷ The Lord is on my side to help me;
   I shall look in triumph on those who hate me.
⁸ It is better to take refuge in the Lord
   than to put confidence in mortals.
⁹ It is better to take refuge in the Lord
   than to put confidence in princes.

¹⁰ All nations surrounded me;
   in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
¹¹ They surrounded me, surrounded me on every side;
   in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
¹² They surrounded me like bees;
   they blazed^* like a fire of thorns;
   in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
¹³ I was pushed hard,^* so that I was falling,
   but the Lord helped me.
¹⁴ The Lord is my strength and my might;
   he has become my salvation.

¹⁵ There are glad songs of victory in the tents of the righteous:
‘The right hand of the Lord does valiantly;
¹⁶   the right hand of the Lord is exalted;
   the right hand of the Lord does valiantly.’
¹⁷ I shall not die, but I shall live,
   and recount the deeds of the Lord.
¹⁸ The Lord has punished me severely,
   but he did not give me over to death.

¹⁹ Open to me the gates of righteousness,
   that I may enter through them
   and give thanks to the Lord.

²⁰ This is the gate of the Lord;
   the righteous shall enter through it.

²¹ I thank you that you have answered me
   and have become my salvation.
²² The stone that the builders rejected
   has become the chief cornerstone.
²³ This is the Lord’s doing;
   it is marvellous in our eyes.
²⁴ This is the day that the Lord has made;
   let us rejoice and be glad in it.^*
25 Save us, we beseech you, O Lord!
   O Lord, we beseech you, give us success!

²⁶ Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.^*
   We bless you from the house of the Lord.
²⁷ The Lord is God,
   and he has given us light.
Bind the festal procession with branches,
   up to the horns of the altar.^*

²⁸ You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;
   you are my God, I will extol you.

²⁹ O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever.

Psalm 145

The Greatness and the Goodness of God

Praise. Of David.
¹ I will extol you, my God and King,
   and bless your name for ever and ever.
² Every day I will bless you,
   and praise your name for ever and ever.
³ Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
   his greatness is unsearchable.

⁴ One generation shall laud your works to another,
   and shall declare your mighty acts.
⁵ On the glorious splendour of your majesty,
   and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.
⁶ The might of your awesome deeds shall be proclaimed,
   and I will declare your greatness.
⁷ They shall celebrate the fame of your abundant goodness,
   and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

⁸ The Lord is gracious and merciful,
   slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
⁹ The Lord is good to all,
   and his compassion is over all that he has made.

¹⁰ All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord,
   and all your faithful shall bless you.
¹¹ They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom,
   and tell of your power,
¹² to make known to all people your^* mighty deeds,
   and the glorious splendour of your^* kingdom.
¹³ Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
   and your dominion endures throughout all generations.

The Lord is faithful in all his words,
   and gracious in all his deeds.^*
14 The Lord upholds all who are falling,
   and raises up all who are bowed down.
¹⁵ The eyes of all look to you,
   and you give them their food in due season.
¹⁶ You open your hand,
   satisfying the desire of every living thing.
¹⁷ The Lord is just in all his ways,
   and kind in all his doings.
¹⁸ The Lord is near to all who call on him,
   to all who call on him in truth.
¹⁹ He fulfils the desire of all who fear him;
   he also hears their cry, and saves them.
²⁰ The Lord watches over all who love him,
   but all the wicked he will destroy.

²¹ My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,
   and all flesh will bless his holy name for ever and ever.

17Moreover, Ahithophel said to Absalom, ‘Let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will set out and pursue David tonight. ²I will come upon him while he is weary and discouraged, and throw him into a panic; and all the people who are with him will flee. I will strike down only the king, ³and I will bring all the people back to you as a bride comes home to her husband. You seek the life of only one man,^* and all the people will be at peace.’ ⁴The advice pleased Absalom and all the elders of Israel.

The Counsel of Hushai

5 Then Absalom said, ‘Call Hushai the Archite also, and let us hear too what he has to say.’ ⁶When Hushai came to Absalom, Absalom said to him, ‘This is what Ahithophel has said; shall we do as he advises? If not, you tell us.’ ⁷Then Hushai said to Absalom, ‘This time the counsel that Ahithophel has given is not good.’ ⁸Hushai continued, ‘You know that your father and his men are warriors, and that they are enraged, like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. Besides, your father is expert in war; he will not spend the night with the troops. ⁹Even now he has hidden himself in one of the pits, or in some other place. And when some of our troops^* fall at the first attack, whoever hears it will say, “There has been a slaughter among the troops who follow Absalom.” ¹⁰Then even the valiant warrior, whose heart is like the heart of a lion, will utterly melt with fear; for all Israel knows that your father is a warrior, and that those who are with him are valiant warriors. ¹¹But my counsel is that all Israel be gathered to you, from Dan to Beer-sheba, like the sand by the sea for multitude, and that you go to battle in person. ¹²So we shall come upon him in whatever place he may be found, and we shall light on him as the dew falls on the ground; and he will not survive, nor will any of those with him. ¹³If he withdraws into a city, then all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we shall drag it into the valley, until not even a pebble is to be found there.’ ¹⁴Absalom and all the men of Israel said, ‘The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.’ For the Lord had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, so that the Lord might bring ruin on Absalom.

Hushai Warns David to Escape

15 Then Hushai said to the priests Zadok and Abiathar, ‘Thus and so did Ahithophel counsel Absalom and the elders of Israel; and thus and so I have counselled. ¹⁶Therefore send quickly and tell David, “Do not lodge tonight at the fords of the wilderness, but by all means cross over; otherwise the king and all the people who are with him will be swallowed up.” ’ ¹⁷Jonathan and Ahimaaz were waiting at En-rogel; a servant-girl used to go and tell them, and they would go and tell King David; for they could not risk being seen entering the city. ¹⁸But a boy saw them, and told Absalom; so both of them went away quickly, and came to the house of a man at Bahurim, who had a well in his courtyard; and they went down into it. ¹⁹The man’s wife took a covering, stretched it over the well’s mouth, and spread out grain on it; and nothing was known of it. ²⁰When Absalom’s servants came to the woman at the house, they said, ‘Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?’ The woman said to them, ‘They have crossed over the brook^* of water.’ And when they had searched and could not find them, they returned to Jerusalem.

21 After they had gone, the men came up out of the well, and went and told King David. They said to David, ‘Go and cross the water quickly; for thus and so has Ahithophel counselled against you.’ ²²So David and all the people who were with him set out and crossed the Jordan; by daybreak not one was left who had not crossed the Jordan.

23 When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey and went off home to his own city. He set his house in order, and hanged himself; he died and was buried in the tomb of his father.

6 Just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness’, ⁷so, you see, those who believe are the descendants of Abraham. ⁸And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, declared the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘All the Gentiles shall be blessed in you.’ ⁹For this reason, those who believe are blessed with Abraham who believed.

10 For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the things written in the book of the law.’ ¹¹Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law; for ‘The one who is righteous will live by faith.’^{* 12}But the law does not rest on faith; on the contrary, ‘Whoever does the works of the law^* will live by them.’ ¹³Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’— ¹⁴in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Witnesses to Jesus

30 ‘I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgement is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.

31 ‘If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. ³²There is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true. ³³You sent messengers to John, and he testified to the truth. ³⁴Not that I accept such human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved. ³⁵He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. ³⁶But I have a testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. ³⁷And the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his form, ³⁸and you do not have his word abiding in you, because you do not believe him whom he has sent.

39 ‘You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. ⁴⁰Yet you refuse to come to me to have life. ⁴¹I do not accept glory from human beings. ⁴²But I know that you do not have the love of God in^* you. ⁴³I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; if another comes in his own name, you will accept him. ⁴⁴How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God? ⁴⁵Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. ⁴⁶If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. ⁴⁷But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?’