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Psalm 80

Prayer for Israel’s Restoration

To the leader: on Lilies, a Covenant. Of Asaph. A Psalm.
¹ Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel,
   you who lead Joseph like a flock!
You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth
²   before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh.
Stir up your might,
   and come to save us!

³ Restore us, O God;
   let your face shine, that we may be saved.

⁴ O Lord God of hosts,
   how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?
⁵ You have fed them with the bread of tears,
   and given them tears to drink in full measure.
⁶ You make us the scorn^* of our neighbours;
   our enemies laugh among themselves.

⁷ Restore us, O God of hosts;
   let your face shine, that we may be saved.

⁸ You brought a vine out of Egypt;
   you drove out the nations and planted it.
⁹ You cleared the ground for it;
   it took deep root and filled the land.
¹⁰ The mountains were covered with its shade,
   the mighty cedars with its branches;
¹¹ it sent out its branches to the sea,
   and its shoots to the River.
¹² Why then have you broken down its walls,
   so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
¹³ The boar from the forest ravages it,
   and all that move in the field feed on it.

¹⁴ Turn again, O God of hosts;
   look down from heaven, and see;
have regard for this vine,
¹⁵   the stock that your right hand planted.^*
16 They have burned it with fire, they have cut it down;^*
   may they perish at the rebuke of your countenance.
¹⁷ But let your hand be upon the one at your right hand,
   the one whom you made strong for yourself.
¹⁸ Then we will never turn back from you;
   give us life, and we will call on your name.

¹⁹ Restore us, O Lord God of hosts;
   let your face shine, that we may be saved.

Psalm 77

God’s Mighty Deeds Recalled

To the leader: according to Jeduthun. Of Asaph. A Psalm.
¹ I cry aloud to God,
   aloud to God, that he may hear me.
² In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;
   in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;
   my soul refuses to be comforted.
³ I think of God, and I moan;
   I meditate, and my spirit faints.
          Selah

⁴ You keep my eyelids from closing;
   I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
⁵ I consider the days of old,
   and remember the years of long ago.
⁶ I commune^* with my heart in the night;
   I meditate and search my spirit:^*
7 ‘Will the Lord spurn for ever,
   and never again be favourable?
⁸ Has his steadfast love ceased for ever?
   Are his promises at an end for all time?
⁹ Has God forgotten to be gracious?
   Has he in anger shut up his compassion?’
          Selah
¹⁰ And I say, ‘It is my grief
   that the right hand of the Most High has changed.’

¹¹ I will call to mind the deeds of the Lord;
   I will remember your wonders of old.
¹² I will meditate on all your work,
   and muse on your mighty deeds.
¹³ Your way, O God, is holy.
   What god is so great as our God?
¹⁴ You are the God who works wonders;
   you have displayed your might among the peoples.
¹⁵ With your strong arm you redeemed your people,
   the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.
          Selah

¹⁶ When the waters saw you, O God,
   when the waters saw you, they were afraid;
   the very deep trembled.
¹⁷ The clouds poured out water;
   the skies thundered;
   your arrows flashed on every side.
¹⁸ The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind;
   your lightnings lit up the world;
   the earth trembled and shook.
¹⁹ Your way was through the sea,
   your path, through the mighty waters;
   yet your footprints were unseen.
²⁰ You led your people like a flock
   by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Psalm 79

Plea for Mercy for Jerusalem

A Psalm of Asaph.
¹ O God, the nations have come into your inheritance;
   they have defiled your holy temple;
   they have laid Jerusalem in ruins.
² They have given the bodies of your servants
   to the birds of the air for food,
   the flesh of your faithful to the wild animals of the earth.
³ They have poured out their blood like water
   all around Jerusalem,
   and there was no one to bury them.
⁴ We have become a taunt to our neighbours,
   mocked and derided by those around us.

⁵ How long, O Lord? Will you be angry for ever?
   Will your jealous wrath burn like fire?
⁶ Pour out your anger on the nations
   that do not know you,
and on the kingdoms
   that do not call on your name.
⁷ For they have devoured Jacob
   and laid waste his habitation.

⁸ Do not remember against us the iniquities of our ancestors;
   let your compassion come speedily to meet us,
   for we are brought very low.
⁹ Help us, O God of our salvation,
   for the glory of your name;
deliver us, and forgive our sins,
   for your name’s sake.
¹⁰ Why should the nations say,
   ‘Where is their God?’
Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants
   be known among the nations before our eyes.

¹¹ Let the groans of the prisoners come before you;
   according to your great power preserve those doomed to die.
¹² Return sevenfold into the bosom of our neighbours
   the taunts with which they taunted you, O Lord!
¹³ Then we your people, the flock of your pasture,
   will give thanks to you for ever;
   from generation to generation we will recount your praise.

Judah Pleads for Benjamin’s Release

18 Then Judah stepped up to him and said, ‘O my lord, let your servant please speak a word in my lord’s ears, and do not be angry with your servant; for you are like Pharaoh himself. ¹⁹My lord asked his servants, saying, “Have you a father or a brother?” ²⁰And we said to my lord, “We have a father, an old man, and a young brother, the child of his old age. His brother is dead; he alone is left of his mother’s children, and his father loves him.” ²¹Then you said to your servants, “Bring him down to me, so that I may set my eyes on him.” ²²We said to my lord, “The boy cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.” ²³Then you said to your servants, “Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall see my face no more.” ²⁴When we went back to your servant my father we told him the words of my lord. ²⁵And when our father said, “Go again, buy us a little food”, ²⁶we said, “We cannot go down. Only if our youngest brother goes with us, will we go down; for we cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.” ²⁷Then your servant my father said to us, “You know that my wife bore me two sons; ²⁸one left me, and I said, Surely he has been torn to pieces; and I have never seen him since. ²⁹If you take this one also from me, and harm comes to him, you will bring down my grey hairs in sorrow to Sheol.” ³⁰Now therefore, when I come to your servant my father and the boy is not with us, then, as his life is bound up in the boy’s life, ³¹when he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die; and your servants will bring down the grey hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to Sheol. ³²For your servant became surety for the boy to my father, saying, “If I do not bring him back to you, then I will bear the blame in the sight of my father all my life.” ³³Now therefore, please let your servant remain as a slave to my lord in place of the boy; and let the boy go back with his brothers. ³⁴For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the suffering that would come upon my father.’

The Unmarried and the Widows

25 Now concerning virgins, I have no command of the Lord, but I give my opinion as one who by the Lord’s mercy is trustworthy. ²⁶I think that, in view of the impending^* crisis, it is well for you to remain as you are. ²⁷Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be free. Are you free from a wife? Do not seek a wife. ²⁸But if you marry, you do not sin, and if a virgin marries, she does not sin. Yet those who marry will experience distress in this life,^* and I would spare you that. ²⁹I mean, brothers and sisters,^* the appointed time has grown short; from now on, let even those who have wives be as though they had none, ³⁰and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no possessions, ³¹and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.

A Girl Restored to Life and a Woman Healed

21 When Jesus had crossed again in the boat^* to the other side, a great crowd gathered round him; and he was by the lake. ²²Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet ²³and begged him repeatedly, ‘My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.’ ²⁴So he went with him.

And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. ²⁵Now there was a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years. ²⁶She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. ²⁷She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, ²⁸for she said, ‘If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.’ ²⁹Immediately her haemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. ³⁰Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ ³¹And his disciples said to him, ‘You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, “Who touched me?” ’ ³²He looked all round to see who had done it. ³³But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. ³⁴He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.’

35 While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, ‘Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?’ ³⁶But overhearing^* what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, ‘Do not fear, only believe.’ ³⁷He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. ³⁸When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. ³⁹When he had entered, he said to them, ‘Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.’ ⁴⁰And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. ⁴¹He took her by the hand and said to her, ‘Talitha cum’, which means, ‘Little girl, get up!’ ⁴²And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. ⁴³He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.