Bible Browser

Psalm 87

The Joy of Living in Zion

Of the Korahites. A Psalm. A Song.
¹ On the holy mount stands the city he founded;
²   the Lord loves the gates of Zion
   more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
³ Glorious things are spoken of you,
   O city of God.
          Selah

⁴ Among those who know me I mention Rahab and Babylon;
   Philistia too, and Tyre, with Ethiopia^*—
   ‘This one was born there,’ they say.

⁵ And of Zion it shall be said,
   ‘This one and that one were born in it’;
   for the Most High himself will establish it.
⁶ The Lord records, as he registers the peoples,
   ‘This one was born there.’
          Selah

⁷ Singers and dancers alike say,
   ‘All my springs are in you.’

BOOK IV

(Psalms 90-106)

Psalm 90

God’s Eternity and Human Frailty

A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.
¹ Lord, you have been our dwelling-place^*
   in all generations.
² Before the mountains were brought forth,
   or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
   from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

³ You turn us^* back to dust,
   and say, ‘Turn back, you mortals.’
⁴ For a thousand years in your sight
   are like yesterday when it is past,
   or like a watch in the night.

⁵ You sweep them away; they are like a dream,
   like grass that is renewed in the morning;
⁶ in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
   in the evening it fades and withers.

⁷ For we are consumed by your anger;
   by your wrath we are overwhelmed.
⁸ You have set our iniquities before you,
   our secret sins in the light of your countenance.

⁹ For all our days pass away under your wrath;
   our years come to an end^* like a sigh.
¹⁰ The days of our life are seventy years,
   or perhaps eighty, if we are strong;
even then their span^* is only toil and trouble;
   they are soon gone, and we fly away.

¹¹ Who considers the power of your anger?
   Your wrath is as great as the fear that is due to you.
¹² So teach us to count our days
   that we may gain a wise heart.

¹³ Turn, O Lord! How long?
   Have compassion on your servants!
¹⁴ Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
   so that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.
¹⁵ Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
   and for as many years as we have seen evil.
¹⁶ Let your work be manifest to your servants,
   and your glorious power to their children.
¹⁷ Let the favour of the Lord our God be upon us,
   and prosper for us the work of our hands—
   O prosper the work of our hands!

Psalm 136

God’s Work in Creation and in History

¹ O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever.
² O give thanks to the God of gods,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever.
³ O give thanks to the Lord of lords,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever;

⁴ who alone does great wonders,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever;
⁵ who by understanding made the heavens,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever;
⁶ who spread out the earth on the waters,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever;
⁷ who made the great lights,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever;
⁸ the sun to rule over the day,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever;
⁹ the moon and stars to rule over the night,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever;

¹⁰ who struck Egypt through their firstborn,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever;
¹¹ and brought Israel out from among them,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever;
¹² with a strong hand and an outstretched arm,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever;
¹³ who divided the Red Sea^* in two,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever;
¹⁴ and made Israel pass through the midst of it,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever;
¹⁵ but overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea,^*
   for his steadfast love endures for ever;
¹⁶ who led his people through the wilderness,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever;
¹⁷ who struck down great kings,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever;
¹⁸ and killed famous kings,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever;
¹⁹ Sihon, king of the Amorites,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever;
²⁰ and Og, king of Bashan,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever;
²¹ and gave their land as a heritage,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever;
²² a heritage to his servant Israel,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever.

²³ It is he who remembered us in our low estate,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever;
²⁴ and rescued us from our foes,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever;
²⁵ who gives food to all flesh,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever.

²⁶ O give thanks to the God of heaven,
   for his steadfast love endures for ever.

The Last Days of Jacob

27 Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the region of Goshen; and they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied exceedingly. ²⁸Jacob lived in the land of Egypt for seventeen years; so the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were one hundred and forty-seven years.

29 When the time of Israel’s death drew near, he called his son Joseph and said to him, ‘If I have found favour with you, put your hand under my thigh and promise to deal loyally and truly with me. Do not bury me in Egypt. ³⁰When I lie down with my ancestors, carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place.’ He answered, ‘I will do as you have said.’ ³¹And he said, ‘Swear to me’; and he swore to him. Then Israel bowed himself on the head of his bed.

Jacob Blesses Joseph’s Sons

48After this Joseph was told, ‘Your father is ill.’ So he took with him his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim. ²When Jacob was told, ‘Your son Joseph has come to you’, he^* summoned his strength and sat up in bed. ³And Jacob said to Joseph, ‘God Almighty^* appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and he blessed me, ⁴and said to me, “I am going to make you fruitful and increase your numbers; I will make of you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your offspring after you for a perpetual holding.” ⁵Therefore your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are now mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are. ⁶As for the offspring born to you after them, they shall be yours. They shall be recorded under the names of their brothers with regard to their inheritance. ⁷For when I came from Paddan, Rachel, alas, died in the land of Canaan on the way, while there was still some distance to go to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath’ (that is, Bethlehem).

Warnings from Israel’s History

10I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters,^* that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, ²and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, ³and all ate the same spiritual food, ⁴and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. ⁵Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness.

6 Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did. ⁷Do not become idolaters as some of them did; as it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.’ ⁸We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. ⁹We must not put Christ^* to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. ¹⁰And do not complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. ¹¹These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. ¹²So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. ¹³No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.

The Tradition of the Elders

7Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, ²they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. ³(For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands,^* thus observing the tradition of the elders; ⁴and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it;^* and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.^*) ⁵So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, ‘Why do your disciples not live^* according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?’ ⁶He said to them, ‘Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written,
“This people honours me with their lips,
   but their hearts are far from me;
⁷ in vain do they worship me,
   teaching human precepts as doctrines.”
⁸You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.’

9 Then he said to them, ‘You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition! ¹⁰For Moses said, “Honour your father and your mother”; and, “Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.” ¹¹But you say that if anyone tells father or mother, “Whatever support you might have had from me is Corban” (that is, an offering to God^*)— ¹²then you no longer permit doing anything for a father or mother, ¹³thus making void the word of God through your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many things like this.’

14 Then he called the crowd again and said to them, ‘Listen to me, all of you, and understand: ¹⁵there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.’^*

17 When he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable. ¹⁸He said to them, ‘Then do you also fail to understand? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile, ¹⁹since it enters, not the heart but the stomach, and goes out into the sewer?’ (Thus he declared all foods clean.) ²⁰And he said, ‘It is what comes out of a person that defiles. ²¹For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, ²²adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. ²³All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.’