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⁹⁷ Oh, how I love your law!
   It is my meditation all day long.
⁹⁸ Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies,
   for it is always with me.
⁹⁹ I have more understanding than all my teachers,
   for your decrees are my meditation.
¹⁰⁰ I understand more than the aged,
   for I keep your precepts.
¹⁰¹ I hold back my feet from every evil way,
   in order to keep your word.
¹⁰² I do not turn away from your ordinances,
   for you have taught me.
¹⁰³ How sweet are your words to my taste,
   sweeter than honey to my mouth!
¹⁰⁴ Through your precepts I get understanding;
   therefore I hate every false way.

¹⁰⁵ Your word is a lamp to my feet
   and a light to my path.
¹⁰⁶ I have sworn an oath and confirmed it,
   to observe your righteous ordinances.
¹⁰⁷ I am severely afflicted;
   give me life, O Lord, according to your word.
¹⁰⁸ Accept my offerings of praise, O Lord,
   and teach me your ordinances.
¹⁰⁹ I hold my life in my hand continually,
   but I do not forget your law.
¹¹⁰ The wicked have laid a snare for me,
   but I do not stray from your precepts.
¹¹¹ Your decrees are my heritage for ever;
   they are the joy of my heart.
¹¹² I incline my heart to perform your statutes
   for ever, to the end.

¹¹³ I hate the double-minded,
   but I love your law.
¹¹⁴ You are my hiding-place and my shield;
   I hope in your word.
¹¹⁵ Go away from me, you evildoers,
   that I may keep the commandments of my God.
¹¹⁶ Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live,
   and let me not be put to shame in my hope.
¹¹⁷ Hold me up, that I may be safe
   and have regard for your statutes continually.
¹¹⁸ You spurn all who go astray from your statutes;
   for their cunning is in vain.
¹¹⁹ All the wicked of the earth you count as dross;
   therefore I love your decrees.
¹²⁰ My flesh trembles for fear of you,
   and I am afraid of your judgements.

Psalm 81

God’s Appeal to Stubborn Israel

To the leader: according to The Gittith. Of Asaph.
¹ Sing aloud to God our strength;
   shout for joy to the God of Jacob.
² Raise a song, sound the tambourine,
   the sweet lyre with the harp.
³ Blow the trumpet at the new moon,
   at the full moon, on our festal day.
⁴ For it is a statute for Israel,
   an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
⁵ He made it a decree in Joseph,
   when he went out over^* the land of Egypt.

I hear a voice I had not known:
⁶ ‘I relieved your^* shoulder of the burden;
   your^* hands were freed from the basket.
⁷ In distress you called, and I rescued you;
   I answered you in the secret place of thunder;
   I tested you at the waters of Meribah.
          Selah
⁸ Hear, O my people, while I admonish you;
   O Israel, if you would but listen to me!
⁹ There shall be no strange god among you;
   you shall not bow down to a foreign god.
¹⁰ I am the Lord your God,
   who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.
   Open your mouth wide and I will fill it.

¹¹ ‘But my people did not listen to my voice;
   Israel would not submit to me.
¹² So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts,
   to follow their own counsels.
¹³ O that my people would listen to me,
   that Israel would walk in my ways!
¹⁴ Then I would quickly subdue their enemies,
   and turn my hand against their foes.
¹⁵ Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him,
   and their doom would last for ever.
¹⁶ I would feed you^* with the finest of the wheat,
   and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.’

Psalm 82

A Plea for Justice

A Psalm of Asaph.
¹ God has taken his place in the divine council;
   in the midst of the gods he holds judgement:
² ‘How long will you judge unjustly
   and show partiality to the wicked?
          Selah
³ Give justice to the weak and the orphan;
   maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute.
⁴ Rescue the weak and the needy;
   deliver them from the hand of the wicked.’

⁵ They have neither knowledge nor understanding,
   they walk around in darkness;
   all the foundations of the earth are shaken.

⁶ I say, ‘You are gods,
   children of the Most High, all of you;
⁷ nevertheless, you shall die like mortals,
   and fall like any prince.’^*

⁸ Rise up, O God, judge the earth;
   for all the nations belong to you!

The King Honours Mordecai

6That night the king could not sleep, and he gave orders to bring the book of records, the annals, and they were read to the king. ²It was found written how Mordecai had told about Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king’s eunuchs, who guarded the threshold, and who had conspired to assassinate^* King Ahasuerus. ³Then the king said, ‘What honour or distinction has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?’ The king’s servants who attended him said, ‘Nothing has been done for him.’ ⁴The king said, ‘Who is in the court?’ Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the king’s palace to speak to the king about having Mordecai hanged on the gallows that he had prepared for him. ⁵So the king’s servants told him, ‘Haman is there, standing in the court.’ The king said, ‘Let him come in.’ ⁶So Haman came in, and the king said to him, ‘What shall be done for the man whom the king wishes to honour?’ Haman said to himself, ‘Whom would the king wish to honour more than me?’ ⁷So Haman said to the king, ‘For the man whom the king wishes to honour, ⁸let royal robes be brought, which the king has worn, and a horse that the king has ridden, with a royal crown on its head. ⁹Let the robes and the horse be handed over to one of the king’s most noble officials; let him^* robe the man whom the king wishes to honour, and let him^* conduct the man on horseback through the open square of the city, proclaiming before him: “Thus shall it be done for the man whom the king wishes to honour.” ’ ¹⁰Then the king said to Haman, ‘Quickly, take the robes and the horse, as you have said, and do so to the Jew Mordecai who sits at the king’s gate. Leave out nothing that you have mentioned.’ ¹¹So Haman took the robes and the horse and robed Mordecai and led him riding through the open square of the city, proclaiming, ‘Thus shall it be done for the man whom the king wishes to honour.’

12 Then Mordecai returned to the king’s gate, but Haman hurried to his house, mourning and with his head covered. ¹³When Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him, his advisers and his wife Zeresh said to him, ‘If Mordecai, before whom your downfall has begun, is of the Jewish people, you will not prevail against him, but will surely fall before him.’

Haman’s Downfall and Mordecai’s Advancement

14 While they were still talking with him, the king’s eunuchs arrived and hurried Haman off to the banquet that Esther had prepared.

Paul in Ephesus

19While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul passed through the inland regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples. ²He said to them, ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?’ They replied, ‘No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.’ ³Then he said, ‘Into what then were you baptized?’ They answered, ‘Into John’s baptism.’ ⁴Paul said, ‘John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, in Jesus.’ ⁵On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. ⁶When Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied— ⁷altogether there were about twelve of them.

8 He entered the synagogue and for three months spoke out boldly, and argued persuasively about the kingdom of God. ⁹When some stubbornly refused to believe and spoke evil of the Way before the congregation, he left them, taking the disciples with him, and argued daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.^{* 10}This continued for two years, so that all the residents of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord.

The Temptation of Jesus

4Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, ²where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. ³The devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.’ ⁴Jesus answered him, ‘It is written, “One does not live by bread alone.” ’

5 Then the devil^* led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. ⁶And the devil^* said to him, ‘To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. ⁷If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.’ ⁸Jesus answered him, ‘It is written,
“Worship the Lord your God,
   and serve only him.” ’

9 Then the devil^* took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, ¹⁰for it is written,
“He will command his angels concerning you,
   to protect you”,
¹¹and
“On their hands they will bear you up,
   so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.” ’
¹²Jesus answered him, ‘It is said, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” ’ ¹³When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.