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¹⁴⁵ With my whole heart I cry; answer me, O Lord.
   I will keep your statutes.
¹⁴⁶ I cry to you; save me,
   that I may observe your decrees.
¹⁴⁷ I rise before dawn and cry for help;
   I put my hope in your words.
¹⁴⁸ My eyes are awake before each watch of the night,
   that I may meditate on your promise.
¹⁴⁹ In your steadfast love hear my voice;
   O Lord, in your justice preserve my life.
¹⁵⁰ Those who persecute me with evil purpose draw near;
   they are far from your law.
¹⁵¹ Yet you are near, O Lord,
   and all your commandments are true.
¹⁵² Long ago I learned from your decrees
   that you have established them for ever.

¹⁵³ Look on my misery and rescue me,
   for I do not forget your law.
¹⁵⁴ Plead my cause and redeem me;
   give me life according to your promise.
¹⁵⁵ Salvation is far from the wicked,
   for they do not seek your statutes.
¹⁵⁶ Great is your mercy, O Lord;
   give me life according to your justice.
¹⁵⁷ Many are my persecutors and my adversaries,
   yet I do not swerve from your decrees.
¹⁵⁸ I look at the faithless with disgust,
   because they do not keep your commands.
¹⁵⁹ Consider how I love your precepts;
   preserve my life according to your steadfast love.
¹⁶⁰ The sum of your word is truth;
   and every one of your righteous ordinances endures for ever.

¹⁶¹ Princes persecute me without cause,
   but my heart stands in awe of your words.
¹⁶² I rejoice at your word
   like one who finds great spoil.
¹⁶³ I hate and abhor falsehood,
   but I love your law.
¹⁶⁴ Seven times a day I praise you
   for your righteous ordinances.
¹⁶⁵ Great peace have those who love your law;
   nothing can make them stumble.
¹⁶⁶ I hope for your salvation, O Lord,
   and I fulfil your commandments.
¹⁶⁷ My soul keeps your decrees;
   I love them exceedingly.
¹⁶⁸ I keep your precepts and decrees,
   for all my ways are before you.

¹⁶⁹ Let my cry come before you, O Lord;
   give me understanding according to your word.
¹⁷⁰ Let my supplication come before you;
   deliver me according to your promise.
¹⁷¹ My lips will pour forth praise,
   because you teach me your statutes.
¹⁷² My tongue will sing of your promise,
   for all your commandments are right.
¹⁷³ Let your hand be ready to help me,
   for I have chosen your precepts.
¹⁷⁴ I long for your salvation, O Lord,
   and your law is my delight.
¹⁷⁵ Let me live that I may praise you,
   and let your ordinances help me.
¹⁷⁶ I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek out your servant,
   for I do not forget your commandments.

Psalm 128

The Happy Home of the Faithful

A Song of Ascents.
¹ Happy is everyone who fears the Lord,
   who walks in his ways.
² You shall eat the fruit of the labour of your hands;
   you shall be happy, and it shall go well with you.

³ Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
   within your house;
your children will be like olive shoots
   around your table.
⁴ Thus shall the man be blessed
   who fears the Lord.

⁵ The Lord bless you from Zion.
   May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem
   all the days of your life.
⁶ May you see your children’s children.
   Peace be upon Israel!

Psalm 129

Prayer for the Downfall of Israel’s Enemies

A Song of Ascents.
¹ ‘Often have they attacked me from my youth’
   —let Israel now say—
² ‘often have they attacked me from my youth,
   yet they have not prevailed against me.
³ Those who plough ploughed on my back;
   they made their furrows long.’
⁴ The Lord is righteous;
   he has cut the cords of the wicked.
⁵ May all who hate Zion
   be put to shame and turned back.
⁶ Let them be like the grass on the housetops
   that withers before it grows up,
⁷ with which reapers do not fill their hands
   or binders of sheaves their arms,
⁸ while those who pass by do not say,
   ‘The blessing of the Lord be upon you!
   We bless you in the name of the Lord!’

Psalm 130

Waiting for Divine Redemption

A Song of Ascents.
¹ Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord.
²   Lord, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
   to the voice of my supplications!

³ If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,
   Lord, who could stand?
⁴ But there is forgiveness with you,
   so that you may be revered.

⁵ I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
   and in his word I hope;
⁶ my soul waits for the Lord
   more than those who watch for the morning,
   more than those who watch for the morning.

⁷ O Israel, hope in the Lord!
   For with the Lord there is steadfast love,
   and with him is great power to redeem.
⁸ It is he who will redeem Israel
   from all its iniquities.

Jerusalem’s Victory

12An Oracle.

The word of the Lord concerning Israel: Thus says the Lord, who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the human spirit within: ²See, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of reeling for all the surrounding peoples; it will be against Judah also in the siege against Jerusalem. ³On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it shall grievously hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth shall come together against it. ⁴On that day, says the Lord, I will strike every horse with panic, and its rider with madness. But on the house of Judah I will keep a watchful eye, when I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. ⁵Then the clans of Judah shall say to themselves, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem have strength through the Lord of hosts, their God.’

6 On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a blazing pot on a pile of wood, like a flaming torch among sheaves; and they shall devour to the right and to the left all the surrounding peoples, while Jerusalem shall again be inhabited in its place, in Jerusalem.

7 And the Lord will give victory to the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not be exalted over that of Judah. ⁸On that day the Lord will shield the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them on that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the angel of the Lord, at their head. ⁹And on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

Mourning for the Pierced One

10 And I will pour out a spirit of compassion and supplication on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that, when they look on the one^* whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.

Spiritual Blessings in Christ

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴just as he chose us in Christ^* before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. ⁵He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, ⁶to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. ⁷In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace ⁸that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight ⁹he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, ¹⁰as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. ¹¹In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance,^* having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, ¹²so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. ¹³In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; ¹⁴this^* is the pledge of our inheritance towards redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.

Jesus and Zacchaeus

19He entered Jericho and was passing through it. ²A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax-collector and was rich. ³He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. ⁴So he ran ahead and climbed a sycomore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. ⁵When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today.’ ⁶So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. ⁷All who saw it began to grumble and said, ‘He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.’ ⁸Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, ‘Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.’ ⁹Then Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.’