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Psalm 81

1  Sing merrily to God our strength, ♦︎
   shout for joy to the God of Jacob.
10  ‘I am the Lord your God,
      who brought you up from the land of Egypt; ♦︎
   open your mouth wide and I shall fill it.’
11  But my people would not hear my voice ♦︎
   and Israel would not obey me.
12  So I sent them away in the stubbornness of their hearts, ♦︎
   and let them walk after their own counsels.
13  O that my people would listen to me, ♦︎
   that Israel would walk in my ways!
14  Then I should soon put down their enemies ♦︎
   and turn my hand against their adversaries.
15  Those who hate the Lord would be humbled before him, ♦︎
   and their punishment would last for ever.
16  But Israel would I feed with the finest wheat ♦︎
   and with honey from the rock would I satisfy them.

God Pleads with Israel to Repent

2The word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord:
I remember the devotion of your youth,
   your love as a bride,
how you followed me in the wilderness,
   in a land not sown.
³ Israel was holy to the Lord,
   the first fruits of his harvest.
All who ate of it were held guilty;
   disaster came upon them,

says the Lord.

¹⁴ Is Israel a slave? Is he a home-born servant?
   Why then has he become plunder?
¹⁵ The lions have roared against him,
   they have roared loudly.
They have made his land a waste;
   his cities are in ruins, without inhabitant.
¹⁶ Moreover, the people of Memphis and Tahpanhes
   have broken the crown of your head.
¹⁷ Have you not brought this upon yourself
   by forsaking the Lord your God,
   while he led you in the way?
¹⁸ What then do you gain by going to Egypt,
   to drink the waters of the Nile?
Or what do you gain by going to Assyria,
   to drink the waters of the Euphrates?
¹⁹ Your wickedness will punish you,
   and your apostasies will convict you.
Know and see that it is evil and bitter
   for you to forsake the Lord your God;
   the fear of me is not in you,

says the Lord God of hosts.

²⁰ For long ago you broke your yoke
   and burst your bonds,
   and you said, ‘I will not serve!’
On every high hill
   and under every green tree
   you sprawled and played the whore.
²¹ Yet I planted you as a choice vine,
   from the purest stock.
How then did you turn degenerate
   and become a wild vine?
²² Though you wash yourself with lye
   and use much soap,
   the stain of your guilt is still before me,

says the Lord God.

The Request of the Mother of James and John

20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, and kneeling before him, she asked a favour of him. ²¹And he said to her, ‘What do you want?’ She said to him, ‘Declare that these two sons of mine will sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.’ ²²But Jesus answered, ‘You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?’^* They said to him, ‘We are able.’ ²³He said to them, ‘You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left, this is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.’

24 When the ten heard it, they were angry with the two brothers. ²⁵But Jesus called them to him and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. ²⁶It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, ²⁷and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; ²⁸just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.’